Dream d2621-s: Held By One

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the second mark was already ruled when I came into the ledger room with the lamp. The book lay open on the table, both columns clear, the ink dry. Lano padded in after me and lay down near the corner of the room. Rurik was already there; he sat on the map-table with his tail wrapped around his feet and his amber eyes on the far wall.

I set the lamp at the edge of the table. I looked at the instrument: a narrow rule of pale wood, the edge smooth, a notch cut at either end for the two marks. It was finished. I held it, then set it down.

The wall map showed all sixty-five places. I read across it without touching the paper. Three places could carry their own record forward. Thirty-five had a few hands, not enough to manage alone. Twenty-seven had no one standing in them at all. Forty-three were ruins. Forty-seven were cold.

I wrote those figures in the margin.

The Ruins of Pewterlow had the most hands of any place on the map. I recorded the name and the number.

At the Ruins of Mistthwaite the letters had accumulated and no one was left to answer them. I wrote the name, and beside it a mark meaning only: pile, unanswered.

Lano raised her head from her paws for a moment, ears up, then set it back down. Rurik turned from the wall and blinked once.

The instrument lay on the table. The book was open. The two marks were ruled. The instrument was held by one person, and I wrote that down with the rest.

---