Loved! A fact from the past. Not the present. He lowered his head.
Softly she added, “And I never stopped, Green Snake. Not for one moment.”
The world seemed to swim, the stone forgotten in his hand. “All those years . . . wasted . . .”
“Oh, no. Think of the things you’ve seen, the peoples you’ve met.” She looked around, eyes moist. “This place would have chewed you up, digested, and deposited your souls in the latrine of its petty squabbles.” She paused, struggling with herself. “If you had stayed, you would have had to kill him anyway. Or he would have killed you. That part was inevitable. He hates you too much.”
“I didn’t mean to hate him.”
“To know Smoke Shield is to hate him. You have had ten precious years free of his poison.” She gave him a look filled with longing. “He doesn’t know that you’re here. You could turn around, climb into your canoe, and paddle away. You have a life out there.”
He took a deep breath, stilling the trembling inside. “I don’t have you!”
A desperate hope lay behind her misty eyes. “Are you still the same man I once knew?”
He shook his head. “Something died in me the night I struck Rattle down. Now I travel from town to town, people to people. I serve the Power of Trade.”
She smiled, on the verge of tears. “He takes. You serve. You are still the man I once knew.”
“Am I?”
“Oh, yes,” she whispered sadly. “Wiser now, gentler, but seasoned and tried. You can’t hide that soul shining in your eyes, Green Snake.” A pause. “Not from me.”
Words deserted him.
“You have friends up and down the river?”
“Many.”
“Wives?”
“No.”
She steeled herself, fists knotting. In a strained voice, she said, “I need to collect my son, Morning Dew, and a couple of packs. We could be on the river with enough time to reach Great Corn Town before dark. Or there are camps along the shore where people often stay.”
His gaze bored into hers. “Why?”
“You have filled my Dreams since I was a little girl. Can’t we live them now? Morning Dew would get back to her people. You could teach my son things he would never learn here. If he chooses to return someday, he will do so with great knowledge and wisdom. I would see some of the same marvels that you have, and enjoy life with a man I love. Smoke Shield will never have the opportunity to finally destroy us.”
“Living on the river comes with risks and miseries of its own: heat, cold, insects, bad food, bad water, and at times, some very dangerous people.”
“Something must be given up for another thing gained.”
He nodded, smiling. “If it were only that easy.”
She arched her eyebrow in an old and achingly familiar way.
He threw his head back, a warmth spreading through his chest. The sunlight seemed brighter, warmer. His heat was beating regularly again, the richness of his blood coursing in his veins. I am alive! He laughed, feeling it bubble up from deep inside him.
“Then, we’re leaving?” Hope leapt in her voice.
“Staying,” he told her gently, and saw the worry grow in her eyes. “It is more than just you and I. Power has sent us to restore the balance.”
“At what price?” Her voice turned hollow. “I won’t lose you twice!”
He glanced up. “Here comes trouble.”
Squash Blossom had rounded the corner of her house, a heaping plate in her hands. She hesitated at sight of Heron Wing; then she pasted a big smile on her face as she hurried forward.
“Clan Leader! Come to Trade with our new neighbors, I see?”
Heron Wing recovered immediately. “Indeed. And I wouldn’t want to interrupt his meal.” She stood, saying stiffly, “I will send Morning Dew here this afternoon. See if she meets your requirements. If so, we can discuss the value of the Trade you offer.”
He got to his feet, trying to tell her so many things through his level gaze.
She smiled. “I have a duck roasting. Until later.”
Trader watched her go, then resettled himself, struggling desperately to control his pounding heart. He shot a glance at Squash Blossom, wishing he could strangle her. He was surprised to see her looking wistfully after Heron Wing.
“Poor woman,” she said obliviously. “She’s so good, and the war chief, he treats her terribly. Whatever you Trade with her for, you treat her right, you hear me?”
“I won’t lose you twice!” The words Sang in his souls. “I’ll Trade her the sun and stars, Squash Blossom.”
Old White pondered the ways of Power as he walked slowly home. He could feel it, crisp in the air around him. Since the Katsina had appeared to him in the Oraibi kiva, his life had been orchestrated. Nothing seemed left to chance, as if he and the people involved were gaming pieces, moved across a blanket by Power. He had been called to the Contrary, and she had led him to Trader and his copper. They had needed a box, and the Kaskinampo had brought the war medicine. Their trials among the Yuchi had been for a purpose. Green Snake had asked Born-of-Sun to send a messenger, only to have him murdered by Smoke Shield, who was Trader’s not-so-dead brother. The Chahta had played their role, providing Paunch to take them to Amber Bead—and Breath Giver alone knew what role Whippoorwill would finally play. Smoke Shield had taken Morning Dew, who now resided with Heron Wing. And Old Woman Fox had wanted her back desperately enough to betray Great Cougar’s raid. All of the pieces had been prepared, moved into position. The very intricacy of it amazed him.