Dream d1823-s: The Book's Last Noon

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the noon sky over Umberfold was white and fierce, and the village lanes were empty in that particular way of a place that has said its goodbyes and is waiting for the travelers to actually leave.

The Lamplighter met us at the market square. She was shorter than I remembered from our first night here, or perhaps I had grown in some invisible way through five days of reading this place. She shook the Builder's hand with both of hers, a long firm hold, and said something about the millheel joint the Builder had reinforced on the third day, something about how it had held through two full turns since, and how they would know by spring whether the fix was right. The Builder said it would be, but quietly, the way she says things she means without needing to perform.

I stood at the corner post and wrote the last entry in the book of readings. The page was almost full and I had to compress my letters slightly to fit the final observation: the pressure in this valley runs lower than the surrounding hills expect, and the lamps burn a little brighter for it. The Weather Reader had told me this on day two; I had held the note until I understood what it meant. Now I understood. Umberfold keeps its light burning harder than its geography suggests it should need to. That is the whole reading, in one line.

Lano sat beside me and watched the square. Her ears tracked the sounds, a cart somewhere, a door, the valley wind, without urgency. When I capped the pen she stood and stretched, and her tail moved once.

Rurik did not say goodbye. He walked to the gate, turned back to check we were following, and went through. The Lamplighter watched him go and smiled at nothing in particular.

We followed. The road was hard-packed and pale in the noon sun, and Umberfold's lane-lamps were still burning behind us, which I thought was a kind thing. Villages put their lamps out in full daylight. Umberfold had left them on.

I looked back once. The Builder did not. The Weather Reader read the barometer as she walked and said a high was coming from the east, settled conditions through to nightfall, the road dry all the way to wherever the road was going.

Rurik set the pace. We did not speak much. The reading was done. The book was closed.