She bit her lip, jumped up and, without any further words or looks, fled from their lodge. Where she was to go, she didn't know. All she was certain of at the moment was that she needed to put as much distance between herself and Eagle Heart as possible.
****
THIS HAD NOT GONE WELL, and he could little understand why. Didn't she know he was committing himself to do all he could to make her life as good and as leisurely as possible? He had tried to explain: he was a medicine man. He didn't go to war or excursions for horses unless his insights were needed to see the possible outcome of a war party's foray into enemy territory.
In other words, he was not a rich man, and it wasn't always easy to hunt for and feed more than one wife. Yet, he would do it...for her.
Or was her upset due to something else? She had not liked the idea that a man carried a duty to marry his brother's widow, which included the physical part of marriage.
But, no. This could not be what was wrong. Hadn't he witnessed the white man adhering to the same marital rules as the Indian? How many times had he observed the white traders and trappers—those who had married into his tribe—taking responsibility for more than one wife?
Surely, those men wouldn't marry other women if their society disallowed the practice. Could her upset, then, be due to discovering he was not a wealthy man? Had this come as a shock to her, realizing she would have to work harder than others? Perhaps he should have told her about his life as a medicine man and what exactly were his duties and the mode of his life before they had married.
But, he had thought only of their love for one another and their happiness in being together. As he continued to make guesses about their trouble and how to bring peace between them, his gut clenched, for he wished to have no trouble between himself and his woman.
He arose more slowly than she had done. It wasn't that he wished to leave this shelter and look for her, it was that he must. He knew what his duty was toward his wife, and it was to protect her. Thus, he had best discover where she had gone.
But, there was time. This valley was safe, and she would leave tracks he could follow. Heaving a deep sigh, he stepped slowly out of the lodge.
****
WITHIN MOMENTS, HEdiscovered his wife hadn't gone far away, and this was good. He could turn his attention to breaking camp. Keeping a part of his awareness on her and the environment around them, he began to dissemble the wiki-up, returning its branches, its mud and its stones to the earth. So, too, did he bury the evidence of their fire by brushing the hearth where it had been. He did the same with the ground on which the lodge had been built.
Earlier, he had arranged their possessions onto his pack pony and had placed their riding blankets onto their own mounts. At present, with the buckskin bits positioned into each one of their pony's mouths, there was little left to do. He was ready to leave.
Was she?
He sighed, for, if he were to approach her now, he anticipated another argument. Stepping toward the lake—she had positioned herself upon the water's narrow shoreline—he approached her, keeping himself clearly visible to her.
Coming up next to her, he squatted at her side and murmured, "Have discovered where...brother is. He not...far. We go now."
"I am not going anywhere with you," she said, "unless you will agree to take me to the nearest trading post, where you will leave me."
He inhaled deeply. Indeed, he had been right: there was a kindled fire within her, and he could easily see another, and perhaps worse, argument brewing.
He utilized both sign and Blackfeet to say, "I cannot take you to the nearest trading post. Not only is this post in enemy territory, it is farther away from here than where I will find my brother. He is in trouble. I must go to him."
"Very well. Earlier this morning, I believe you told me my father is approaching?"
"Áa,he and his Crow scout are on our trail, and they must not come into this valley, for I will not bring danger to our friends who live in this land."
"You go to your brother, then. I will stay here and await my father. It shouldn't be too long."
He signed, "Your father and his scout will not come to this valley if I am gone from here. They are tracking me, not you. Where I go, they will go."
"I don't care. I'm not leaving with you. I will remain here."
"And, what will you do?" he asked with signs. "How will you survive? Do you know how to construct a good shelter? Do you know how to hunt, to skin the game and cook it over an open fire? Do you have the skills to make a fire without flint?"
"You could leave me your flint and perhaps a knife."
He drew in a deep breath and continued, "Even if I let you have my flint and one of my knives, if I left you here alone, I fear you would die from hunger, the elements or both."
She looked away from him, and he was left with little to do except admire her profile. She said, "Then, so be it."
In English he said, "Will not...leave you alone. If I go...you die here. You...must come...with me."
"I will not. If you are so concerned about me, then stay here or take me to the nearest trading post."
