Ansuya smiled, "Celestino have you gotten anywhere with arranging the tribal council?"

The old man sat there and sighed, "I made a few phone calls this morning. My friend in the council is 'very busy' he said. There is a tribal council coming up next month." When William tried to protest, he held up his hands, "Please, I know that's a long way off for you folks, believe me, I do. I wish that we lived in simpler times and a council could be called in days, but that's just not the world we live in."

"Will you be able to call other tribes to the council?" Ansuya asked. "I can go to some of these other tribes and offer the meeting, we need to speak to not only your tribe but others in the region as well. Let me help you, so we can both get what we need."

Celestino looked at her with his sharp eyes, "You want to be named emissary of the Hopi to approach other tribes and offer a place at our council?"

Ansuya nodded, "yes."

"I may be able to help with that. I don't think we need to do anything overt, maybe just a letter of office." He shook his head, "I have no idea what the other tribes will say, but who knows. Do you need a vehicle?"

"That would make things a little easier," Ansuya replied.

Celestino nodded, "Ok, well I can take you into town tomorrow and we'll see what we can do.

* * * * *

The next day Celestino, Ansuya, and William got into the old man's truck and drove into town. The small town square looked very much like any other small town square. The buildings were squat but neat, there was nothing over four stories tall. The stop lights changed from green to yellow to red in the same fashion as every other stop light he had encountered. There was a Cold Stone creamery on the corner and a corner drug store. There were several small groups of people lazily walking about, enjoying each other's company. William found himself envious of these people. He would never really be able to enjoy a warm sunny day like this, not the way these people were. He was a monster and he knew that the world was full of other monsters. If he ever had a family, they too would be drawn into the world that he now inhabited. The innocence of this town was something that he would never be able to indulge in again.

Celestino pulled the truck over and parked in front of a brick building, the raised words of TRIBAL COUNCILMAN CLIFFORD TAKALA, was embossed on the side of the building. William got out of the truck and held the door for Ansuya as she exited the vehicle.

The inside of the office building was pretty modern which William found a bit surprising, not that he had any real idea what he expected, but flat screen computers, iphones, and wireless technology everywhere wasn't it.

Celestino spoke quietly to a woman behind a desk, "I'm sorry, but Councilman Takala isn't really taking visitors. His schedule is full today."

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Celestino almost ignored her and walked past her desk, "This won't take a minute and he's expecting me, its ok."

The woman looked up at Ansuya with her mouth open but William could already sense the pheromones that washed over her. William glanced over at Ansuya. The heavy hand that she used with the woman was a little out of character for her.

"It's alright, we won't be but a minute. Clifford is always happy to see his friends. A minute is so short a time between friends, almost no time at all," Ansuya intoned softly to the woman.

The woman's eyes glazed a bit as she nodded, "Almost no time at all, Clifford always likes to see his friends." The woman lowered her eyes to her keyboard and continued with whatever work she had been doing when they came in.

William followed the Elder as she followed after Celestino into the back of the building. He knew that Ansuya had only done what she had to, to keep them safe and this meeting quiet. The last thing they needed was law enforcement forcefully removing them from the building. But the heavy hand she used was a little troubling. Was Ansuya becoming just as impatient with everything as the rest of them were?

William followed the other two into the hallway and down the hall, as Celestino turned into an office. William and Ansuya entered the office after the Hopi medicine man.

The office looked just as they expected a statesman office to look like. The floor was coated in a soft, pristinely clean carpet, that was covered in geometric shapes of brown, tan, and gold, giving William the impression of sand paintings for some reason.

The large desk which dominated the room, was made of heavy wood, the legs stood on their own feet, there was hardly any copper or brass embellishments in the desk. And sitting behind it was a middle-aged man.

The man retained a full head of dark hair that was clasped behind him in a ponytail. His deep-set, brown eyes gave the impression of patience and wisdom and his strong nose showed a slight crook at the bridge. The man wore a three-piece suit with a white tie that showed similar geometric shapes of the carpet, that complimented his white shirt.

The man watched as all three people entered his office. "Well, Celestino! If I knew there was going to be a party in my office, I would have ordered pizza."

Celestino chuckled, "It's good to see you, my old friend."

The man behind the desk stood up and shook hands with the medicine man over the desk. "Jesus, Celestino, it's been a long time! What are you doing here?"

The older man sighed and looked pointedly at the other two visitors. "Clifford, these young folks have a hell of a request to make of you." Before the statesman could protest Celestino held up his hands, "I know, I know our tribal custom and what is required. But you know me, I wouldn't have brought them here if I didn't think that this wasn't something very important. Please just hear them out."

Clifford looked back and forth between the white man and the brown woman, before sitting back down in his chair and steepled his hands in front of his face. "Alright, I'll listen, but I don't promise anything. Just seeing you in my office is enough to ruffle the feathers of a few of our people, probably why I find it to be so fun." He and Celestino shared a laugh at the private joke. "What is it you would like to request?"

Ansuya smiled and even though they knew how important this was, William detected no pheromones coming from the Tracker. This was at once surprising and a bit alarming all at the same time.

"For the upcoming tribal council, we would like as many of the Four Corners tribes to be there as possible," Ansuya stated calmly.

The statesman brow furrowed at the strange request, "That is a very strange request, especially since you are outsiders and non-tribal members. Why would you want other tribes coming to our tribal council? And what do they have to say about our tribe and what business concerns us? What business there would concern them?"

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