“Could you tell who they were?”
Quick Fawn shook her head. “They were like shadow figures against the light, and I was too far away. You know how long the House of the Dead is? I had just come around the corner.”
“But you know it was a man and woman?”
Quick Fawn gave him a knowing smile. “They were naked when they first stood up. They were grabbing for clothes, you know, like people do when they’ve been surprised, but not caught.”
“Did they say anything?”
“Nothing I could understand. I know they were arguing. I could tell from the hissing sound of the whispers. And then the man grabbed the woman’s arm, as if trying to restrain her. She jerked it away and said something really terrible to him. He flinched, and just stood there. I’ve seen prisoners stand that way when your war parties bring them in. He looked defeated.”
Nine Killer narrowed his eyes and pulled at his ear. -“Do you think they were close enough to hear you and Red Knot?”
Quick Fawn nodded and gave him a guilty look. “That’s why I didn’t tell Mother. The woman pulled on her clothing. She kicked at the blankets on the ground. Kicked the way she would if she were angry. Then she gave the man one last look. She had that resolute kind of stance, one foot forward, fists clenched. I guess you’d say defiant. Then she turned and walked purposely away. I thought she was going to the Weroansqua’s to tell on Red Knot. If she did, I didn’t have to break my promise. Red Knot wouldn’t have hated me for the rest of my life for betraying her.”
“And the man?”
“He just stood there, his head hanging.” Quick Fawn took a deep breath. “I sneaked back the way I’d come. I didn’t want anyone to see me. It was almost dawn.”
Quick Fawn lowered her head again, staring aimlessly at her hands.
A man and a woman, loving each other behind the House of the Dead? But who? “Quick Fawn, what about their hair? Was the man’s head reached like the Great Tayac’s, or his warriors’?” “No, Elder. His hair was like our men wear. It wasn’t one of the Great Tayac’s warriors.”
Nine Killer cocked his head. “What if… Quick Fawn, do you think it could have been Flat Willow?”
“Flat Willow?” She gave him a puzzled look.
“Could it have been him?”
She considered the idea, then lifted her hands. “I can’t say, Elder. It was dark. All I saw was a naked man’s shadow. I didn’t see him get dressed, so I couldn’t say if he had any distinctive clothing.”
Nine Killer watched the steam rising from the cooking pots. Flat Willow was supposed to be on guard that night, and White Otter thought she saw him leave with Copper Thunder. Could Flat Willow have just done his job at the gate? Identified the Great Tayac, escorted him out beyond the palisade, perhaps to relieve himself, and then left his post to meet the woman?
“Elder,” Quick Fawn whispered. “It’s my fault. If I had told, she’d be alive today.”
“Cousin,” Nine Killer said gently, “when we are faced with a decision, we do what we think we must. It is only after we have acted that we learn if it was the right choice or not. Maybe if you’d told your mother, Red Knot would be alive today, and married to Copper Thunder. Maybe Flat Willow would have told the Weroansqua about High Fox coupling with her, and I’d have had to kill him. Who knows? We do what we think we must, but all decisions are gambles.”
She said nothing, her mouth in a pouting frown.
Nine Killer indicated the steaming pots. “You’ve helped me, but I’ think you’d better see to the food or your mother’s going to skin you.”
Quick Fawn turned her attention to the cooking pots, stirring the stew with a stick so that it wouldn’t burn. She checked the steaming tuckahoe, and prodded it to see if it was done.
The man and woman coupling there in the darkness had surely overheard Quick Fawn and Red Knot, but had that led to the girl’s murder? The village had been full of visitors who had come to celebrate Red Knot’s ascension to womanhood. Sometimes a man and woman came together in such circumstances, coupled, and parted ways.
Quick Fawn kept giving him nervous glances as she added water to one of the cooking pots, then steered another closer to the coals.
“Why did they stay?”
“Elder?”
Nine Killer cocked a quizzical eyebrow. “If a couple were disturbed while they were locked together, you’d think they’d just move to a more secluded spot.”
“Or call out and ask us to leave,” she said. “That’s considered polite.”