Fireblossom (36 page)

"Yes." Fox watched the fragrant smoke swirl upward and wreath Kills Hungry Bear's face.

They were silent for a moment, then the Lakota warrior passed the pipe to his friend. "You have noticed a young girl in mourning? A sad sight. Her clothes are torn, she has slashed her arms and legs and rubbed ashes in the cuts, and her hair is ungroomed." He shook his head. "She was once the most beautiful maiden among all the Teton Lakota band. She had sparkling eyes the color of a goshawk and long, shining, sweet-smelling hair and a smile that made strong men weak."

Fox looked up. "Do you know, I have promised Maddie—Fireblossom—to ask you about that very woman. Fireblossom feels tender toward her. She wonders if there is something she could do to cheer the girl."

"She is not meant to be cheerful. She is in mourning. She loved her husband very much and it is right that she show her grief."

Exhaling smoke, he wondered why his friend had suddenly started talking about the young widow. There had to be a reason. "Her husband must have been a good man," Fox ventured, testing the waters.

He rearranged the eagle feathers on the back of his head, eyes averted. "Yes. Yes, he was. He was my brother, Aiming Fast."

Odd, Fox mused, that he should feel guilty for Aiming Fast's death when he hadn't even fought on the side of the bluecoats. "Aiming Fast was lucky to have such a wife, and such a brother."

"I have to take care of her now; she has no parents here."

He narrowed his blue eyes and tried to read his friend's expression through the haze of smoke. "Is there a problem?" Why was Kills Hungry Bear telling him all this? Where were they going with this talk?

"A problem," the other man repeated. "Maybe. I am not sure I know what is best for this girl. She has many gifts and much to offer in life, but she has sunk into a pit of gloom since Aiming Fast died. She rarely speaks... and I am not the best person to help her carry on with life. This will sound mean-spirited, but part of me likes to see her moaning and weeping, hurting for her lost husband. It honors him."

"Are you looking for advice from me?" Fox finally asked straight out, tired of playing the waiting game so integral to the Lakota way of life.

Kills Hungry Bear met his eyes in surprise. "No. I have been thinking about this matter ever since you and Fireblossom came to our village." He paused. "Ever since you told me that Fireblossom is the daughter of Stephen Avery."

Fox held his breath.

"I have not spoken to you about Stephen Avery since that night," Kills Hungry Bear went on in a rush, "because I guessed why you had come to us. I needed time to think. I have reached a decision."

"Yes?"

"I hope that you will take my brother's widow with you when you leave for Deadwood. She will wither away if she remains here among our people. I dreamed last night that Aiming Fast was sitting here with me in this tipi and asked me to help his wife to find a new life. He says that he still loves her even though they are in different worlds. He says that she is too young, too special, to die of grief."

"Aiming Fast is more talkative in death than I remember him in life," Fox muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing of importance. I'm just trying to make sense of all this." He stared hard at his friend. "There is more, isn't there?"

Kills Hungry Bear stared down at his pipe and nodded slowly. "Yes, Star Dreamer, there is more. My brother's widow is called Sun Smile. The man you call Stephen Avery is her father." He sighed. "I believe that
Wakan Tanka,
the Great Spirit, sent you to bring Sun Smile to her other family."

Fox managed a feeble smile. "Well... this is... So, that's Sun Smile. Maddie will be so...
surprised
!" He stood up, suddenly stifled by the warm, smoky air in the tipi. "I'd better tell her right away. She'll be anxious to meet her sister." Fox ducked under the door flap, nearly colliding with Runs Away as he hurried out.

"You have been eating the
wasna
I made," she called after him.

He paused in midstride, turned to offer her an appreciative smile. "Yes! Thank you, it was... unforgettable. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"Wait, Star Dreamer! Please, tell me, did you speak to Kills Hungry Bear?"

"Yes, I spoke to him."

"You told him that he should make me his wife?" Her voice rose with excitement.

He shook his head. "No, Runs Away, I did not. And I will not. It is not my place. Now—I do not wish to speak of it again!" And with that, he started for the tipi he shared with Maddie on the other side of the circle.

Watching Fox stride off, Runs Away had bad feelings in her heart. "You should not have treated me that way, Star Dreamer," she muttered. "You and Fireblossom both think that you are favored because you are white. But you bleed when you are cut just as my people do...."

* * *

Before Fox broke the news to Maddie, he took her back to the spot in the deep grass, well out of sight and earshot of the village. It was important that she be able to vent her feelings, as she had the day before when they had discussed his secrets.

"How can this be true?" she cried after Fox had repeated everything Kills Hungry Bear had said. "I didn't expect—"

"I know, sweet." He watched her pacing furiously in the tall grass, his heart aching for her.

"I don't mean to sound selfish or hard-hearted, but I hoped that I might find a sister I could learn to love!" Tears crept into her voice. "There would be all sorts of problems to bridge even if Sun Smile had been—you know,
normal
! Even if she were someone like Strong, it would have been hard to take her back to Deadwood and expect her to fit into that world, but this... just... seems..." Maddie had begun to sob. "It seems crazy! That woman is like an animal. She doesn't talk, she wails to herself, she's dirty and refuses to bathe.... I mean, how can we do it, Fox?" Tears of frustration spilled down her cheeks.

"How can we not? Sun Smile
is
your sister, Maddie."

She pressed both hands to her face, angry with herself. "I know! I know she is! Oh, Fox, I think that maybe I knew deep inside when I saw her the first night we were here." Biting her lip hard, she said, "Even though she looked like a mad savage, when our eyes met I had this eerie sense of recognition." Her chin trembled. "She has Father's eyes! I don't have his eyes, but
she
does!"

"Maddie, you have to calm down. This isn't the end of the world." He reached for her, and she let him hold her for a minute before jerking away. "Just because Sun Smile appears to be unreachable now, that doesn't mean she'll stay that way. She's mourning. But Kills Hungry Bear says that she was a lovely girl, bright and beautiful and cheerful."

"Do you really imagine that she'll come back to herself if we take her to Deadwood—to a completely alien world?" Maddie's doubts grew as she spoke. "I don't think so! She'll probably crouch in a corner and—and throw things at my family and—"

"Maddie, stop this." He was firm. "Remember your father. This was his wish. Kills Hungry Bear says that it will probably be best for Sun Smile, given the situation the Lakotas face out here now. They're considered hostiles. The army could attack and kill your sister if we leave her here!" He caught Maddie's hands and squeezed them. "If it doesn't work out, we'll take her to the agency. Is that fair enough?"

"I don't seem to have much choice, do I?" she replied. Her cheeks were flushed with the force of her disappointment. "I'll feel more like I'm returning with a wolf than a sister."

With that, Fox tumbled her into the grass and lay down on top of her, grinning. "Why is it that I feel like laughing when I'm near you, even when you're in a foul temper?" His stubbled jaw tickled her as he kissed her ear and the tender spots along her hairline. "You'll feel better soon. You just need a little time to adjust to this situation."

"I—Oh! Suppose so..." When he held her, loving her and making her feel cherished, Maddie's fears and doubts seemed to vaporize. There was no room in her heart for anything except pure, bursting love. At moments like these, as she caressed his dark hair and thrilled to the sensations of his mouth, Maddie felt so happy, so lucky, that she was sure she could surmount any obstacle.

* * *

It was agreed that it would be best for the two sisters to meet through Strong. There were long-standing Lakota traditions governing the interchanges between male and female relatives, and these customs kept Kills Hungry Bear from speaking directly to his sister-in-law unless he had no alternative. Fox explained all of this to Maddie while Strong waited outside their tipi. Maddie threw up her hands at the senselessness of such conventions, but secretly, beneath her froth of complaints, she was relieved that Strong would be the one to bring her together with Sun Smile. There was enough to be nervous about without the intimidating presence of Kills Hungry Bear.

Fumbling in her carpetbag, she drew out a piece of velvet with something wrapped inside. She clutched it in her hand as a child might.

Fox was curious, but he didn't ask her what it was. The excitement and fear that she felt were plain to see in the flush of her cheeks and the little furrow in her brow. Clearly, despite Maddie's reservations about Sun Smile's appearance and demeanor, she cared more than she could admit.

"Well..." She paused before him, kneeling gracefully on the buffalo robes. "Wish me luck."

"It's just another door, sweet. Go on in."

Touched by the tenderness in Fox's eyes, she kissed him and put her fingertips on the azure beads and fox's tooth that encircled his strong neck. "Sometimes I feel as if all of this is a dream. How can I be here with you like this? How can all these things be happening to us?"

"Never mind how, Fireblossom. Just accept that they are. Now off with you!" Chuckling, Fox patted her doeskin-clad bottom, then turned his attention to raising the nearby edge of the tipi cover nearby to let air in. It was a warm day, and the approaching afternoon promised to be hot. The breeze felt good and Fox lay back and closed his eyes. Soon enough they'd begin the journey home and these halcyon interludes would be ended forever.

* * *

The women had mixed green wood into the fires to make more smoke and keep the mosquitoes at bay. The scent of that smoke mingled with the other life smells that Maddie had gradually become accustomed to since arriving among the Lakota people. Today, as the women continued to cook food that would keep for the days when the village was on the move, there were the smells of boiling meat and fat dripping onto the coals. The warm breeze also carried the scent of human waste from the tall grass behind a row of willow trees, and of the huge pony herd that remained near the village while grazing on the luxuriant prairie grass. Someone had been brewing coffee, sent as a gift by Stephen Avery, and Maddie's now skillful nose picked up a clear minty scent as she and Strong neared the stream. Looking around, she saw the light blooms of marsh hedge nettle that had opened since yesterday. It was lovely how all these life smells harmonized: the smells of the land, the animals, and these people who were careful to honor the gifts of nature.

On the edge of the trees, where the light was best, Strong and Maddie encountered Woman's Dress. The
wintke
was seated on a log, painting the outline of a sandhill crane on a rawhide canvas secured to a willow frame. Woman's Dress smiled a greeting to the two women before returning to his painting. Nearby, Crazy Horse's wife, Black Shawl, stood in the shade of a cottonwood tree and fed pieces of a juicy prickly pear to old One Moccasin. Strong explained that One Moccasin had been in ill health since being hurt by a grizzly bear and was known to faint sometimes in the heat.

Children were splashing in the stream or simply floating, too hot to play. Even the village dogs lay quietly in patches of shade. It was in that setting that Strong and Maddie eventually found Sun Smile, propped listlessly against a tree and surrounded by several dozing dogs.

Maddie hung back, beset by fresh doubts, but Strong took her wrist and drew her forward. The dogs reluctantly were roused, moving just enough to clear space around Sun Smile.

"She's filthy," Maddie whispered to Strong when she was close enough to realize that it was her half-sister whom she smelled rather than the animals.

The older woman gave her a sharp look. "Sun Smile knows many words in your language," she warned.

Studying Sun Smile, Maddie found that hard to believe. In fact, the animals were more responsive than this matted, glassy-eyed, squalid creature. Dismayed, Maddie realized that the pity she had felt previously toward Sun Smile had been transformed into horror once she'd discovered that they were sisters. When Strong knelt beside the young widow, smiling, and spoke soothingly in Lakota, Maddie could only think that this wasn't the way the adventure was supposed to turn out! How could she take this savage home to her family?

Sun Smile finally looked at Strong, focusing with an expression of acute pain, then she turned her face away and began to moan softly to herself.

"What did you say to her?" Maddie asked. "Is she acting that way because she doesn't want anything to do with me?"

"I have told her that she suffers too much, that Aiming Fast would not want her to torment herself this way. I said that it is time for her to reenter life." Seeing the anxiety in Maddie's expression, Strong added, "I will tell her now about you, just a little, then you can speak to her and I will try to say your words in Lakota so that we are certain she understands."

Maddie's heart raced as she watched her friend take Sun Smile's dirty hand and murmur a few gentle sentences. Then there was silence. Sun Smile stared into space, unmoving, for a full minute. Strong waited; Maddie held her breath. Slowly the widow shifted and then looked at Strong, who nodded to confirm the words she had spoken.

Madeleine was unprepared for the wave of emotion that swept over her when Sun Smile turned her face up and looked at her. Again she was unnerved, seeing her father's eyes staring out at her in the very foreign face of a Lakota woman.