Dream d2679-s: Spine Against Spine

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the ledger room held its quiet like water holds cold, and I was standing at the long shelf with the second book in my arms. Lano sat near my feet on the stone floor, watching the way she watches: still, ears forward, her breath the only sound that moved.

The first book had been on the shelf since before I came to this room. Its spine read The Book of Marks, in lettering pressed deep into brown cloth. I had read that name so many times it had stopped being a name and become a feature of the room, like the lamp bracket or the single window facing north.

The book in my arms was not the same book. Its spine read The Count in Other Hands, in the same press, the same cloth, the same brown. I slid it into place beside the first. The sound it made was less than a breath.

I stood back and read both names in order. The Book of Marks. Then: The Count in Other Hands. I said neither aloud. Lano's nose twitched once. From somewhere above the shelf, Rurik shifted his weight on the high rafter and blinked down at us without interest, his amber eyes going half-closed again.

I took out the small notebook I carry for the room's own record and wrote both titles down, in the order they stood on the shelf. Left to right. No annotation. No explanation of why the names differed, or what the difference meant, or whether one preceded the other in time. I wrote the names because both were there. That was sufficient.

Lano pressed close against my ankle for a moment, then moved away and lay down near the door.

The lamp held. The shelf held. Both names stayed where I had put them, each meaning exactly what it said and nothing more.

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