as we cross  the mountain, we  can  walk 
 only at  night. long  ago,  someone here 
 must've angered  the  sun,  and today it 
 still  burns  us strangely. but with the 
 sunset  the air comes  raining back down 
 and  gets thick enough  to  breathe.  it 
 carries  with it smells  from  far away, 
 colourful  sparks for the imagination, a 
 sharp  contrast for the  stale  black of 
 the night.                               
                                          
 the others think  i'm young, they  don't 
 take  me  seriously  and  i  fear   they 
 snicker  a  bit.  you  usually  get  old 
 before  you  learn the  trade  enough to 
 take other people. but i  do  lead  them 
 safely     forward,     every     night. 
                                          
 however,  currently  there  seems to  be 
 something going  on ahead. those  around 
 the  corner   have   stopped,  shouting, 
 pointing.                                
                                          
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                                          
 my greatest treasure, the                
 book of stars,   is   a   combined  map, 
 calendar and timepiece  as  long as  you 
 know what year it is.  every page  is  a 
 grid  of nine  starfields,  hand  drawn, 
 below which are written  coordinates  in 
 both  space  and time. a  lot  of it  is 
 applicable  on  earth, but  not  all. it 
 hints  of  other  places  -  some  stars 
 reordered,  some  names  i   have  never 
 heard.   sometimes    the   dates    are 
 impossible.                              
                                          
 those pages are  exactly what i scramble 
 for  right now. i've stopped  breathing. 
 i  sling open the  book of  stars a  bit 
 too quick, spilling all  my notes on the 
 ground.  one lands  on my  foot, it is a 
 drawing  of  a muscle cow, but  i  could 
 care less right now.                     
                                          
 for it seems  like there's a new moon in 
 the sky.