Trace: Follow His Destiny Read Online Free PDF Page B

wasn’t sure what to expect.” This guy sure talks a lot, Trace thought. He’s a good balance for me; people always complain I don’t talk enough, one to talk and one to listen. He wondered about their mate.
    “No worries, now cross your fingers that mom made fry bread, she got the recipe from her mom. Gran is the peck of our Aerie in New Mexico between Windowrock and Shiprock from Chuska Lake to Berland Lake. Good fishing there, I try to migrate down at least once a year. She probably knows your folks,” Shane said with a smile.
    “My parents are gone; they hid with the Salish for years to protect me. I wouldn’t be surprised if your Gran wasn’t friends with my Peck, Genaya, back in Niarada. You know how they like to run everyone’s lives. Genaya gave me the name of my Peck in New Mexico, her name is Niyol, she didn’t talk to me but wants me to come visit,” Trace drawled back. By this time, they were pulling into the drive way of a nice house in Milliken.
    “Wow, that’s my gran, and I feel ya on the visit. She’s always introducing me to her nieces, pecking at me to settle down with a nice Eagless.” Shane laughed in commiseration. “Okay, Trace, first lesson for a Diné eagle, they heard the truck in the drive. We wait for mom or dad to open the door showing they are ready for visitors. See there’s mom now, let’s go.” They hopped out of the cab.
    “Is it okay for Clark and Lois to come along? They’ve been cooped up in the truck for a long time,” Trace asked.
    “Sure thing, mom likes dogs.” Shane said as he walked over to his mother. Trace and the two huskies followed behind.
    “Ya’at eeh Shane.” Shane’s mother spoke the traditional greeting.
    “Ya’at eeh. Mom, this is Trace Pete, Trace, this is my mom, Willow Arno. He grew up among the Salish but he’s Diné.” Shane said. “Actually, he’s Feather People clan like us.”
    “Ya’at eeh Trace, you will be a brother to Shane and I will call you nephew, you may call me Willow or Auntie. Our home is your home while you are here. Please come inside.”
    “Yaut Ay Willow, thank you for having me in your home.” Trace struggled over the unfamiliar greeting. He thought Shane’s mom looked at him a little strangely.
    Trace stood and looked at Mrs. Arno for a minute, “Ma’am, Shane told me that your mother is Niyol, Peck of your original Diné Aerie before you all settled here. I found out that I’m really Diné and not Salish as I was raised. Would you contact your mother and find out anything you can about my mother? She died when I was still a fledgling.”
    “Why of course I will, Trace, do you know when she left the aerie? Please don’t speak her name; it’s against our culture to speak the names of those who are gone. It might call her chindi, her ghost to us. The diné believe all ghosts are evil,” she explained to him with a kind smile.
    “Well I’m thirty two, and I understand they left New Mexico to be ambassadors to the Council two years before I was born,” he said and then was surprised when she gasped.
    “Oh my dear, dear boy.” She started crying, ran over, and put her arms around him. He didn’t know what to do so he just held her. “I’m sorry, it’s just that…” She stopped and sniffled and pulled herself together. “It’s just been so long, my sister.” And she cried a little more.
    “You and Shane are first cousins; which in the Diné means you’re brothers. So you are brothers of the same clan and brothers of the same family.” Trace was shocked; the last thing he expected upon entering Milliken was to find family.
    He didn’t know how to respond.
    “I think we’ll both need some time to adjust to this new happiness. We’ll have a laughing party as soon as we can to welcome you, better late than never. For now, come along, I’ve been fixing fry bread and smoked salmon for Shane, there’s plenty.” Trace looked at Shane and mouthed ‘laughing party’ with a lift of his brow.