Lakota Winds (Zebra Historical Romance) (17 page)

Wind Dancer lay curled on his left side, his back to her. He sensed
her sad mood and assumed she wanted to be left alone. She seemed to
be battling doubts and fears, and experiencing loneliness for her loved
ones. He had ridden into her life as a whirlwind, and changed her
existence forever. He had drawn her into a perilous quest against awesome forces. He had thrust her into a situation which stole her joy and
serenity, and forced her to retreat from him just as he was breaking
down the last few barriers to total surrender to him and their new
destiny. No matter how much he wanted to hold, kiss, and comfort
her, he restrained himself. He knew from past experiences that a person
had to depend solely on himself for strength and on Wakantanka for
guidance and solace. He also knew that love filled his heart for her and
soon she would know it, too.

The next day as he was returning from tending his horses in a nearby
canyon, Wind Dancer encountered the war chief's daughter as she left
the forest with a sling of firewood. When she halted to speak, so did
he.

"How is Dewdrops on this gift of a beautiful and warm day?"

"She is fine. She works on beading at our tepee."

"Perhaps I should visit with her, as she seems sad and in need of a
friend. Perhaps that is because ..."

Wind Dancer studied the woman's face. "Why did you halt your
words, Wastemna?" he asked. "Perhaps it is wrong of me to speak them
about your wife."

"Speak them," he encouraged.

"It seems she has trouble with her chores. Perhaps that is because
she lived more as a hunter-warrior than a woman in her camp. I saw
the wild campfire she made, but I did not come to help with it for fear
it would shame and anger her. I also saw her bury her soup in the
forest. Her hands had many wounds from quills when she fetched water
this morning. I would help her learn such tasks better but I fear an offer would insult her. I helped her rewash your shirt on the past sun
and gave her the white man's magic soap to make that task easier next
time. Does she not like our camp and people?"

He wondered if the female truly had only witnessed those three
strange incidents or had instigated them. If it was the latter, why? "What
do your last words mean?" he coaxed.

"When many women work together, she holds herself apart and does
not smile and talk with us. When she thinks no one is watching her,
she eyes us with suspicion, as if we are the enemy and she is only a
captive here. Will it help her to accept us if I try harder to become her
friend and teach her the things she does not know well?"

Wind Dancer was intrigued by the woman's words, for they contradicted what his mother and sister and others had told him. Was the
female lying or was she only mistaken? Was she trying to be helpful or
hurtful? "I did not know such things, Wastemna, for she is happy
around me. If you speak to her of friendship and help, do so out of
the hearing of others. It is unkind to do so while others are nearby."

"Your words are wise, Waci Tate, and I will obey them."

After Chumani halted her exit and remained concealed inside her
tepee, she observed the encounter between Wind Dancer and Wastemna.
She could not overhear their words at that distance, but she took note
of their expressions and body movements. She had made friends with
some of the Red Shield women, with Wind Dancer's mother, sister,
grandmother, others in their extended family circles, and Hanmani's
best friend Macha. Yet, no one could take the place of Zitkala in her
heart or could share the confidences and companionship they had. She
suspected Wastemna was only pretending to become a friend, as she
had glimpsed how the woman watched her slyly. She also saw how
Wastemna grabbed every chance she could to be around Wind Dancer,
who appeared to be flattered by the woman's attention. Nibbles of
jealousy and insecurity flooded her, but she could never reveal those
feelings to anyone there, especially to him. She could not help but think
that if she were his wife in all ways, she would not experience such foolish worries and his eye would not be roving in another woman's
direction. Yet, she did not want to be the one to suggest they mate, or
to do so only to obtain his allegiance.

She retrieved her wood sling and untethered her hawk. "Come, Cetan,
I have work to do and you must hunt for food." If Wind Dancer or
Wastemna noticed her departure, she did not know, as she refused to
even glance in their direction.

Upon his wife's return with a load of wood, Wind Dancer summoned
her inside and asked, "Did you move my weapons?" Had she, he
worried, seen him with Wastemna and become angry and jealous?

Chumani stared at him in confusion and disbelief. It also pinched
her heart for him to even ask her such a doubting question. "No, I did
not touch them; that is forbidden."

"They are not as I left them, not as they are always positioned on
the huyamni outside where they soak up the powers of Mother Earth
and Father Sun. Did you bump against them as you did your chores?
Do not fear to speak the truth, mitawin. "

"If someone touched them, mihigna, it was not me. Perhaps an
enemy, evil spirit, playing children, or the trickster is to blame."

He tried to keep his voice gentle and his expression tender as he
reasoned, "Red Shield children are taught from their first steps not to
go near another's tepee or a warrior's weapons, and little ones are never
left alone to get into trouble or danger. If it was a cunning foe, he
would have stolen them. If it was an evil spirit, he would have broken
them or tossed them to the ground. If it was not you, the trickster must
create more mischief for us."

It appeared to her as if he doubted her honesty when he uttered the
words, "If it was not you." "I did not touch them either on purpose
or by accident, mihigna; that I swear is true." Anger and disappointment
surged within her.

Wind Dancer grasped her negative reaction to his words, but he had
been compelled to ask her, as the weapons would need purifying if they
had been touched by a female. As a strong gust of wind suddenly and wildly flapped the entrance cover and tugged at the buffalo hides covering
the cluster of poles, he said, "Perhaps the wind shook them loose, for
it blows hard this sun. Now I go to hunt with Red Feather and my
brother. I will bring you meat for your kettle and a hide for a new
garment."

"That is good, mihigna, "she said, taking those words as an apology
for his near accusation. Even so, his doubts of her honesty lingered in
her mind for the remainder of the day.

That night when Wind Dancer asked if she wanted to kiss and touch,
she told him, "I am tired and need sleep to tan the lovely hide you
brought to me, mihigna; we will do so on the next moon."

On the eighth sun since joining to Wind Dancer, Chumani worked
outside her tepee to tan the hide of the deer he had slain on the past
one.

She knew the procedure well. A hide or pelt was either pegged fur
side down or was stretched taut and secured to a wooden frame. Fat
and bits of meat were scraped off with a sharp tool. Afterward, it was
rubbed with animal grease and brains to soften and condition it. Tanning
was done with sumac and with buffalo brains, liver, and fat. Then it
was stretched out to dry as snugly as possible so it would not curl at
the edges or pucker along its surface. Last, it was twisted, pulled, and
rubbed for a lengthy time to soften it even more.

It was late afternoon when she went to fetch water and wash up at
the river. As she did so, she glanced skyward to see if she sighted Cetan
who had been released to hunt fresh prey because she was there to guard
her dwelling, and he had learned the area from many past hunts.

Chumani entered her lodge to find Wastemna preparing to leave it.
As both women halted in midstep, Chumani noticed how nervous the
intruder was. "Do you sneak into my tepee to cause mischief again?"
Chumani raged. "Were the other tricks not enough to appease your
bad feelings for me?"

Through the open flap, Wastemna saw Wind Dancer approach and
stop nearby. "I did not come to cause trouble for you, Dewdrops. Your
words are cold and cruel, and your heart is not kind. I came to bring
fruit bread and a wanapin I beaded for you with your name symbol as
a show of friendship. I do not understand your hostile words and feelings
for me and my people."

Chumani glanced at a place near the campfire and saw the items the
woman had mentioned, the bread and necklace with a yellow dewdrop
in its center. "Why did you not leave your gifts outside, as it is not the
custom to enter another's tepee when they are gone or the flap is closed?"

"I wanted to surprise and please you, to show you I accept you into
our band and wish to become your friend. Why do you treat me so
badly? What have I said or done to offend you?"

"If I spoke in haste and wronged you, Wastemna, I ask your forgiveness and understanding. A trickster or evil spirit has done wicked things
to me," Chumani said more kindly, then detailed the four evil actions.

"You think I am to blame for such mean things?" Wastemna asked
when Chumani concluded her explanation.

Chumani observed her look of astonishment, but believed it was
faked. "I did not know why you entered my tepee without permission,
so I thought you might have come to do more mischief while I was
gone."

"I have not done such wicked things, Dewdrops, and I would not
do such things, for you are the wife of our next chief and you are the
vision woman. Since our tepee is nearby, I will keep alert for the one
who is to blame. Can we not bury the knife between us and become
friends? I will tell no one of your bad words to me, for I understand
why you spoke them, and they would cause trouble for you with others."

Since the female had a logical excuse for her presence, Chumani felt
it unwise to call her a liar. She decided it was best to pretend she
believed her. "Your words please me and your heart is kind. We will
become friends. And I thank you for your gifts and generosity."

Wastemna smiled at Chumani's words. "I must go and do my chores.
My eyes and ears will remain open at all times for trouble. Do not worry, Dewdrops, such evil will be exposed soon, for your husband is
a man of great skills and wits. If you have not done so, you must tell
him your suspicions so he will not think badly of your actions."

"My husband knows of such troubles and knows I am not to blame
for them." For a brief time, Chumani was tempted to claw the feigned
smile from the woman's lips, and was surprised to experience that dark
urge.

"That is good. If there is anything I can do or say to make things
better for you, ask it of me or of the women in your new family circle."

After the war chief's daughter left the tepee and Wind Dancer entered,
he asked his wife, "Why do you mistrust Wastemna? I overheard your
talk."

"Her words roll sweet as honey from her lips, but I do not believe
them. I have seen how she looks at me and ..." She halted before
saying you. "And I have not forgotten her action on my first moon
here."

"What do you mean, mitawin?"

Chumani disclosed the encounter with Wastemna in the forest during
the welcome feast. "Her lodge is close to ours, so it would be easy for
her to be the culprit. You are right; I do not like her or trust her."

Wind Dancer wondered if his wife viewed Wastemna as a rival for
his affections, but thought it best not to pose that query to her. If
Dewdrops was right about Wastemna being to blame for the mischief,
how could he ensnare the woman in the act?

Midmorning on the following day as she was about to head into the
forest to gather wood, Chumani heard Winona give forth a muffled
scream. She flung down the wood sling and returned to her tepee, where
she grabbed her bow and two arrows. One arrow she placed between
her teeth and the other she nocked in readiness for trouble. As quietly
as possible, she hurried to the tepee beside hers and peered inside. Her
scanning gaze locked on Winona as the older woman stood petrified
near the dwelling's rear. Winona nodded toward the peril located between them; that and the ominous sound of rapid rattling drew
Chumani's gaze to the coiled and agitated snake.

"Do not move or speak," she cautioned in a whisper. The creature
obviously had sensed her arrival and repositioned itself to face her.
Chumani froze in place until it was still again except for the swiftly
moving clattering rings at the end of its tail. Its fat size and number of
rattles told her it had been around for many circles of the seasons.
Slowly and while keeping her gaze fastened to the viper, she stepped
sidewise near the tepee's base. When she was between Winona and the
snake and had backed her up as much as possible, she tried to force
the creature to wriggle out the entrance by tossing several objects at it
and then by throwing two toward the open flap to draw its attention
there. The creature not only refused to be lured to escape but also made
it apparent he was going to advance and strike.

"Forgive me, Great Spirit," she murmured sadly, "for I must take
its life to save my second mother." She drew back on the bowstring
and let the first arrow fly, striking the snake in its largest section and
pinning it to the ground, though it thrashed wildly for freedom. Without
delay, she nocked her second arrow and pinned its head to the ground.
She hurried forward, withdrew a knife from her waist sheath, and ended
its life. She cut off the length of rattles and gave them to Winona, who
embraced and thanked her.

"I did not want to kill him, but he would not leave and was preparing
to attack," Chumani explained. "I will feed him to Cetan so his sacrifice
will not go to waste."

Hanmani returned from gathering wood and was told the frightful
story in haste. She, too, embraced and thanked Chumani for her brave
deed. She rushed outside to fetch her father and brothers, as she had
seen them approaching with the game from their morning hunt.