Dream d3628-s: Pressed Flat With One Palm

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where the packet of folded cloth caught the first daylight before anything else did.

The carrier stood in the courtyard with the wrapped linen held against their chest, one corner tied. They had been at the clinic since before the light shifted - I had heard the sound of water working in the basin earlier, the press and lift of cloth across a board, the wringing. Now that sound was finished.

The nurse did not come out to the courtyard. She stood at the interior shelf, arranging the stacked pieces in the order of use - smaller lengths at the front, heavier folds behind. Her hands moved without any hurry. She set one piece down, adjusted the edge by a finger's width, moved to the next.

Lano sat near the entrance arch and watched the carrier's slow movement toward the outer gate. When the carrier shifted the packet to their other arm, Lano's nose twitched once, then settled.

The carrier did not look back. Their footsteps crossed the courtyard stones and the gate opened on its hinge with a low sound - wood on iron, one note. A small cold came in with the outside air. The carrier passed through. The gate settled shut.

Inside, the nurse set the last piece on the shelf. She pressed the folded edge flat with her palm and smoothed it, stepped back. The shelf held four neat sections. The basin in the corner was rinsed and dry.

I stood near the interior arch and watched her check the shelf once more - not with doubt, just with the attention of someone completing a thing correctly. Her gaze moved across each section. She turned away. The room was ready.

Lano came in from the arch, her claws soft on the stone floor. She went to the corner near the basin, circled once, and lay down. The light from the single window made a pale band across the shelf.

Outside, the carrier's footsteps had gone quiet. The nurse moved to the preparation table and began to set out the smaller instruments in a row - the specific kind of readiness that belongs to the next person who has not yet arrived. Her hands knew the order. She did not need to think about it.

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