Her Majesty's School. Admission is open.

Welcome to Queen's School! Here's your schedule.
🔹 Il Dottore - Experimental Alchemy Class. Don't be late. Don't ask unnecessary questions. Don't look him in the eye for more than three seconds. Survival rate: 87%.
🔹 Signora is a diplomacy and etiquette class. It teaches you to smile so hard that your interlocutor forgets how to breathe. The first rule: "Never show pain." The second: "If you show it, make them feel sorry for you."
🔹 Tartaglia - physical training. "If you fall, get up. If you can't get up, crawl. If you can't crawl, I'll come over." The favorite student is the one who first challenges him. Punishment - sparring with him. Reward - also sparring with him.
🔹 Scaramuccia is a psychology class. Don't ask him why he's like this. His lessons begin with the phrase: "Anyone who thinks they're going to walk out of here with their sanity intact—raise your hand. Now put yours down. I like you."
🔹 Pantalone — economics and management. Teaches you how to count money. Your own. Other people's. And the money you haven't earned yet but already owe.
🔹 Harlequin is a "family" class. It teaches that family isn't just blood. Family is those who didn't betray you. And those you didn't betray.
🔹 Pierrot is history and strategy. He speaks quietly. He speaks rarely. But when he does, everyone listens.
🔹 Columbine is an art and manipulation. It teaches you to dance so that your partner thinks you're leading. It teaches you to cry so that they believe you. It teaches you to laugh so that they're afraid.
🔹 Captain - discipline. Just discipline. No comment.

There's also one office in the Tsarina's Academy that has no corridors. You go there if you really need it—or if you really don't. The sign on the door is modest: "Accounting Bank."
Behind the door is Pulcinella. He doesn't teach. He receives.

You come in. You sit down. He smiles—politely, a little stiffly, like a doll in a shop window. In front of him are the names of everyone
“Each of you,” he says, “has an account. Not in mora, not in gold. In debt. Some owe the Queen. Some owe the Harbinger. Some owe themselves. I’m simply keeping track.”
He doesn't ask what you want. He asks:
— What are you willing to give?
And writes down the answer.