Dream d2797-s: Country the Sheet Forgot

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the straightedge was cold from lying flat all evening. When I lifted it the lamp threw its shadow long across the table. I set it at the far edge of the old drawn country and let it rest there: the place where ink stopped.

The margin I ruled was narrow and even. I took the count from what I knew and set it down in small figures at the margin's head. Sixty-five places on the sheet. Ten of them show a light. The hands that hold the drawn country hold two hundred and seventy-nine places in all, and one hundred and seventy-four of those are on no sheet at all.

Lano came close and stood with her nose at the table's edge, her breath soft in the cool air. Rurik had taken the high shelf and watched from above, amber eyes steady, tail draped over the edge.

Sixty-one of the undrawn places were walked inside the last thirty days. I wrote that figure in the margin and drew a line under it. Past the edge, on this round, sixty-one places walked and twenty-eight of them alight.

I noted seven marks on the old sheet that point at ground no reader can reach. No cause written. No note of reason.

The newest place past the edge is Larklow Town. One day standing. I wrote the name, then the number, then nothing else.

Lano padded to the lamp and curled near its base. Rurik did not move from the shelf. The margin was full and the ink was drying. I set the pen down and left the straightedge where it lay.

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