It is now the time of putting on our outfits, and then going to the dance. Practice is over, and now will be the real deal. Amia had been kicked out, which made me quite glad, Margaret Sylvie and Kristina were all pretty nice, and of course I feel as though I will have made yet another good friend with Alsu. She was a little shy, and small but all the while very pleasant. She was 15 years old, which sort of panged my heart as she was very young. 

Alsu Kholodova, as her maiden name was, lived in Tataria, from Rus' of course, but her family hadn't converted to Islam so they immediately had a target on their backs for future raids. It was rather disappointing that of course Christians or Jews could be kidnapped, but Muslim women weren't protected. If I do ever make it back home and I feel in danger at home, I would make it a good point to pretend that I am Muslim, though it would do my hardworking royal predecessors dirty, considering how hard Isabella and Ferdinand (may they rest in peace) tried to out all the non true believers, and make our beautiful country Christian only, and a model for the rest of Europe.

Hers was a common story, but I honestly couldn't really see her as being some sort of exceptional beacon in the history books centuries from now. Perhaps she will someday go home, but for now there isn't much hope for an ordinary girl such as herself. Or Elisabeth. Or even Angelina. In fact, even I can't do much here except work my hardest to climb to the top of the ranks. And that would mean I would become an enemy of Hürrem Hatun, or Mahidevran. Or even Valide. Whatever it takes, I need to be willing to go to any length to get what I want. Me llamo Francesca Fortuna y hago lo que quiero cuando quiero. No me inclino ante nadie más que ante Dios.

My name is Francesca Fortuna, and I do what I want when I want. I bow to nobody but God himself. Not even the Sultan would be able to control me.

The other girls decided to wear plain and simple dresses, or at least in my opinion. The way Sylvie fawned over her dress made it appear that she must have been a peasant of sorts before arriving in the Ottoman Empire. But in the words of Nigar Kalfa, "YOU ARE ALL SLAVES OF THE SULTAN NOW! YOUR PAST DOESN'T MATTER!"

It made me laugh a bit thinking back to that moment. But no matter what, I needed to focus on the present and doing my best at the dance. As the technical 'centerpiece', I needed to choose an outfit that would help me stand out amongst the plain shades of green and pink the other girls were donning. 

One outfit caught my eye- a neckless, off the shoulder bold red dress. Red was one of my favorite colors, and I showed Nigar Kalfa who nodded her approval.

"Red would look good on you," Nigar commented. "But you need to compliment it with an accessory of another good shade. Go find something to wear, perhaps jewelry on your head or a mask, or..."

She trailed off, the grabbed my arm and dragged me to wear the masks were. They looked like what we would wear to a Carnival, bright and exciting. There were beautiful silver, ruby, emerald ones. Then what really got me excited was the gold mask. It would compliment my outfit perfectly. I picked it up and then hovered it over my face as I went to the mirror to see how I would look in it. It looked pretty good, so I informed Nigar that this was my outfit, plus a pair of strappy low heels, and went to another room to change. 

I put on my dress, but then decided to keep the mask off to not show off my dress to the others before the big moment. A few servants came in to do my hair, and I gladly sat down in a stool as they curled the ends of my hair and made it very wavy, put in some sweet smelling rose perfume, did makeup like powder blush and lipstick, and mascara for my eyes, with eye lining to make my eyes appear a bit darker than they normally did.

They put on a simple jeweled necklace that blended in with my fair skinned neck, and trimmed and carefully fixed up my nails. It felt good to be pampered like I did in Spain as a princess. I wonder if Valide Sultan, or even Hürrem or Mahidevran got treated royally like this. I know the Sultana princesses, like Hatice, who is Valide's daughter, must be well liked and therefore pampered nicely. She reminded me of my sister Isabella.

Isa. In all the weeks that I have been here, I not once have remembered my annoying sister. But sister she is, and I sort of missed her despite our kind of frustrating relationship, with her always being the favored one and my being outcast. 

Once I return home, I will prove that I am just as good as my younger sister, and just as worthy. I hope they at least know that I am worthy now enough of rescuing. Oh dios.

~

My outfit was finally finished, so was my beautiful hair, makeup and nails. As soon as the servants stepped away, I jumped up out of my chair and dashed to the mirror to see what would greet me back. I looked stunning. Not to brag of course, but I would most certainly shine like the bright star I am in the Sultan's rooms at the dance.

I also put the mask on, and this dampened my mood a bit, as I looked as though I was a sort of pompous doodle in the streets, like in Castillo there were some prostitute-like women who were barely clothed and running around for the fun of it. But I looked again, and I didn't see any person lacking modesty- I saw a beautiful and independent woman, ready to shine at a dance and make her marks for the future. Sultan Süleyman will see me in all my glory.

Watch out world, here comes Francesca Fortuna.