Yubi couldn’t sleep that night. There was too much he didn’t understand and too little he could do about any of it. So, he got up and went for a walk.

  The light in the rooms and hallway had dimmed significantly. This is despite the fact that neither the hallway nor the rooms had any windows. In the hallway the dominant light came from torches, but during the day it had looked more like it was illuminated by the sun. Curious.

  He wanted to go outside. When he got to the end of the hall, some half memory from his first life suggested that turning right was the correct way. At the next fork, he guessed and turned left. Eventually he got to a spiral staircase which a feeling suggested he should climb. At the top of the staircase was a door which led outside.

  Stone huts surrounded him. Given he’d just come out of one, he assumed they also led down to stairways. So that was all underground?

  The night was dark, but barely bright enough to suggest a full moon. Following the faint shadows, he managed to spot the moon behind some tall trees. He wanted to see it. Thus he weaved his way through the huts, taking note of his route as he went. Eventually he got to a spot just before more forest began on the other side. Turning around, he looked into the sky.

  An eye looked back down at him. Its sclera glowed white and in the middle was written the number 4. Yubi sank to his knees in shock.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” He recognized the voice as the librarian’s.

  “I… uh… guess not. Are you seeing this?”

  “Seeing what?”

  “There’s a giant floating eyeball in the sky!”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  She chuckled. “You could call it that. Nice clear skies we have tonight.”

  Yubi took a moment to collect himself. “Is… that the moon?”

  “Yes?”

  “Okay. The moon in the other world is very different, so returning to this one is quite shocking.”

  “Ah.”

  “Why does it have that black spot in the middle?”

  “That’s the shadow of the earth.”

  “It- it is?” So either it’s farther away, much bigger, or the earth is much smaller. “Huh. Why does it… there’s a number on it?”

  “The fourth month begins soon. The day after the day after tomorrow, to be precise.”

  “Did… it have a three on it a month ago?”

  “Of course. If it didn’t, it’d be very hard to keep track of months and years.”

  “Years?”

  “Yes, the amount of time it takes the moon to make a full rotation. Did the other world not have years?”

  “They do, just… Their sun tells them instead of their moon.”

  “Wow. Timekeeping must hurt their eyes.”

  “Well, it’s… never mind.”

  Yubi and the Librarian watched the moon in silence.

  Then, “It sounds like the diagram worked.”

  “Yeah. It was unstable like you said, though. Do you have a better one?”

  “Nope, that’s the best one.”

  The silence returned.

  Then the Librarian moved. “I’d best get to bed.”

  “...right.”

  Yubi couldn’t stop staring at the sky. It was pitch black. There were no stars. There were no clouds. The only thing in the heavens was a slowly moving calendar tracing out a path opposite the sun. The part of him which was Naiouyubi felt that it was an obvious thing: Ya put the moon in the sky to mark the changing of the years. The part of him which was Trish was unsettled at a primordial level.

  As the watchful moon rose further into the sky, tiredness finally gripped him. He picked himself up and started back to his room. It was hard to find his way through the dark.