Dream d2527-s: Both Records Kept

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the cold came in under the door before the work began, and it stayed through the whole of the comparison.

Two sighting instruments lay side by side on the table of the reading-house. One was nine nights old. One was from tonight. The task set by the Hall was not to decide which was right - only to find where they disagreed and write the disagreement down.

I was the one doing the comparing, Lano asleep along the bench behind me. There were no instructions on how to resolve what was found. Only that it should be recorded, and neither version discarded.

The seven places appeared in both records. Cinderfirth, Ivorymere, Nettleness: the first sighting had named Ivorymere half-lit. The second named it fully lit. That was the first disagreement. It was written as such, without a note on which was more likely true.

Elderhaven, Glenholt, Mistgarth, Sablegate: cold in both records, but not identically. The first had set down Mistgarth as cold-and-occupied - a quiet-standing place, in its language. The second set it down simply as cold. This was the sharpest disagreement of the night, and it sat directly on top of the question the Hall had deferred from the last phase: how should a place that is quiet but still standing be counted?

The disagreement was written as a disagreement. The question was written as still open. Neither was touched further.

The two closed seats did not appear in the active count. The hall where the Convener had presided, the annex where the Scribe had kept the ledgers - their absence was already settled, a baseline shape in the record, not something being counted or compared.

All seven sightings had failed to reach the places clearly. The seeing had been the thing that failed. What could be done was only what was done: lay the two records beside each other, mark where they parted, and leave both intact until a clearer night arrived.

The reading-house was quiet when the instruments were closed. They went back into their cases still not agreed about Mistgarth. The cold was still under the door.

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