Ishmael was moody and quiet for all of the first three hours of our watch. He was usually moody, but this quietness worried me. I could feel him watching me too, but whenever I made to speak to him, he would say that it was time for rounds. Then one of us would have to go on patrol.
I didn't know what to make of this behavior change. On all of our previous patrols, Ishmael would spend an hour grumbling about unwanted company and then tell me bawdy stories of himself and his previous partners. I amused myself by picking out the kernels of goodness in his raunchy, licentious behaviors.
I let out a sigh and turned my gaze skyward. In the blackness of the night, the twinkling starlight shone like distant fires. I became mesmerized by the pulsating glitter of a red star far above me in the heavens.
As I glimpsed it time and again through the dark, shifting leaves, I found myself humming a tune that sprang into my mind.
