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.