DOG NIGHT
Date: The Night Between 21 and 22 Ymiden 716
Location: Eastern Civilian Housing District
Rosamond had been sleeping soundly, tired as she was after the long and messy day when she had failed at everything, accomplished nothing. But when the dog barked outside she woke up at once. The bark was like a thunderclap in her dream. She sat up in the bed, instantly like a soldier drilled in taking action automatically at a given command, her heart beating hard and fast, pumping all her blood out to the muscles, making her tense and wide awake. At first she hardly knew what had happened. But the next trill she heard the dog's bark again. It was Hazard. He had come home.
The dog. The boy. The dog and the boy.
It was pitch black in the cottage. She rose from the bed and rushed blindly to the door, lifted the sturdy metal hook that held it in place, and pushed it open. The light from the Housing zone's widely spaced lanterns barely reached her cottage. The big black dog looked like a dark shadow in the dim half-darkness when he came to her to greet her. Rosamond reached out and put her hand on his head. The animal gazed up at her; his dark eyes took on a faintly purple hue when the faint light reflected in them.
Hazard's greeting was intense, but soon over. He walked past her through the open door and disappeared into the darkness of the cottage. Rosamond stood in the doorframe, dressed in the underwear she had slept in, and felt her skin go cold in the night air. The night wasn't windy exactly, but a slight breeze moved through a patch of high grass nearby and made it rustle softly. She heard the low clicking and popping sounds of insects that were active at night. The people of the housing zone were asleep in their beds, but the darkness was full of life.
Her dog had come home alone.
The annoyment and her upset thoughts earlier in the day, at the market, had been forgotten for hours. Whatever had she been thinking? It had been stupid of her to not look for the boy at once. Rosamond went back into the cottage without closing the door. Fumbling around, she found her clothes and shoes and donned them. Now when she had the dog to help her, she was going out.
She called his name silently, several times : "Hazard. Hazard. Haaze ... come, come, come to me ..." She heard the dog move in the darkness when he finally decided to pay attention to her and followed her out. Before she left, she closed the door and pulled up the hood of her cloak.
"Search" she said, in the hopes of making him understand. She had never had time to train the dog. She could only hope that somebody else had done it at some point in the past. Search. Wasn't that the command people used to give dogs when they wanted them to track something or somebody?
"Search. Search Sandro. Search."
The big black dog turned his face towards her and looked at her. An odd sensation ran through her as she met his steady gaze. The dog had been an animal friend, in the uncomplicated way a dog is your friend, but now it felt like the two of them entered into a covenant. This feeling wasn’t something Rosamond would have been able to explain if she had tried to put words on it, but it was distinct feeling, and strong.
You and me Hazard.You and me.
The night rustled and buzzed quietly around them as they left the small yard of her house and walked along the street, heading south. Rosamond wasn't sure if it was the dog or herself who had decided which direction they would take. The outer circle followed the same circular pattern as the city proper, each row of houses and shops following the same concentric pattern. It was mostly evenly tracked. Rosamond had been told that the way the low houses of wood or adobe were arranged was meant to prevent fire from spreading too fast.
Nothing is a mere coincidence in the layout of Etzos, she thought. Every path and building is controlled and deliberate. It's strictly organized; even the seemingly more disordered and unevenly tracked zones, like the market and the crafting zone are in fact controlled and well-arranged...the dog seems to head south and surely the chance to find Sandro must be higher in the housing areas and near the market than in the crafting zone to the north ... mustn't it?
Hazard stopped to piss at a lamp post with a single simple metal lantern, fueled by cooking oil to judge from the smell. It cast a dappled light over the hooded woman, the animal and the ground around them. Rosamond knew it was irrational, but she stayed in the light for a while, looking at the houses nearby, in the hopes of spotting the boy where it would be possible to see him.
They were now near the Breaker Alley Ramp between the Eastern and the South-Eastern Housing zones, and she debated silently with herself if she would continue to the next zone or if she would give up and walk home. It was so late and the chance of finding the boy by just walking around was low. Rosamond understood this, but anxiety drove her to continue. She walked along the ramp down to the end of it, where she could easily cross the road and enter the Outer South-Eastern zone.
The South Eastern Outer Civilian Housing zone resembled the Eastern Housing zone like a twin. It was the same kind of houses, arranged according to the same principles, along streets that followed the same main pattern, lit by the same kind of widely spaced lanterns. Rosamond was sure there must be details that differed, but due to the darkness they weren't visible now. She had a surreal feeling of being back to where she had started from.
They hurried from lantern to lantern, only stopping briefly to look around. When they reached the southern approach and gate without having found even the slightest sign of Sandro being around Rosamond debated with herself again. This was a fool's errand. On the other side of the ramp was the market, which was a maze compared to the orderly housing areas. Rational thinking told her it was meaningless to go on. The only sensible thing to do was to stop running around at night and go home to sleep. The whole search was madness, madness, and she felt baffled by her own behavior. She was on the verge of turning around. But even as she thought of this, she saw Hazard run into the darkness between the lanterns, heading to the lower part of the approach. The dog seemed sure of the route it took, and the strong trust in the dog and the feeling of connection with the animal arose in her again and made her follow.
Perhaps the dog found something. A scent to follow, or a sound ... ?
They came to the lower part of the approach, crossed it and entered the market.
