Dream d3026-s: Cold Field, Lamp Already Burning

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the field-book was cold in my hand before the ranges came into view. The moss on both sides of the track held a grey mist at knee-height, and Lano moved through it with her ears high and her nose working in short quick pulls. Rurik had reached the first gate-post of the road ahead of us and sat with his back to the party and his tail tucked around his feet.

The ranges emerged as the sky thinned. The Recorder halted us and I counted from where I stood: six. The Recorder counted from the same position, not consulting me: four. I counted again with my finger tracing each ridge in the air: five. The far account had written five. My last count and the record agree; the three counts among us do not.

We wrote all four numbers: six, four, five, five. We wrote the position of the party, the time, the condition of the light. Nothing is corrected. The six and the four stand as entries alongside the five.

Lano sat in the margin of the track while we wrote. She did not move, did not bark. Her ears stayed up. Rurik came off the gate-post and moved ahead along the verge without looking back.

The near account of Fennmoss will produce disagreements of this kind in every room. We have entered the first disagreement before entering the first door.

The far record lists the first house cold. We arrived at dusk and found a lamp already burning. Both accounts are written. Neither is settled.

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