People of the Lakes(17)

“What would you do? Break the marriage? Defy the clans? Ruin your life, and happiness … and hers as well?”

Four Kills paused for a moment, his dark eyes searching Otter’s in the moon glow. “If you wanted me to.”

Otter tightened his grip on his brother’s shoulders, his heart warming. “Yes, you would, wouldn’t you? You know, for a man as smart as you are, you can be a real fool sometimes.”

“I wouldn’t hurt you for anything. Grandmother came to me saying that Red Moccasins had asked for me.” He gestured the futility of it. “I haven’t slept. I’ve been torn between happiness and anticipation … and tortured by a horrible dread about what you’d say … what you’d think. I didn’t know what to do. Otter.

Do you understand?”

“I understand very well, brother. Twins have Power that way.” Otter felt the tug on his soul—the river calling, reminding him of strange places and different peoples.

He pried his thoughts away from the lure and added, “But you should also know that she loves you. I’ve seen it in her eyes … the curious guilt and pain when she looks at me, the stubborn longing when she looks at you.”

“But, Otter, she—”

“Wait! Hear me out. Listen to me, brother. Go to her and People of the Lakes 51 “

love her. Sire her children. You’re the man she needs, already listened to in the councils. A solid man who understands the changes in our world. The people here need you. She needs you.”

Four Kills nodded sadly to himself. “Yes, I know: duty, responsibility, honor. But, Otter, what about us … you and me?

I can’t stand the thought of losing—”

Otter pushed his brother back to face him. “You won’t. Not ever. But your place is here, at her side. She’s intelligent, brother. She’s going to be a very shrewd leader. You’re the right man for her.”

“But you and I … Things will change between us.”

“Yes, they will. We will manage.” “I had hoped you would say that,” Four Kills paused, his head down. “I’m glad you came back when you did. It would have seemed like a betrayal if you’d come home after the marriage.”

“I’d never feel betrayed. It’s our way, brother. Grandmother makes the alliances, negotiates the marriages. And besides, you really didn’t want to refuse, did you?”

Four Kills continued to stare at the damp ground. “No. You know as well as I that I’ve always loved her. I’ve always watched from your shadow. You were the great Trader, Otter, exotic and romantic with your stories of faraway places and wonderful things. Me? I was just a … a … “

“A strong, capable man who would be there when she needed him,” Otter finished. The river’s current entwined itself in his soul like a lover’s caress. The night pressed down upon him.

Again the owl hooted into the darkness—the hollow notes like a dead man’s flute. “That’s why she initiated the negotiations, brother. Grandmother told me the day I arrived that Red Moccasins had asked for you—first choice.” He nodded into the darkness. “She’s smart. You’ll always be there, while I … well, she could just as soon count on the wind.”

Four Kills chuckled softly. “Couldn’t you have stayed home for once? Built a house? Cleared a field? It’s not so bad. I do it all the time.”

“I’d die, brother. My soul would wither like a plucked squash blossom in the sun.” Otter used a thumbnail to scrape the drying mud from his hand. “I was changed that night I fell into the

river. We both know it. Whatever I would have been was washed away. I belong to the Father Water.”

“It’s calling you, isn’t it?” Four Kills asked. “I can’t sense the river’s call, but I can feel your need to answer it. You’ll be going away again, won’t you?”

“Yes, brother. Very soon.”

“And it’s partly because of me and Red Moccasins. I can feel that, too. The pain it will cause you to be near us.”

“That will eventually heal, Four Kills. I’ve loved her with all of my heart—as have you. I need time to make my peace with the way things will be.”

His brother bent down, scooping up mud and packing it into a ball before he threw it out into the river. A satisfying splash sounded. “Sometimes it’s not easy to share souls with a person.”

Otter kicked at the mud with a moccasined toe. “No, I guess it isn’t. That’s another good reason for me to go. It’s not as bad when I’m gone. We don’t haunt each other’s dreams as much, don’t sense each other’s feelings.”