"Come on, Amy, let's go back inside, I am cold." Said a voice from somewhere below.
Amy realized she got carried away by her thoughts. And it was cold. She could feel the goosebumps on her bare arms. How long had she been standing there? This was irresponsible, the kids should have been asleep by now. And they should not be outside for this long. They could be seen.
She looked at the group. The gang, as she would think of them. Most of them were younger than six and did not remember life before wasteland. Pauline was almost nine and she remembered a bit of it. Not everything, but she remembered the green hills and the blue skies. She would also sometimes talk about the atmosphere she remembered. Atmosphere of not hiding, of not being afraid.
"Come on, Amy!" Insisted Pauline.
As Amy turned back towards the entrance to the hideout, another kid would yell with excitement:
"Yay, I think a star is falling."
A couple of years back, Amy would turn to see if it was so. But it has been a while and the world has changed. For her, things could never be the same again.
Perhaps, that night was different. Had Amy stayed for a lot longer, then, on the brink of the morning, she would see that there, in fact, was a star rapidly approaching the ground.
The monks of Mu were gathered around a crater. Brother Ulnax, their superior was bent over an object that lay in the middle. He scratched his head with bewilderment. He also made quite a few noises. A weird collection of sounds that his fellow brothers and apprentices evaluated as thoughtful meditations.
"Is it dead?" Asked young Shemneth. From the tone, it was impossible to tell whether he would preffer a positive or a negative response.
"Is it dangerous?" Asked brother Kermouth, hiding behind a small cart that they had with them.
"Is it hungry?" Wanted to know brother Ititol.
There were more thinking sound coming from Brother Ulnax and the occasional fart sound. That most have been the pressure of all the knowledge accumulated over the years, Shemneth had thought to himself.
Eventually, Brother Ulnax stepped to the side to reveal an unconscious body and ceremoniously announced:
"I believe that this fellow soul is badly hurt and will need our help."
"But brother Ulnax, sir, what if it is a devil or a demon fallen from the sky and has come to devour us and our children?" Protested brother Kermouth.
"We are monks, we don't have children." Argued Shemneth.
"True that," said brother Ititol, "at least not ones we know about."
Superior Ulnax gave him a long, scorning look. All of a sudden, brother Ititol become most interested in the cleanlines of his robe, carefully examining it for stains.
"Brother Kermouth, Brother Ititol, get our friend into the cart. Brother Shemneth, you will push the cart. We can only help the stranger and learn more about him once we are in the monastery. It is no accident that we witnessed his fall from the stars as we were approaching the end of our pilgrimage. This must be a sign."
Sign of what brother Ulnax would not say. The way brother Ititol understood it, it was a sign that it was about time they had some proper meal.