diff --git a/internal/check/paths.go b/internal/check/paths.go
index 50640d9..3658b69 100644
--- a/internal/check/paths.go
+++ b/internal/check/paths.go
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 package check
 
+import (
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+)
+
 // PathsNamedInProse returns the repository-relative paths a text names, in the
 // order it names them, each once. It is the same reading the record checks do,
 // exported so that a second reader of this repository's prose is one caller of
@@ -13,3 +18,48 @@ package check
 func PathsNamedInProse(text string) []string {
 	return pathsNamedInProse(text)
 }
+
+// linkTarget matches the target of a markdown inline link, which is the part
+// between the parentheses. It stops at whitespace and at a parenthesis, so a
+// sentence carrying an ordinary parenthetical is not read as a link.
+var linkTarget = regexp.MustCompile(`\]\(([^()\s]+)\)`)
+
+// LinkTargetsWithoutADirectory returns the markdown link targets a text carries
+// that name a file beside the document rather than under a directory, in the
+// order it names them, each once. A caller joins each one to the directory its
+// document sits in and gets a repository-relative path.
+//
+// This is the reading PathsNamedInProse cannot make and is not widened to make.
+// That pattern requires a leading segment naming a directory of this tree,
+// which is what stops it reading a capitalised word, a version string or the
+// last segment of a URL as a path, and a file at the root has no such segment
+// in front of it. Widening the pattern to reach one would refuse honest prose,
+// and a check that refuses honest prose is a check somebody switches off.
+//
+// The parentheses are what carry the intent instead. A name inside a link is
+// somebody saying they expect a file to be there; the same name in a sentence
+// is a word. So the target of a link is resolved and a bare word is not, and
+// the two readings sit side by side rather than one replacing the other.
+//
+// What it deliberately does not return. A target carrying a directory is left
+// to the pattern above, which reads it wherever the document writes it out. A
+// target with a scheme in it is somebody else's server and nothing here can say
+// whether a file on one exists. A target beginning with a fragment is a place
+// inside the same page and names no file at all.
+func LinkTargetsWithoutADirectory(text string) []string {
+	var named []string
+	seen := make(map[string]bool)
+
+	for _, match := range linkTarget.FindAllStringSubmatch(text, -1) {
+		target := match[1]
+		if cut := strings.IndexAny(target, "#?"); cut >= 0 {
+			target = target[:cut]
+		}
+		if target == "" || strings.ContainsAny(target, "/:\\") || seen[target] {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[target] = true
+		named = append(named, target)
+	}
+	return named
+}
diff --git a/internal/check/paths_test.go b/internal/check/paths_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9afef0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/check/paths_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+package check
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// TestWhatCountsAsALinkToAFileBesideTheDocument exercises the reader directly,
+// because the invariants fixtures cannot reach most of it. A fixture is a tree
+// and a verdict, so it proves that a link to a missing file is refused and a
+// sentence naming the same file is not, and it says nothing about a target
+// carrying a scheme, a fragment or a directory. Those arms all produce the same
+// outcome as an arm that stopped working, which is silence, so this is what
+// notices one going quiet.
+func TestWhatCountsAsALinkToAFileBesideTheDocument(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		text string
+		want []string
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "an ordinary link",
+			text: "See [the notice](NOTICE.md) before you start.",
+			want: []string{"NOTICE.md"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "a name with no extension",
+			text: "The text is in [DCO](DCO) at the root.",
+			want: []string{"DCO"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "a fragment on the end",
+			text: "See [the exit codes](README.md#exit-codes).",
+			want: []string{"README.md"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "the same target twice",
+			text: "[one](NOTICE.md) and [again](NOTICE.md)",
+			want: []string{"NOTICE.md"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "two targets keep the order they were written in",
+			text: "[first](NOTICE.md) then [second](LICENSE)",
+			want: []string{"NOTICE.md", "LICENSE"},
+		},
+
+		{
+			name: "the same name in a sentence rather than in a link",
+			text: "There is no LICENSE in this tree yet.",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "a target under a directory is the other reader's",
+			text: "See [the record](docs/decisions/0002-repository-layout.md).",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "a target on somebody else's server",
+			text: "See [the page](https://example.invalid/NOTICE.md).",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "an address rather than a file",
+			text: "Write to [the list](mailto:nobody@example.invalid).",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "a place inside the same page",
+			text: "See [further down](#what-was-run).",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "a windows separator is a directory too",
+			text: `See [the record](docs\notes.md).`,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "an empty target",
+			text: "See [nothing]().",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "a parenthetical in a sentence after a bracket",
+			text: "The answer was no [and it stayed no] (which was the useful part).",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := LinkTargetsWithoutADirectory(tc.text)
+			if strings.Join(got, ",") != strings.Join(tc.want, ",") {
+				t.Errorf("read %v, want %v", got, tc.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/invariants/invariants.go b/internal/invariants/invariants.go
index fd7d11d..5d77904 100644
--- a/internal/invariants/invariants.go
+++ b/internal/invariants/invariants.go
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io/fs"
 	"os"
+	"path"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
@@ -460,6 +461,15 @@ func lineOf(text string, offset int) int {
 // function in the record package, rather than through a second copy of the
 // pattern. Two copies of a rule drift, and the one that drifts is the copy
 // nobody is looking at.
+//
+// A file at the root is reached by the second reading rather than by that one.
+// The prose pattern requires a leading segment naming a directory of this tree,
+// so LICENSE, README.md, DCO and the rest are outside it wherever a document
+// writes them, and this leg was exact on a path one directory deep and blind on
+// a path at the root. What separates the two cases is a link: a name inside one
+// is somebody saying they expect a file to be there, and a name in a sentence is
+// a word. So a link target with no directory in it is joined to the directory
+// its own document sits in and resolved, and a bare word is left alone.
 func pathsLeg(root string, texts []textFile) (Leg, []Refusal) {
 	var documents []textFile
 	for _, file := range texts {
@@ -472,7 +482,7 @@ func pathsLeg(root string, texts []textFile) (Leg, []Refusal) {
 	var refusals []Refusal
 
 	for _, document := range documents {
-		for _, named := range check.PathsNamedInProse(document.text) {
+		for _, named := range pathsNamedIn(document) {
 			if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(root, filepath.FromSlash(named))); err == nil {
 				continue
 			}
@@ -486,6 +496,39 @@ func pathsLeg(root string, texts []textFile) (Leg, []Refusal) {
 	return leg, refusals
 }
 
+// pathsNamedIn returns every repository-relative path one document names, by
+// both readings, each once. The two readings are joined here rather than
+// refused separately so that one property is produced at one site: a document
+// that writes a path in a sentence and links it as well is one dead pointer and
+// is worth one refusal.
+//
+// A link target is relative to the document that carries it, which is why the
+// join uses the document's own directory and not the root. docs/privacy.md
+// links supply-chain.md and means docs/supply-chain.md; resolving that against
+// the root would refuse the file that is there and pass the one that is not.
+func pathsNamedIn(document textFile) []string {
+	named := check.PathsNamedInProse(document.text)
+
+	directory := path.Dir(document.relative)
+	seen := make(map[string]bool, len(named))
+	for _, already := range named {
+		seen[already] = true
+	}
+
+	for _, target := range check.LinkTargetsWithoutADirectory(document.text) {
+		beside := target
+		if directory != "." {
+			beside = directory + "/" + target
+		}
+		if seen[beside] {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[beside] = true
+		named = append(named, beside)
+	}
+	return named
+}
+
 // isOwnDocument says whether a path is one of this repository's own documents.
 // A file at the root is one; anything under docs/ is one; nothing else is,
 // because a path named in a comment inside the runner is held by the compiler
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/expected b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/expected
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce246d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/expected
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+text-files 2
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/expected-refusals b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/expected-refusals
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..159931d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/expected-refusals
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+document-names-a-path-that-does-not-resolve
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/near-neighbour b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/near-neighbour
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16847ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/near-neighbour
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/tree/NOTICE.md b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/tree/NOTICE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3cfa99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/tree/NOTICE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Notice
+
+This software is developed for lawful use. Operators and users are responsible
+for making sure that their deployment and use comply with the laws that apply
+to them.
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/tree/README.md b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/tree/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..462f3c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-not-there/tree/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# a tree
+
+See [NOTICE.md](NOTICE.md) for the intended-use notice, and the terms in
+[LICENSE](LICENSE) before you reuse any of it.
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/expected b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/expected
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..733c34f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/expected
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+text-files 3
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/expected-refusals b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/expected-refusals
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/tree/LICENSE b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/tree/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba94d74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/tree/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The terms this tree is published under.
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/tree/NOTICE.md b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/tree/NOTICE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3cfa99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/tree/NOTICE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Notice
+
+This software is developed for lawful use. Operators and users are responsible
+for making sure that their deployment and use comply with the laws that apply
+to them.
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/tree/README.md b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/tree/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..462f3c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-document-linking-a-root-file-that-is-there/tree/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# a tree
+
+See [NOTICE.md](NOTICE.md) for the intended-use notice, and the terms in
+[LICENSE](LICENSE) before you reuse any of it.
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/expected b/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/expected
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce246d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/expected
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+text-files 2
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/expected-refusals b/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/expected-refusals
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/tree/NOTICE.md b/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/tree/NOTICE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3cfa99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/tree/NOTICE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Notice
+
+This software is developed for lawful use. Operators and users are responsible
+for making sure that their deployment and use comply with the laws that apply
+to them.
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/tree/README.md b/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/tree/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c6eb63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/invariants/a-root-file-name-in-a-sentence-rather-than-a-link/tree/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# a tree
+
+See [NOTICE.md](NOTICE.md) for the intended-use notice. There is no LICENSE in
+this tree yet and no CHANGELOG.md either, and this sentence names both of them
+without pointing at either.
diff --git a/testdata/invariants/no-intended-use-notice/tree/README.md b/testdata/invariants/no-intended-use-notice/tree/README.md
index 315a136..2b13dec 100644
--- a/testdata/invariants/no-intended-use-notice/tree/README.md
+++ b/testdata/invariants/no-intended-use-notice/tree/README.md
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # a tree
 
-See [NOTICE.md](NOTICE.md) for the intended-use notice.
+See NOTICE.md for the intended-use notice.