"Are you sure you want to do this?" Donnie asked, ears flicking forward. He 
hefted the borrowed backpack he'd filled with rocks, and hoped it wouldn't be too 
much further. 

"No," said Owen. "But I have to." Even the tie-dyed blindfold that covered his 
eyes couldn't completely hide the bags underneath them. He moved slowly, and it 
seemed to Donnie that it wasn't just because of the weight of the sack in his 
arms, or his balance not having completely returned. He suspected he knew what 
weighted Owen down. 

_Poor Owen,_ Donnie thought miserably. _He doesn't need to blame himself for 
this. He was already blind by the time the fire broke out; what could he have 
done?_ Like many of the refugees of Heart of the Mountain, he and Owen had been 
sleeping in the hot springs cave; he knew from the sounds of Owen's restless, 
broken sleep that his gentle friend still believed he could have averted the 
tragedy. _I don't have any excuses... I saved Isaac -- maybe -- but if I'd just 
endured the smoke a minute longer, called out one more time... it might have 
saved someone else._ He sighed. 

The initial part of the trip had been difficult, trying to find a tunnel that 
Owen had only found by accident through random blind wandering. For a while, 
Donnie had been afraid that they would never find it, that the tunnel had shifted 
away as they so often did inside this mountain. Once they had gotten within a 
certain distance, however, Donnie's nose had led them to the spot. 

The sight... was just as pathetic as Donnie had feared it would be, and more. In 
life, the little man must have been stick-thin, and even fully unfolded would 
have barely been up to Donnie's shoulder. That was the only way he could have 
wedged himself into such a narrow crevice in the cave wall. But -- Donnie's 
sensitive nose twinged each time the wind in the cave shifted -- the processes of 
decay were already at work, and the skinny flesh had inflated... 

"... Owen..." Donnie dropped the backpack of rocks near the corpse. "My nose is 
too -- I can't..." 

"It's OK, Donnie. Thank you for... helping me do this." Owen came nearer and made 
his own face at the stench. He dropped the sack in his arms to the cave floor, 
and began pulling out rocks. "If you can't stay, I'll understand, I'll just find 
my way back later..." 

"No, don't be silly; I'll just be... upwind." Donnie found a slight ledge coming 
out of the rock on the far end of the cave, and found that the smell was almost 
tolerable there. "I said I'd help you." 

"Thanks, Donnie." Owen piled the rocks in front of the crevice, layer by layer. 
"I just wish I'd done more for Pelly while he was alive. ... He blew my mind when 
he showed up at Heart's front door, claiming to be from an asteroid colony in the 
orbit of Arcturus. Imagine that, living inside a carved-out asteroid? ... He 
didn't want to talk about it, though; he just wanted to get behind what he called 
an 'atmospheric seal-door'. ... I wonder if Heart managed to make one for him in 
his room, one that made him feel safe, and that's why he almost never came out. 
Poor guy." 

The rocks ran out when there was still a gap half-a-head high to be filled; 
Donnie spotted a rock in the corner of the cave and offered it to Owen. Owen 
lifted the rock into place. "Thanks again, Donnie. I... couldn't have done this 
without you. Do you have the charcoal?" He put the stick, dug from the rubble of 
the fire, into Owen's hand. Owen accepted the gift... and then pulled Donnie to 
him and hugged him tight, shuddering with emotion. 

Blushing, Donnie retreated out of range of the still-pungent crevice. Slowly, 
Owen scraped the burned furniture leg across the cave wall above the cairn. 
Finally, he wiped his brow. "Done. Let's... let's get out of here." 

Donnie picked up the backpack and empty sack, and led Owen by the hand, eager to 
get back to the hot springs and away from the grave. Before they left, though, he 
had to take one look back, just to see the crude charcoal inscription: 

PELLY GRANGER 
REMEMBERED