If the educational process at Jelshakh School was perfectly all right, then the entertainment process was exactly the opposite. It never occurred to any of the adults that the younger generation needed not only textbooks for normal development, but also games, and the more diverse, the better. Dwarves, however, had a board with a set of chips for the game of tutun, remotely resembling earthly backgammon. All dwarves love the game, and there are regular contests for the title of best tutun player in Gallara. But when you are a little over ten, energy is boiling inside, demanding an exit, and the weather outside is fine - can you sit several hours at the game table, intensively thinking over every move? It much more pleasant to play ball with friends, or race to see who could get to the goal faster. The ball, as it turned out, is nowhere to be found (for some reason none of the alien races were into football or volleyball), and the forest was not a clear field, so there was not much room to run around. The elves, whether light or dark, preferred hide-and-seek; the orcs and lycoses liked power games such as tug-of-war. For obvious reasons, the traditional activities of peirots and yusmes, such as jumping through fire or throwing snowballs, were abandoned. Therefore, the most popular game was feyo, which did not require any special conditions or special skills.

The rules of the game are simple - as, probably, in most yard games. A palm-high wooden cylinder is placed on an elevation (a stool, a stump, a boulder with a flat surface). Or even a few such cylinders connected in a certain way. The player has a disk also made of wood and it must be thrown to knock the cylinders off the pedestal. At first glance there is nothing difficult, sleight of hand plus good eye, and it's in the bag. But this is only at first glance. The greater the distance between the player and the cylinders, the harder it is to hit. But the bigger is the contribution to the team's piggy bank - since there is no particular interest in doing it alone, the game is either three-on-three or five-on-five, but line-up variations are also possible. If you want to earn a lot of game points, use a disc with an offset center of gravity. Its trajectory is completely unpredictable (even if there is no wind!), but hitting it from fifty steps actually guarantees victory in the game. If you miss, the move goes to your opponent. And so on until a certain number of rounds are played or the necessary number of points is scored. The opposing team can field a catcher against you, whose task is to catch the disc on the fly. If he succeeds, the points go to his team. If not, you get double the points than with a normal throw. Using magic is forbidden, and trying to use it secretly gets the whole team disqualified.

The first time he was invited to play feyo, Tim couldn't hit the cylinder from ten steps. It was too unaccustomed; the disc should not be thrown in the same way as a ball or a snowball. However, with a little practice Tim got the hang of it. Though they were all still a long way off Fingor and Yumial, acknowledged virtuosos of the game - Fingor, for example, could easily defeat even one against five. So they were invited to serve as advisers and referees. Yumial enjoyed the role of referee even more than the role of player (at least, it seemed so to Tim) - she was happy to educate them on the subtleties of the game and show how to direct the disc in any given situation.

The honor of officiating today's match fell to her, too. They decided to play three-on-three - people had already scattered, and it proved problematic to get four more classmates to play five-on-five. Some people promised to come back later, but they did not want to wait for an unknown amount of time. As a result, Tim, Tiis-Mir, and Eliavin were on one team, and Naar-Tam, Eliavel, and Za-Zu were on the other. The elf twins, who always stuck together in life, tried to be in opposite camps in games - probably to emphasize their individuality that way. No one had anything against it: two elves was too much of an advantage for either team. After all, feyo was invented on their planet, and therefore all pointy-eared people know how to play it - just some better, some worse.

The boulder on which Master Nimikel had sat during Green Magic class was chosen as the pedestal for the cylinders. As a matter of fact, it was hard to find a better place in the woods for feyo, with a reasonable elevation and plenty of room to maneuver. Za-Zu still wondered if the Master would be offended if he knew how the students were using the 'teacher's chair'.

"She wouldn't. She used it just like that when she was a pupil," Eliavin said, smiling merrily.

"How did you know that?"

"Oh, I just met her a few days ago, during a walk in the woods, and we got to talking. By the way, she was the one who suggested using the glade for the game."

"Cool! If you meet Aerg or Ven'A'Sash in a situation like that, you're not likely to want to have a little chat. You'd rather pretend you weren't here, waiting when they pass by."

"I don't think you'll meet them in the wilderness. I suppose for Aerg the forest is a sort of vast untended piece of land where it is necessary to clean up. To pave roads of brick in all directions, plant them with ornamental shrubs, and cut everything else to the ground. And the drowes don't give a damn about the beauty of our world, they don't even have any greenery in their dungeons."

Tim could have argued, of course - Mez'A'Shib enjoyed wandering through the forest. But it was more important to concentrate on another thought - if the elf had managed to meet Master Nimikel, then he also had a chance. All he has to do is to get out into the fresh air more often. Because, as it turned out from further conversation, the teacher of druidism appeared here regularly, volunteering her duties as a forest ranger. And if he'll ask her nicely, she is not likely to refuse to answer his questions.

The game didn't start well for his team - first Tiis-Mir missed, and then Tim, and just a little: the disc flew a centimeter over the cylinder without touching it. The next two rounds they were able to get back some points, but in the fourth round the disc missed the target again. It wasn't my day, Tim grieved. His head was too full of various problems, he could not relax, devoting himself entirely to the game. And so, giving up his place to Ivliar, who had come to watch the game, he went for a little walk. What if today is the day when he'll learn something very important? Maybe at least fortune will be on his side. Eliavin could not say exactly where in the woods he had met the teacher. But it's unlikely it took place too far from the school - none of them had ever been to the real backwoods.

Tim was just hoping to get lucky, so he wandered on. As he passed a grove of sharp-leaf trees and a thicket of yortt whose berries were quite edible, only slightly bitter, he heard an iridescent trill: someone was playing an uncomplicated tune on a pipe. Trying to avoid stepping on fallen leaves and branches, Tim turned off the path and took a detour. Not because he suspected danger to himself, just out of curiosity. As close as he could, he cautiously parted the branches of the tree that separated him from the musician. He saw a startling scene, Iwiel sitting on a fallen tree, her back to him, a makeshift flute in her hands, and a paamph stomping awkwardly about on its hind legs. It's trying to dance, isn't it?

But no matter how enchanted the little beast was by the music, it sensed the appearance of a stranger - first it stopped, sniffing, and then it ducked into the bushes, from where it warily looked in the direction of the tree behind which Tim was hiding. The latter had to leave his hiding place; from surprise, Iwiel instinctively tried to hide the flute in the grass.

"Excuse me," Tim decided to be polite. "I couldn't pass by such an unusual sight. You have real talent!"

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"Oh, nothing, it's one of the most primitive melodies," Iwiel dismissed, though she obviously liked the compliment. "It's a tune even a child could play. If you'd heard real musicians, you'd have forgotten all around."

"Maybe I will someday. You're really good with the pet, though! Training or magic?"

"More like the former. Magic can subdue the beast, but it will only obey orders. It will not be able to communicate with you."

"Like resuscitating a corpse," Tim remembered Master Ven'A'Sash's lesson.

"Ugh, what an analogy," Iwiel crinkled her face. "The elves consider the study of Brown magic more disgraceful than cleaning latrines! Only the outcasts practice it, and only at their own risk. And dark elves, who take pleasure in all sorts of nastiness!"

"Is it really that scary of me?" Tim changed the subject, noticing that the beast was still sitting in the bushes, making no attempt to get out. It's not running away, though.

"No, it's just being careful. Pimpy, you can go back, the human won't do you any harm!"

"Actually, my name is Timothy."

"And I'm Iwiel (Tim nodded his head - nice to meet you, though he knew the elf's name). Pimpy, introduce yourself too!"

Pimpy got up on his hind legs and shook his muzzle.

"Oh, goody!" Tim admired. "You have astonishing training abilities!"

"In fact, it was already tamed. Someone from the previous class had tried. But for some reason he didn't take it with him when he graduated, even though he had promised to. And so Pimpy was sad a lot at first. I hope I was able to bring him out of his depressed state."

"Maybe the former owner decided that it would be better off here? Or were the teachers not allowed to take it with him?"

"Then he shouldn't have made promises! Yes, beasts are very trusting and easy to deceive, but how will you feel afterwards?"

"I agree, not good. I've never kept pets at home, but I can imagine. But maybe the owner will come back for it."

"I certainly hope so. Pimpy's grown very fond of him."

"It's a pity we can't find out who he was. I don't think the paamph can talk."

"Why not? If you use Mind Symbiosis, you can access its memories. Unfortunately, it's a very serious magic, and only very experienced druids have it."

"Maybe after a while you can, too."

"Thank you. Although I'll almost certainly be out of school by then. That's why it's better to let the owner come back."

"Who's against that?"

And so they parted. And at continuing on his way, Tim heard the sound of a flute behind him.

After it Tim was deep in thought and for some time he walked without knowing the road and without even looking around. It was only when the trees in front parted, revealing a view of a small clearing, that Tim switched back to his perception of the world around him. And froze, as if a gust of icy wind in the middle of a hot July day had brought a sense of danger. The clearing was too strange, too different from the others.

While everywhere else in the forest was summer (Jelshakh, as Tim had learned, knows almost no change in the seasons - sometimes a little warmer, sometimes a little colder, but the range of temperature is small), here it was as if autumn had taken a walk - the grass was shriveled and yellowed, the flowers wilted, lifelessly bowed to the ground. And the silence that you meet in nature on the eve of winter, when the birds have flown away to warmer lands. And right in the middle of the clearing - a plant that resembles a sunflower. On a long stalk, blackened from the roots to the top, dangled dejectedly in an inflorescence the size of a small cabbage. The fire had only partially scorched it, leaving marks so that from a distance the 'cabbage' looked very much like...

...a human skull!

It was the clearing from his dream!

Tim's whole body was instantly covered in clammy sweat. He took a step back, ready to run away at a moment's notice. But no one was going to play cat and mouse with him, no creatures armed with glass daggers looked out from behind the trees, and the silence continued. Still, being prudent, Tim did not approach the strange plant. More importantly, he remembered his dream in great detail!

But where was the Oracle to be found? And for what purpose? He had not been able to find out this in the dream. And it is unlikely to find out now - the dream is not a movie or a book, there will be no sequel. So he would have to make inquiries. And the easiest way would be to visit the library again.

There was no reason to stay in the clearing, and there was no desire to either. The only problem was, how to get out of here? The trees were so tall that he couldn't see any reference points behind their crowns. And he could hardly go back the way he came - while he was thinking, he turned off the path and wandered at random for some time. That's why the chances of getting lost were too great. Trying to reconstruct the path from memory, Tim quickly became convinced of the need to develop the skill of a pathfinder, otherwise any hike into remote terrain would end in an embarrassing fiasco. Pride didn't allow him to shout 'Ow!', so the view from above was the fastest way to find his way back. But there was a problem: the bark of the trees surrounding the clearing was slippery, as if covered in oil. After a bit of torture, Tim jumped up and clung to the lower branch of the nearest tree, hoping to pull himself up and then climb higher. But it suddenly broke easily at the base. Why is the local flora so fragile? On Earth, even a dry branch of that thickness would have supported his weight!

He has to go at random - somewhere there would be a road or a hill that would make it easy to know where to go. Tim was not afraid of getting lost - the forest was big, but not endless, there were no beasts that could attack him, so sooner or later he would get to the school. Either his friends will find him when they are worried about his long absence, or ghosts will do it during the night raid. The latter option didn't suit Tim at all; fortunately there was still time before nightfall. But not so much to wander back and forth in vain.

Help came from where he hadn't expected it. There was rustling in the grass nearby, and a paamph leaped to the edge of the clearing. The same one that had been dancing to the sound of the flute, and panting Iwiel appeared behind him.

"Pimpy, where are you going with that speed, you have four paws and I only have two legs! What's so interesting about this place? Yuck, what a smell, let's get out of here!"

That last one didn't apply to Tim, whom the elf girl, concerned about the strange behavior of the paamph, didn't even notice. Tim, however, had no intention of hiding.

"Iwiel, hello again!" he shouted, revealing himself.

The elf girl turned around, her face suddenly became indignant.

"So you're the one who stinks up the place?!?"

"Watch what you say!" Tim took offense, tapping his knuckles expressively on his forehead.

"I don't mean the smell of your body, I mean the smell of witchcraft. That's a nasty spell! Why did you use it?"

"I didn't do it! I could swear on anything!"

"Honestly?"

"Of course! If I don't even have an innate gift, how can I use such powerful magic?"

The argument didn't make much sense, but it worked on the elf girl.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I overreacted a little. But then who was it?"

"How should I know? When I happened to be here, it was already like that."

Tim did not, of course, tell her about his dream, but just remarked with a thoughtful look:

"I don't smell anything burnt, though..."

"The fire had nothing to do with it. It's either a curse or a poison! Don't you smell anything?"

Instead of answering, Tim leaned over, picked some of the dead stalks and smelled them. Indeed, the smell was present - a very unpleasant, 'chemical' smell. That's how cheap plastic toys on Earth smell when they've just been taken out of their packaging. Iwiel must have a well-developed sense of smell for smelling it from afar. Or his own nose was too accustomed to the smells of high-tech civilization.

The paamph didn't like it in the clearing, either - it wrinkled his nose amusedly, trying to keep away from the vegetation that was stricken with some unknown disease. Tim rummaged in his pocket for a piece of oatmeal cookie from the night before supper. The paamph sniffed at the treat, then grabbed it with his forelegs and chewed on it.

"Look at that, he liked it," Iwiel was surprised. "And I didn't think to bring any goodies from the dining room. I'll be sure to do that next time! And now I'm going to use my gift to see if it works."

A pale green cloud enveloped a patch of yellow-brown grass, but there was no visible change.

"So there must be something else... is it dark magic?"

"What's your gift?"

"Poison Neutralization. I can heal the bite of a poisonous insect or even a snake. I've never cured a plant. But I think I know what to do."

However, she refused to reveal the details - you will know it in the end. And so they went back to the school.