The horses were already flying over the roofs of Moscow.

" I want to say good-bye to the city, " shouted the Master to Azazello, who was riding in front. Thunder swallowed up the end of the Master's sentence. Azazello nodded and urged his horse into a gallop. A cloud was coming straight toward the riders, but still without a sprinkle of rain.

They flew over the boulevard, looked down and saw tiny figures running all over the place, seeking shelter from the rain. The first drops began to fall. They flew over the smoke, which was all that was left of Griboyedov. They flew over the city being flooded by darkness. Lightning flashed above them. Then the rooftops gave way to greenery. Only then did the rain gush down and transform them into three huge bubbles in the deluge.

Margarita was already used to the sensation of flight, but the Master was not, and he was amazed at how quickly they reached their destination, where the man was whom he wanted to say good-bye to because he had no one else. Through the veil of rain he immediately recognized Stravinsky's clinic, the river, and the wood on the opposite shore that he had come to know so thoroughly. They landed in a grove in the meadow not far from the clinic.

" I'll wait for you here, " shouted Azazello through cupped hands, now lit up by flashes of lightning, now submerged in a shroud of gray. " Say good-bye, but do it quickly! "

The Master and Margarita jumped down from their saddles and flew across the clinic garden, flickering like watery shadows. A moment later, the Master's practiced hand was moving aside the balcony grille of Room 117. Margarita was right behind him. They entered Ivanushka's room, invisible and unnoticed, while the storm was crashing and howling. The Master stopped by the bed.

Ivanushka lay motionless, just as he had the first time he watched a thunderstorm from this haven of rest. But he was not crying now as he had been then. After looking carefully at the dark silhouette that had entered his room from the balcony, he raised himself up, stretched his arms out and said joyfully, " Ah, it's you! I've been waiting and waiting for you. And now here you are, my neighbor."

To this the Master replied, " I am here! But unfortunately, I cannot be your neighbor anymore. I am flying away forever and I have only come to say good-bye."

" I knew that, I guessed it, " replied Ivan softly and asked, " Did you meet him? "

" Yes, " said the Master, " I came to say good-bye to you because you are the only person I've talked to recently."