CHAPTER I — THE LANE
Where the city begins.
The quest opens, by tradition, on a small lane that nobody can locate twice. It runs east-west on alternate Wednesdays. The cobblestones are blue under rain and brown under sun and the same temperature in every season.
This page records the lane as it appeared on the morning of the first sketch.
CHAPTER II — THE PARK
A small park, with one bench.
At the end of the lane, a park appears. It contains exactly one bench and seven trees and a bird that may or may not be the same bird every visit. The bench has been signed, in pencil, by every traveler who has rested on it.
The seventh tree is, possibly, an idea of a tree.
CHAPTER III — THE CANAL
Water, slowly, in the right direction.
Beyond the park: a canal, narrow and brown and entirely beautiful. The boats on it have not moved in living memory. The boatmen, when interviewed, have always just stepped away.
The current, if it exists, runs upstream from the inland.
CHAPTER IV — THE ROOMS
Rooms above the canal.
Above the canal, on the third floor of an unmarked building, there are rooms that the locals call the Quiet Set. They contain only a desk and a chair and a window. We do not know what is read at the desk. We do not know what is seen through the window.
Travelers are encouraged to imagine.
CHAPTER V — THE RETURN
The way home is the way out.
Every quest ends where it began, slightly altered. You will leave the lane in the wrong direction and arrive home anyway. This is the central kindness of the city.
Pack your sketchbook and a soft pencil. Bring no map.