February 7, 1789. While, within the confines of the palace grounds, Beauxbatons students could keep warm, using magical means, outside of the campus, the whole region is covered in snow. So, when Nurcan gets out of the gardens, she feels the cold almost instantly, and tucks herself in, while walking the path outside the gardens, leading to Visigny for her weekend trip.

  When she arrives at Visigny itself, a village split by a river, she initially sticks to the bank of the river where wizarding supplies could be sold, and hence off-limits to Muggles. However, the Muggle royal messenger's arrival hasn't gone unnoticed, even though he sticks to the Muggle side of the village, since she can hear the messenger from the wizarding side:

  "Par ordre du Roi, les états généraux sont convoqués!" (By order of the King, the Estates-General are convened!) the royal messenger proclaims upon arriving in town, reading a royal letter, dated January 24, 1789, containing the key points as relevant to the residents of the village. Such as the deadline to elect the delegate and to write the cahier de doléances.

  At this point, a Lumos charm seems to be cast in Nurcan's mind, and loudly exclaims from the wizarding side of the village, upon hearing about the cahier de doléances that the King invites the villagers to send to Versailles:

  (Translated from Turkic): "Here's my chance to show the Sultan that sending me on exchange here was worth it!" Nurcan shouts for joy upon sensing an opportunity.

  The wizards near her don't understand anything of what she was saying. Nevertheless, her mood change seems so sudden. Maybe... maybe I can send a copy of a Muggle cahier de doléances to Constantinople! Then I can say that I might have developed some espionage skills! And, of course, the info contained in it might be of Muggle interest!

  Yet, she feels there are concepts she still needs to understand before she can truly grasp what these... états généraux are convened for, and how the delegates are chosen.

  Her mental notes on the key terms of the letter contain terms such as bailliages, sénéchaussées, and, of course, Muggle taxation. About how clueless she is about all that. She struggles to grasp what she could do beyond copying a cahier de doléances.

  But before she can unpack the whole thing, she sets foot in Au Royaume du Hibou's Visigny location. Which contains cages, containing owls of various races, such as eagle owls, screech owls, and of course, the ubiquitous barn owls.

  Since I began tutoring folk in Arithmancy, and to a lesser extent, History of Magic, I made myself some coin. If the owl prices here are anything like those of Au Royaume du Hibou at Place Cachée, I should be fine, she counts what cash she has on hand. Approximately Bz20. To send both expense reports and, along with it, the report card for the Fall term, to Constantinople, I could make do with the school owls, with the understanding that said owl won't come back for weeks. However, I don't trust school owls to send a cahier de doléances to Constantinople because I feel like these are too sensitive! Yet, the only ones who might have an interest in intercepting French owls bound for Constantinople are Russians!

  "Bonjour, comment puis-je vous aider?" (Hi, how may I help you?) the shop owner asks her.

  "Je me cherche un hibou..." (I'm looking for an owl...)

  "à quelle fin?" (For what purpose?)

  "Je veux un hibou pour le courrier!" (I want an owl for mail!)

  "à quelle fréquence? Et à quelle distance?" (How often? And at what distance?)

  Notwithstanding that I only need to send an owl once. Not sure if it's a good idea to get one just to send a cahier de doléances to Constantinople and back. Should I risk the Russians intercepting the cahier to save some money, or potentially be stuck having to maintain upkeep of an owl just so that I can send a sensitive parcel to the Bab-I Humayun? She freezes in place upon hearing the shop owner ask about her mailing habits. And trembling because of the ambient temperature.

  "Occasionnellement, mais pour des paquets sensibles à longue distance!" (Occasionally, but for sensitive packages, and long-distance)

  "C'est quoi, longue distance pour toi?" (What's long distance for you?)

  Nurcan still trembles. "Euh... Istanbul?"

  Why did I blurt out the other name in use for Constantinople? What did I do? Nurcan second-guesses herself.

  Her answer gives the shop owner pause. Clueless about wizarding locations outside Western Europe, he, too, seems frozen in place.

  "Istanbul?" the shop owner rolls his eyes. "Pour un envoi unique, vaut mieux utiliser de la poudre de cheminette!" (For a single shipment, better use Floo powder!)

  He's right. Especially when it would take a week to an eagle owl to fly from here to Istanbul. But I really, really need to think this plan of sending a cahier de doléances to the Bab-I Humayun through. Just because I want the Bab-I Humayun to have something to show for these expenses, doesn't mean I must be too rash! Nurcan then dashes her way out of Au Royaume du Hibou, and returns to the campus.

  Once back on campus, she keeps quiet about the Estates-General being convened, feeling like most students, even the French ones, let alone those who are not, wouldn't care about Muggle affairs. So she goes straight to her room, where her other three roommates are.

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

  Here she faces Emmanuelle straight in the face, knowing that neither Isabella nor Alejandra have any kind of vested interest.

  "Les états généraux ont été convoqués!" (The Estates-General have been convened!)

  "Que veux-tu faire en lien avec ?a?" (What do you want to do about it?) Emmanuelle asks Nurcan, a little puzzled.

  "?a ne te ressemble pas! Tu m'as toujours parue absorbée par tes études!" (It's completely unlike you! You always seemed absorbed by your studies!) Alejandra exclaims in a Spanish accent.

  Nurcan answers Emmanuelle about her goals. "Aller chercher un cahier de doléances!" (Fetching a cahier de doléances!)

  "Mais pourquoi?" (Why?) Emmanuelle raises her voice.

  "Pour mieux comprendre les réalités moldues locales!" (To better understand local Muggle realities!)

  Isabella gasps. "Jamais je ne t'aurais cru parler d'affaires moldues!" (Never I would have believed you talk about Muggle affairs!)

  "Fais ce que tu veux, mais je ne t'aiderai pas à chercher un cahier de doléances!" (Do whatever you want, but I won't help you fetch a cahier de doléances!) Alejandra then leaves the room for the library.

  So while a timetable hasn't been set yet for writing the local cahier de doléances, beyond a deadline, I must be prepared when the time comes, Nurcan gets to the library in search of information pertaining to other terms she doesn't understand well, while she processes the other rules of the Estates-General to the best of her mental ability. Obviously, I can't vote because I turned 13 on January 1, so I can safely disregard anything to do with voting, much less standing for election, since the minimum age for both is 25.

  When she arrives at the library by nightfall, on the top floor, she asks the librarian, Mélisande, in a soft voice, at the front desk:

  "J'aimerais savoir quoi lire pour mieux comprendre les bailliages, sénéchaussées et la vie des sorciers d'ici parmi les Moldus, s'il vous pla?t..." (I'd like to know what to read to better understand bailliages, sénéchaussées and life of local wizards among Muggles, please...)

  "Le Cri de la Gargouille, Sorcière-Hebdo!" Mélisande then points Nurcan to the news section of the library devoted to periodicals.

  "Merci!"

  She combs the latest issues of the Cri de la Gargouille, that is, the French wizarding daily newspaper, for indications of French wizards' lives among Muggles, starting from the January 24, 1789 issue. Then the January 25 one.

  No trace of the convocation of the Estates-General? Did the Cri de la Gargouille team deem them irrelevant to the wizarding world? She tries her best to contain her surprise after skimming the Jan. 25, 1789 issue of the Cri de la Gargouille. The royal messenger went all the way from Versailles to Visigny to deliver the news because it was deemed of critical importance by the King!

  As she keeps combing the Cri de la Gargouille issues between Jan. 26 and today, her disappointment at not seeing any trace of the implications of the Estates-General being convened for the French wizarding population is clearly visible on her face.

  And, of course, Sorcière-Hebdo talks about more the lifestyle aspect, at the micro level, and not sociopolitical trends. Recipes of cosmetics, fashion, cooking and gardening. Not very satisfying, no trace of what bailliages and sénéchaussées are, only daily wizarding life among Muggles. So even my everyday uniform would still look like upper-class to Muggles and probably give me away to them, should I attend one of these sessions where the cahier de doléances is written. Just not in a "breach of the SoS" way, though. Unfortunately, so many Muggles tended to judge each other by what they wear.

  She then takes a mental note of what kind of clothing lower-class French Muggle women could wear that she might deem more appropriate to attend a session where the cahier de doléances is being written, compared to even her day uniform.

  By then, she scours the library in search of anything that could relate to bailliages and sénéchaussées, but she starts with where not to look for such information.

  With that said, in her mind, there are only two sections where she could possibly find it : History of Magic and Muggle studies. Probably Muggle studies first.

  That sounds like an interesting lead... Nurcan thinks while she takes a book, ostensibly about Muggle justice and administration, off the shelf. De l'administration royale.

  That book seems to be a bit dense for its length, which is a little short, but is still almost pristine because few even read it, much less checked it out. So she sits in the reading room, just not next to Alejandra.

  Once she returns to the room, the opening chapter is about territorial organization. For civil administration, that is, justice and taxation, généralités are the highest subdivisions, like eyalets. But why distinguish between bailliages and sénéchaussées if they both accomplish the same functions? They sound like sanjaks, but of intermediate size between sanjaks and kazas.

  And it also dawns on Nurcan that French royal administrative regions differ based on their function, whereas Ottoman subdivisions have both civilian and military functions, at least down to the sanjak level.

  After reading the book, which she promptly brings back to the shelf, she returns to bed, now that she has a better idea of how French Muggle administration works.

  Yet, she's also reminded of how each bailliage or sénéchaussée was implied to form the basis of representation at the Estates-General.

  That night, she's visited by the wizarding merchant that first taught French to her by correspondence, in her dreams, delivering her a stark reminder:

  Washington, MACUSA Office for Magic Relations and Education. Stanislas de Batiscan, the French-speaking wizarding merchant who taught French to Nurcan by correspondence, was summoned to the Office by his older sister, Geneviève de Batiscan. She was crystal-gazing in an attempt to see through Nurcan's future, with Nurcan sitting on the other side of a table:

  "If you are to finally be freed from the shackles of futility, you must remember the excerpt of the Charms textbook I gave you before you set foot in Beauxbatons!" Stanislas warned Nurcan in an English laden with a heavy Mauricie accent.

  Nurcan tried to comb her memory for an excerpt of a magical textbook Stanislas gave her prior to her departure, perhaps as some reading exercise.

  "That's true! The Geminio charm! I didn't have the opportunity to practice it!" Nurcan replied in an English laden with a Turkish accent.

  Geneviève delivered the result of gazing into her crystal ball, also speaking with the same Mauricie accent as her younger brother. "Your unhealthy obsession with Muggle France's Estates-General will make the Ottoman wizarding community face the consequences of a war it never wanted!"

  "Is the Ottoman Empire going to be a... belligerent in the war you're referring to?" Nurcan asked, trembling on her chair.

  "That I can't tell, at least not for the time being!" Geneviève answered her.

  At this point, Nurcan was swallowed by the de Basticans' crystal ball, spitting her out of this oneiric version of Washington, and the dream along with it...

  But of course, Geminio! Using Geminio will allow me to make a copy of the cahier de doléances for me to send to Constantinople without compromising the original! However, as much as dreams might have predictive power, I must take it with a grain of salt, Nurcan thinks, before going back to sleep that night.