The City & the City: Chapter 25 Summary & Analysis

Back in the Breach headquarters, Ashil brings Borlú photocopies of every page of Mahalia’s copy of Between the City and the City. That evening, they walk together in the outside world. By now, Borlú realizes that the dissensi are where Breach reside. Inside the bedroom in which he has been placed, he argues with representatives of Breach about the possibility that Orciny could be real. That night, once he is alone again, Borlú once again looks over Mahalia’s notes in Between the City and the City. They start neat and calm, but over time become more frantic. Borlú senses that she was furious.

The next morning, Ashil comes to get Borlú again, this time bringing him to a meeting with 12 or so Breach all stuffed into a fairly small room. Borlú realizes it is a “crisis meeting.” A vigorous debate ensues. Eventually, Borlú says that they need to go to Bol Ye’an, and Ashil agrees. Ashil advises Borlú that if he sees anyone he knows to just ignore them. Borlú wants to talk to Professor Nancy, but Ashil says they won’t be talking to any of the students or professors.

When they arrive, they approach Buidze, who panics and immediately insists that he hasn’t breached. Borlú asks if Buidze has been successful in his mission to stop the artefacts getting smuggled out. Nervously, Buidze says that no one would buy the artefacts anyway. He adds that it is impossible to stop the students breaching as they walk across the site, but this “doesn’t mean they’re thieves.” Borlú demands to know what artefacts are missing, but Buidze remains adamant that none are. In answer to Borlú’s questions, Buidze explains that different people take turns to lock up the site at night, and that Mahalia locked up the day she was killed.  

Professor Nancy walks in, recognizes Borlú, and looks shocked. He greets her and she nods in response. Borlú examines some artefacts, then asks Buidze to walk him through exactly what Mahalia would have done when she locked up. Borlú hypothesizes that before locking up, Mahalia took one or more older artefacts and left them in a specific place for someone in Besźel to pick up and smuggle out. Ashil asks Borlú if he feels watched, and Borlú replies that he doesn’t know. They search the grounds for a while looking for missing items, but find nothing. Borlú determines that the smuggling of the items must have involved breach, because the items are from Ul Qoma and were picked up in Besźel.

When Borlú and Ashil get back to headquarters, Breach are “bickering and voting.” It is announced that the frequency of minor breaches is increasing, and Breach isn’t getting to all of them. Borlú tells Ashil he “can’t handle” the meeting and Ashil escorts him back to his room, locking the door. Borlú looks over Mahalia’s notes again, paying special attention to the surnames she’s listed in the margins, some of which are familiar.

Suddenly, Borlú begins shouting, calling for Ashil, saying he needs to get online. Ashil takes him to the computer room where he enters the names Mahalia wrote in the margins into a search engine. The connection is painfully slow, but eventually reveals that each of these people are scholars who refuted Bowden’s argument. It is suddenly clear that Mahalia changed her opinion about Orciny. Borlú declares that rather than being killed by Orciny, “Mahalia was killed because she stopped believing in Orciny at all.”