Kein bounded back to us with a dead animal slung over his shoulder. We would eat it the way they


    enjoyed it tonight, roasted on a spit over the open me. I watched curiously as my men prepared the


    carcass and set up the fire.


    “I only camped outside a couple of times when I was younger,” I told them as the fire started to gain


    momentum.


    I remembered staying at a camp ground a couple of times with rtives. We’d stayed in a trailer, so we


    didn’t even really stay outside. We brought canned food and cooked it over the electric stove inside.


    There were bugs outside, so we sat inside and watched television. It was really like staying at home,


    only more cramped.


    My men experienced my memories with me and grunted in amusement. The idea of a traveling lodging


    was funny to them. They’d never seen anything like that. The rest of it was just weird Earth culture.


    Sitting and talking around the fire was so much more enjoyable than what I described.


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    “This is much better,” Christof saiding to sit beside me.


    I grinned at him and pushed at his shoulder with my own. Christof grinned and pushed back, bumping


    me against Bane. The physical contact was always reassuring. No matter what we were doing, we


    preferred to be together.


    “You’re missing the stars,” Bane Laughed pointing up.


    He was right the sky was slowly darkening and the first glimmers were appearing in the night sky.


    Leaning back I watched as the first of the three moons rose.


    “We won’t see the ringed moon start it’s journey into the night sky Evan told me. “It happens beyond


    that mountain over there. It will appear in the sky above that ridge after a third of the night has passed,”


    From their minds and memories I had a sudden knowledge of the moons. My men timed the night sky


    by them. When they kept watch, they used the progress of the different moons to know how Late it


    was. It was the setting of the ringed moon that woke Evan up every morning. They were so in tune with


    them, they felt them even when they couldn’t see them.


    I thought about the moon on earth, it hadn’t been nearly as predictable. The sun was useful and we


    timed our days off of that.


    “Weird,” Keinmented wrinkling his nose.


    The meat was cooked and we ate heartily. They told me about the patterns they watched in the


    speckled ckness. Evan knew it better than anyone and his mind guided mine. I watched with


    fascination as the night sky unfurled before me.


    Eventually, we ended up on our backs. My men set up their sleeping pallets so our heads were all


    together in a circle. I watched as they pointed out all the interesting things they knew about the


    glittering ckness.


    The way the stars looked and the way they moved in the sky was predictable to my men. They told me


    all about it. Evan had spent hours learning the sky.


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    “I wonder,” he said, “where my breeder came from, the ve many generations back?” he whispered.


    We all wondered and none of us knew. I wondered what had happened to her.


    “Why do you think she tasted things?” he asked.


    “What was the purpose of my gift where she was from?”


    Evan’s mind was full of questions. He couldn’t imagine a world where they were all Like him.


    “You sound Like Ciara,” Bane teased Lightly, but he didn’t mind.


    The questions were valid and they all wished they knew more about their Brother.


    Iy quietly watching the sky. Bane had stretched out on one side and Christof on the other. After a


    Long while, I drifted to sleep. Vaguely, I was aware as the nkets were pulled over me and I was


    snuggly wrapped.


    When we slept outside like this someone always kept a watch. They each took a turn during the night.


    Through the eyes of my men as they protected their family, I saw every subtle change in the


    shimmering stars and changing moons. It was like I watched the sky all night.