“Allow me to strip things of their pretense, Efendim,” Naime put mockery in the superlative, “so you find it easier to understand. You mock us for our restraint and our pretense, meanwhile you almost reveal yourself because you lack such restraint. You understand we are a country of powerful mages but have not considered what that means. We are polite, we are reserved, because passion and power are tied to each other. If we brawl, if we let ourselves do as we please, if we give in to our passions, we lose control and people die. These traditions are the lock and key that contain our violence
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