When they arrive in Tilsit, the family arrives in the basement of the city’s castle, where multiple dignitaries from Austria, Prussia, Russia, France, the Ottoman and Qajar Empires have already arrived. Some of them came with their significant others in tow, such as one of the Qajar delegates, whose wife Nurcan recognizes, despite wearing Qajar clothing, probably through Multicorfors.

  “Oh Christine! How has it been?” Nurcan exclaims, wearing the grand chelengk alongside the outfit she wore for major state events when she was the defterdar of the Irad-I Cedid.

  “This is Firouz, my second husband, magical kalantar of Sabzevar…” Christine introduces her husband to Nurcan’s family.

  “Second husband? How did your first one die?” Nurcan gasps.

  “My first husband died in the lead-up to Austerlitz, and by this point I became fully Austrian. I fled to Persia after the Treaty of Pressburg was signed, and I went to Tehran to flee French exactions in Moravia; these Qajars treat us as coming from one Franghestan…”

  “Kalantar?” Isabella, a scribe the French delegation brought in tow, gasps. “Please forgive my lack of knowledge of Qajars, but where do they sit in… Qajar society?”

  “I never expected Faranguis (Westerners) to know anything about Qajar magical society. Magical kalantars are responsible for magical public security, tax collection and justice for a region!” Firouz attempts to answer the scribe of Piedmontese extraction in his best English.

  “Not much different from Muggle ones, really…” Nurcan adds.

  And then several people appear in front of them: Vaidi, who appears almost the same as in her previous dream walk, plus decorations given to her when Poland-Lithuania still existed, a few other dignitaries, Prussian, French, Austrian, Russian, Qajar, and even another Ottoman.

  And, of course, Alejandra.

  “On behalf of the Ministerio de la Magia de Espa?a, welcome to Tilsit. As we all know, the muggle world is at war, and, unlike so many in the magical world, our respective nations know that a magical escalation of muggle wars can threaten the entire world. But, while we can all agree on the necessity of preventing magical involvement in muggle wars, we can wait on the ICW no longer, so let us begin with defining the meaning of what constitutes intervention in muggle wars!” Alejandra’s preamble seems to be a little long.

  “Let’s get that out of the way and say that magic must not be visible by muggles, and neither must magical creatures!” a Prussian delegate starts the discussion.

  The first French delegate starts haranguing the delegates about secrecy. “These are the core tenets of the Statute, sir, but we must not restrict ourselves to only the obvious items every wizard knows about. Yet we also know about the temptation of intervention: even if we could do so in ways that allow us to remain undetected, such as mind reading on key personnel, fog magic or confusion potions, or even enchanted weapons, or supplies, it might raise suspicions! And that’s not counting on mind control!”

  “The problem is that we might, without wanting it, and especially if we use letterism or other magic that could act over wide areas. That, if we cover too wide an area with muggle repellents, we might interfere with them without wanting it!” Nurcan starts thinking about her very own experience of engraving letterism-borne, Muggle-repelling talismans in her forest cabin. “This also holds of runes!”

  “Yet, she has a point. The big problem is making the difference between accidental use or exposure of magic and deliberate use. We wouldn’t want to unfairly punish wizards for actions they didn’t plan on…” an Austrian delegate points out.

  The rest of the session is spent debating magic that could unintentionally be used against Muggle troops, and how they should be dealt with. Speaking of which:

  “You Russians couldn’t even control magical traps on your own turf!” the Prussian delegate brandishes reports from Zemaitija. In front of Vaidi. “We won’t sign a magical containment treaty if you don’t clean up your own traps!”

  “Once again, you ask for a specific measure without having first defined the measures’ scope!” Alejandra scolds the Prussian delegate when he demands Russia clean up magical traps on its territory.

  “Asking to dispel the traps in warzones would be a first step towards ensuring the security of the magical world!” Vaidi retorts, in a Lithuanian accent while not saying more about the real uses of the magical traps in the Vilnius Guberniya. “In that case, all countries at this table must clean up magical traps on their territories, including Spain! However, not all magical traps are designed for use on humans. Some of these are instead deployed specifically so that magical creatures remain hidden from Sihirsizler eyes, so I propose that this clause be applied to magical traps for use on humans, the ones that pose a threat to secrecy!”

  Vaidi then has flashbacks of what she used enchanted ukases for on the Zemaitija (Samogitia)-Kurzeme border: distributing false information to Russian troops, making forest roads impracticable to Muggle patrols, and so on. I had my hands full with Buxhoeveden on the Zemaitija border because his men are afraid of an uprising in there that could make magic uncontrollable! Not to mention that Russian muggles are a superstitious bunch.

  For what is to follow, they keep discussing which magical traps should be allowed, and which ones should be banned, and under which circumstances. However, the karkadann in the room is about to resurface as meals are about to come out:

  “Sihirsizler?” the other Ottoman delegate rolls his eyes upon hearing that term from Vaidi.

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  “Even if we were able to define which traps could breach the Statute, and, from there, which traps to ban and which traps are allowed, the International Confederation of Wizards would never allow such a treaty to be in place if we cannot agree on the punishments!” Firouz clamors in a Persian accent.

  “In which case, there are several layers of punishments to consider, depending on the scale and severity of the breaches. It goes without saying that a country should not be punished the same for a small-scale accident by a lone wizard vs an entire force of wizards engaging in a full-scale invasion. However, traditional magical law, while suitable for individuals, is ill-equipped for crimes against humanity. We all realize that if we punish a country too harshly for an attack, we might remove its ability to enforce magical secrecy. And yet, sanctions should be meted out based on what the source of the breach is, if the scale justifies it!” Nurcan harangues the others about the inadequacy of existing legal frameworks.

  For everyone else at this table, except maybe for Alejandra, the realization hits them like a ton of bricks. Especially the Austrians and the Prussians, who were already nearly powerless on the magical world stage up to this point.

  Speaking of Prussians, they don’t realize that, above them, Muggle Prussian soldiers are hurriedly taking away what can be saved out of the archives and equipment, while, at the same time, preparing for a battle against France that could soon come. For the wizards, the noises of war preparation might disturb them somewhat.

  “We can barely maintain secrecy as it is. How can we maintain secrecy on a territory as vast as even Prussia when its magical law enforcement personnel is on the brink of being overworked, and hope of even going on the offensive? In exchange for us not deploying wizards in muggle wars, we ask for Russian assistance in cleaning up magical traps on Prussian soil!” the Prussian delegate kneels before everyone else.

  “If your magical community is as decrepit as you claim, then your ability to deploy magical traps is going to be nominal at best!” the second Russian delegate retorts. “So don’t expect Prussia to receive much assistance from Russia, even if it was to dispel magical traps!”

  “Us too!” the Austrian delegate clamors, this time in front of the Qajars. “We have multiple times the amount of territory to cover as Prussia, and we can barely enforce secrecy with what little wizards we have, even if everyone kept muggle wars off the magical world! So we also request assistance for our peacekeeping obligations!”

  “Let’s not forget that keeping magical peace depends on maintaining a balance of power. So while the Austrian magical economy is very dependent on dragon materials and Prussia, amber, it would be in the best interest of everyone else at this table to help both diversify their magical economies and rebuild their populations!” Alejandra clamors.

  Everyone else at the table couldn’t help but cry upon hearing about their decrepitude. Especially Christine.

  Even with the drive to get Royalist wizard refugees from France during the War of the First Coalition, Austria is still bearing the weight of decades of near-constant muggle warfare. They saw fit to marry me off to Firouz to secure a magical treaty with the Qajars post-Pressburg! I know where this is going, though: the Austrians ask Qajars for help in peacekeeping, the reverse of what’s happening in the muggle world! Christine is left wondering if the Qajars aren’t going to gouge Austria in the long run.

  “At this point I believe the Ottoman ministry would do well to perhaps assist Prussia, but the main challenge for Prussia is labor. Prussia can barely maintain magical secrecy, and we can’t simply exile criminals to Prussia; such an influx of magical criminals would be a massive secrecy risk. And neither can France, Russia or Qajars! Maybe some unhappy, but law-abiding, wizards in glutted labor markets could be persuaded to go ply their trades in Austria or Prussia and then reduce the risks of civil unrest. And, from there, risks for magical peace and secrecy!” Nurcan makes her suggestion.

  “I’m afraid the Austrians and the Prussians are both willing to make the accord go outside their original scope, and the Ottomans are just making this worse! To the best of our knowledge, Austria already has an agreement in place to this effect with Persia. If Prussia wants one with the Ottomans, let them negotiate one separately!” the second French delegate retorts, feeling like this agreement is trying to be too many things to everyone.

  Nurcan’s head starts to overheat when she hears the other French delegate talk about using the tentative agreement as an attempt to address labor glut. The problem is that some of these delegates don’t understand how job market dynamics could cause social unrest to happen. As the defterdar of the Irad-I Cedid, I knew what the consequences of a labor glut could be, but it wasn’t the Irad-I Cedid’s job to deal with these issues. Yet, for some reason, Austria courted unhappy dhimmi wizards in the Balkans, but Russia did not.

  “We were here to negotiate an agreement to prevent muggle wars from destroying magical secrecy and instead of that, Spain made Austria and Prussia attempt to use these talks for other purposes!” Firouz starts yelling at Alejandra.

  “Russia might be willing to help Prussia clean up magical traps on its territory without Prussia paying for it, but that’s all Prussia can hope for from magical Russia outside of staying out of muggle wars!” the other Russian delegate makes his counteroffer.

  “If that’s all we are going to get from Russia, we have no choice but to ask either the Ottomans or the Qajars for help to rebuild our magical infrastructure!” the Prussian delegate turns to the other Ottoman delegate.

  “It’s not that we don’t want to help, it’s because Buxhoeveden is the greatest internal threat to Russian magical secrecy, even as his patrols encroach into Zemaitija out of fear for his supply lines, in search for hidden supplies!” Vaidi tries to play up the internal secrecy threat Russia faces, while keeping quiet about the situation in Russian-controlled Yedisan.

  “Before you all call for Buxhoeveden’s removal, and accuse Russia of acting in bad faith, may I remind you all that, even in the chaos of muggle war, the risk of doing so, even with non-magical means, is far too great for us!” Alejandra warns.

  As the delegates keep arguing the scope of the magical containment agreement, and what concessions could be made by each party, Vincent is busy elsewhere in the castle brewing Turkish coffee, using Yemen arabica, for the delegates.

  When the session is adjourned, the delegates, tired of spending hours on discussing what the maintenance of magical peace really means, or requires, the coffee is being poured, and the meals being served have no pork in it, knowing they dealt with Muslims.

  “I can’t believe that France and Russia only care about the security without addressing root causes of civil unrest!” Nurcan laments, while her forehead is heating. “Or maybe the other delegate Vaidi brought in tow!”

  “Speaking of Vaidi, it seems like I heard her say the word Sihirsizlers. I never heard a Russian wizard utter that word before, even in their native accent! Did she try to learn Turkic with magic?” the other Ottoman delegate asks.

  “She might have absorbed bits of Turkic in a dream walk…”

  “But I believe we may need to go over the legality of what we discussed previously…”

  “Whereas some might feel that it’s not the time to set the foundations of a lasting magical peace, especially France and Russia, I’d say our survival demands it. Yet, Russia had their own issues to deal with, much like the new sultan on our side!”