“From your actions tonight, I’d say that the Weroansqua has found something workable.”
Hunting Hawk muttered, “My dealings with the Great Tayac are none of your business.”
Panther shrugged agreeably. “As you will.”
Copper Thunder clenched his fists in frustration. “You’re just stirring up trouble, Raven. Are you going to get to the point, or waste the rest of the night?”
Panther gave him a cold smile. “You’ve always been impatient. Too impatient to learn what kind of family you almost married into? I tell you, you’re not going to like the answer. Even less so, since I’m going to be the one giving it to you.”
Hunting Hawk hissed, “Old man, if you don’t get on with this, I’ll see you burn"
Thirty
Nine Killer wished desperately that he’d brought his war club. Copper Thunder’s face darkened like a winter storm. If the meeting erupted into violence, Nine Killer could count only on the quick discipline of his warriors to protect the Weroansqua and to restore order.
The tension in the Great House felt like some fierce beast breathing down their backs. Hunting Hawk looked as if she’d swallowed a bitter draught of may apple root, her undershot jaw stuck out defiantly. Yellow Net had stiffened, face thoughtful. Of them all, only Panther and Green Serpent seemed unconcerned. Were they made of wood, or had old age just blinded them to the danger brewing around them?
Panther rubbed his hands back and forth before him. “The killing of Red Knot had nothing to do with the things we’ve been discussing here. They simply helped to precipitate the event.”
“Then why did you bring all that up? To humiliate us?” Hunting Hawk demanded, waving her stick angrily.
“No, Weroansqua. Actually, I was doing you a favor.” He looked at Copper Thunder with evident distaste. “You see, those innocent people with a reason for killing the young woman needed to be cleared of wrongdoing, or questions would dog them for the rest of their lives. I want this closed so that everyone can begin to put their lives back in order.”
Black Spike had crossed his arms, looking bored.
The Panther considered his words for a moment, and finally said, “The story begins a long time ago, almost ten-and-seven Comings of the Leaves past. At that time, Shell Comb was married to Monster Bone, Weroance of Three Myrtle Village. Married though she might be, Shell Comb was—”
“Was what?” she asked, stepping into the room. Her hair was damp from the mist, her dark eyes fixed on The Panther. “Did you intend to discuss me, Elder, while I was still in the Women’s House?”
“I had no choice,” Panther said easily. “The Weroansqua appointed the time… apparently without consulting you.”
Shell Comb gave her mother a grim smile, and flashed a probing look at Black Spike. She seated herself with a flourish, removed the damp feather cloak from around her shoulders, and shook her long black hair back over her shoulder. She flashed a smile at Nine Killer, enough to make his guts tingle, and then she beamed at Copper Thunder before stretching her hands to the fire.
Nine Killer couldn’t help but watch the way her lithe body extended itself toward the fire’s warming rays, but he noticed that Black Spike had locked his jaws, the muscles of his cheeks tight. His gaze never left her.
And Nine Killer saw the desperation locked behind the Weroance’s strained expression—and knew it for what it was.
“Yes, let’s see,” Panther resumed. “Ten-and-seven springs ago, Shell Comb traveled north, up the Salt Water Bay. The journey was ostensibly a trading expedition. North she went, passing a year among the Susquehannocks and the Seneca.”
“I think you have confused the time we spent there, Elder.” Shell Comb smiled coyly at him. “I recall it more like three moons.”
Panther’s voice softened. “I’m sorry, Shell Comb, but you betrayed yourself the other day. The Andaste White Dog ceremony occurs in midwinter, just after the solstice. The Green Corn ceremony happens in late summer. You saw both of them. How else could you know that the Feather Dance was done at both?”
“I was told,” she said coldly.
“No, you needed time to bear the child.” Panther crossed his arms. “I assume that Monster Bone would have known the child wasn’t his, that it was his brother’s. So you and Black Spike left, traveled north to bear the child where your husband wouldn’t know. And then, what happened? Couldn’t you bear to part with the child?” “That’s ridiculous!” Shell Comb gaped at The Panther. Nine Killer caught the sudden horror on Black Spike’s face—as if his entire world was growing dark. He raised his hands, fumbled with them, and finally placed them on either side of his face.