His wife moved and came up close to him; she then placed her arm around his shoulders and asked, "Was it really?"
Again he frowned. "Say clearly what you mean."
"Very well, I will," she answered in her own tongue, though he didn't understand. But she then continued in sign, and she said, "I do not believe these spirits are your actual family members, and the reason I think this is because of their lack of care for you. If they truly loved you, they would be concerned about your happiness. After all, you did as they asked, and even more than what was demanded. Why do they not let you be?"
Strikes Fast didn't answer. Again, he had no answer.
"It is my belief," she continued in sign, "that these are evil spirits or demons pretending to be your relatives. Perhaps they are the souls of those you killed who wish you ill."
Stunned, he was unable to move, let alone to speak.
"I say this to you," his wife went on in sign, "Although I lost my parents when I was only a babe, I was raised by a man of the cloth, a man who was deeply devoted to God. His name was Pastor James. I listened to Pastor James when he spoke, I read the Good Book with him and I was often counselled by him because he tried to be the father I'd never had. This is a story he once told me and it might be, perhaps, what is happening here and with you."
"A story?"
"Yes," his wife signed. "Pastor James and his wife came to me once when I'd had a bad dream. I was screaming and awakening the others in the orphanage, so they came into the room where we slept so they might comfort me. As Pastor James' wife took me into her arms, this is what the Pastor said to me: 'there are evil spirits at work in this world who are the souls of the lost. Beware of them because they try to work evil upon the living.'
"But I couldn't understand and so I asked him why these spirits would do try to work evil, and this is what he told me:
"'These are the lost souls who had a chance to be as one with God, the Creator, but, because they refused their chance, they now must roam the earth.'
"Pastor James' words, however, did not calm me. And the Pastor then held his hands out in front of me and told me to envision a shield around me that would protect me from the evil works of those spirits.
"And did you do this?" asked Strikes Fast.
"Yes, I did," she signed. "Only then was I able to sleep."
Strikes Fast stared at this woman whom he loved so dearly before signing, "The Pastor was a wise man and you were wise to listen to him."
Daasé Isée smiled at him before she continued, signing, "Because I have had no kin of my own, and, because I love you deeply, I can see that if these spirits were truly ghosts of your family, they would be happy for you now. For five years you have been with the medicine men, and perhaps because these men are alert to evil spirits, the ghosts you have seen this night have not bothered you. But, now your friends are not here, and instead only I am here to help you ward them off. Maybe they think I am weak-willed. But, I beg you to listen to me as I say these ideas to you: if you do what they wish, there is every chance you might not be able to follow the medicine path. And, there is every possibility something worse might happen to you. Truly, if you do as they say, it is even likely you might sink deeper and deeper into doing evil. And, if you do this, I fear you will truly lose yourself and who you really are. This is their wish for you, I think."
She was quiet for a moment while he seemed incapable of uttering a sound.
Soon she went on to sign, "They desire for the good in you to become evil. I do not tell you this lightly. Beware, my husband. I think your soul is under attack."
Again he felt as though his tongue were bound up in knots. Indeed, he said not a word. Instead, he gazed at this woman as if seeing her for the first time.
Could she be right? Were these entities not his family members at all? Were they instead spirits intent on urging him into evildoing?
She, however, was not finished, and she signed, "You need to protect yourself, my husband. I heard you, my darling, when you told me you wish to return to the ways of the medicine man. Please, I beg you to consider this: if you succumb to the path these spirits are urging you to follow, you might lose this chance the Creator is giving you to return to Him. Truly, you must guard your soul with all the good that is within you. Think well on this before you act."
Still he sat completely mute.
Strikes Fast shook his head. If these were evil spirits instead of his true family, they had certainly deceived him. Indeed, if what she said were true, he had made himself into an easy target.
"You must protect your soul, your very spirit from them. If you do not do so, I fear they will corrupt you again. They will keep haunting you until you have no choice but to do as they say. But, this is not the real problem, I think. It is how to protect your essence—that which makes you, you—from them."
At last, as though she had won him to her side, he signed, "I could go away from people. If I do not live with the people, I will not try to kill them."
She shook her head. "That would only hurt you, and still they would haunt you, trying to take your soul."
Strikes Fast asked in sign, "What is a 'soul'?"
"It is you, the very quality of what makes you who you are—as a being, as a person. I think maybe you might say 'spirit.' But, telling you about Pastor James has given me an idea if you will but listen to me and consider what I am saying."
"I will listen."
"Good," she said and signed. "Tell me, why do you paint yourself when you go to war?"
