Clifford was nervous. He had never felt this way before. He was a tribal councilman, he was respected and he had achieved, what he considered to be, a lot of good for his tribe and community. There was no reason for him to be nervous. And yet there was a cold sweat on the back of his neck that he couldn't wipe off and his heart was racing.

The sky had just begun to darken as the long curtain of night slowly slid across the blue globe as the sunlight faded. As the curtain drew closed the sky was lit only by those small holes that had been made in the curtain of night long ago by the sparrow… or was it a finch? Not that it really mattered much what kind of bird had flown up and punched all the holes in the curtain. What mattered was that a small creature, treated with disdain by the great and mighty eagle, and bear, had flown up to the curtain and had brought sunlight to the cursed night that had lasted far too long.

He shook his head and focused back on the road. What had caused him to think of that silly story about how the stars were made? It wasn't a Hopi story, not that he knew of anyway. Why did that thought suddenly fill his mind.

He turned the story over and over again in his mind. That small sparrow had suffocated to death bringing light back to the world ruled by total darkness, and had fallen back to the earth, only to be treated with the utmost reverence and respect by the greater animals that had spurned him only hours before.

Was there something he had missed? Was there something more to the heaven's tonight? Some sign that he hadn't paid attention to?

Tonight, had not been easy to arrange. From the moment that that…thing had clawed a chunk of wood out of his desk he had worked tirelessly to get this council meeting together. He had called in favors, and promised a great deal more, maybe more than he could repay. But the other tribes had to have people there tonight. This was something they had to see.

Maybe that's why the story of the bird and the birth of the stars suddenly struck him, it was possible that these people brought with them…change. Whether that was the dark foreboding curtain of night, or if they were here to makes holes in the curtain of their complacently and ignorance.

It had to be done.

He drove into the parking lot of the meeting hall and parked. He wiped the back of his neck and checked his tie in the mirror. He was wearing a sand stone color suit with beige inseams. The buttons were dark brown and his tie was a simple pattern in light brown and tan, with a white shirt.

He got out of the car and walked into the hall. This was going to be, if nothing else, a night worth remembering.

* * * * *

Celestino pulled his well-worn truck into a mostly full parking lot. It had been a long time since he had seen so many cars in this old gravel parking lot. He was forced to park way out on the end of a long line of cars and trucks and SUVs.

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He stepped out of his truck and looked up into the night sky. He recalled his visions that he had in the desert. Of the wolf sitting by him as they both stared west out over the ocean. The stars shone brightly in a sky that held only the sliver of a new moon slowly rising to her place of dominion in the night sky.

He had offered his guests a ride in the truck, but they had stubbornly refused for some reason. After seeing what that young fella really was, he felt like he should have been terrified of them. But somehow, he found that he was more comfortable around them. It was good to finally see the true face of his guests. They held a power that he could never understand, but he felt no malice from them. He was sure they would arrive in their own time, and in their own way.

He walked the long distance to the doors and let himself into the meeting hall.

The place was packed. There was an excitement in the air that was almost tangible. He recognized a few of the elders from the Navajo and Apache tribes, and he thought he recognized one or two from the Ute, and the Zuni had come as well.

In the middle of the room, given the seat of power and focus, was taken up by the Hopi tribal council, four of them. Clifford was standing off to the side. This was his meeting, usually he would be with the other council members. As it was, he separated himself to give himself the floor so he could direct the conversation and the topics that they were all here to discuss. Celestino took his place among the other medicine men and women off to the side, separated from both the leaders and the tribal members.

The room quieted as one of the tribal leaders raised his arm, he was Apache. "We have come at the bidding of our fellow tribal councilman, but we have not been given any word in what was to be said, or even why we should be here, only that we should be here. Has the time come, councilman Clifford Takala, to finally tell us what it is that has brought us all here and why? Some of us have traveled a day or more to be here, please tell us that our time has not been wasted."

Celestino saw that Clifford, maybe for the first time in his life, was nervous. Nevertheless, the councilman answered with a steady, strong voice, "Yes, it is indeed time to finally reveal to you what I could not in my invitations and phone calls."

He walked steadily into the center of the lower part of the meeting hall, surrounded on all sides by the tribal council members, and on the inclined seat sections that held the tribal members, "To you all, I bid you welcome, and my thanks for accepting my invitation tonight. I have spoken with most, if not all of you at some point in the last week or two and I understand and appreciate the hardships that you all took on yourselves to be here. But I must ask that all except the council leadership and medicine people leave the meeting hall."

This caused the seated tribal members to rise up in a unified uproar. This may have been exactly what Clifford had wanted, but the sheer volume and energy of the outburst from the crowd made Celestino nervous. Clifford may have just caused a riot and the only thing keeping the teeming masses from flowing down and ripping him limb from limb was the collected tribe's leadership seated directly behind him.

Clifford made no move to settle the suddenly irate crowd, instead it was the tribal leaderships posture and silence that eventually won out over the raucous yelling and anger of the crowd.

"I will send my people out of the hall, if you tell us why this must be a closed session of leaders and medicine people only," The Navajo president said calmly once the crowd had silenced themselves.

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