Dream d2983-s: Said from the Inside

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where I stood at the doorstone of Alderbarrow on the third night of eight, and the Threshold-Caller said the name.

That is how it is done. The name goes out from this side of the threshold now, not from the road. It is a different sound. I wrote it down: the name said from inside, first time.

The far account had the house cold and the windows dark and the yard empty for some seasons. The near account disagrees on the yard. There was a lean-to at the east wall with a stack of cut wood under it, and the wood was still losing moisture, still recent. This went into the record beside the far account. Neither was settled.

Lano had gone ahead through the long grass at the near side of the property and stood now at the door-side, ears up, nose working the threshold stone itself. She did not go in. She set her feet and waited there.

Rurik had found the gap between the door-frame and the lintel stone and gone through it in the way cats take such gaps, as though the gap had been kept for him. His amber eyes were visible from inside for a moment and then were not.

The Threshold-Caller said the name a second time, into the dark of the interior, and I recorded both sayings in the log.

The floor inside was stone and the stone was cold. The far account had this right. The ceiling was lower than the sketch suggested, and the front room was not a single room but two, divided by a partition the far account had not recorded. This went in as a discrepancy of form, not a failure of either account. No blame assigned.

I wrote: two rooms where one was expected. I wrote: lean-to, east wall, woodpile, recent. I wrote: name said from inside, first time, twice.

Lano came as far as the doorstone and pressed her side against my leg and stood there while I worked. The stone under our feet was worn smooth at the centre where it had been crossed a generation of times. That too went into the record.

Of the 79 places not yet entered, this is now 78. The near account will disagree with the far one in other rooms as well, and both will be kept. That is the work.

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