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They left the tepee and went to stand beside the large outdoor fire.
The children soon gathered around and watched Two Eagles as he prepared things for his display of fireworks.
He cleared the snow from a small patch of land and broke the cartridge, spilling the gunpowder on the ground.
He then went beneath the trees close to his tepee and found some dried grass that was not covered by the snow.
He took this grass back to where everyone stood, curiously watching and waiting.
He tied these tufts of dried grass around the points of the four arrows and dipped them into the gunpowder. Then he held the point of one arrow into the flames of the huge fire. Immediately he shot the arrow straight up into the sky.
Rushing through the air, the arrow flared, making a bright red glow in the sky. As the arrow paused at the apex of its flight, flames shot outward, spectacular in the night, before it fell back to earth.
The children squealed.
Candy stared, amazed that the gunpowder hadn’t ignited the moment it was set into the flames but seemed to wait until just the right moment to send its lovely sprays of color into the dark heavens.
“It was so beautiful,” she murmured, watching as Two Eagles prepared another arrow for the same spectacular flight.
When all four arrows were fired, and the smell of gunpowder was heavy in the air, the children all moved in close around Two Eagles, asking questions so quickly he could only laugh.
“On another, warmer night, when your toes aren’t freezing in your moccasins, I shall show you the fire-works again,” Two Eagles said, gathering up his arrows and walking with Candy back toward their tepee.
“It was so beautiful,” Candy said as they stepped into the warmth of the tepee. “It’s so amazing how you did that.”
“My father taught me, as did his father teach him,” Two Eagles said. “You see, they had fireworks long before the white people.”
Shivering from the cold, Candy stepped closer to the fire. She placed her back to it as Two Eagles removed his jacket, then came and removed hers.
“My woman, my Painted Wings, do you truly know how much I love you?” he said, sweeping his arms around her and drawing her close as the children came in, shivering, their eyes bright.
“I believe so,” she said, laughing softly as she watched the children shake off their coats. “You show me in so many ways.”
She placed her hands on his cold cheeks. “Do you know how much I love you?” she asked, searching his eyes.
“Ho,” he said, taking her hands and leading her down beside their lodge fire. He leaned closer to her so that only she would hear what he said. “I wish I could take you to bed. That would be our own private way of celebrating the new year.”
“Later tonight,” Candy said, knowing that would be the soonest they could make love.
“Ho, later,” he said, but he did not wait to lower his lips to hers, to give her a fiery passionate kiss.
“My Painted Wings,” he whispered against her lips. “My beautiful Painted Wings.”
She sighed with happiness, having found everything she had ever wanted in the arms of this wonderful, kind, and handsome Wichita chief . . . her savage beloved!
As he held her now, he sang a rejoicing song of his people to her and their children, one Candy knew already because she had heard it often through the years of her marriage to Two Eagles.
She joined in and sang with him as their children sat, listening. . . .
“Nawq,Atuis,
Now, O father,
Irir ta-titska,
Our thanks be unto thee,
Ir-rur-ahe!
Our thanks!”
