Every office in Orienne comes with something underneath it. Archie Plume's comes with a pharmacy, a coffee pot that is not for customers, and a man named Henri (ON-ree, not HEN-ree) who never asks what is in the files.

Behind the Backdoor is a place that appears on no survey and in no deed. In the old tongue it is the lace sewn between two pieces of cloth. Archie Plume on the golden rooms, what he has measured there, the one closed door, and what to do if he does not come back.

A bayou reach of the lower Delta, thirty miles below Orienne, where the water runs dark as steeped tea. Archie Plume was raised there. This entry has been started four times.

The principal port of the Sable Charter, built on ground never entirely persuaded to be solid. A tour of its seven districts, from the Landing to the Quiet Blocks, by the investigator who lives above the pharmacy.

A river with a country attached to it. Archie Plume on the four regions of the Sable, the Charter with one signature scraped away, and the ancient stones that point somewhere other than the water.