The years of grueling study are behind them—and now the gates of the citadel swing open, releasing new oberezhniki into the world.
Not everyone proved strong enough for the merciless schooling, and those who endured it to the end will never be the same again.
The osenyonny is a person outside all circles, forever cut off from their former life: loved ones keep their distance, fellow villagers look on with suspicion, and there are no friends left. As for a family of their own, they can hardly dream of one. And what would be the point for someone whose fate is to vanish one day into the darkness?
And yet no one suspects what secrets the night veil hides—secrets capable of overturning the familiar order of things once and for all.