Bandelier

Meredith drove through the gate of Bandelier National Monument, the rugged mountain home of the ancient Anasazi people. She parked her car and emerged into the desert heat. Tossing her short hair back, she strode quickly along the Nature Trail toward the ruins, a well-worn knapsack over her shoulder.  

Wild watercress grew in profusion by the small creek that fed into the Bandelier River beyond the Visitor's Center. She stooped to examine some deer tracks where the deer came to drink from the stream at night.  Close by she saw the tracks of a wolf.

Must have been stalking the deer, she thought.  

Meredith considered how the creek, the plants, the deer and the wolf were all poised in a cycle of life. Without any one of them, the balance would be lost.

She yearned to stay longer, but she could spend only so much time away from work. She felt there was something she must find elsewhere in the park. 

Great Kiva

The sun's rays beat on the back of Meredith's neck as she walked. A sign warned her not to leave the path.  Further on, another sign marked the site of the Great Kiva. She consulted her guidebook.   

The kiva was a ceremonial room in which the Anasazi conducted their sacred rituals. During the emergence ritual, an initiate was said to travel spiritually through Four Worlds. Access was by means of a ladder through an opening in the roof. The sipapu, a tube in the floor, was said to lead into this world from the previous worlds of the spirit. 

Anasazi Ruins

Her childhood memories of her mother's tales came flooding back to her as she read the familiar and much loved story. She moved down the trail over a slight embankment where she noticed some curious excavations. Hollowed out areas in the stone that reminded her of pools of lava, lay by the trail, but gradually these gave way to stone cells.

The cells appeared widely distributed at first, but as she descended onto the plaza, she hurried past more of them, many with crumbling walls still standing. There were hundreds of cells, all squeezed together, stacked over and beside each other forming a horseshoe-shaped ring.

Tyuonyi

A sign stated that the ring of stone walls was the village of Tyuonyi (pronounced chee-OH-nee), built three stories high and containing nearly 400 cells. Each cell was like a small cave or animal lair so tiny that one could barely lie down in it. 

Prickly Pear

Beside the stone walls, prickly pear cacti grew, offering up bright red flowers above their sharp spines. A brave green-headed hummingbird darted among the thorns and alighted upon the blossoms to drink their nectar.

Talus

Leaving the village behind her, Meredith followed the path toward the cliff dwellings. From a small rise she looked back at the village, a ruined formation of small stone boxes. People had lived there in ancient times, but had long ago vanished mysteriously. Despite the warm breeze, Meredith shivered and hurried toward the cliffs where talus houses stood in the sun on the rocky debris of the canyon side. Though she did not know what she was looking for, she felt instinctively that she should not delay.