CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Carefully placed pine branches and limbs made up the hastily constructed wikiup, and the clean scent of freshly cut pine needles filled the air in this tiny clearing. The tall structure stood behind Sharon, where she sat with Strikes Fast and his friends.
A blazing fire had been stoked up outside and to the right of the shelter. There was meat roasting over the fire, and the aroma of it reminded Sharon of a fact she hadn't been aware of until this moment: neither she, Strikes Fast nor their son had eaten breakfast. Her stomach suddenly growled, causing Strikes Fast to glance over his shoulder at her and grin.
He said, "Soon…we eat."
Sharon nodded and smiled back at him. Momentarily, she gazed at Strikes Fast's arm, admiring the buckskin wrapping around the cut he had sustained. It had been Gray Falcon who had attended to his friend's wound.
Blankets and several buffalo robes had been set down around the fire, serving as warm places to sit. These were, indeed, a welcome treasure because not only was snow still upon the ground, but the earth itself was cold and frozen.
While Gray Falcon now stood guard outside the circle they made around the fire, Eagle Heart began their council by producing his pipe, taking it from a beautifully beaded antelope skin. After lighting the pipe, he first blew four breaths upward toward the Creator. Then, inhaling again, he exhaled four breaths to the Wind Maker, then he did the same to the Thunder and lastly to the Lightning.
Only then did he speak, and he said, "As we pass this pipe, know that we vow to the Creator that all we say here will be true as we have seen it."
With this gentle reminder, he first passed the pipe to his father-in-law, who inhaled a few puffs upon the pipe. Then the McIntosh patriarch passed it along to Strikes Fast, who in turn sent the pipe to his almost son, Rising Bear. Rising Bear took no more than one puff from the pipe and returned it to Strikes Fast, who then offered the pipe to Sharon. She accepted it, but looked askance at Strikes Fast.
Strikes Fast answered her unspoken question and said, "You too…must…smoke."
Sharon did so, choking on a cough as she looked to Strikes Fast for what she was to do with the pipe, asking silently who was next in line to smoke.
With hand signs, Strikes Fast indicated Eagle Heart, and Sharon passed the pipe to him. Eagle Heart accepted the sacred item back, but then looking up toward Gray Falcon, Eagle Heart called out, "My brother, though I know you are standing guard so we might all be safe, please come here and smoke with us, if only for a moment."
Gray Falcon did as requested, and, as soon as he had smoked, their council began with Eagle Heart saying, "My family—I call you 'family' because we are more than mere friends. After all, here beside me sits my father-in-law. Next to him is the brother of my sister-in-law, Strikes Fast, and next to him is his wife, my almost sister-in-law. And, my brother-in-law stands watch over our council. Thus saying, and because we are all family, let us speak easily to one another without fear of saying a wrong word."
As Eagle Heart spoke, one of the gray wolves stepped toward their council and came to sit beside him. Said Eagle Heart, "I almost forgot to include my sister wolf and her husband, the gray wolf"—he nodded toward the woods—"who stands guard for us within the trees."
Reaching out a hand, Eagle Heart began to pet the she wolf at his side as he said, "As you all know, my sister wolf and her husband gathered their tribe together and came here to help our brother because we could not come to be here quickly enough. We wish to thank both you, my sister wolf, and your husband for your help. Also, there is another who has given us aid this day. She is here with us, although she remains out of our sight."
Strikes Fast, his almost son, Rising Bear, and the McIntosh patriarch nodded.
"There were others who helped. There was a white bear who came to the aid of the newest addition to our family, Rising Bear. Although she is gone from here now, we thank her."
Both Sharon and Rising Bear nodded.
"Also, there is a family of skunks who came to your aid. In my prayers, the Creator showed me how the skunks aided you as only skunks can do. It was they who caused the war party to delay since this required them to make new clothes."
So, this is what happened to delay the Cree war party.Sharon smiled.
"This is what has been told to me, and I wish to thank all of these creatures who came to our aid. It is good, also, for us all to discuss what happened here, and I would like us all to feel free to say what is in his or her heart. And, once we feel it is all said and no one has anything further to add to it, I think we are all of us due a good meal and some rest. Two of us will, of course, keep watch at all times, and we will change guards so all might be able to sleep. Is there one amongst us who would like to speak?"
Strikes Fast was the first to sign his wish to talk to them all, and Eagle Heart nodded toward him. Arising to his feet and raising his hands so all could understand him, he signed, "My heart is filled with gratitude and respect for each one of you. This battle today—it was a physical struggle, true—but it was also an inner battle I waged within me. Because I am Crow and the Pikuni are a deadly enemy to the people of my birth, it has not been easy to like you. And yet, in these last five snows I have been amongst your people, I have been filled with happiness.
"As you are aware, I came to live amongst you because of your actions to save my sister and her son's life. They, being my only living relative, I first chose to stay with you so I could be close to her in case her new Pikuni husband, Chief Chases-the-enemy, treated her unkindly. But, Chief Chases-the-enemy and his Sits-beside-him-woman have treated my sister with love and respect.
"I say this now to you: I hadn't lived long with your people when I came to acknowledge my wrong actions toward you, Eagle Heart, and your friend, Gray Falcon. Our first encounter was aggressive, and I had nothing in my mind but to kill you both as an act of retribution against a people who had killed my family.
"Yet, instead of abuse, both of you medicine men treated me as a brother, and, though I fought against it, I came to think of the two of you as friends. In time, my appreciation for how great were your acts on behalf of my family became a burden to me. But, this only served to make me aware of how beholden I was to you and your families. Even the wife of Eagle Heart helped to save my sister and her baby.
"For many snows, I felt trapped, a lone Crow warrior living amongst the enemy. And, although I wished to return to my own people, I could not do it, not until the Creator freed me from my obligation to you. I know you, Eagle Heart, once freed me from my feeling of servitude, but I knew even then it was only the Creator who could set me free. This was because in my lust for revenge, I killed too many of your people, and, having once been on the path to become a medicine man amongst my people, I knew only the Creator could allow me to leave you.
"Yet, despite my hesitation, we became friends. And, now you and all your creatures have again come to my aid. Even my friend, your father-in-law, rode all this way to bring aid to me and my family.
"At last, I know what I am about to say is true: all here are true friends. This includes your sister wolf and her clan, as well as the Big Person, who saved my life this day.
"I say this now to the Big Person: the first time I saw you I became like a man without sense. I could not speak. I could barely move. It was wrong of me. We are all of us the children of the Creator, and, from this moment forward, we are all of us true friends.
"And so now, before the Creator of our world and all of you, I say this with all the happiness and love within my heart: we are friends, always. And, though we who are human are related by our families in marriage, I believe we here today have our own unique family which includes all of us—creatures and all. We are a medicine family now. My help is yours."
Although Strikes Fast's words were met with silence, Sharon soon spoke up and said, "As the wife of Strikes Fast, I, too, welcome all who are here into our family. I agree with my husband, and I say this to you: my help is also yours."
"I, too," signed Rising Bear.
Gray Falcon, who had been guarding the council and standing aside, turned toward the council and said, "I am happy to be a part of our medicine family."
"Happy ta be part of it too, boys!"
As though they understood exactly what was said, the two wolves howled, and, from deep within the woods came the sound of the whistles of the Big Person.
"And, as we have agreed, so it will be. I am very happy, also," said Eagle Heart as he tapped his pipe on a rock, thus ending the council.
