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.