[UNEDITED]

Slamming the door, Talia strode down the main street. Her sorrowful path was illuminated—in a very real sense—by the radiant and unfading wisdom of the Postgraduate Toomr. Such was the terrible revenge of the magician-illuminator, who had been publicly humiliated by him. After having a violent tiff with the owner of the cave, he covered its ceiling with the most stupid dictums of Toomr, carefully collected by Enaor from the heads of the sophisticatedly damned. The Postgraduate had not been able to erase these marvels of calligraphy, so they still shone on a dark cave roof, silently comforting the victims of Toomr's tyranny and other offended and insulted ones.

Having reached the booth, where the majestic Tsaruz was wearing out his pillows, Talia turned into the alleyway and, after passing a couple of houses, found herself in a rather narrow branch of the cave. The glass blocks cast mysterious watery reflections on the wall of the building that stretched along the street on the left-hand side. The retired brooms, rakes, scrapers, giant scissors and mops lined up neatly near it.

The thousands of advertising leaflets have snugged in a dim nook closed off by a rope of amber velvet. They were strung on very tall vertical pins and stacked so densely that they looked like skewers with some exotic meat. Mr. Keeper of the Order, the owner in this house, whose duties included, among other things, cleaning the outer wall, always treated "the Inscribed Word" respectfully, so having collected another harvest of illegally pasted up flayers, he carefully stored it in his backyard.

A goat skull, fully saturated with frightening charms, guarded them. Its owner once had a criminal desire to taste one of these "paper kebabs", for which he paid with his life. Having shot an unfortunate animal with a crossbow, the Keeper enchanted its skull "in order to prevent other sentient beings and irrational creatures from committing the same sin".

The tunnel led Talia to a cozy cave, entirely covered with a thick carpet of moss. The small lake, surrounded by a sparkling crescent of a sandy beach, was hiding under a huge lollipop-pink mushroom. The chain swings, attached to a deformed portal arch, were swaying in the draft. In the opposite wall, there gleamed a glass door and a few irregular-shaped windows, painted with coveys of smiling crimson jellyfishes.

Talia knocked. The door opened immediately.

"The headmistress Tnori knew that you would come," said the pupil on duty, passing the guest inside. "She's waiting for you."

Contrary to expectations, the on-duty pupil brought Talia not to the office of Tnori, but to the vast basement of the asylum. Knocking on one of the doors, he opened it and stepped aside, revealing the headmistress, sitting in the steaming prayer pelvis. Her long, pale, forward-bent neck and a cape made of shaggy dark fur would make Tnori look like an old female vulture if it weren't for her absolutely nonavian head with large grayish ears and a complex nose-leaf covering almost a half of her face like a bat.

"May all your sins evaporate away!" Talia respectfully stood on tiptoe.

"And may they never settle on any of the living and dead," Tnori replied. "So..."

"So, I came to find out why you had decided to fire me," said as softly as she could.

"I have no right to ignore the incident with the merchant Sivbav."

"Then don't ignore it. That misunderstanding is over. I was found innocent and Sivbav officially apologized to me," Talia smiled broadly.

"The fact that your friend Ridgie wields a sword better than that warrior of Sivbav, unfortunately, doesn't in any way prove that you were not involved in this crime," Tnori said. "There was no investigation, no trial. The main evidence is completely destroyed, and, as many believe, you have a hand in this."

For a few seconds Talia could only stare blankly at the coals winking under the ancient pelvis.

"There were dozens of eye-ears around the arena watching everything and everyone from every possible angle. All you have to do is just to ask their owners to let you take a look at their records, and you'll see who actually shoved your evidence into the larsha with his big armored ass."

"But this records won't help me find out who forced Sivbav to do it," the headmistress said imperturbably.

"Oh, we can go too far with this twisted logic, you know!" Talia slapped her own thigh. "If I were prone to curling people's brains left and right, I would curl yours right now, why wouldn't I?"

"Maybe that's because my spirit is a little stronger than Sivbav's. And so I'm not as easily dominated as hi," Tnori said, modestly licking her nose.

"Holy Cat-pleasers, Feeders, Strokers and Brushers! Even if I robbed twenty Sivbavs, what does this have to do with the sorting of the waifs? Are you scared my vicious nature will taint the pure children's souls? It's not even funny, Tnori. Over the months of working here, I have seen only two who never stole anything. Not to mention all kinds of debauchery."

"We can not turn quartz crystals entrusted to гыby the Infinite into diamonds and emeralds. But we can facet and polish them in the best way."

"Tnori, we both know that your kids only see me ten minutes in their entire life! If that was the case, you could have just hide me behind some folding screen, instead of firing me. So what's going on here?" Talia stepped over to the headmistress.

"Our service check revealed that you were performing your duties improperly," Tnori answered reluctantly.

"Go bold my ears! And where did I messed up?"

"You have advised us to keep kids who are not hopeless, those whose hearts can beat happily in normal cities, at Lennes. You ... you're too much in love with Lennes. You are willing to bathe in the blood that flows through its streets. The scent of her lecherous body tickles your heart. It gratifies your curiosity, and so you forgive it for any cruelty. You are abyss-dweller to the bone, Talia an Kamian. And maybe that's why other creatures seem to be having the same likes to you." Tnori wearily wiped off the moisture that had settled on her face. "Before, I have always defended you, I've assured my colleagues that you are staying away from ... what is happening here, in Lennes. But the robbery of Sivbav has changed everything. I have run out of arguments. I can still believe in your innocence, but my voice is only one of many. The Board of Trustees had already made its decision. I'm sorry."

"I respect the Board's decision. I have to do this—especially since there is not a single instance in which I can appeal against its decision or ... prove that I had nothing to do with this stupid crime. But can I at least find out what service check are you talking about? Who was running this check? Kipheb isn't qualified to do that. Had you engaged outside experts?"

"I guess you could say that. But it's not about the opinion of one creature. We have seen in practice that kids, whom you called ... labeled the natural abyss-dwellers, have perfectly taken roots in the quiet, peaceful settlements. Of course, they caper and frolic like any other children, but generally feel great and do not cause too much disturbance for their caregivers."

"It can not be," Talia said firmly.

"I'm sorry, but it's true."

The an Kamian frowned in disbelief.

"Tnori, are you sure your wards hadn't been intimidated by someone? And they aren't under magical suggestion now?"

"Absolutely. I visited each of them more than once. And you know I have an instinct about these things."

"There's something wrong here."

"No, Talia, there was something wrong. But now things are right. Everything is back to normal. Trust me, both of my hearts are so heavy about all of this. But I have to take care of my children—of their safety and their future."

"Naturally. And I care about them, too. I'm afraid that somebody had framed me, precisely to hound me out of the Asylum—so I couldn't spoil their game. A wicked game, apparently."

"I'm not a big fan of conspiracy, Talia," said Tnori sternly. "And I like it when someone claims that I don't know what's going on right under my nose even less."

"Tnori, I–"

"We will definitely pay you severance wage," she continued in the same icy tone. "In a day or two, I'll send someone to bring you your money."

"I'm sure, Talia, you'll land on your feet ... paws."

"Thank you. Madam headmistress is always so kind to me," the an Kamian forced herself to say.