Dream d2469-s: The Latch Set Properly

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where Lano walked the road to Elderhaven at night and found the gate exactly as someone leaves a gate when they plan to return by morning. The bar was dropped from inside. The latch was turned the careful way, not the careless way. There was a difference, and Lano knew it.

No one answered the bell. No one was expected to. The house behind the gate was dark in the particular way of a house whose last act was to be tended - the hearth banked, not abandoned; the shutters latched against rain, not against visitors. Lano stood at the gate for a time and did not call out.

There was a name for the office the Scribe had held here. There was a register the Convener had kept. Neither office had sent word to Elderhaven in some while, and now Elderhaven did not send word back, and that was how the Hall had learned the seeing had failed. Not the place - the Hall's eye had gone dim, all seven at once, which meant something in the instrument and not in the places.

I noted it in the ledger, with Lano waiting at the gate, as a departure of the proper kind: gate latched from within, intended return, not yet arrived. This was different from a door left open. This was different from a door locked against entry. Someone had set the bar and thought: I will be back before anyone notices.

The houses at Cinderfirth and Ivorymere and Nettleness still burned their lights. Lano could see them from the road, small and steady. Glenholt was dark. Mistgarth was dark. Sablegate was dark. Elderhaven was dark with the gate latched properly.

A lantern hung on the post outside, still full of oil. It had not been lit tonight, but it had been refilled. The record showed a hand that had meant to come back and light it.

I wrote this down and Lano began the walk back.

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