People of the Weeping Eye(71)
Morning Dew coughed. “I could have used all that!”
“You’re rich enough already,” Old Woman Fox told her, leaning forward with Mother to pull her to her feet.
“What a run!” one of the women cried as she clutched a finely woven basket.
“What a pile of gifts,” Mother added. “I thought you’d be crushed.”
“I was,” Morning Dew replied wearily. “I’m dead.”
“Then I guess I’ll spend the night with that handsome young Screaming Falcon,” Old Woman Fox said thoughtfully. “I can teach him a lot more than some virgin girl can.”
“A dried husk just ruins a firm cob,” another added wryly.
“Come,” Mother said, shooting a disapproving glance at Old Woman Fox. “Let’s go meet your husband.”
Mother held her hand as they led the procession to meet Screaming Falcon. He looked as disheveled as she, his hair mussed, his apron askew. But his grin was the stuff of sunlight on a morning meadow. He laughed as he stepped forward, took her hand from Mother’s, and raised it high for the crowd.
The shouts and cheers were deafening. It went on and on, people screaming, stamping their feet, Dancing, and jumping. Through it all, Morning Dew, still out of breath, could only smile, glance at Screaming Falcon, and wish she could sit down.
As the noise dimmed, Screaming Falcon called, “Is anyone hungry?”
Gods, where do they get the energy to shout and jump like that? Morning Dew wondered as the crowd whooped and yelled.
Through the afternoon, they sat side by side, eating, drinking, receiving the endless line of well-wishers.
“Never seen a run like that.”
“If ever there was a perfect marriage, it’s yours.”
“Seeing this, well, it presages great things for our people.”
“Seeing you two I know why the Sky Hand’s days are limited.”
“Never seen a pile of gifts that high. People will talk about it for summers to come.”
By the time they got a break, Screaming Falcon asked, “Still hungry?”
“I’ll burst like an overripe gourd.”
“Me, too.” He glanced around. “Think anyone would notice if we slipped away to our house?”
“Yes.”
“Do you care if they do?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He stood up, offering his hand.
She rose on stiff legs, letting his hold steady her. “I thought Biloxi wanted you there when he burned the prisoners.”
He glanced at the crowd surrounding the two remaining captives on squares. “I’ve taken my share of glory.”
People watched and jabbed each other playfully as they made their way across the plaza to the new house. She could hardly care.
“Sore?” he asked.
“I’m going to feel it in the morning.”
They ducked into the house, and cheering erupted behind them.
“I guess they know what we’re going to be doing.” She glanced at the door as he placed the hanging over it.
“Let them.”
She stood in the dim light, watching him.
“We gave them quite a run.”
“Did you really trip in the plaza?”
“I wanted to see how far you could go.”
Then his hands removed the cape from her shoulders.
Trader sat across the fire from Old White. They’d stretched a hide over the house corner, piled the packs beneath it, and waited while a drizzling rain fell from the morning sky.
Still perplexed, Trader fingered his war club and listened to the old man’s story.
“I had made my way as far as Morning Star City, down in the Caddo lands,” Old White said. “That’s the first time she called to my Dreams. The Caddo Healers were as puzzled as I was.”
“So you came straight north?” Trader asked, staring across at Two Petals. Swimmer was sprawled across her lap, his sides rising and falling, his nose mashed against the ground in a most uncomfortable-looking manner. Dogs were funny. They could sleep in peculiar positions.
“I went to the Forest Witch. She lives at the edge of Natchez territory.”
“I’ve heard of her. Dangerous, isn’t she?”
“I’m an old friend.”
From the way the old man said it, he was more than that. “It seems like a long way to come for a Dream.”
“It is at that.” Old White cast a knowing gaze at Two Petals. “But, no matter what you might think about Dreams, I found her. Now, I’ve been many places, seen a Contrary or two in my day, but never one so young.”
“That’s when you took her to Silver Loon?”
“It seemed the thing to do.”
“Like the Forest Witch, people fear her.”