Now, after presenting myself to this group of people, I was sitting in a room across the hall from a conference room where my fate, so to say, was being determined.

I sat there thinking, even if they allow Kai to teach, can I teach a bunch of guys with me looking like a girl? No, not looking like, but being Kai. Could Kai do this? Yes!

It’s still Friday, and we’re at the resort, and it’s the last barbecue of the year. And there's more than the usual number of special guests here tonight.

We had used the mud pool to try to help both of us relax, and it worked. We also found out that next Friday would be the last barbecue of the year. That made us sad.

The Sunset was an excellent one, but the storms building to the west showed that we were going to get a thunderstorm or two. As the storms approached, I warned everyone to get off the cliff, and all but one guy did. He wanted one more picture. And that turned tragic. Lightning struck him, and he died.

Sunday morning when I woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking and Ajie looking down at me with that cute smile on her face. I smiled up at her, and said, “Morning lover.”

She bent down, kissed me, sat back, and said, “Good morning sweetheart.”

Saturday, Ajie and I had overslept and didn’t get breakfast before we left for the dance competition. When we were finally there and were walking through the vendor area, we stopped at one of the vendors that sells beaded jewelry and pottery, but they happened to have a hair-pipe bone choker with silver for sale. We bought it and took it to Mr. Yazzie. And we found out from him that Kilchii Nez had made part of it. Ajie and I went back to the vendor that we’d purchased the choker from and found that they had a wooden box that they had gotten at an estate sale.

What was in this box?

On Sunday morning we took Kelly and Larry to the airport, and we said so long to them. Then we changed clothes and headed to Window Rock, Arizona and a meeting of the clan at the Tribal Council Chambers.

The meeting turned out as I knew it would. Tahoma Etsitty, the husband of Dr. Etsitty, who is Amy’s preceptor at the university, became the Chief of the Azee'tsoh dine'é (The Big Medicine People clan).

The sunset was a good one, and the crew pledged to get together once a year no matter what. That also made me happy. We also decided to stay the night with my aunt and uncle and go to Taos in the morning.

On Saturday morning the crew witnessed a sunrise and met the wolves. Then we headed to my aunt and uncle’s house for breakfast.

As we walked into the house, the smells were incredible. Aunt Ruth must be cooking already. We followed the aroma into the kitchen and found my aunt and grandmother cooking, and I said, “Well, good morning grandma and Aunt Ruth.”

Kelly and Larry had arrived to use the gift certificate that we’d given them for their wedding. And they had brought a big surprise with them. Maria and Mark. So we now had our first house guests.