CHAPTER THREE
The Season of Home Days
July 1840
Strikes-like-a-falcon heard the retort of the guns and the canons firing from Fort McKenzie, knowing this was the traders' strange way of welcoming the "big thunder canoe." The answering canon salute from the steamboat caused whatever birds had not yet taken flight to hurry into the safety of the sky. Additionally, the elk, who had been lingering in the tree line between the fort and the water, went scurrying away as though they were being chased by a grizzly. Close by, Gray Falcon—a nickname by which he was known—heard a tree limb break, but beyond that gave the birds, the animals and the trees little attention.
Would she really be aboard the big thunder canoe? Or had she decided the trip to his country was too long or too dangerous to make the effort? Perhaps she had said "yes" to one of those men who were vying for her favor.
He would know soon enough. Oddly, he was a little nervous about this first meeting with her after the passing of five winters. But, stoically, he hid his anxiety behind a pose of nonchalance.
Standing up straight he thought back into the past. Although he might not like to admit it, he was strangely drawn to the girl he calledIsstsimmA'sitápi,Annoying-young-person.
At first, he hadn't wanted her in his life. He'd tried to keep her from visiting him. He had warned her of the danger he presented to her reputation. Yet, she hadn't cared.
Worry for her sister had brought her to him, and his anxiety for his friend's safety had pulled him toward her. She had used their friendship to ease her concerns; he had taken benefit of it to gather information about her father—the Trader—and what his possible reaction might be toward his friend, Eagle Heart.
Thus, they had made a pact between them. It had never been voiced, yet they had known they'd shared one concern: her sister had been in trouble and his friend had been in the middle of that trouble.
Strangely, though he hadn't wanted it, he had become used to her strange habit of suggesting what he should do and how he should do it; not that it had done her much good. But, it had never bothered him. Indeed, he had found her antics amusing.
That he'd seldom acted as she would have liked hadn't caused her to become more modest in her demands. But, she had been young back in those days. Perhaps all he had been treated to all those winters ago was her youthful exuberance.
True, over the intervening years, they had used the mind-to-mind speak to occasionally talk to one another, but this kind of interaction between them was spiritual in nature. Today would be different. Today they would come together face to face, seeing one another again after a rather long period of living far away from each other.
He knew she felt herself in love with him, but he was also fairly certain her feelings were little more than infatuation. He was Indian. She was white. There were so many differences between them, they shouldn't even really be friends. Yet, they were.
Perhaps this was because he had been there for her all those years ago when she had needed someone to give her good advice. Back then, she had come to him almost out of her mind with worry over her sister, and he had tried to bring a sense of calm to the young girl. He had distracted her with stories of adventure and legend and, now and again, had assured her of her sister's well-being, since he knew Eagle Heart was a gifted medicine man and would give her sister the best care he could.
For whatever reason, no one else in the fort had possessed enough time or interest to listen to the young girl's concerns. Was it any wonder, then, that she might feel an unusual affection for him?
But, love, as in the sort of admiration one feels for a partner in life? No. Her feelings for him were most likely ones of simple fascination.
He frowned briefly, considering further the great oddity of their alliance: she was the same girl who had triggered his skill in using the mind-to-mind speak to communicate. It was strange to him because this long-awaited event in his life had not been sparked by an Indian—not even by a medicine man nor an animal helper. At the time it had happened, he had shrugged off the irony. After all, she was his friend.
But, now he wondered: was there a special connection between them? And, if there were a unique tie they both shared, what was it?
He inhaled deeply and frowned. These were interesting questions for which he had no answers. Therefore, it was best to set his mind to other concerns.
She was coming into Blackfoot country to see her sister, and, as she had told him many times in mind-speak, to see him. But, what did she truly hope to accomplish by returning here? To cause him to fall in love with her and marry her?
Or would her real purpose be the opposite? In their most recent mind-conversation, she had admitted to giving her mother a promise to discover the "real" him, as well as to experience the hardship of Indian life. She had even told him her mother hoped close contact between them would breed estrangement.
In essence, her mother's request could be astute, which brought another concern to mind: should he guard his heart against A'sitápi?
He grunted deep in his throat. The thought seemed to come out of nowhere. Certainly, he cared for her. Indeed, he'd had no qualms about pledging his support for her five snows ago. But, she'd been barely older than a child back then. It had been easy to help her.
She was now nineteen winters in age and of a proper age to marry. And, it appeared her intentions were to either marry him or to leave their relationship as it was now and return to the village of St. Louis.
So, what were his own thoughts about her now that she was coming back?
Mostly he wondered if she had grown into the pretty woman her youth had hinted at all those winters ago. Very likely she would have done so, since she came from a family of pretty women.
But, what if she were so comely he changed his mind and desired to marry her?
He frowned. The concept was almost impossible to imagine. Not only was she forbidden to him, she would always seek to rule over him. It was simply the way she was.
But, even this would be no great obstacle if he didn't wish to have tranquility in his home. As his elders had often advised, a man should seek to attain harmony in his private life. And so, he would never seek to marry her…whether she were pretty or not.
