Dream d2528-s: The Long Drawing

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where I stood in the long gallery of the reading-house and it was night ten of twelve, and the instrument that should show the seven places had given a bad reading. Before the count could be taken, the seeing had to be repaired. I repaired it, Lano watching from the gallery floor. The repair was not complicated.

What came after was.

Drawing the seven lines across the measuring board - drawing them taut, drawing them true again - took longer than the mending had, by some measure that the gallery holds but does not name.

The Council Hall: cold. The seat of the Convener: closed. The Scriptorium Annex: cold. The seat of the Scribe: closed.

Those two are in the count. The count does not ask why they are closed. It does not explain them. It records them.

Cinderfirth: lit. Ivorymere: lit. Nettleness: lit. Three places confirmed present once the instrument was sound again. I drew each line as the reading came clear, one at a time, in the order they appeared.

Elderhaven: cold. Glenholt: cold. Mistgarth: cold. Sablegate: cold.

Four places gone cold. All seven had been unreadable from the Hall when the work began - not one could be seen, lit or cold alike. The failure was in the seeing, and the seeing was what had to be fixed before anything else. After that came the lines, all seven, drawn the full length of the gallery, each one taut.

By the time the last was set, the gallery held a complete account: two seats closed, three places lit, four gone cold. Lano looked at the lines for a moment and then looked away. The drawing had taken longer than the mending. That was noted. The count was done.

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