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Understanding that this was a serious ritual, Mary Beth tried not to sneeze when the smoke curled up into her nose. She lifted her chin, closed her eyes, then opened them again when she realized the smoke was no longer there.
She gazed questioningly at Dancing Butterfly.
“It is done,” Dancing Butterfly said, smiling broadly at Mary Beth. “You ha
ve been smudged.”
Mary Beth did not question the word “smudged,” just accepted that it meant something special to the Crow. In time she would know everything about all of their rituals and customs.
But today?
She would just accept each as it was introduced to her, for each would surely take her closer to the moment when she would be the wife of a wonderful Crow chief!
A sudden mournful cry split the air, ending the moment of wonder.
“Pure Heart,” Dancing Butterfly gasped. She hurried out of the small dwelling.
With the exhausted cat still asleep in her arms, Mary Beth left the hut and gazed ahead where she could see Dancing Butterfly running toward the tepee that had been erected only last night as Night Horse’s private lodge.
Mary Beth saw Pure Heart standing outside the tepee, her eyes filled with tears, her arms stretched heavenward, wailing “Why, why?”
“Lord, no,” Mary Beth murmured, paling. “Something has happened to Night Horse. He . . . is . . . surely dead.”
She hurried onward along with other members of the village, toward the tepee. Just as she arrived, she saw Brave Wolf take his mother into his arms to console her.
“He is gone!” Pure Heart cried. “His bedding is not warm, which means he did not sleep there. He must have left in the middle of the night!”
Mary Beth was relieved to hear that Night Horse wasn’t dead, for although she knew the worst about him, she had grown to like him the few times she’d been with him. He was a man who had surely been fun to be with as a youth, so long ago. His eyes had seemed to dance with mischief as he actually joked with Brave Wolf a time or two.
And now? She wondered why he had left?
Had his affection for his family and people all been pretense?
And what about Dancing Butterfly? This was the second time Night Horse had left her.
Soft sobs drew Mary Beth’s eyes quickly to Dancing Butterfly. She was standing with slumped shoulders and crying into her hands.
Mary Beth wasn’t sure what to do. Should she go and help her in her time of sorrow? Or should she stay out of it and let the woman grieve in her own way, alone?
Her heart did go out to the beautiful maiden, though. Dancing Butterfly loved Night Horse with a passion. She had truly wanted to marry him and had hoped now that he was home again, they would eventually become man and wife.
Now it seemed he had turned his back on everyone again, even the woman he loved.
“Why, Brave Wolf?” Pure Heart sobbed. “Why would your brother leave like that? It is so cruel to a mother who loves him so much. And have I not shown him in enough ways how much I care? Did I not show him that I even forgave him? I was so attentive to him, how could he not know that I love him even as much as the day when he was born into this world all tiny and defenseless?”
She looked desperately up at Brave Wolf. “Son, Night Horse is almost as defenseless now as the day he was born,” she said, her voice breaking. “Out there alone, with so many wanting him dead.”
“Night Horse took a horse and a gun,” a young brave said as he stepped up to be heard. “I saw him leave. He asked me not to alert anyone to his leaving. I was afraid not to do as he asked. The gun. He could have shot me as he killed so many of our kind on the battlefield.”
“He is gone . . . he is gone . . .” Pure Heart said, slowly shaking her head back and forth. “I shall never see my second-born again. He is gone because he wants to be gone.”
“That is not necessarily so,” Brave Wolf said. He placed his hands on his mother’s shoulders. “Mother, do you not see the true reason he left?”
“What true reason?” Pure Heart asked, searching his eyes.
“It is because of the cavalry being here,” Brave Wolf explained. “Ina, I am sure the soldiers’ presence made Night Horse feel vulnerable and threatened. He knows that if the cavalry ever learned he was alive, they would want him. They would want to make him pay for what they think was his role in their defeat.”
“But why? He fought on their side,” Pure Heart sobbed out.
