‘Come, stand by me.’ Nicolaus motioned to her to join him and together they gazed out across the expanse of night. A cold wind cut into Luna’s eyes. She was glad of the heavy cloak. The distant hills were mounds in the dark and the line between land and sky was blurred. Nicolaus stood behind her and she knew with one small step backwards she’d be resting against him. He stretched an arm past her shoulder and even though there was a good inch of air between them, she felt the heat of his skin on her cheek. She looked to where he pointed.

‘Do you see the burning spot in the first quarter of the sky, the brilliant star of the Hyades, Palilicium?’

She nodded. ‘That is Aldebaran, renamed such by the Arabs. How long before it begins?’

‘The Moon is higher up,’ the professor said, pointing. ‘I predict before the midnight hour, though it is an inexact science.’

‘Let us pray the night stays clear and we get no misty vapours,’ Nicolaus said.

Luna dug her hands into her pockets whilst she waited. Her breath hung like a taper’s smoke; she blew again and watched it disappear. There was a tension in the air that caught each of them alike. The Moon’s dark edge crept towards the star as the night progressed. Presently Nicolaus went to stand by a round table that was placed in front of the expansive view of the sky.

‘This is an exciting night. We do not often see the brightest star in the Taurus constellation obscured,’ the professor said.

Luna stood back respectfully when he placed his parallactic instrument on the round table where Nicolaus waited. It was similar to the triquetrum they’d used in the field, but much smaller. The professor rotated the sighting rod in preparation and peered through the eyepiece.

‘Fie, it happens!’ he proclaimed. ‘See where Aldebaran applies to the tenebrous part of the lunar body?’

The sky was dark and there were many spots of light in the distant night, but Luna kept her eyes on the brightest one. She steadied herself with a hand on the table where Nicolaus stood and watched as Aldebaran seemed to disappear behind the Moon. She heard his breathing and felt her own match his.

‘It is already hiding in the Moon’s horns,’ Luna said.

‘It is closer certainly to the western horn, by a third of its width,’ Nicolaus added.

Then miraculously it reappeared, and was gone again a moment later. It was as if the bull blinked at them.