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.