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.