"Soka'pii."
"What does that word mean?" she asked.
"Good," he signed. "It means 'good.'" He paused a moment and frowned, then said, "As you learn the game, we should wager a thing that would benefit us both and would not cause either of us much trouble with the betting. It will make the game more interesting."
"Oh?" she asked.
"I suggest that if you win the hand game," he signed, "I will be required to learn to speak your language as well as I can. But if I win, you must learn mine. This would be good because we could have many days of leisure to spend here while the storm wages outside. Perhaps we might use this time to gain more knowledge of each other's culture."
She nodded and smiled. "This is a good idea," she agreed, then signed the meaning of her words. But, when she looked up at him, she saw him staring at her lips again. Hurriedly, she gazed away.
"Do you have the shells and a small stick so we might play?" she asked with sign, but did not look at him.
"I do," he responded. "I will come and sit on your left side so you might play the game more easily."
She nodded and watched as he arose and came to sit next to her. His position was in the usual cross-legged position. However, having him sit so closely to her was playing havoc with the waywardness of her body, and, when she gazed up at him and saw his look of admiration staring back at her, she almost forgot to breathe.
CHAPTER FIVE
––––––––
"HA'AYAA,
Ha'ayaa,
Ánistsska'si,
Ánistsska'si,
Nitáa' waiai'taki,
Nitáa' waiai'taki,
Aakíí waaníí vai saa,
Aakíí waaníí vai saa.
Nitáa' waiai'taki,
Nitáa' waiai'taki,
Aakíí waaníí vai aa,
Aakíí waaníí vai aa.”
Eagle Heart waved his hands in the air, showing the small stick now and again as he and Steals-my-breath played the hand game. She had learned the words to the song easily enough, and her higher-pitched voice added a sensual quality to the melody he'd never heard in the song before.
He sighed and, at the same time, suppressed his feeling of rising affinity for her. The trouble was, she was so beautiful, both in body and spirit, that sometimes when she smiled at him he still found it difficult to swallow, let alone breathe. He wondered if she noticed his tongue was often tied when he spoke aloud.
He put his hands behind his back, placed the stick under the shell in his right hand and brought his hands—both of them holding shells—out and around to the front, letting her guess which hand the stick was in. She tapped his right hand, and, as he looked up into the loveliness of her face, it happened again. He couldn't find his breath.
He smiled at her, glossing over his inability, and was glad when she signed, "Since I am keeping your score, I believe you have won fifteen times. As you are keeping my score, I am wondering if this last win of mine makes my score twenty? Weren't we playing so that the first one of us who accomplished twenty wins is the winner of the entire game?"
He nodded. It was all he could do, for words seemed to clog his throat.
"That does it, then," she signed and spoke the words aloud. "You must learn my language. Do you agree?"
He nodded.
