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"When we heading out, Captain?" Chase asked.
"We should all get some rest, eat up and tomorrow we can start for the fort." The Captain cleared his throat. "There's one horse here, we can let Lee and the girl ride, taking turns."
"Sounds reasonable to me," Chase agreed.
Chase understood the Captain's duty and he realized his own fate. But he had long ago realized that every man met the same fate, sooner or later. The only thing a man could do was face it with dignity. That was his plan. He was only sorry he hadn't gotten Katherine to the Shawnee camp. He was sure in time she would adapt as his mother had to the ways of old.
Perhaps Burning Tree would send someone else, in his place to bring her back. Or maybe Lee could take her…
If she'd go. It was time to talk to her. It was all he could do.
***
"Katherine I'd like to talk to you…" Chase said as the sun began to fade behind the stark horizon.
Katherine nodded. "All right, want to take a walk?"
"A walk…yeah, I guess that wouldn't hurt," Chase agreed.
"I love the colors of the desert at sundown, so many…" she gestured as they began to walk away from the encampment.
Chase nodded, "Yeah, don't get to enjoy it as much as I would like, but it is something to look at, isn't it?"
"What did you want to talk about," she asked glancing at him.
"Katherine, exactly what did Hawks tell you…about your mother?" Chase asked, almost coming to a stop.
She backed away from him a little. "He said my mother was captured by a Shawnee tribe, when her and my father were coming to Missouri."
Chase nodded. "Anything else?"
"He said my father went looking for her, but it took him many weeks to find her. And that when he did, she didn't want to leave. "
Chase nodded again. "Did you understand what he was telling you?"
"Of course…he intimated that I was part Indian, that mother was pregnant with me." Katherine almost laughed, but it was not a true laugh. Her hands shook as she spoke.
"And do you accept this story?" Chas asked.
"I'm trying to…yes," Katherine said, shrugging. "It's a lot to take in at one time. But I've always wondered why my coloring was not the same as everyone else's. I was always darker than the others." She looked at her hands now.
"Burning Tree, the medicine man from the Shawnee camp told me the same thing basically. But he said you were a descendent of one of the most powerful chiefs in the Shawnee Nation. You come from the blood of O-qua-les-qua, a very famous and wise chief. He said you have special powers, Katherine. Powers you know not how to use yet. But that he can help you and that you can save the people there."
Katherine listened, and tilted her head in question, "O-qua-les-qua, and special powers. And what is wrong with the tribe?"
"They are sick, a fever much like the one that took your white family."
"Then I cannot help them. I couldn't help my folks, how could I help these people?" She shook her head and almost turned away.
Chase nodded slowly. "It would seem you are right, but he says he knows how to train your powers and you can save these people. Your people."
Katherine turned on him now, her face lined with a frown, her lips curling with disgust. "They aren't my people. My people are buried here, under that tree…."
"Katherine, I know how you feel, but what I tell you, I only tell you as a truth. I do not wish you any sorrow. But these people are your people too…a part of you. They would treat you as such. And you do have a power that can help. But in order to learn how to use it, you will have to go to the camp and meet Burning Tree. He is waiting there for your return."
Katherine backed away from him. "I'm not Indian, you are wrong. It must be someone else. My mother would have told me."
"She told Josh, but she couldn't tell you…she was afraid to, I'm sure. Afraid you wouldn't love her any longer," Chase said quietly.
