Swinging his legs over the bed poles, White Bird got to his feet, checked to make sure his breechcloth was hanging straight, and ducked out into the cool dawn. Mud Puppy stood awkwardly several steps from the door, his vacant gaze fixed on the blackened ring of ash that marked Uncle Cloud Heron’s house site. Fragments of gray-white bone could still be seen among the smoldering ashes, a reminder that their uncle’s Dream Soul was still present, watching.
“What is it? What did you want?” White Bird asked, irritably unnerved by Mud Puppy’s manner.
“What are you going to do with that sack of goosefoot seeds you brought from the north?”
The question caught him by surprise. “Plant them. Why?”
“I would ask you the same question, Brother.” Mud Puppy slid his haunted eyes toward White Bird. Fear glistened behind the glassy brown depths.
Shaking off misgivings the way he would cold rain water, White Bird stiffened his back. “To grow them, my silly young brother. When I was up in the north I discovered that the Wolf People grow goosefoot. They do it on purpose, not just nurturing stands of the plants the way we do, but they actually plant the best seeds to grow. They take special care of these fields, keeping out the grasshoppers and birds. The end result is that they have made bigger seeds, Brother. The advantage to these bigger seeds is a larger harvest per plant. Unlike leaving Sun Town to travel around to different places … uh, Ground Cherry Camp, for example, we can grow these bigger and better plants here, right around Sun Town. If we choose nothing but the best plants to replant, over the years we will have larger and larger harvests. Do you see what I’m after? We won’t have to worry so much, or travel so far in the poor years, or when the flood isn’t as beneficent as it is this spring. By storing what’s left over, bellies won’t be so thin during the hard times.”
If anything, the haunted look had deepened in Mud Puppy’s eyes. “Don’t do this thing.”
“What do you mean, don’t?” White Bird crossed his arms.
“Don’t plant the seeds. Make a feast for everyone instead.” Mud Puppy’s voice sounded as if from far away. “If you feed them to the People, it will be all right.”
“What? What will be all right? You’re sounding like you’ve been hit in the head! You expect me to give up on the seeds? Of all the things I brought from the north, Brother, they are the most important! Why do you think I haven’t given any away? Why do you think I’ve ignored them? It’s to show people. I’m going to plant them within the next couple of days. When I harvest them from the earth right there”—he pointed at the rich black soil near the bottom of the borrow pit—“I am going to make everyone understand.”
“Please don’t.”
White Bird shook his head. “I swear, you’re half-witted. What’s wrong with you? Stop being a child. You are ready to become a man, but you act more like a boy than that pesky Little Needle—and he’s winters younger than you are.”
“Why can’t you let this idea go?”
“Because it is better for the People, better for our clan. When they understand, everyone will look up to us.”
“He’ll kill you.” Mud Puppy’s voice had dropped to a whisper, his eyes shifting back to the burnt house.
“Who? You can’t mean Mud Stalker? He’s come over to our side, Brother. We’ve beaten him. Forced him to make an incredible deal to gain our patronage. He is obligating Snapping Turtle Clan to us. Don’t you understand what that means? We’re the preeminent clan in all the world!”
“If you defy his warning, he’ll kill you.”
White Bird narrowed his eyes. “Who?”
“Masked Owl.”
“Oh, Snakes take us! How can you be so stupid and still be my brother? Today I am marrying Pine Drop and her sister, Night Rain. Name another man of my age to make such a match.”
“If you do this, I will be stuck with them. I don’t know if I can turn them. They are controlled by their uncle.”
“You?” The tone in the boy’s voice left him half-hysterical. “You only inherit them if I die!”
“You will,” Mud Puppy replied woodenly, “if you don’t destroy those seeds.”
“Back to the seeds again.” White Bird slapped his hands angrily against his legs. “Just why are you so insistent? Do you think they’re poisoned, is that what this is about? They’re just seeds!”
Mud Puppy stared miserably at the few fingers of blue smoke still rising from Uncle Cloud Heron’s. “They are the future,” he whispered.