People of the Mist(129)
“All right, I’m supposed to come home and warm White Star’s robes tonight. Good, tell her I’ll be there. Late, but I’ll be there.” He winced. “Unless, of course, some kind of problem pops out of nowhere to ambush my best intentions.” “Like your sister throwing the witch out of her house? Don’t you dare bring him to your wife’s. White Star loves you, but she doesn’t want her children exposed to the likes of him. It’s bad enough that you do that to your sister’s children.”
“Oh, even I am smarter than to bring him into White Star’s long house
Half Moon hesitated, kicking at the dirt.
“What is it, brother? Speak up. The time for minding one’s tongue is long passed for us.”
“It’s my nephew, Rabbit,” Half Moon said, meaning Nine Killer’s son. “He’s got it into his head that he’s going to run off and join the Great Tayac’s warriors. Apparently there is some story going around about Shell Comb marrying Copper Thunder. If so, there will be an alliance. Rabbit thinks he’s going to pack up and travel upriver so he can fight for the Great Tayac.”
“Tell him no.”
Half Moon sighed. “Oh, I did that. White Star and I both told him no. He is adamant, almost to the point of insolence. You can see the defiance in his eyes. He is your son, Nine Killer. Just as buck-strong and thick headed When I told him that, I saw the satisfaction in his face. That’s when I got to thinking, perhaps, if you had a word with him… ?”
Nine Killer pursed his lips as Half Moon talked, and nodded. “I will, old friend. If you think it will do any good. I can’t forbid him, I don’t have the right. It’s your clan business, what he does.”
“Yes, I know. But he admires you more than anyone. In spite of the fact that you spoiled him rotten, turned him into this incorrigible monster, he still thinks you’re the most important man on earth. At least, he did until the Great Tayac showed up. Now, he wants to be tattooed like that—that forked eye design—when he’s Blackened. As if the Sun Shell Clan designs weren’t good enough!”
Nine Killer chuckled and crossed his arms. “I’ll speak to the boy, tell him that if he doesn’t listen to his uncle, I’ll hunt him down and whack him—even if he is sprung from my loins. And, after I’ve done that, I’ll trade you straight across. Rabbit for White Otter.”
“No, you don’t.” Half Moon raised his hands in defense. “Your seed grew nothing but boys in White Star’s womb, but, thankfully, no daughters!”
“Girls aren’t so bad.”
“Aren’t they? Says who?”
“And whose house do you think you’ll live in when you get. old and outlive your wife? Do you think the woman Rabbit marries is going to let you freeload when your teeth have fallen out?” Nine Killer thumped his chest with a fist. “Now, me, I can wear out White Otter’s hospitality, and then go mooch off of Slender Bark, and when she finally throws me out, I can go to Little Shell’s. If I’m still alive when she’s tired of feeding me, there’s always Sea Rice. See the benefits of four nieces? You always have a place to live.”
“Then, as an old man, I shall curse you for giving White Star no daughters, and, since it’s your fault, I’ll come live with you and your nieces.”
“Done!” Nine Killer reached out and shook Half Moon’s hand.
They chuckled together for a moment, happy with their well-established friendship, rocking back and forth on their heels as they watched the doings in the plaza. Nine Killer studied the people who went about their duties.
She would have glanced back from the palisade gate, taken a look at the plaza. Nine Killer turned enough that he could see the gate. Yes, she would have stopped here, just in the shadow of the post, and looked back. What did she see?
“What’s that?” Half Moon asked.
“What did she see?” Nine Killer repeated. “Red Knot, that last morning. She left through the palisade gate. Stood right here where we are. What did she see when she looked back? If only I could see through her eyes. Was anyone there, watching her go?”
“The man who killed her, perhaps?” Half Moon shrugged. “I don’t know. No one will ever know. The dead are dead, brother. What they know dies with them.”
“I suppose.”
“Rabbit wants to cut his hair like the Great Tayac’s.” Half Moon made a face. “He wants to cut it all off on the sides. He’s still a boy. I told him, when he goes through the Huskanaw he can do any silly thing he pleases, but so long as he lives in our household, he must follow Sun Shell Clan rules. Is that too much to ask?”