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His eyes widened as she stepped forth in her beautiful doeskin dress decorated with beads in designs of flowers.
Then his younger ten-year-old brother, Young Elk, came and stood at his mother’s side, his breech clout softly flapping in the wind.
And then he gazed with a total serenity and happiness at Little Firefly, his sister of five winters, when she stepped forth and took his mother’s hand.
“How can this be?” Dancing Cloud said, looking incredulously from one to the other.
“For a short time you are in the spirit world, the hereafter, because Wah-kon-tah has bid you here,” his mother said, reaching a hand out for Dancing Cloud. “Come and let me embrace you, my son. Your time with us will be gone quickly.”
Dancing Cloud went to his mother and drew her into his powerful embrace. He trembled with happiness as he sank his nose into the depths of her black hair, enjoying the familiar fragrance of his mother who he remembered so well.
“E-tsi, I have missed you so,” Dancing Cloud said, clinging to her. “I do not understand why I have been allowed to be with you again, but I give thanks to Wah-kon-tah because of it.”
“Your sister and brother have also missed you,” his mother said, easing away from Dancing Cloud. “Give them an embrace also, my son. They have missed their older brother.”
Dancing Cloud hugged them each, savoring the moments, then again turned to his mother. “Mother, I have carried guilt with me for so long because I was not there for you when the Yankees came and ravaged our village,” he said thickly. “Had I been there . . .”
She placed a soft hand over his mouth to silence his worried words. “My son, your father was there,” she said gently. “Was he not a powerful warrior chief?”
“Ii, yes, that is so,” Dancing Cloud said, nodding as she slipped her hand away.
“Had anyone been able to stop the Yankees that day your father would have seen that it was done,” his mother softly explained. “It was beyond his power to stop the many soldiers with their blazing guns. He was not slain only because the soldiers saw how much losing his loved ones affected him. They thought it was more cruel to allow him to live, than to kill him. My spirit hovered above your father as the soldiers mocked and mimicked him. My son, I witnessed your recent ambush. The man who did this to you is also the same man who laughed at your father and led the attack against our pe
ople.”
Another voice spoke up.
Dancing Cloud turned and stared at the swirling white shadow, where the voice originated.
“What she says is true, my son,” James Talking Bear said, slowly materializing for Dancing Cloud to see. Instead of walking with the aid of his tall staff, he walked on his own, his shoulders squared, his back straight. “You see, my spirit also witnessed your ambush. I have watched over you, since, as you have lain in the white man’s bed, healing.”
Dancing Cloud was stunned to see his father now among the other spirits of his past. He would only be there had his spirit passed on from earth!
It meant only one thing.
In Dancing Cloud’s absence his father had passed onto the land of the hereafter.
His father was dead!
Yet Dancing Cloud felt no remorse. While among his loved ones in this spirit world he could not experience regrets or remorse. He felt blessed to have been given the chance to be with them at least one more time.
“E-do-do, Father?” Dancing Cloud said, reaching a hand out for him.
“It is too soon for me in this spirit world for you to physically touch me,” James Talking Bear said, nobly squaring his shoulders. “It is enough, is it not, that Wah-kon-tah, the Great Spirit, has granted this one last reunion with family?”
“Ii, yes, it is a wonderful thing that Wah-kon-tah has done for us,” Dancing Cloud said. “But why? Is it because I lay perhaps between life and death in my bed? Is that why I have been beckoned here? To prepare me for what is to come? If so, I welcome it. I welcome being with my family again. Except . . .”
“Except that the woman of your heart is not among us?” James Talking Bear said, completing his son’s sentence. “My son, you will be with your white woman again soon. But not in the spirit world. You will return to her after I prepare you for your future. You are now chief of our Wolf Clan of Cherokee. Rule our people with a firm hand, but with much love and from the heart. Keep peace, my son. At all cost keep peace so that our people can multiply in number. Not dwindle away from warring with the whites.”
“I am chief, yet I am not with our people,” Dancing Cloud said. “And I will not be there for some sunsets to come. My body needs time to heal before taking the long ride on horseback to the mountains.”
“Our people are faring well enough under the direction of the elder statesmen of our village,” James Talking Bear said. “They know you will return. They know that your heart is with your people.”
“My heart is also with Lauralee,” Dancing Cloud said. “She will sit at my right side as my wife during future councils.”
“It would be best if you choose a woman of our own culture, but I have watched you from the spirit world while you have been with this woman named Lauralee,” James Talking Bear said. “And I see that you have chosen well. She will blend well enough with our people. But your children, Dancing Cloud? Had you considered children by this woman? What if you bring a white-skinned child into the life of the Cherokee? Thus far we are all full-blooded and are proud that we are.”
Dancing Cloud did not have a chance to respond. Another figure was emerging from the bright light of the tunnel behind him. He turned and shadowed his eyes with his hands.
