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Here, I would have to tread lightly. Any outrage over this could easily spark a war between the Snoqualmie village and the town of Silver Falls. That’s why I had waited so long before bringing it up with Dove-caller.
“Do you know of a woman in town by the name of Ruby?” I asked.
“Ruby?” She frowned and looked across in the creek in consideration, then shook her head. “No, but I know few white women in the valley city.”
“She’s not white actually,” I said. “She’s Indian, maybe even Snoqualmie, I don’t know. I wondered if she might have once lived here in the village.”
Dove-caller shook her head, then looked up at her youngest, Bright Flower, splashing her screeching friend on the other side of the creek and called to her. The girls stopped, then darted away.
“This woman in town, Ruby,” I continued, setting the wet cloth twist in the basket with the other clean laundry. “She was very pretty and had very lightly tanned features and one dimple in her cheek about here. But it was her eyes that really impressed me. They were this bright green...What is it?”
Dover-caller froze, then halted her washing, frowning at me. “Did this woman, this Ruby, have a mark right here?”
She touched the place between her neck and shoulder. I was about to shake my head, then brought up the image of the saloon girl with the open décolletage of her lacy burgundy dress. There had been a star-shaped birthmark on her neck.
“Yes, there was,” I said. “You know her then?”
This seemed to distress Dove-caller who said something in Lushootseed that I didn’t understand, but its anxious meaning was clear enough.
“She is called Ruby?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Dove-caller looked down at her wringing fingers. “Her name is She-Who-Dreams.” Dove looked back up to me adding, “She is my sister.”
She shared that her younger sister was married to an important elder’s son three years ago. The young man was bitter and took his anger out on her, especially when he was drunk, which was often.
Black Crow tried to intervene a few times, but in the end Ruby/She-Who-Dreams took matters into her own hands and killed her husband defending herself during one of his violent rages. Before she could be brought before the council for her crime, however, Ruby ran off, never to be heard from again.
“She is in the valley town then?” Dove-caller asked me with hopeful eyes.
I bit my bottom lip. How could I explain that her sister’s tragic life had gone from bad to worse, and now she was working as a prostitute in some sleezy bar. Not to mention pregnant by another abusive monster.
“She...Yes, she lives there now,” I said, evading the ugly details. “But I know she’s not happy. Do you think that it’s possible that the elders would forgive her past crime and allow her to come home again?”
“It has not been done before,” she said. “I will ask Black Crow. He could speak with the council on her behalf.”
“There’s another thing,” I added cautiously. “She’s...with child.”
Dove-caller’s eyes shot up. “She is married?”
I shook my head. “No. She is not.”
Full understanding and its implications made Dove-caller pale. At least she had all of the sensitive details to share with her husband to discuss before he approached the elders.
“Shall I give Ruby your greeting when I see her next?” I asked.
Dove-caller nodded, frowned. “Yes. I have something belonging to her as well. I would be happy if you would give it to her.”
* * *
“Youknewabout Ruby/She-Who-Dreams?” I remarked incredulously to Bryant while riding back to the cabin that evening.
“I did.”
“You knew and didn’t say anything to Dove-caller or Black Crow? How could you remain silent? I thought they were your friends.”
His jaw muscles bunched as he stared to the forest path in front of us.
