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.