“Infighting, Anton. For us Russian Witches the World War and the Revolution were far greater calamities than they were for Others in general . . .”

“Why?”

“We Witches are closer to the earth. To the country where we grew up, where we acquired our powers. In 1914 it was already difficult for us to gather in the Conclave—for a Russian Witch to sit beside a German one, an English Witch beside an Austrian one—and then after the Revolution, with the USSR on one side and everyone else on the other, reaching an agreement about anything at all became quite impossible. Then I went to sleep, hid away from my friends, left the Conclave . . . and it fell apart anyway: its time had obviously come. So we didn’t do anything about this. It’s a pity . . . I didn’t have Fan’s fortitude when my friend prophesied in 1915—I told people everything.”

“But you did it your own way,” I said, nodding.

“Yes, I managed to get around the prophecy and save the country. Her prophecy became inaccurate, it became just one more false prediction. It seemed like I’d done well . . . but then I heard about Fan, and I couldn’t get his story out of my mind. So when I came back to the world, I started looking for him. And I found him.”

“What’s he doing in Taiwan? Did he flee from the communists?”

“Of course not. He’s indifferent to human ideology, just as we are. But he was the curator of an imperial museum, you understand? And when the Chinese who weren’t communists started withdrawing to Taiwan in 1948, they took the museum treasures along. And they took Fan with them . . . what else could he do? So now he works in the Gugun National Imperial Museum.”

“But that’s in Beijing.”

“No, that’s just the Gugun Imperial Museum. This is the National one.”

“But will he tell us everything?” I asked.

Arina shrugged.

“Any pressure or force is out of the question,” I said, just to be quite clear. “I’m not going to quarrel with the Chinese Others.”

“I haven’t gone insane either,” Arina said with a nod. “Only better say ‘Taiwanese,’ and not ‘Chinese.’ It’s more polite and more correct.”

“Any other pieces of advice?”

“Perfectly elementary ones. Never raise the subject of the two Chinas in conversation. Praise Taiwan, but don’t abuse China! Even if the subject does come up, avoid offering any opinions. It’s their internal problem and foreigners shouldn’t interfere in it. By the way, you should behave the same way in mainland China, if you end up there.”

“I get it,” I said.

“Refrain from any bodily contact. I don’t mean sex, simply try not to invade their personal space, don’t touch anyone when you talk to them, don’t slap them on the shoulders, don’t hug them. It’s impolite.”

“You’ve done all your homework,” I said.