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.