“We won’t forget you. I can promise you that, Wyler. We’ll all be okay. I promise that too. The kids will always remember you, and we’ll make sure that your children do too.”
Then, that was one more thing off of his list, and he was glad it wasn’t impersonal like going through a lawyer.
Winn wouldn’t let him down.
As they waited, Wyler got up and began pacing back and forth, wearing a line in the carpeting. He was getting twitchy, and wasn’t sure how it was going.
But then, he did.
His son came out, and his face said it all.
On it, there were the ceremonial smudges of ash from the tribal council.
“How did it go?” Wyler asked.
Ethan shrugged.
“They’ve opted not to let me become the Shaman. They don’t feel that I will dedicate my life to it as it deserves. They asked me to leave the white man’s world, but I told them I couldn’t do that. I’m half white, and that is part of me.”
Wyler went red.
“Let me speak to them,” he said, angrily. “No one insults my son. He’s just as Native as me, or his brother! This is outrageous.”
Ethan was incredibly hurt and disappointed, but there was no point.
“Don’t, Dad. For me? Just let it go. They are going to find a new family to carry on. They think too much time has passed, and I’m not able to do the job. They have someone else who can give one hundred percent.”
Raphael cracked his knuckles.
“Oh, look over there,” he said, pointing, as he planned on sneaking past Ethan to beat on some idiots.
Ethan stopped him, too.
“They said they needed a sign, and they hadn’t gotten one in the smoke. It’s just not meant to be,” he said.
Wyler hurt for him.
“What can I do to help you?” he asked.
Ethan was to the point.
“Just walk me home. I have to go face my family, and tell them I’m not good enough to be the Shaman.”
Oh, Wyler was coming back here.
Bet.
On.
It.
He was going to kick the shit out of the council members, and laugh while doing it. No one told his son he wasn’t good enough.
NO.
ONE.
There was no doubt this was Lance Running Wolf’s barely veiled anger at him, and his way of taking it out on Ethan.
