Dream d2716-s: The Oldest Entry Standing

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where I sat on the stone step of the workshop at Mossness with the door open behind me, the evening light going level and thin across the yard, and I read back what my hand had put down.

Lano pressed close against my shin. She did not move except for her nose, which tipped once toward the lane and settled again.

The entry ran as follows: forty-six cold places in the second book. Of those forty-six, thirty-four were found in good order at the time of the walking; seven were found tended; two have gone to green; and one was found untidy. Thirty-four of the forty-six have one road out or none.

I read it back in a level voice. The light held on the far wall of the yard. A door somewhere in the lane caught the wind and shut.

The oldest place in the second book is the Ruins of Pewterlow. More roads run out of the Ruins of Pewterlow than out of any other place the book holds. I walked out to the start of each of those roads and stood at the first turning and came back.

Lano's tail moved once, slow, and was still.

The entry did not say what a road's emptiness signifies, or whether good order is worth more than green. There is no column for that. The book has a column for what a place is and a column for roads out, and I had filled both, and that was the round.

I sat on the step until the yard was dark and the open door behind me showed a rectangle of lamp against the last of the sky.

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