They knew that many tribes of Native Americans resided in the ‘four corners’ states of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico. William had heard of only the Navajo Tribe, but Ansuya spoke often of the Hopi Tribe which is where she was directing them too. They were hiking in the desert, and using only their combined survival skills, were living off the land. Water was becoming a bit of a problem and William wasn’t sure how many more days they could keep this up. Especially since now they were completely without supplies and only had the clothes on their back, and only the money that they had collectively in their wallets, which wasn’t much.

  They traveled deeper into the desert. The night air was cool against their bodies and was even a bit too cold. But they didn’t have any choice and they didn’t have any more clothes to put on as a guard against the night desert chill.

  The dim light in the distance came upon them slowly. None of them could remember when they had first seen it. But they, as a whole, had been drawn to the lights on the horizon, like moths to a candle flame. Light meant civilization, and civilization meant food and water. The night was young and the full dark of the night sky dropped down softly around them, leaving them alone. Except for the light of the half-moon that hung in the sky, the stars that shone around her, and the lights from whatever village or town they were approaching.

  *   *   *   *   *

  Celestino felt it as a gradual weight on the back of his mind, like a nagging detail he had forgotten but knew that he needed to remember it. The night meal that had been prepared by his wife was delicious, as always, and he was ready to relax in his favorite chair and read, as was his custom in the evening hours.

  But the nagging sense in his mind grew with every waking moment. Something that not even reading and the contentment of his home could dispel. He got up from his chair.

  His wife watched him rise with a bit of concern. She knew that something was bothering her husband, “What is it?”

  He shook his head, “I don’t know, but something that I have to do, needs doing. I just don’t know what that is. I’ll be back shortly.” He left his wife and his warm house to walk out into the desert to clear his mind of these troubles that wouldn’t leave him be.

  The night air was chilly for this time of year. The wind was softly blowing across the desert. The stars hung in their places in the heavens and the moon was as it should be. He saw nothing in the heavens to warn him of coming danger. In fact, there was nothing at all that should be wrong. And yet that nagging feeling on the back of his mind would not be eased.

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  He started walking away from his home. His legs began carrying him and he let them guide him. He had no way to know where he was going. At times like these it was best to clear your mind and let your body be guided by instinct. He closed his eyes and walked. When he opened his eyes, by the stars above his head, he knew that he was walking west.

  Ever since his vision quest within the medicine wheel, his thoughts had been pulled westward. Now his legs carried him there on this colder than usual night.

  His keen eyes, accustomed to the desert and the deep dark of this place, saw the figures first. He stopped and studied them as they walked towards him. He was certain that whoever they were could not have seen him yet. He did not feel fear or apprehension coming from these figures. The way they moved under the star and moonlight said that they had been traveling a long time. They moved at night, which was smart, especially if they planned on, or had already, traveled a great distance. Nothing killed quicker than the noon day desert sun.

  He studied them silently, watching them grow bigger as they neared him. He noticed that they traveled with a dog. He corrected himself quickly. That was no dog, but a wolf. Its ears were proud and tall on the crown of its head and its tail wagged softly at half-mast behind it. A wolf was a powerful protector and proud predator. If it chose to roam with these people then there was more to this band then he would have first supposed.

  He stood silently in the night. He would not call out to them, nor would he ignore them if they approached him, but they would need to approach him. He would not run, but he would not offer help, without being asked. He stood as a silent sentinel in the cool desert as the group slowly approached him.

  The group did in fact notice him and they moved towards him. Soon he was staring at six people, three women, one of which was barely more than a girl, and three young men, and a black wolf. He could be easily over taken by this group if they wanted bloodshed. And yet he trusted in the fates, if it was his fate to die at these people’s hands then so be it.

  “Good evening, sir,” A rather impressively tall black man began, “Would it be too much to ask for some assistance? We have been traveling for four days across the desert. Could you let us have some water?”

  The request for aid had been given, and as he had already decided he would give it. He nodded, “My house is this way, if you would follow me?”

  He turned his back on the group and walked back towards his house. He heard the group move behind them. There footsteps were heavy, they had been traveling for a long time. The wolf however, quietly padded behind him, or so he thought. He couldn’t hear the animal’s footsteps. As he walked back to his house that nagging weighted feeling on the back of his mind eased. Could these people be the cause for his vision? They had come from the west as his vision suggested they would. His guide had been a wolf, of which these people traveled with. To his mind, that was proof positive that these people were who he was supposed to find. Now what he was to do with them now they were here, was something else.