"Title? Let me think a little of how to explain this since your people do not possess this custom."
He didn't respond, and after a few moments of thought, Briella said, "Imagine a chief so great that he comes to be called The Ruler Over All."
"Over all?" he repeated.
"Yes. He is so wise and powerful that the people have given him this right, and this title of The Ruler is given to his children, too."
"Does this ruler's children deserve to be called this because of their great deeds?"
"No," she answered simply. "It is passed down the family line, it being assumed that if The Ruler was so good, so will his children be, also."
"And, do his children live up to this man's legend?"
"Some," she explained. "But, not all. Now, over time a people can come to regard this ruler as different from them, and he might even insist they support him with food and other services."
"This is a bad system, since it gives a man who could be weak what he does not deserve. It is different when a man gives to the poor, but to give what one has earned rightly to a man simply because his father was great will lead a tribe to its doom, I fear, since a fool might lead them into doing wrong."
"Yes," she said, "perhaps. Still, this is the foundation of my father's society. There are those who rule over others, expecting others to support him simply because he exists or because they think he is wise."
She felt Red Fox shrug. Then he asked, "And, your family has this title?"
She nodded. "It is so."
"So this man, who has done nothing to deserve this distinction, has merely to purchase it from your father by marrying you?"
"Yes," she answered.
Again Red Fox said nothing, until after a long pause, he asked, "And, what of the bed that makes a man and a woman married?"
"What of it?"
"Do you need to bed him to complete the marriage?"
"I…I do not know. I hadn't thought of this aspect of our arrangement, but I think after the vows are said between us, it is expected…otherwise the marriage is not looked upon as a marriage, in truth, by the church."
"If this be so, and you bed him, I fear this would make a mockery of our love and of me."
"No! Never would I do this to you."
"Would you not? You say this, but I know that if you must bed this man, I would not even be looked upon as a sits-beside-her-husband."
She giggled, but only a little. How could she not? Red Fox was knowingly or unknowingly making a joke on a sits-beside-him-woman, a Pikuni man's first wife. He, on the other hand, did not laugh at all, not even a little.
She answered his question, saying, "Well, it is the only way I could envision which would allow me to accomplish what I had to do so I could return here to you."
"I know of no woman who has ever had two husbands at the same time."
"Well, could I be the first? Please, Red Fox. I know you say there might be another way for us to be together, but if thereis one, I do not know what it is. Yes, we must both pray to the Creator about this. But, please consider what I am suggesting. I did not know of any other path to take that would bring me back here to you."
"I know," he said as he brought his arms up around her to hug her and pull her more fully against him. "But, it was not fully your doing. I was involved, too. Perhaps, had I approached your father before I did we would not now have these difficulties. But, do not be deceived about this: because of my failure to unite us two winters ago, you were left to do the best you could. But, hear me now, to marry this man in fact is wrong because it is you and I who are in love. Do not do it. We must find another way. Will you allow me to find this way?"
"Yes, of course," she answered at once, placing her head back against his shoulder. "But, time is short. My father and my eldest brother are expecting me to marry Maximillian within seven to fourteen days or as soon as a priest can be found to come here to witness the marriage and perform the ceremony."
"And yet," he countered, "you must not marry this man who appears to have little intelligence. How could he suggest this arrangement to you? To require you marry him while he carries on with another woman whom he does not choose to make his wife, in truth. Is he a worthless man to have not perceived the value of you?"
"You still think I have some worth?"
"Of course. So much of this do you have, I wish to spend the rest of my life with you. But, this…marriage between you and this other man must not take place. Pray to your God. Ask for His help.
