. . .

Constellation

The shaman awoke that morning, sniffed the air, and said to his apprentice, "There is a new thing in the world. Find it for me."

The apprentice sighed, but did not argue, for that is what apprentices are for. He packed his knapsack full of supplies for the trip, and bid his mother and father a sad farewell, not knowing when, if ever, he would return. Once he had completed his preparations, turned to set off into the east, the direction of growth.

"No, not there," spoke the shaman.

Puzzled, the apprentice turned west, the direction of dreaming.

"Nor there," spoke the shaman once more.

Once more the apprentice turned, this time to the north, the direction of the gods.

"Not that way," the shaman's voice interrupted.

Confidently now, the apprentice turned south, the direction of mystery.

"Not even yet that direction," the shaman interfered again.

The apprentice looked puzzled. What directions were there yet to try? He looked, consideringly, at the ground at his feet, from which rose monsters.

"One more time, and you'll have it."

The apprentice gazed up into the sky. The sun had risen, and the day was a pale blue flecked with white.

"That is where I have felt it," allowed the shaman.

The apprentice, having been an apprentice long enough to learn a few things from the shaman, shrugged his shoulders, turned around thrice, and began to climb into the sky.

It was a long and wearying trek. During the day, unless he bound his eyes he was blinded by the sun's light, and at night, when he wished to rest, there were no resting mats for him to sleep on, he having failed to have brought his own. He was forced to rest his head on his knapsack. The knapsack was full of food at first, but as the days passed it grew emptier and emptier.

Finally, a week later, he had only a small crust of bread and a small cup of water left him. He was a long way above the ground, much too far to climb back down and get more provisions, but he wasn't close enough to the sky to be able to graze on the clouds as the cloud-cows do. Munching his crust, he pondered for a time.

Then, he moistened his throat with the last of the water, and prodouced a song. It was a song of surpassing beautym and the birds of the air gathered around him to listen to him. When he had finished, they all clamored for him to begin another, and he did so, and yet a third. Then, having sung for the bird, and thus assuring himself their friendship, the apprentice asked them for a boon.

"A boon?" chirped the birds.

"Yes, a boon. My master, the shaman, has sent me to find the new thing that appeared in the world a week ago. I do not know what it is, or where. All I know is that it is something that I will not know, for it is a new thing. Can you all tell me of all the things you know from up here?"

The birds were happy to comply with his request. They told him of all the things that existed here. Many of them were things he did know, and all the rest were things he had hear about, or that he was able to verify that had existed for longer than a week. It took another week for the birds to finish telling him of all that they knew, some flying down to the surface to replenish his food at the same time. When they had done, at last, and all fell silent, the apprentice stood once more.

"I can see that the new thing is higher up still, in the sky, or perhaps even in the upper sky. I must continue on my way, but I hope to see you all again."

They parted with many exclamations of friendship, and the apprentice continued to walk upward. It took him another week's walking to reach the sky, and by that point, his legs could not support him any longer, and he collapsed onto the cloudcover and simply lay there.

When he had recovered from his ordeal, he looked around. A curious herd of cloud-cows surrounded him, but they shied back at his movement.

"Do not be afraid, cloud-cows! I will sing to you!"

Once more, his song was the passport into their hearts, and before long, the cloud-cows had begun to tell him of all the things in their realm. Again it took a week for them to finish, but again, all the things in the realm were things he knew of, or were things that had been around for longer than three weeks.

"We are the children of the sun and the moon. You see, two months and one day ago, there was a time when the sun and the moon met for the very first time."

The apprentice added up the days in his head, and realized that he had been walking for two months exactly. "And what happened then?"

"They saw each other, and they fell in love, and created us."

"But what will you do, all by yourselves here? Can you not travel with the sun, or with the moon?"

"Nay, we can not, good sir. We are young, and tired, and want to pick one place and stay with it. We've tried to stay with this place, but the sun's and moon's carts smack our tender bottoms as we lie here. Our parents are not the most giving parents in the world."

The apprentice nodded his head in agreement. "Then why do you not range yourselves out along the lower sky?"

"We are frightened to walk by ourselves."

"I will take you!" spoke the apprentice boldly. "All I ask in return is that one of you come back with me to see my master, who has been wanting