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Breath & bloom, shade & shine—wonder,
wealth, and-how far above them—
Truth, that’s brighter than gem,
Trust, that’s purer than pearl.
—ROBERT BROWNING
Hannah rode beside Strong Wolf into the outskirts of his village. She had decided that she would stay for a short while, then return home.
She had begged Chuck not to worry about her if she was gone longer than he wished. He understood now that she loved Strong Wolf and that she was torn between needs—between two men and their needs for her.
Feeling eyes on her, Hannah looked over at Strong Wolf and caught him watching her. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, laughing softly.
“Do you see my lodge up ahead?” Strong Wolf said, gesturing with a hand toward it.
Hannah looked away from him and gazed at his lodge as they slowly approached it on their horses, then looked over at Strong Wolf again. “Yes, I see it,” she murmured. “We will soon be there.”
“We will soon be together there,” Strong Wolf said, his eyes dancing into hers. “My woman, the lodge is boring now when you are not a part of it.”
Hannah smiled shyly and looked toward his lodge again, an eyebrow lifting in wonder when she found a woman now standing at Strong Wolf’s door, watching their approach.
Strong Wolf caught sight of the woman also. “Lotus Blossom?” he said, taken aback by how she stood there now, tears streaming from her eyes. He slapped his reins, nudged his horse in the flanks with his heels, and hurried to his lodge.
Hannah came up behind him, dismounted, and went to his side as he placed gentle hands on the beautiful Potawatomis woman’s shoulders.
“What has happened?” Strong Wolf asked as Lotus Blossom gazed up at him with tears.
“It is my son Wind on Wings,” Lotus Blossom said.
Her husband came suddenly up behind Strong Wolf, then stepped around him and stood at his wife’s side.
“Our son arrived home bloody and bruised, and only half-conscious,” Black Bear muttered. He doubled his hand into a tight fist and lowered it to his side. “It is again the work of white men.” His eyes filled with angry fire as he glared at Strong Wolf. “This must be stopped!”
“A name,” Strong Wolf said, his spine stiffening. “Did Wind on Wings give you a name of who did this to him?”
“He knows no white man’s name,” Black Bear said venomously. “I have taught him to stay far from them. Until today, he listened to the warning of his father.”
“Where did this happen?” Strong Wolf urged.
“He said nothing about who or where,” Black Bear said, folding his arms angrily across his chest. “It is the same as with Bird in Ground. He has been frightened into silence.”
“How can we know who to go after if your son does not speak out and tell the name of the guilty party?” Strong Wolf said, frustrated.
“All my son said, to possibly help in our search for those responsible, is that they stole his parfleche bag from him,” Black Bear said.
“Why would white men want his parfleche bag?” Strong Wolf said. “They can get them by trade cheap at the trading post. Why would they beat your son only to get a partfleche bag?”
“Because it was filled with honey that Wind on Wings took from a bear tree,” Black Bear uttered.
“Oh, now I see why this was done,” Strong Wolf said, slowly shaking his head back and forth. “It was not so much a need of a parfleche bag, or honey. It was to have an excuse to batter one of our children.”
“Find a man with a parfleche of honey, and you will find the man who led the attack on my son,” Black Bear said, then placed a comforting arm around his wife’s waist and led her back to their lodge where their son awaited their gentle care.
Hannah placed a hand on Strong Wolf’s arm, drawing his attention. “Do you think Tiny did this?” she asked, seeing how even the name made Strong Wolf’s jaw tighten.
“He and countless others who look to the red man as savages could have done this,” he said. “It is hard for me to see how they can label the red man savages when they who do this today are the true savages!”
