On June 16, in Constantinople, the new Sultan, Selim III, holds an audience with Bab-i Humayun officials, along with Muggle viziers. After leaving Sihirli Mahalle through an entrance whose Muggle side is on the other side of the street from the Bab-i Ali, the Sublime Porte of Topkapi Palace, the Ministry of Magic officials arrive at the kubbealti audience.

  Speaking of which, it’s held in the throne room with Muggle viziers and wizarding officials awaiting the Sultan, holding a kubbealti (cabinet meeting) under a domed roof. After the Sultan starts the kubbealti:

  “So we got reports from France suggesting that the situation is going to degenerate there. That I feel Austria and Great Britain will attempt to exploit the situation, but only on the sihirsizler theater!” Othmane, the head of Ottoman wizarding diplomacy tells the officials, without referring to Nurcan as the source.

  “But, Your Majesty, we shouldn’t neglect our domestic policy. It seems that some elements of the population feel like the fiscal administration is made too complex because muafiyets are granted piecemeal, as well as too readily, and taxation is tied too closely to religion!” the Bab-i Humayun’s defterdar (grand treasurer) addresses the Sultan.

  “Claiming that muafiyets are granted haphazardly, on an ad-hoc basis, is a very wizarding thing to say. Muafiyets tend to be used to help a region recover from a disaster, or, on our northwestern borders, to help with military recruitment!” the Muggle defterdar answers the claims made by his wizarding counterpart.

  “However, the wizards are right: if taxation is too complex, or unfair, the population will be angry. Perhaps a fairer system might help?” Hasan, the grand vizier, asks, a little uncomfortable because of his poor health.

  But why only the Muggle theater? Selim wonders, upon hearing the word Muggle at an official state function for the first time since his coronation two months ago.

  “If I may, what’s the difference between a… sihirsizler theater and a non-sihirsizler one?” Selim asks the MoM officials.

  “Sihirsizler are people who can’t use magic, whereas wizards can. We might be more cooperative with wizards here than the Austrians might be, but rarely do wizarding affairs require the Sultan’s attention!” the wizarding defterdar answers Selim’s question.

  “Your Majesty, you might not be aware of the implications of the International Statute of Secrecy at war. Wizards may not necessarily be at war at the same time as we are. We only fight Austria on the sihirsizler theater...”

  Austria is nigh powerless on the wizarding stage, while Great Britain has, for the past 15 years at least, managed to avoid dragging wizards into Muggle wars. And, of course, the United States, too. But I’m afraid that France might not be spared this fate, the head of Ottoman wizarding diplomacy ruminates on what the unrest leading to the Estates-General could imply for wizarding conflict.

  “We can ill afford to antagonize France. After all, we rely on them to modernize, among other things, our navy and military engineering. But what do the wizards’ plan for tax reform contain?” the head of Muggle Ottoman diplomacy asks Murat, the wizarding defterdar.

  “They want to abolish taxes, and other communal obligations such as the jizya, as well as abolish malikane (tax farming) and crack down on the arbitrary nature of the muafiyets. And, of course, introduce graduated rates!”

  “Sure, wizards can be insightful at times, but the problem, as is often the case with wizard-backed proposals, is that wizards tend to downplay how entrenched Muggle elites and special interests can be!” the nisanci, or head of the palace’s scribal service, points out.

  Such as the yeniceri, or janissaries, whose decadence made them less of anything resembling a standing army, and defend their privileges more fiercely than they defend the Empire against either Austria or Russia, the kazasker, or head judge, for Rumelia (i.e. the European eyalets) keeps to himself. My guess is that the wizards who drafted the plan are Muggle-borns of reaya extraction, or, if not, wizards who live away from Muggles.

  “Implementing the wizards’ tax reform plan is not without its risks. Don’t underestimate the greed of the malikaneci (tax farmers), who would oppose wizarding interference in their affairs, even though they’re responsible for over-taxation!” the kazasker for Rumelia points out the problems of Muggle malikaneci.

  The kubbealti members keep arguing about the monetary aspect of the reforms, but the other kazasker, this one for the Middle Eastern eyalets, brings up military reform. That, even with the best taxation system, modernizing the military is the key priority to stem the tide, especially on the Yedisan theater.

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  “?zi and Fidonisi showed that better training of naval personnel isn’t enough. Our naval equipment is outdated, and, of course, the siege of ?zi on land showed that our land forces had inadequate equipment and perhaps training as well!” the Agha of the yeniceri reports on the situation on the Yedisan theater.

  “We have no choice: we cannot hope to return to glory without adopting Western military methods!” Selim exclaims in front of the kubbealti.

  “France is our source of military advisors, but implementing any kind of reform, fiscal or military, will be resisted by the yeniceri!” the kazasker for Anatolia (i.e Middle Eastern eyalets) retorts. “Maybe the British or Prussians could help us on land; we can’t lean on just one source!”

  When the discussions turn to military affairs, the wizards at this kubbealti session seem to have nothing to contribute, so they left the Muggle viziers to their own devices. So the Minister of Magic keeps quiet for a while, as do Othmane and Murat.

  Saleh worked with us based on a plan drafted by a certain Nurcan, the Irad-i Cedid. She might have known more about the issues of taxation than virtually every other wizard her age, it shows that she had no real exposure to yeniceri influence among the bureaucracy. Now, wizards never really called for the Muggle yeniceris’ disbandment, unlike some elements among the aristocracy, Murat reflects on the mention of disbanding Muggle yeniceri. Which caused the Agha of the yeniceri, the corps’ commander, to leave.

  “Surely you jest! You really think that the cost of a yeniceri rebellion, which would happen if the corps is disbanded, would be less than the cost of maintaining the corps?” the Muggle defterdar questions the nisanci about the plan of the Sultan to implement military reforms.

  The nisanci answers the defterdar. “Let’s just seize the property of yeniceri at death if it comes to an open revolt!”

  “You really think it can be paid for by seizing from the estates of dead yeniceri? I understand that yeniceri are often corrupt, and the corps’ size has become unsustainable, but a revolt will cause material damage!” the defterdar retorts.

  “We need to raise and train Nizam-i Cedid troops in secret, away from the yeniceri, and, if necessary, implement elements from the wizards’ tax reform plan!” Selim voices his concern after the nisanci answered the defterdar, before turning to the Minister of Magic. “The need for secrecy in the early stages of the Nizam-i Cedid reforms is the reason why I asked for wizarding assistance!”

  “I’m afraid that the Statute of Secrecy might limit what form of secrecy assistance we could offer to the sihirsizler Nizam-i Cedid reforms!” the Minister of Magic warns the Sultan. “We will provide assistance in keeping the Nizam-i Cedid reforms a secret from the yeniceri if, to finance them, the sihirsizler treasury implements the wizards’ tax reform plan. Or, if it cannot be fully implemented, as much of it as necessary to pay for it, while maintaining fairness!”

  At least Selim appears to heed the calls for reform… unlike so many at Muggle court. That said, we can’t use magic in front of Muggles. If Saleh told me a year ago that Nurcan would have built the arithmantic framework of the Irad-I Cedid while on exchange, or even brought the indication that France’s troubles can be a game-changer as far away from France as here, I wouldn’t have believed him, Othmane sighs. She might be one of the smartest witches in the world her age, and she took advantage of the position of weakness the Muggle government is in.

  “I couldn’t say this in front of the Agha of the yeniceri, but, with all due respect to the yeniceri, they performed like a conscript militia levy, and a highly paid one at that!” the kazasker for Rumelia lashes out at how poorly that turned out earlier in the war.

  At this point, the wizards are left wondering if the kubbealti is going to make more progress than the Estates-General in France. At least, if whatever news they get from French merchants is any indication.

  But when the session ends, and the wizard officials return to Sihirli Mahalle, they are left wondering whether the opportunity afforded to them by the Muggles’ position of weakness is going to amount to something in the long run.

  “It seems that we now have an opening for the sihirsizler to open themselves to greater cooperation with the wizarding world, within the limits of the Statute of Secrecy!” the head of the wizarding diplomacy tells his fellow coworkers at the ministry’s Department of Foreign Affairs.

  “That was… a little unexpected. For us, this is going to be unprecedented in Ottoman post-Statute history!” Saleh comments on the new developments at the Muggle palace, while slipping concerns about Nurcan. “Keep an eye on Nurcan, though: while she’s certainly smart, I’m afraid that she’s going to breach the Statute of Secrecy, in the pursuit of greater openness to sihirsizler!”

  “Where do these concerns come from?”

  “She seems to be a little too open to sihirsizler; it’s entirely possible that she could discuss the wizarding world in a context where it would be inappropriate!”

  “And yet, Nurcan was of a precious help to us when pushing for policy reforms! There might not be an Irad-I Cedid without her!”

  Already that Muslim countries tended to be more open to cooperating with wizards than Christian ones in governance matters, at least in times of crisis, Selim III is perhaps the sultan who seems to see wizards as partners in a policymaking context! Even Abdulhamid I, his predecessor on the throne, let alone Mustafa III, didn’t seem nearly as willing to treat wizards with respect, Othmane makes a mental comparison between the attitudes of the sultans he served under during his career at the Ministry towards wizards’ contributions in Muggle policymaking. Mustafa III saw wizards as disconnected, then again, the Statute was in force for a while at that point.

  Murat enters the room. “Nurcan might be our only hope for better integration with sihirsizler! So while the Sultan might not know the subtleties of wizarding blood status, she’s perhaps the person who best exemplifies how sihirsizler-borns can contribute to society!”