Diamond dogs: an old friend offers Richard Swift the chance to help him explore Blood Spire, an enigmatic structure surrounded by the bones of those who have already tried. Turquoise days: Naqi has dedicated her life to the study of the Pattern Jugglers, the amorphous, aquatic organisms with the capacity to preserve and reshape human memory. When newcomers arrive around her world, she hopes that she will at last be able to escape her past, but the past has other ideas.