CHAPTER 15. IN BALANCE
Our weakness is that we are a merciful and trusting people. In our law, we hold that "It is the duty and responsibility of the Diné' to protect and preserve the beauty of the natural world for future generations."
The Blue-eyed Girl was sent to protect and to heal many cruelties that have come unto us all, after the great plague and before. There is so much to the world that bilagáana cannot see, that lies in plain sight. She fulfills the wishes of powers that you do not know, and is protected by so much that you cannot see.
"Do you know that you were followed down from the mountains of dawn by Náshdóítsoh - the - watcher? Since you came down to Pagosa Mountain, First Angry Mountain, you have been guarded. You have been watched over, and this is noticed. Náshdóítsoh told us of your coming.
Many bilagáana bring wrong and evil in their wake. Never have we seen Náshdóítsoh follow one, except to take the life of one that threatens us.
The girl has a purpose that brings together the Diné and bilagáana. We can put things right in a way that helps both our people. The Elder Mothers wish to speak with her again."
Tsipei stood, the elder men stood, and began to walk towards the doorway. They stopped, and turned to the men from the Zone, still seat-ed. "Come, come now!" an old man waved them along. "Let's go." He called to them as a shepherd would; they followed.
The men's wait took hours and hours. When Judy came out, she was wearing a small but beautiful turquoise pendant, set in finely wrought silver, which hung on a longer chain beneath the white bear. She almost seemed to glow from within like the little white bear did when in sunrise.
"Judy Blue they are calling me, as my protector name. If you go any-where in the Land, tell anyone that you go under command of Judy Blue, and they will grant you passage and protection."
CHAPTER 16. THE VERDICT AND THE RECKONING
Tsipei appeared silently, and sat at the yellow table. The seven travelers walked in and seated themselves.
"So we have decided – You, the Selected, may come to the portal of our land, by the Shell Mountain in the East, in the valley of Alamosa. Do not travel out of view of Shell Mountain - your life will be taken. Nobody else is allowed into our land by pain of death."
"Other travelers will be turned away at the east portal, at Shell Mountain. If bilagáana do not heed the order, they will be killed. If they seek the Free Zone, we will direct them."
"Doklízhe etáhdeh – Judy Blue – is welcome to visit, but must follow the law of the bilagáana."
Do not enter our land from any other path. Bilagáana will be killed if they enter our land by other way, regardless of who they are – even you.
Dinétah is closed to all, from East and West, North and South. The interstate of middle New Mexico and Arizona – the I-40 – is sealed to travelers. It crosses our land.
"The wicked Walkin' Man and his witchery forces from Las Vegas, Nevada will be stopped at the border. Do not fear their entry into our land. We have great force to repel evil. They shall not cross land to the South."
"This time of the suffering of the bilagáana, the Hwéeldi you have loosed upon yourselves, is not the matter of the Diné. You all may live, or die. The Witchery Way of the bilagáana may prevail upon your people of the Free Zone, and wipe those who follow the Right Way. Or you may forever battle each other. This is not the concern of the Diné. We stay on Holy Land of Dinétah and remain detached. Pray to God, but do not ask us to intervene in this matter"
"We are sorry. That is the new law."
Judy felt deflated. The Navajo were enjoying the opportunity to flex their muscles, now that Captain Trips had cleared out the neighborhood and nobody was left to hassle them. Okay. Now you get to be a nation, an intact tribe, nobody around to hassle you. 'Kay, got that.
Abruptly, Tsipei wandered from simple recitation of rules of the agreement, into ways of thought that could not be followed.
"The Free People are warned. Dark Girl shall not approach our land. If the people of the Free Zone bring Dark Girl, we shall have war. She is guided by First Angry Coyote – we have seen this in our dreams. Judy Blue is guided by the Great Coyote who was formed in the water of the First World."
"Dark Girl trails up the gloom of the First World to the Fourth World. When a spirit of First Angry walks among us, terrible things happen."
"First World was without light, like the blackness between the stars, like the dark behind the world. First World was before there was light."
And spun through Judy's mind, terra autem erat inanis et vacua, et tenebræ erant super faciem abyssi : et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas.
The Land was thus formless and void, and tenebræ – utter darkness, darkness that would quench any light – lay upon the face of the abyss, and the Spirit of God rushed across these black waters.
That is what the Bilagáana Bible says of the First World, thought Judy. Puella tenebrae, niña de la oscuridad. That concept seemed to spook the Navajo greatly.
The Diné were always a little superstitious, a little spooky and watchful of evil - but you live in the wild where Plague Central sweeps down through the Four Corners every once in a while, you learn to be a little hy-per-vigilant.
They were willing to share intelligence, and that was great, seeing that nobody in the Free Zone had the slightest idea about establishing outposts and listening points. Okay. Job done, trip over, the Navajos didn't mind having the home field advantage over the bilagáana for a change. They moved the Front Door to Navajo Country up to Blanca Peak, let's all meet in Alamosa. That's only 200 miles down from Boulder, hop and a skip. Go down, pick up some carrots and taters, pass the news, and roll on back home.
But yet, more mystical hints about She-Who-Ain't-Welcome, okay, and how the Walkin' Man was just exactly what the Diné were talking about when they said there were witches around, and they were probably right. 10-4, let's save it for the next roundup.
Projecting the inner serenity that comes out from dog-tired exhaustion, talks and gifts and farewells, and back to Farmington, where they hadn't even turned on the heat in the rooms. Everything was just hunky-dory, and they bedded down for the night; the evening chased on towards the morning of the next day.