Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, September 19, 1806. Nurcan who, for years, was one of the favorite witches of the Sultan due to her role as the initial designer, and now, the defterdar of the Irad-I Cedid, attends a Divan-I Humayun session from behind a grilled curtain.

  As she sits behind the Kasr-I Adl, or window of justice, within Topkapi Palace’s second courtyard, at the behest of Selim III, the session is about to begin under the dome of the kubbealti.

  I hate these kubbealti meetings: because these Muggles all seem to think that women must not openly take part in that kind of decision-making, I feel like I can’t do much… Nurcan ruminates, while hidden behind the Kasr-I Adl, struggling to contain, and resist the temptation, to draw the curtain while Selim and the rest of the Divan-I Humayun sit in the kubbealti.

  Once the session of the Divan-I Humayun begins, the various senior officials, viziers, kazaskers, and, for this very special occasion, the vizier of magic, attend.

  “As you all know by now, Rumelian ayans and yeniceris demand the abolition of the Nizam-I Cedid reforms!” Hafiz, the grand vizier, opens the session. “They are threatening to march on Istanbul if we hold on to these reforms!”

  “First Tekirdag, which was bombarded for its initial refusal to allow Nizam-I Cedid troops to be stationed in there a few months ago, and now, these ayans have rallied yeniceri and are about to destroy what we worked so hard for in the past seventeen years?” the kazasker, for Rumelia starts panicking, fearing the consequences.

  “For years, now, the yeniceri have resisted attempts at implementing what they view as non-Muslim reforms!“ Amedi, the nisanci warns. “We must intervene to save our empire from itself!”

  “It seems like the ulama has whipped the yeniceri and ayans into a frenzy, and is pushing the empire to the brink of civil war!” the basdefterdar of the Hazine-I Amire (the head of the old Imperial treasury) comes to terms with the gravity of the situation.

  It was already hard enough to attempt concealing the magical origins of the Irad-I Cedid from the general public, but from what interactions I had with Nurcan in the past regarding the role of magic in the Irad-I Cedid, she was right: the ulama could use divination without actually using magic themselves. So they have no incentive to reveal the wizarding origins of the Irad-I Cedid without putting themselves at risk, Selim ruminates about the implications of the ulama (Islamic scholars) having turned the public against the New Treasury.

  “This entire thing could have been avoided if we gave more autonomy to the ayans!” Saleh, the vizier of magic, exclaims.

  “Yet, we all ignore the real message we would be sending to Russia if we let the yeniceri win. They will think we’re weak, and we’ll then become wide open to attack! I urge you, Your Majesty, we must strike at the heart of the yeniceri rebels, in detail perhaps, but it should be feasible because the yeniceri are just an overpaid militia levy!” Ahmed Vasif, the Reis-ul Kuttab, or foreign minister, pleads with Selim.

  Ouch. This hits home for me just like when I first drafted the Irad-I Cedid in the first place, in March 1789, much less used magic to return to Istanbul to file the resulting arzuhal (petition) that led to it even getting to the Sultan! And use the same magic to return to Beauxbatons after the arzuhal is filed! But more than ever, I feel the danger these yeniceri pose! This can only mean one thing: the Muggle are about to kill indiscriminately, and now the wizards’ security attention must be turned to Rumelia, the cold, hard truth hits Nurcan like a ton of tiles.

  But she feels a little stifled having to endure the rest of the Divan-I Humayun, in whose sessions she can’t sit, squabble over the whole situation in Rumelia, knowing that the danger to Selim is closing in on the capital. And what it implies for magical law enforcement.

  The Divan’s session over the whole situation in Rumelia, especially as Nizam-I Cedid troops retreat to Silivri, to the west of Istanbul, while it debates the course of action, lasts the whole morning.

  By doing so, they turn away those who hoped to be able to get their appeals heard by the Divan en banc, leaving those who made the trip to Istanbul to get their appeals heard waiting for the relevant authority. Which depends on the type of case and the eyalet (province) of origin.

  When the noon feast for the Divan-I Humayun is about to start, which she can’t attend because the Irad-I Cedid’s defterdar doesn’t sit on it, she leaves the premises of the palace to go back to the Bab-I Humayun’s headquarters, within Sihirli Mahalle, and instead have their own version with the Vizier of Magic.

  When the various department heads not away on official business get seated, with cushions and sofras (low tables), and the magical defterdar being seated on Saleh’s right-hand side, Nurcan is seated on his left.

  “Since the Sultan made you attend the Muggle Divan-I Humayun’s session from behind the Kasr-I Adl, you were unable to discuss anything. However, I trust that you understand the implications of what’s going on in Thrace!” Saleh starts discussing with Nurcan.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Yeah, I know, what I worked so hard for the past twelve years is now in danger, and with the threat of Russia hanging over our heads to the east and north…” Nurcan is interrupted by the magical defterdar.

  “Russia?” Sevgi, the magical defterdar, and much older than she is, gasps. “At his point, wouldn’t they attempt to openly reveal the Irad-I Cedid’s magical origins?”

  “No. As tempting as it might be for the Czar to do so, thinking that it will trigger a bigger unrest, first, while Russia is aware that the ulama and yeniceri are at odds with the Sultan over the Nizam-I Cedid, I don’t think Russia is aware of the Irad-I Cedid’s magical origins, that is, me, and second, even if the Czar somehow learned about the magical origins of the Irad-I Cedid, he’d be putting Russian wizards at risk, on top of ours!” Nurcan explains to her colleague.

  “How so?” Sevgi asks her. “I understand that ours would be at risk because the ulama would then claim that Selim would be possessed by Western ifrits, and hence plunge our world into civil war, as if they didn’t already try to discredit the Sultan by painting the whole Nizam-I Cedid reforms as fundamentally non-Muslim!”

  “Let’s say that Russian wizards wouldn’t take it very kindly to being the tools of authorities that aren’t theirs, especially since it could create tensions the Czar might not want. For decades now, wizards tried to maintain the safety of the magical community by not interfering with the outside world, but sometimes circumstances force our hand…”

  “There might no longer be an Irad-I Cedid soon at this rate!” Saleh warns Nurcan. “Rest assured that, no matter what happens, the wizarding portion of the Nizam-I Cedid will remain, although it cannot be used to provide any assistance to the Muggle one!”

  It seems like the costs of the Nizam-I Cedid army forced my hand into keeping the coffee, alcohol, tobacco and wool levies at rates I didn’t necessarily agree with, any more than the population was. But it’s when there’s civil unrest in the outside world that the risks are greatest for us wizards. And I knew it ever since Operation Cahier de Doléances in 1789, when almost every wizard, at least in the four years after that, lived in denial, Nurcan ruminates on both what caused the yeniceri revolt and what it implies for the risks to the Ottoman magical community. The one saving grace I have is that the Porte will never publicly acknowledge the Irad-I Cedid’s wizarding origins publicly… At the same time, as tempted as Selim might be to offer me a mazuliyet maasi (severance package) to buy my silence, as well as to the Muggle public face of the Irad-I Cedid, accepting mine would make me the same as those esame holders, which was one of the abuses the Irad-I Cedid was designed to combat, along with iltizam (tax farms) and muafiyets (tax exemptions)!

  “If there’s not going to be an Irad-I Cedid anymore, I don’t think my family is safe in Istanbul anymore either. While Muggle-repelling talismans might prevent yeniceri from physically entering Sihirli Mahalle, and the area looks, to Muggles, like a field of ruins from the 1782 fire, I might draw too much attention to us here!”

  Nurcan then hastily writes a coded message on a piece of paper, an arz, or internal report, that will tell the Sultan that she will no longer serve as the Muggle Irad-I Cedid’s shadow defterdar, citing the risks she carries for the Statute of Secrecy, in the face of the crisis brewing in Thrace. Which she feels is an existential threat to what she devoted her entire active life as a witch.

  “What do you mean, you would draw too much attention to us here?” Sevgi asks her.

  She starts crying. “Nothing is quite like it seems in civil unrest. Where the Muggles see simply a revolt of yeniceri, or ayans, my role in the Irad-I Cedid is the problem. It’s not a regular Statute breach we’re talking about. I put us all in a bind!”

  “A… bind?” Saleh asks her in turn. “The Sultan did everything in his power to hide you from the Muggle public! That’s the only reason why the Irad-I Cedid lasted as long as it did!”

  “If the ICW finds out that the Muggle imperial finances were repaired by a witch, that is, me, the ICW will take control of the Bab-I Humayun and we won’t be able to administer our magical affairs without foreign interference! You only need to look at what happened to Poland-Lithuania for a warning sign of what happens to a country when foreign interference happens for too long!” Nurcan warns her colleagues before leaving a clue to them, but struggles not to think of Vaidi, the only Lithuanian witch she met. “And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul!”

  “This means I must buy back your konak (home) to ensure that no traces of the magical involvement in the Irad-I Cedid remain if the yeniceri come here!” Sevgi announces to her, while preparing the sale documents to bring to a kadi (judge), as well as the tryrinats to hand over to her once the huccet-I seriyye (act of sale) is finalized.

  Speaking of which, Sevgi and Nurcan both get to the kadi within the Bab-I Humayun dealing with civil acts such as huccet-i seriyyes, marriages and wills. Which contains only an anti-falsification spell.

  Luckily for them, the kadi could process their case later in the day and finalize the sale of the konak to the Bab-I Humayun, ready to put it up for sale at the han (urban caravanserai) serving as the entrance to Sihirli Mahalle from the Muggle side on Sogukcesme Street, to facilitate the flight of its previous owner, in the face of the yeniceri threat looming large.

  There’s one thing left for me to do: announce to my husband, Vincent, formerly the Marquess of Brinvilliers, as well as the kids, that we’re leaving the city! The yeniceri will be after me if we stay here for too long! Nurcan dashes to her konak close to the entrance to Sihirli Mahalle, with her copy of the huccet-I seriyye that she brandishes in front of him.

  “Honey, we need to leave the city!” Nurcan tells Vincent, who fled the Reign of Terror, “But, before we leave the city tomorrow and pack our baggage, I have some unfinished business to attend to with the rest of the Irad-I Cedid’s senior leadership!”

  “Why?” Vincent asks, with some distress in his voice. “For years now, you appeared busy with your job, so I had to raise the kids, and give up on making potions as soon as the oldest was born, since there’s only so much our house elf could do to raise kids!”

  “The yeniceri are after me, but all I know is that yeniceri are a breach of the Statute waiting to happen! And, speaking of potions, I have one to brew, which will guarantee they will forget about me, and spare the Empire’s magical community mountains of problems!”