Aunt Ginny and Uncle Gaagii were going to be there for dinner and overnight. At dinner, we talked about me obtaining a New Mexico drivers license.

At the bonfire with Naainish’s help, Ajie and I meditated and chanted. When we’d finished, we found out that the guests from the religious group had left the bonfire, and they had said some not very nice things.

My Uncle Paul had told us, “I explained to the guests who you are and what you’re doing. And that this area was very sacred to the native people, and that you came from time to time to pray and meditate.

“Some of the guests were fine with it and thought that it was very interesting.

“But some others were very unhappy. Unhappy to the point of saying that you were godless beings and that you’d burn in hell.”

I’d stopped, looked at my uncle, and had said, “Godless! Burn in hell! May the Great Spirit strike them … “

Naainish had said, “Kai! Stop! Don’t say it.”

“Why shouldn’t I!?”

“Kai Nez, knowing you. It could come true.”

I looked at Naainish, and he just nodded yes. And I got a cold chill.

The seven of us finished walking to my aunt and uncle’s house, and as we walked into the kitchen, Naainish said, “Kai. Ajie. Let's go out back and talk.”

I didn’t say anything but took Ajie’s hand in mine, and we walked towards the patio door, and Naainish followed us. Once on the patio, Naainish sat in a chair, and Ajie sat on the glider. I noticed that there was a fire laid in the fire pit, so I lit it. Then I joined Ajie on the glider.

We sat in silence watching the fire grow as more and more wood started to burn. Finally, Naainish said, “Ajie, I know that you had a very hard day today. But, you were in your element. You were doing what you do best, working under pressure to help others. But you also need what you have here, quiet time with Kai.”

“Naainish.”, Ajie said. “Without Kai, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do. She’s a calming force in my life. And she helps me see where I’m going.”

“Yes, she is that and more. And Kai, Ajie is your guide. She knows you inside and out.”

I just nodded yes.

Then Naainish said, “The white Eagle feather that you each received is a gift that you should cherish. As with all Eagle feathers, your white Bald Eagle feathers should be displayed with honor and not hidden away.”

“We do cherish them.”, Amy replied. “The white feathers are attached to our clan membership certificates.”

“That is good. The white Eagle feather tells of summer when all is bright. It is a good sign that you have them. It foretells that your outlook is bright.”

“But, Naainish, I’m not a member of the Nation.”, Ajie said. “I can’t possess an Eagle feather.”

“Ajie Nez, that law is an Anglo law. The people of the Nation look at you as one of there own. It just can’t be made official. I and others wish it could, but it can’t. So, we feel, that in the eyes of the Nation, you can possess the Eagle feather.”

“I understand that I can’t become a member of the Nation. And, I appreciate the way the people see me. I look at them as my brothers and sisters.”

“Naainish.”, I said. “I don’t know why I’m asking you this, because you won’t answer me. But, how did you know that we had the white Eagle feathers?”

Naainish smiled, and said, “Kai, I’ll use an answer that you’ve used. I see things, I feel things, I know things that I have no way of knowing, yet I know.”

I just nodded yes.

Then Naainish said, “Kai Nez You need to be careful what you wish. I stopped you earlier. You were about to wish death on someone for saying some words. These people don’t know you, or the Navajo people, or our beliefs. And you don’t know them and their beliefs.

“You need to weigh your words carefully before you speak. Your words are powerful. They can help or hurt. And in your heart you want them to help. You want them to do good.”

“Naainish, I spoke out of anger. I’m glad that you stopped me.”

“Kai Nez. Ajie Nez.”, Naainish said. “I want both of you to always remember, that the Atsá (Eagle) can fly up into the heavens, he is considered the messenger to the Creator and carries the prayers from those of us here on Earth to the sacred place where the Creator and our ancestor’s spirits are.

“By having the Atsáhaa at'a' (Bald Eagle feathers) and wearing them, you are honoring the Creator in not only a humble way but in the highest way possible.

“And, by each of you possessing two Atsáhaa at'a' (Bald Eagle feathers), your prayers are strong.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes, then we heard the door from the house to the patio open, and my two aunts and two uncles joined us around the fire. My Aunt Ruth, Aunt Ginny, and Uncle Gaagii sat. My Uncle Paul, before he sat, tossed a couple of logs on the fire.

Aunt Ruth then asked, “Kai, is everything okay?”

“Yes, Aunt Ruth.”, I replied. “We just needed to talk.”

Then I said, “Uncle Paul.”

“Yes, Kai.”, my uncle replied.

“Ajie and I have taken a married couple under our wing at the university. They’re living in the apartment next to ours, and they don’t have much money. They’re going to school on student loans and scholarships. We’re trying to help them as much as we can without them finding out. We started out, with the help of Chief Etsitty, by helping the guy find a student assistant job on campus. And, that will help them a lot.

“The girl is a nursing student, and I feel about her like I do about Dibe Bililly and Ajie. I feel that she has the compassion and drive to accomplish whatever she desires. Without them knowing we’ve added monies to her scholarship to pay for her classes and books for this year.

“They have very little in the way of furniture in their apartment, and only have a mattress on the floor in the bedroom. And, I was wondering if you’ve done any renovations. And if you have, do you have any furniture that you’d let go for pennies on the dollar?”

“Well.”, Uncle Paul said. “We just finished renovating the Pueblo Suites, and there are still some things in storage that might help. Want us to deliver it.”

“Slow down Uncle Paul. What do you have?”

“There’s a couple of beds, some chest of drawers, some chairs, a table or two, and I think a bedside table or two.”

“No safe?”

“A safe. What for?”

“I just thought that you might like to deliver another one.”

“No thank you! Especially if it’s like that monster that you got.”

With a smile, I said, “Don’t worry, Uncle Paul. I was just messing with you.”

“Kai!

“What could they afford?”

“Right now. Not much. I’m going to try and get them up here one day next weekend. I’ll tell them that you have some used but nice furniture in storage and that you’d let it go cheap just to get rid of it. And if they can’t pay what you need for the furniture, we’ll make up the difference.”

“You must really like this couple.”, Aunt Ruth said.

“Aunt Ruth.”, Ajie said. “This couple is very nice. Kai took to them very quickly, and you know that she is very careful who knows the truth about her. And they know."

“Aunt Ruth.”, I said. “I look at them the same way I do our friends back in Ohio.”

“That’s interesting, Kai.”, Aunt Ruth said. “I love the way you see a need and try to help correct it.”

I looked at my Aunt Ginny, and she was looking at me, and I asked, “Aunt Ginny, is something wrong?”

“No, honey.”, Aunt Ginny said. “It’s that every time I see you, you amaze me with something.”

“Aunt Ginny, I don’t know if these things find us, or we find them, but if we can help we will.

“By the way. We just found out that the Chief Todachine Scholarship would be able to award four scholarships at the end of this school year.”

“That’s amazing.”, Aunt Ruth said. “With all the problems we had with it to start with, and it’s grown as well as it has.”

“It just takes persistence. And there have been some nice contributions to it.”

I looked at Ajie as she yawned, and I said, “Ajie’s had a rough day, so I think we’re going to call it a night.”

“Are we going to see you in the morning for breakfast?”, Aunt Ruth asked.

“Breakfast tacos?”

“Yes, Kai. But only if you’ll help.”

“Tell me what to do.”

“Just go get a good nights sleep.”

“We will. And we’ll probably watch the sunrise and then be over.”

Ajie and I went to the bedroom where we’d put the camera bag, took it out of the floor safe, and headed to our room. On the way to our room, we saw some of the people from the retreat, and they glared at us. We just ignored them and kept walking.

Once we were in the room, Ajie quickly undressed and was in the soaking tub. And I wasn’t far behind. We relaxed in the tub for about twenty minutes, then took quick showers, and were in bed and asleep in no time.

Sunday morning, Ajie and I somehow made it out of bed before Sunrise. We still had our hair in braids from yesterday, so we left the braids in. We slipped into our hiking shorts, added nice blouses, and put on our hiking boots. For some reason, I put on the braided leather headband with the Eagle feather. Ajie looked at me, smiled, and asked, “Why the headband?”

“I felt like it.”, I replied.

She walked over to where she’d put her headband last night, picked it up, and put it on. Then she said, “What are we going to do with these when we get home?”

“What do you mean?”

“We always put them away, and Naainish said that they need to be displayed.”

“You’re right. I guess we’ll have to see where they look the best.”

We walked out of our room and headed for the cliff trail. It was a little cooler then we’d expected and we hadn’t brought jackets, but we decided to grin and bear it. When we got to the top of the cliff, it was just beginning to be twilight. We stood there listening to the sounds of the early morning. Including the coyotes talking.

Then we heard others walking up the trail, and it sounded like a large number of people. We decided to walk over to where the little tree was so that we could be alone with our thoughts. But we could still hear the group of people talking among themselves.

The little tree was looking very good. I’d swear that it had doubled in size since we brought it out here.

We stood there looking to the east and watched as the Sun just peaked over the horizon. The group of people grew silent. Then seconds later they started speaking in a language that I didn’t recognize, and Ajie whispered, “What are they saying?”

“I have no idea.”, I replied.

We watched until the Sun was above the horizon, and it did that with some pretty yellows and golds. No red this morning, so no storms. We then started walking back to where the cliff trail comes up onto the cliff top. The group of people was still talking in a strange language.

As we made it to the trail, the group of people stopped talking. And just as we started down the trail, a man said, “Girls, a minute of your time.”

Ajie and I stopped, turned around, and watched as four of the men walked towards us. I said to Ajie, in Navajo, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“So do I.”, Ajie replied in Navajo.

As the four men got closer, an older man, that appeared to be the leader, said, “You were spying on us.”

“Why would we spy on you?”, I replied.

“You just were. Why else are you up here.”

“Sir, we were up here before you were. So we didn’t know you were even coming up here.”

“Someone told you.”

“Who? And, why?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter. You are accusing us of something we didn’t do.”

“You were the two that were chanting at the fire last night?”

“Yes, we were.”

“Heathens. Praying to false Gods.”

“Sir, you don’t know our people or us. You judge us without knowing the facts. We don’t know you, and until now we haven’t judged you. But, you are now giving us a reason to judge you.

“We came up here, as we like to do, to watch the Sunrise. We heard you coming up the trail, and we wanted to be alone. So we moved further along the cliff top, and that allowed us both to be alone.

“Did we hear you? Of course, we did. Did we care what you were doing? No. We were trying to give you some space. Now, you're attacking us. Don’t preach your God to me and I won’t preach my God to you! This conversation is over.”

As Ajie and I turned and started to walk away, the man yelled, “Heathens. You are Godless. You will burn in hell.”

We stopped, and before I could turn around, Ajie whispered in Navajo, “Kai, remember what Naainish said.”

“I’m trying to.”, I whispered back in Navajo.

We slowly turned, looked at the man, then I said, “It obvious that you are a God-fearing man. But you need to realize that you are on sacred Indian land. I would be careful what you say. The Great Spirit may not like you speaking to his people the way have.

“May the Great Spirit give you the ability to see people for who they are, and not what you want them to be.”

Ajie and I turned back around and finished our walk down the trail in silence. We walked to my aunt and uncle’s house, and into the kitchen. Aunt Ginny was the first to see us, and she said, “Girl’s what’s wrong?”

“Where’s Uncle Paul?”, I asked

“He and your Uncle Gaagii are out in the garage.”, Aunt Ruth said.

Without a word, I went to the garage and asked my two uncles to join us in the kitchen. When the six of us were sitting around the table, I said, “I only want to relive this once, because the more I think about it the madder I get.”

“Kai.”, Uncle Paul asked. “What happened?”

I took a deep breath, and said, “Ajie and I went up on the cliff to watch the Sunrise, and after we’d been there a short while we heard other people coming up the trail. Ajie and I wanterd to be alone, so we walked over to where the little tree is, and … ” I went on to tell them what happened.

As I told the story, I could see my Uncle Paul get madder and madder. When I finished my story, my Uncle Paul slammed his fist down on the table, and said, “That tears it.”

He got up, walked over to the phone, dialed the phone, and when someone answered, he said, “This is Mr. Biakeddy. When the retreat group gets ready to check out, please call me.”

He hung up the phone, looked at me, and said, “I don’t want them coming back.”

“What if they contact the owners?”, I asked.

“Not a problem. The members of the consortium that owns the resort are all Indians. Some are Navajo, some are Puebloan, and there’s one Apache. Believe me, if they get wind of this they won’t be happy.”

Then Aunt Ruth, Aunt Ginny, Ajie, and I went to work making frybread breakfast tacos. Aunt Ginny put me to work chopping things, and I took my anger out on the potatoes and red onions. As I was chopping, Aunt Ginny said, “I’m sure glad that Kai isn’t mad at me.”

“I’m more worried about my chopping board and knives surviving.”, Aunt Ruth said.

“Sorry.”, I said.

“Don’t be honey. These people weren’t nice to you. And, I think that you did a wonderful job of controlling yourself with them.”

“I just hope I can.”, Uncle Paul said.

“Don’t go getting into trouble, Uncle Paul.”, I said.

“I won’t Kai. I’ve handled people like this before.”

The six of us sat down to a great meal of frybread breakfast tacos. Soon after we’d finished, the phone rang. Uncle Paul answered it, “Biakeddy.” … “Okay. I’ll be right there.”

As Uncle Paul hung up the phone, he said, “The retreat group is checking out. I’ll be right back.”

“Do you want me to go with you, Uncle Paul?”, I asked.

“Better not Kai. I think we should keep the family relationship out of this.”

“Okay, Mr. Biakeddy.”

“I’ll go with you, Paul.”, my Uncle Gaagii said.

“That might be a good thing.”, my Uncle Paul said. “Maybe you can hold me back.”

“Who’s going to hold me back? What I heard made me angry too.”

Uncle Gaagii got up, and he and Uncle Paul walked out the back door. As they did, Aunt Ruth said, “I’d love to be a fly on the wall.”

About twenty minutes later, Uncle Paul and Uncle Gaagii walked back into the house. I couldn’t tell by their faces what had happened, so I asked, “Well?”

“They won’t be back.”, Uncle Paul said.

“That’s for sure.”, Uncle Gaagii added.

“What happened?”, I asked.

“I confronted the leader of the group.”, Uncle Paul said. “I explained to him that we didn’t allow harassment of guest as they had done with you. He started ranting about Godless people. And I told him that we didn’t want to hear his mindless rantings and that we didn’t want them back. He went crazy and demanded the name of the owner, which I happily gave him. Then they left.”

“So it’s over with?”

“I’d say yes, except I want to call the owners and explain.”

“This isn’t going to cause you any problems. Is it Uncle Paul?”

“It shouldn’t, especially if I mention your name.”

“My name?”

“The group of owners love what you’ve done. Not only the brochure but with the scholarship. And remember they are Indians, so they understand the two spirit people.”

We stayed at the resort until just after lunch then we headed back to Albuquerque, with a side trip to Santa Fe and Mrs. Benallie’s clothing shop. We’d left most of our winter clothes back in Ohio. So we needed some clothes for winter time out here.

In Albuquerque, the average winter high is 50°F with an average low of 25°F. If you go up on the Sandia Crest, which is five-thousand feet higher than Albuquerque, it’s different with an average winter high of 30°F and an average low at night of 15°F.

It seems that Mrs. Benallie’s clothing shop does a big business on Sunday, there were ten or twelve cars parked around the shop. We walked into the shop, and yes I was carrying the camera bag, and there were twenty or so people in the shop.

Ajie and I started looking around, and then we heard a familiar voice almost yell, “Kai! Ajie!”

I turned and looked just in time to intercept Dibe Bylilly as she wrapped her arms around me almost knocking me over. As she hugged me, she asked, “What are you guys doing here?”

“Probably the same thing you are.”, I replied. “Buying clothes.”

“Yeah. I am. I needed some winter clothes.”

“So do we. We left all of our winter stuff back in Ohio.”

“I wish we could talk, but my dad is driving me back to Denver, and he wants to get going.”

“One question first. How are classes going?”

“They’re going great. It's only been a few weeks, but I love everything. And I’m also dancing.”

“That’s great. I’m thrilled to hear that you like school.”

Then we heard a man’s voice say, “Dibe, will you come on. We have a six-hour drive ahead of us.”

“Sorry, Daddy. But, look who’s here.”

As he walked up, I said, “Yá’át’ééh (hello), Mr. Bylilly.”

“Yá’át’ééh, Kai dóó Ajie. It’s good to see you two again.”, Mr. Bylilly said.

“And, it’s nice seeing you again.”

“I’m sorry, but we need to go.”

“That’s all right. We understand.”

Both Ajie and I again got hugs from Dibe. And as she walked away, “I hope I’ll see you guys during the holidays.”

“We’d better see you.”

“You will. Bye.”

“Hágoónee' (see you later), and have a good trip.”

After Dibe and her father had left, I said to Ajie, “Well, that made my day.”

“Me too.”, Ajie replied.

Mrs. Benallie had heard all the commotion that we’d made with Dibe, and walked over just as Dibe was leaving with her dad and packages of clothes. And, Mrs. Benallie said, “Kai and Ajie, it’s so nice to see you again. What can I do for you.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Benallie. We are looking for some warmer clothes. We left all of our winter clothes back in Ohio.”

“I’ve just gotten in some blanket jackets. They’re like the Biil dresses but are jackets, and they’ll keep you warm. And I have some long skirts made out of heavier material than the skirts that you bought last time.”

“I think we need to look at all of those.”

Ajie and I shopped with the help of Mrs. Benallie, and we each ended up with a blanket coat and two skirts made of a heavier material. Also we each picked up two new blouses. Then there were the new earrings. And two pair of Navajo-Churro wool socks each.

And we learned that wrap moccasins if you wear socks with them, can keep your feet warm. And if you treat the moccasins properly, they won’t be hurt by the snow. Ajie and I both had a pair of wrap moccasins, but we were going to pick up another pair each before the snow flies.

On the way to Albuquerque we stopped for dinner, and as we were eating, I said, “Do you remember that pair of boots that I bought that one time we were out shopping?”

“Of course.”, Ajie said. “The ones that came with socks.”

“Those are the ones. I'm going to have mom send them out.”

“Okay. I have a pair of boots at my parent's house that would work out here. Maybe we can have them ship them together.”

“Good idea.”

After we were back at the apartment, as we usually do on Sunday evenings, we called home and talked to our parents. Our mothers were going to get together and send us a winter care package. It’ll be interesting to see what comes in it.

Not long after we’d hung up with our parents, there was a knock on the door. As we opened the door, I was looking at two smiling faces, Charlie and Jackie. I asked, “What are you two so happy about?”

“Invite us in, and we’ll tell you.”, Charlie said.

“Well, come on in.”

We walked into the living room, sat, and Ajie said, “Okay. What’s going on.”

Jackie handed her a letter, saying, “This was in my campus mailbox on today.”

“You check your campus mailbox on Sunday?”

“We eat most of our meals in the student dining room, and the room with the mailboxes is right there. So I do it out of curiosity, plus we look at the notices posted on the bulletin board.”

The letter that Jackie had handed Amy was from the University’s Financial Aid Department. Ajie read it, and said, “This is wonderful. Kai, the university found some more money for Jackie’s scholarship. Her fees and books, for the rest of this year, are covered. Plus they refunded her fees and cost of her books for this quarter.”

“That’s great.”, I said. “With that and Charlie working you guys should be good to go.”

“We are.”, Jackie said. “We’ll still have to be careful. But we should make it.”

“That is so wonderful. You know we went to the resort this weekend. Don’t you?”

“Sure.”

“We found that they have remodeled a few of the suites, and they have some furniture that they’d like to get rid of to make room in the storage building. We looked at it, and what they have is nice.”

“Like what?”, Charlie asked.

“Beds, couches, chest of drawers, and stuff like that.”

“I bet they want too much.”

“My uncle said that they’d let it go for pennies on the dollar just to get rid of it.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. That’s what he did for us.”

“But you’re family.”

“True, but when they auction it off, it goes that way too. And if you take it, then they won’t have to auction it.”

“I guess that would work. How would we get it back here?”

“They come down here every week or two for supplies, and they’d just bring it down.”

Charlie looked at Jackie, and asked, “What do you think, honey?”

“I don’t think it would hurt to look.”, Jackie said.

“Okay.”, Charlie said. “We’re game.”

“We could run up one day next weekend if you’re not doing anything.”, I said.

“Only studying.”

“We’ll just have to see if Amy’s working.”

Charlie had a look on his face like he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure if he should. So, I asked, “Charlie is something wrong?”

“Well.”, Charlie said. “I don’t know if this involves you or not. So, I’m not sure if I should tell you.”

“Just tell me and let me decide.”

“We were working outside of one of the big wigs offices on Friday, and I happened to overhear something.”

“And?”

“Well, they were talking about a grad-assistant teaching in the electrical engineering program that shouldn’t be. And then they said something about that person not being who they appeared to be.”