We had found some interesting trails not only at the Sandia Crest but on the east slope of the Sandia National Forest. And after testing one of them out we’ve decided that these trails might take the place of the pine forest back home. Wink. Wink.

We also talked to a Forest Service Ranger about carrying firearms, as bears have been sighted in the area. And we purchased two rifles and two side arms.

On Friday we’d gone up to the resort for the barbecue, and on Saturday we were going to the dance competition near Taos. This maybe Dibe’s last competition, as she was off to college in the fall.

After tempting Uncle Paul to go with us to the dance competition and talking Aunt Ruth into making frybread, Ajie and I got ready for the barbecue. Long skirts, fancy blouses, and wrap moccasins. Both of us put our hair into a two braid look with fancy wraps at the end, and the braided leather headbands with the Eagle feathers. We both went with Concho belts, a few rings, and bracelets. I put on my Concho choker, and Ajie didn’t wear anything around her neck except for the meteorite necklace. Which is unusual for her.

When we walked out into the main part of the house, my aunt and uncle were waiting for us. I asked, “Are the Fairbrothers here?”

The Fairbrothers, are a husband and wife team that travels the country judging American Indian dance competitions. They’re members of the Ojibwa Tribe. We’d met them last year when they’d come to judge the competition. They’ve also written an article on the two spirit people.

“No, honey, the Fairbrother won’t be here this year.”, my aunt said. “They had some personal thing come up and couldn’t make it. They did say to say hello to you two.”

“I’m going to miss them.”, I replied.

“I know. We’ll miss them too.”

As the four of us walked towards the barbecue area, we were met by a number of the guests that were heading the same way. As we walked into where the barbecue is held, I was surprised to see Chief Tom and Vickie. Ajie and I walked over to them, and said in unison said, “Yá’át’ééh alní'íní, Naat'áanii Etsitty dóó Vickie.” (Good evening, Chief Etsitty and Vickie.)

And to our surprise, they both responded, “Yá’át’ééh alní'íní, Kai dóó Ajie.”

With a smile, I said, “You’re learning.”

“We have a long way to go, Kai.”, Vickie said.

“It takes time. Chief Tom, you may have heard this when you lived on the reservation. Do you know what dah diniilghaazh is?”

Chief Tom looked at me in thought, then said, “I’m not sure, but I seem to remember that it’s something to eat.”

“Okay. But what?”

“Something good.”

“Yes.”

His eyes lit up, and he said, “Frybread.”

“So frybread is what in Navajo?”

“Dah diniilghaazh.”

I smiled and nodded yes. And Ajie said, “Maybe we’re stirring some memories from your childhood.”

Then I asked, “So what are you two doing here?”

“We’d heard about the dance competition and wanted to see it. And we loved it here at the resort so much last time we wanted to come, spend the night, and go to Taos in the morning. And the hotel had a vacancy.”

“That’s what we’re doing. We have a friend that’s dancing tomorrow.”

There were only two special guests tonight, Chief Tom and Naainish. So the introductions didn’t take long. And there weren’t any dancers tonight, as all of them would be at the competition tomorrow. But there were musicians. So I had to make excuses for the dancers.

After I’d done the welcoming, Ajie and I got in the food line with Chief Tom and Vickie. Of course, as we ate, we talked, and Ajie and I would throw out a word in Navajo every once in a while.

One time I threw out, dah diniilghaazh.

And Vickie came back with, “Frybread.”

I said, “Perfect, Vickie. Have you ever had frybread?”

“I don’t think so. Have I, Tom?”

“I don’t think so.”, Chief Tom replied. “I think the last time I had it was before we were married.”

“Tomorrow, you’re in for a treat. There are some vendors at the competition that make different kinds of things with dah diniilghaazh. So you’ll get to try it.

“But I think that Ajie and I make better frybread and my Aunt Ruth makes the best.”

Then I had an idea, and I asked, “Are you going back to Albuquerque right after the competition?”

“No.”, Vickie replied. “We ‘re staying until Sunday. We didn’t want to rush our time at the competition or here at the resort.”

“Good.”, I said as I got up. “Excuse me for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

I looked around for my aunt and uncle, spotted them, and started walking towards them. As I did I heard Vickie ask Ajie, “What’s Kai up to?”

And, Ajie reply, “Who knows.”

I walked over to where my aunt and uncle were eating, and I asked, “Aunt Ruth, are you still planning for breakfast with frybread on Sunday?”

“Of course.”, Aunt Ruth replied. “Unless you and your uncle eat your fill at the competition. Why?”

Aunt Ruth’s comment got a, “Hmm.”, from Uncle Paul.

“Would you mind two more mouths for breakfast?”, I asked.

“No.”, Aunt Ruth said. “But who?”

“Chief Tom and Vickie.”

“Oh! I’d love to have them. But you and Ajie are going to need to help me.”

“We will. Thanks, Aunt Ruth. What time should I tell them?”

“How about seven?”

I almost ran back to where Ajie, Chief Tom, and Vickie were sitting. I sat back down. And, Ajie asked me, “What are you up too?”

I looked at Chief Tom and Vickie, and asked, “Would you like to join us for breakfast at my aunt and uncle’s house for frybread tacos?”

“We don’t want to impose.”, Vickie said.

“It wouldn’t be an imposition. My aunt would love to have you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Very sure. Seven on Sunday morning at their house.”

We finished eating, and the four of us hiked up the cliff trail to watch the Sunset. My feet must be getting used to walking in moccasins. I wasn’t feeling the stones on the trail like I had in the past. The Sunset was beautiful, with yellows, red, and golds. Tomorrow should be nice.

After watching the Sunset, we walked around the bonfire talking to various people, then we said goodnight to the Etsitty's, and headed to my aunt and uncles house. But we didn’t go straight to bed, but sat on the patio and watched the stars. Ajie pointed out a shooting star, and I was able to spot it just before it burned up.

Saturday, Ajie and I did something that is very usual for us. We slept in. We were shaken out of a sound sleep by a gentle knock on the door, and my aunt saying, “Kids if you want to go to the competition with us you’d better get up.”

I rolled over and looked at the clock, and said, “Aunt Ruth, we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

Ajie was already out of bed and heading for the shower. I’d taken my shower last night, and started getting dressed while she showered. It was the special panties, regular panties, bra, and forms. I put my hair into two braids. Then slipped one of the Eagle feather headbands on. Added my wrap moccasins. And I slipped into the white Biil dress.

Then I took the jewelry out of the floor safe. I put on a Concho belt, my Concho choker, a pair of the silver feather earrings, and one of the squash blossom necklaces.

Ajie came out of the shower after blow-drying her hair and putting it into a single braid. She added a fancy wrap to the end of her braid and added the Eagle feather headband. Then she slipped into a pair of panties and a bra, followed by her wrap moccasins, and the red Biil dress. Then she added her Concho belt and her squash blossom necklace. And she opted for a pair of earrings made with beads.

Then we both added bracelets and rings, all of which were silver and turquoise.

And without Ajie and me having breakfast, the four of us left for the dance competition. Grandma had decided not to go.

About an hour later we were pulling into the parking area of the competition area, and as we got out of the car, you could hear the drums and singing. We walked towards the main competition area and just like last time, seeing all the colors in the regalia that the dancers were wearing was amazing.

We walked through the vendor's area, stopped to say hello to Mr. Yazzie and as always he was happy to see us. We walked up through the vendor's area looking at various things. There were vendors selling blankets, jewelry, clothing, and even vendors selling parts of dance regalia.

There was something that drew me to a vendor that was selling all kinds of jewelry. We stopped in and looked at what they were offering.

Then I saw something hanging on a display at the back of their stall. I think it was the only piece of silver jewelry on display. I stood there looking at it until one of the vendors walked up, and asked, “Is there something you would like to look at?”

I hesitated for a second, then as I pointed, I said, “Could I look at that choker.”

The woman turned, looked, turned back to me, and said, “The brown and silver one?”

“Yes.”

She went and removed it from the board, handed it to me, and said, “This is a hair-pipe bone choker, and made with silver.”

I took the choker and looked at it carefully. I looked a little closer, and I saw what looked like a maker’s mark. A maker’s mark that I didn’t recognize.

Then I said, “I like this piece.”

Ajie was standing next to me, and asked, “Are you thinking of buying it?”

“Yes. For you.”

She shook her head and looked at me like I was crazy.

The lady then said, “It is a very nice piece. We usually don't sell silver. We leave that to the silversmiths. This piece was in an estate sale, and it was part of a group of things.”

“Yes, it is a nice piece.”, I replied. “I’m also very cautious when buying silver.”

“I can tell. Everything that the two of you are wearing looks to be excellent pieces.”

“Thank you. My great-great-grandfather made most of it.”

“Oh. Who was that?”

“Kilchii Nez.”

“Oh! I’ve only seen a couple of his pieces, and he was an excellent silversmith.”

“Where did you see them?”

“A silversmith in Taos has them.”

“Sike Yazzie?”

“Yes. You know him?”

“Yes, he’s a good friend. In fact, he’s just down the row of vendors, and I’d like to have him look at the piece. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but when it comes to silver, I trust Sike more than anyone.”

“We usually don’t do that. But I’ll tell you what I’ll do. Pay me for it, and I’ll write on the receipt that you can return it if Sike Yazzie isn’t happy with it.”

“You’d do that?”

“Yes, we feel that this is a very excellent piece and I don’t think that he’ll have a problem with it.”

“Let’s do it.”

I counted out the money, as the woman made out the sales receipt. And of course, she asked for my name.

I replied, “Kai Nez.”

She looked up at me, and I added, “Yes, that Kai Nez.”

“Oh! It’s a pleasure doing business with you.”

“And with you. We’ll go see Mr. Yazzie right now.”

My aunt and uncle had been standing with us, and my aunt said, “Kids, we’re going to get some lunch. We’ll be in the seating area that’s just up the vendor's area a bit. And there’s a frybread stand, which makes a good frybread taco right across from there. And we’ll see you there.”

“That’s what’s wrong.”, I said. “I’m hungry. We’ll run down, see Mr. Yazzie, and be right there.”

The lady handed me the sales receipt and the choker. And she had written a note like we’d agreed on and signed it. We thanked her. And my aunt and uncle went to get lunch, and Ajie and I went to see Mr. Yazzie.

As we walked up to Mr. Yazzie’s booth, he’d just finished with a customer. He looked at us, and asked, “What are you two doing back here?”

“We found something at one of the vendors up the road and want you to have a look at it.”

“What did you find now?”

As I laid the choker on the counter, I said, “Just this.”

Mr. Yazzie looked at the choker, and said, “Nice!”

Then he picked it up and started looking at very carefully. And I said, “There’s a maker’s mark on the back of the silver disk. And I’ve never seen that maker’s mark before.”

“I wasn’t sure about it either.”, I replied.

Then, Mr. Yazzie continued looking at the smaller pieces including the silver feather. When he finished examining the choker, he looked up at us, and asked, “Did you look closely at the other pieces of silver?”

“No.”, I said. “Is something wrong?”

“Not at all. Take a look at the maker’s mark on the feather.”

I picked up the choker and looked at the silver feather. I showed it to Ajie, and she said, “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes.”, Mr. Yazzie said. “That’s a hand engraved maker’s mark from Kilchii. Some of the smaller pieces also have his mark, and some have the same maker’s mark as the silver disk. And I’ve never seen that maker’s mark before.”

“So we did good buying this?”

“Kai, you and Ajie are fortunate to find this. You may even have an older piece of Kilchii’s work than I do.”

“Why didn’t the other dealer see this?”

“They may not have looked at it close enough. Who was it.”

I showed Mr. Yazzie the sales receipt. And he said, “They are not into the silver jewelry trade. They’re more into beads and other types of jewelry. And this is worth much more than the fifty dollars that you paid for it.”

“But why the two different maker’s marks?”, I asked.

“I’m not sure. But this is an old piece, because of the hand engraved maker’s marks for Kilchii. And it could have been made while he was training with another silversmith. And they made this piece together.”

“So this other maker’s mark may be from whoever trained Kilchii?”

“It’s very possible.”

“How do we find out?”

“You know Ahiga Biakeddy. Don’t you?”

“Yes. He’s my Uncle Paul’s cousin.”

“Take it to him. He has a fairly complete book of maker’s marks.”

“We’ll do that on Monday.” Then I picked up the choker, and said, “Ajie turn around.”

“Why?”, Ajie asked.

“Just do it.”

Ajie turned her back to me, I wrapped the choker around her neck and tied the leather ties. She turned around, I smiled, and Mr. Yazzie said, “That looks very nice on you Ajie.”

“Thank you, Mr. Yazzie.”, Ajie said. “And honey, thank you, but it’s too much.”

“Nothing is too much for you Ajie.”, I replied.

We said thank you and so long to Mr. Yazzie. And then we headed to the vendor that had frybread tacos. Ajie only got one and something to drink. And I got two and something to drink. Then we walked to the seating area and found my aunt, uncle, and the Etsitty's. As we walked up, we said, “Yá’át’ééh, Naat'áanii Tahoma dóó Vickie.” (It is good, Chief Tom and Vickie.)

The Etsitty's looked at us and said, “Yá’át’ééh, Kai dóó Ajie.”

“Ajie.”, Vickie said. “I just love your choker.”

“Thanks, Vickie.”, Ajie said. “Kai just bought it for me. And part of it was done by her great-great-grandfather.”

As we set our food down and sat at the table, my aunt asked, “Well what did Mr. Yazzie have to say about the choker?”

As we ate, we told everyone what Mr. Yazzie had told us. When we finished, my uncle said, “Kids, that was a lucky find. Kai, how did you happen to pick that one piece of jewelry?”

“I’m not sure.”, I replied. “Something drew me to the vendor. It was the only silver piece that they had, and I thought it would look good on Ajie.”

“Did you stop and say anything to the vendor that sold it to you?”

“No. Do you think we should?”

“I think it might be nice to do.”, Ajie said. “They may like to know.”

“Okay. We’ll stop after the competition.”

“We’d better hurry, or we’re going to miss the Grand Entrance.”, Aunt Ruth said.

“Grand Entrance?”, Chief Tom asked.”

“It’s the start of the competition. All of the dancers dance into the arena together showing off their dance steps and their regalia.”

“That must be interesting?”

“It is.”

We headed to the competition area, and just as we got there, we were intercepted by Dibe and her friends. Ajie and I got big hugs from Dibe, then she said, “Kai and Ajie, we’d like you to join us in the Grand Entrance.”

“We can’t do that. Can we?”, I asked.

“Yes, you can. You’re our guests.”

I looked at my Aunt Ruth, and she said, “Go on. It’s a great honor to be invited to participate in the Grand Entrance.”

Dibe and her friends grabbed us and led us off to where all the dancers were gathering. As we stood there, Dibe asked, “Who were the other two people that were with you?”

“You mean other than my aunt and uncle?”, I replied.

“Yes, silly. I know who they are.”

“That was Chief Tahoma Etsitty, the new chief of the The Big Medicine People clan, and his wife.”

“Oh. Who don’t you know?”

“A lot of people. I’ll introduce you later if I get a chance.”

Just then the drumming and singing started. We followed those in front of us into the competition area. Ajie danced along with them more than I did, I just walked and loved looking at all the dancers and their regalia.

Once everyone was in the competition area, there was a welcoming, a few announcements, and then the competition started. Ajie and I went into the stands and found my aunt, uncle, and the Etsitty's, and we sat with them. We witnessed many different dances, and it was everyone from the older people to the little kids out there dancing their hearts out.

We watched hoop dances, sash belt dances, basket dances, Eagle dances, the dances with jingle dresses, and others. We watched Dibe, and her friends do the basket dance, the sash belt dance, and the harvest dance, which are dances that takes a group of people to do. Then we watched Dibe participate in the fancy shawl dance, and this year her regalia was in red with a lot of beading. This must be her favorite dance, as she is really good at it.

Dibe and her friends did better than last year. They took first place in three dances, the sash belt dance, the harvest dance, and the basket dance. And Dibe again took first place in the fancy shawl dance.

At the end of the awards ceremony, they called three girls and three guys up onto the stage. One of the girls was Dibe. And she again won the award for the best female dancer. As it was being presented to her, I leaned over to the Etsitty's, and said, “That girl, Dibe, is our friend.”

“She’s a fantastic dancer.”, Vickie said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before except at the barbecue.”

“Yes, she is an excellent dancer. And she’s also going to make a fantastic doctor.”

“Is she the one that got the scholarship?”

I just smiled, as I nodded yes.

As we were walking out of the competition area, Dibe ran up to us, and again it was hugs. And I said, “Congratulations Dibe, you deserved the best female dancer award.”

“Thank you, Kai.”, Dibe said. “I’m so glad you were here.”

Then Chief Tom said, “Young lady, you are a fantastic dancer.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Oh. Chief Etsitty this is Dibe Bylilly. Dibe this is Chief Tahoma Etsitty and his wife, Vickie. Chief Etsitty is the new chief of The Big Medicine People clan.”

“Oh. It’s a pleasure to meet you Chief.”

“It’s more of a pleasure to meet you, Miss Bylilly.”, Chief Tom said. “We’ve seen you dance at the barbecue at the resort. But what you showed us here was fantastic.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“And good luck in your college studies.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Just then Dibe’s mother and father walked up, and I introduced everyone.

Then I said, “Please excuse Ajie and me, we need to see one of the vendors before they pack up. And Uncle Paul, we’ll see you at the car.”

“Okay, kids.”, Uncle Paul said. “Don’t be too long.”

“We won’t.”

Ajie and I walked to the vendor area where we’d bought the choker. And the vendor was starting to pack up. As we walked up, the woman that had sold us the choker saw us. And she said, “Hello again.”

“Hello.”, I said. “I’m glad we caught you.”

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“No. Not at all. But we thought that you’d like to know what we found out about this choker.”

“Okay.” She looked at a man, that I took to be her husband, and said, “Honey, come over here. Will you?”

He walked over, and she told him about us buying the choker. Then we told them about visiting Sike Yazzie, and what he’d told us about the choker. They were both amazed. And, we showed them the makers marks on the choker.

I then asked, “Where did you get the choker?”

The woman replied, “We purchased it at an estate sale with other things that were in a wooden box.”

“What else was in the box?”

“We’re not sure. We haven’t had time to talk with anyone about it.”

“You don’t happen to have it with you. Do you?”

“Yes.”, the man said. “We bring everything with us. I just pulled that choker out of the box and put it on display in hopes of selling it.”

“Could we see the box?”

“Sure. Let me get it.”

The man walked over to a van, dug around for a minute, and came back with a wooden box. It was maybe twelve inches high by twelve inches deep by eighteen inches wide, and the top slid open. It was handmade, old, and looked to be well made.

I asked, “Would you mind if we looked inside?”

As the man slid the top open, he said, “Not at all.”

The woman added, “That choker was just in there with everything else.”

Ajie and I looked inside. I moved a few things around, and said, “I’m not sure, but I think that these might be silversmith’s tools.”

Then Ajie asked, “Kai, what’s in the cloth bag?”

“I don’t know.” Then I asked the woman, “Do you mind if we take things out of the box?”

The woman said, “No, go ahead.”

I reached into the box and pulled out a cloth bag with a drawstring. I opened the bag and took out a number of square steel pieces that were maybe four or five inches long. Some were a half-an-inch square, and others were smaller. As I looked at them, each had a different shape at one end, and the other end was flared out like it was made to be hit. I looked at each one and then handed it to Ajie. She would look at them then set them down. After Ajie looked at one, she looked at me, and asked, “Kai, …