The characters from Supernatural don't belong to me; they belong to Kripke Enterprises Inc. and the CW.

Sons of the Morning

Chapter 10

Over the Waterfall

A meditation on the Meaning of Baptism

For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me…Truly, I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.

The words of Jesus Christ as related in the gospel of Matthew

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, (Jesus) answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs that can be observed, nor will they say, "Look, here it is!" Or "There it is!" For the kingdom of God is within you."

The words of Jesus Christ as related in the gospel of Luke

As Dean watched Sam get passed around the Naming Circle he noticed that the group of women he was thinking of as "his" women were gathered together. The last of them had just handed Sam back to Grandfather. They were now giving Dean long, hard stares and, moving as a group, beginning to close in on him.

He looked at them, trying to see them as individual people and not a pack of predators descending on their prey. He noticed that not one of them appeared to be younger than him and a couple of them were decidedly older. These older ones were in charge. They began to encircle him, like hunters, cutting off his escape routes.

"Sam," he called out.

Sam looked back at him, interrupting his conversation with Grandfather, assessed Dean's situation and gave Dean a great big smile. He held his hands up and shook his head from side to side. Dean understood he was getting no help from that direction. Then Grandfather took Sam's elbow and waved in Dean's direction. They walked over to him.

"Dean," Sam said. "This is Nixkamich. It means Grandfather. He has some advice for you."

"No one means you harm, young one. We welcome you in our home and hope we will all become friends." Nixkamich went on. "We have had much discussion about you and what your arrival means to us. It has been a long time since both a Shaman and a Warrior have come to us at the same time. I will not fool you, it has meaning for us. Your appearance warns us of trouble to come. "

"Our tradition is that there are always two different chiefs who appear when necessary. They do not need to come from outside the group. It is more common for one or more of our existing tribesmen to step forward and for potential future chiefs to appear in this manner is disturbing. One fulfills the "peace" position. He is Shaman, politician, diplomat and judge. The other is the "war" chief. He defends the tribe in battle."

Nixkamich held Dean's gaze. "I think you understand what we believe you to be. You are a warning, a guardian, like the Thunderbird, you are a protector."

"Before we can go further you need to be purged of the evils of your previous world. " Nixkamich reached back and one of the women gave him a bowl of white, milky looking fluid. "Take this medicine. Hold on to it. Nadie," he indicated the woman who had handed him the bowl "will let you know when you should drink it. Not before. Be careful and follow her words."

"Dean," Sam gave him a warning look. "This is important. Pay strict attention to what Nadie tells you. Her name means "Wise" and she knows what she is talking about. Now come back with me, Nixkamich is going to talk about the wolves."

They went back and sat in the circle as Dean balanced his bowl on his knee. Nixkamich began to speak.

"The third child of O-ma-ma-ma is named Wee-sa-kay-jac. He is very powerful and can change shapes and become other forms. He is a Trickster, a shape changer and the father of all Nehilawe. He had a dream one night and saw many creatures shaped like him, singing, dancing and pounding on drums. When he awoke, he remembered his dream and decided to make some of these people. They became the Nehilawe, and he became the supernatural native"

"He is also known as the sex manic of the North and is not to be trusted if wives are left unprotected. "

"There are many stories of Wee-sa-kay-jac but one tells of his love for his brother wolf, Ma-heegan. Because Ma-heegan was the little brother of Wee-sa-kay-jac , they often traveled together in the forest. They lived together and their days were full of food and happiness. But then Wee-sa-kay-jac began to dream about some strange animals in the water killing his little brother. One day Ma-heegan did not return from hunting and Wee-sa-kay-jac realized that his dream had come true".

"As he sat beside the river, sobbing for his brother a kingfisher flew close. The bird annoyed him and he snatched it out of the air and ruffled its' feathers so it could not fly. As the bird lay on the ground it chirped softly 'I only wanted to tell you who murdered your brother."

"If you tell me bird, I will smooth out your feathers and give you a gift of a piece of grey and red fur off my shirt. This is why the kingfisher has red and grey fur on its' throat even today."

"Your brother was murdered by three Mishipizhi in the river." The kingfisher told Wee-sa-kay-jac.

"Wee-sa-kay-jac revenged his brother by cutting the heart out of the father Mishipizhi, as Wee-sa-kay-jac was disguised in the skin of a frog. To this day the brother wolves are the friends and protectors of the Nehilawe in gratitude for Wee-sa-kay-jac's revenge for the murder of Ma-heegan."

The oldest of the women surrounding Dean leaned forward and said "The Mishipizhi are demi-gods who live in northern waters. It looks like a panther and is often called the great lynx."

Dean thought to himself, "It's a good thing we are used to this kind of stuff or we would just think these people were nuts. I guess it's an explanation of the circling wolves; just old friends of the family."

As Grandfather's story came to an end, Dean felt many hands lay upon his shoulders and arms. Nadie stood in front of him. "Now is the time for you to drink up the bowl." She nodded to the older woman who had told him about the Mishipizhi. "This is my sister Kanti. She is going to become your mother.

Dean flicked his eyes toward Sam. Sam returned the look and motioned for Dean to do as told. Dean drank up the milky looking liquid. It tasted faintly of pine and he held down the urge to have it shoot right out his nose. He felt it land in his gut but oddly it did not make him want to puke. Its' power seemed aimed in a different direction. He handed the empty bowl to Nadie.

The women pulled him along a path that ran beside a large quickly moving stream. He could hear the roar of a waterfall ahead. They went up the side of the water and ended at the top of the falls. The stream was wide and quick moving as it plunged off the edge of the rocks and out of sight.

Quickly the women stripped him of his pants and boots. Naked they lay him in the ice cold stream and many hands began to scrape at his skin. No inch of him remained untouched. He didn't really know what they were using but he was glad that the icy water had a numbing effect. One woman held his head above water but they didn't miss a thing. He could hear soft murmurings and quiet laughter. He was pretty sure some things were being said that he would rather not hear.

He could feel hair being scraped off and he wondered what he would have left when they were done. Dignity was already out the window. Even with the effect of the icy water his skin was beginning to tingle.

His head was dropped into the water and he saw Kanti move to the lip of the waterfall and straddle the stream. Suddenly he had a good idea of what they meant by she was going to be his new mother and he began to flail at the hands holding him down. There were too many to fight. Someone grabbed his head by the ears and another woman forced the tube of a water bag between his lips. She squeezed the bag and a different vile concoction shot into his mouth. He definitely wanted to puke this one up but events were moving too fast.

His face was back in the water and they pushed him along the polished rock stream bed. He shot between Kanti's legs and was suddenly airborne.

His first thought was "Well, this is embarrassing." His second one was remembering Sam's warning about hitting the water. He stretched and curved his back, raising his arms above his head in a dive position. From a distance he looked like a great silver fish, diving into the bottom of the pounding waterfall.

When he finally hit the water, his body exploded. Every orifice let go. His gut hurt, his chest hurt. He was steadily puking under the water. It felt like he was puking out of his eyes and ears too. He didn't think you could puke out your ears but it sure as hell felt like it. He was thrashing around in the water, totally disoriented. The only reason he didn't try to breathe water was that he was puking so hard. He thought it was possible he was going to die. He could not find the way up. The sound of the pounding water overwhelmed him.

A hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his bicep. He didn't try to fight, he was just grateful that someone knew which way to go. He continued to puke and could not catch his breath. His chest hurt so bad it burned.

Finally his head broke out into the air. He managed to catch a breath and opened his eyes. He was looking at Digger again.

"Hello, little brother. We meet once more." Digger smiled and started pulling him out of the water. He sat Dean on a fur robe at creek side and slipped fur lined slippers like Sam's on his feet. Dean shivered

"Why you again?" Dean asked. "Are you my keeper or something?"

"Kanti is my mother." Digger answered. "That makes you my little brother. And yes, I will be keeping an eye on you from now on. Deal with it. From what I've seen, Sam deals with you."

Dean leaned over and puked again. The substance that was coming up was black, like tar. He scrubbed at an itch on the side of his face and found some more of the same stuff lying just below his ear. He wondered if he had actually had puked out of his ears.

Digger made a noise that sounded like 'Humph." Dean didn't like it.

"Poison still running out of you, I see. You must have done evil in your life. We'll have to put you through the rinse cycle again." Digger waved at someone behind Dean's back.

"What the hell! You aren't throwing me over that again." Dean got up to fight and found he was weak and dizzy. He almost fell over getting up.

"Relax." Digger said. "Not right this minute. We'll give you a few minutes to put yourself back together but you are going to go back through a part of the ritual. The poison has to come out. We'll do it until you run clear." Digger squatted down in front of Dean. "Don't fight it. For one thing, there are too many of us. For another, you are going to feel great when it's over."

Twice more Dean's mouth was filled with the vile tasting emetic and he was shot over the water fall. The second time he was still vomiting the black tar substance and Digger pulled him out and handed him back to his torturers. His chest still burned and he had been unable to find the water's surface. Without Digger's help he would have drown.

The third time, however, there was no longer any pain in his chest. In spite of the pounding of the waterfall he floated easily to the top of the water. Instead of the nasty black tar he burped up clear, shiny bubbles.

If he wasn't already dying from embarrassment due to his naked fish imitation he would have been deeply embarrassed that he could burp such pretty bubbles. It was almost child-like. The bubbles floated up and popped. It was even worse when he noticed that it wasn't Digger pulling him from the water this time, it was Sam.

"Oh, God! What did they do? Sell tickets?" He snarled at Sam.

"Well, I have to say the show was worth the price of admission." Sam laughed back. "Come on, let's get you warmed up. This part of the ritual is finished. Think of it as your baptism. Welcome to your new life. Now we just have to get you named."

"I don't want a new life, Sam. I was perfectly OK with my old one." Dean tried to jerk his arm loose.

"Yeah, right. Cranky and driven and homeless. Scared shitless when you weren't bored to tears. Who wouldn't just love it? Here you can be useful. You have a brand new large family to protect. Mothers and Grandmothers, Grandfathers and cousins, babies and teenagers. You should be in heaven." Sam continued to drag him up on the bank, setting him on the fur robe and bringing his slippers back. "And they want you. No hiding, no lying. I want this. I can see myself being happy for the first time in a long time."

Dean looked around. It was true. He felt great, just like Digger promised he would. He felt lighter, cleaner, emptied of grief and maybe even sorrow and guilt. The other thing he noticed was that he seemed to be able to see better. Everything looked brighter, more defined. Colors were sharp and there seemed to be more of them, or at least more shades. His world had changed.

He lay back on the fur and looked into the sky, resting his head on his folded arms. "Hey, Sam! See if somebody here has my damn pants, will you?"

Sam laughed again and disappeared. Dean tried to remember the last time he had heard his brother laugh so often.

In a little bit he had pants and a leather shirt like Sam's. He decided to keep the slippers instead of his boots for the moment. "What are these things made of, Sam?" They were extremely comfortable and fur lined.

Sam smiled. "Mink, Dean. You're wearing mink slippers. Feels great, don't they?"

They all returned to the campfire. Nixkamich took Dean by the shoulders like he had taken Sam and introduced him to the people in the circle. "Welcome our newest child, Miyo Kisikaw. In our time of need he may become our Okimahkan. Nixkamich passed Dean along to the next person and the whole kissing and hugging thing took place.

Finally Dean was returned to Grandfather after being hugged by more people in the past fifteen minutes than he been in the past fifteen years. He was acutely uncomfortable and grateful when he had noticed Sam stepping back from the circle.

He asked Nixkamich "What does my name mean? And what was that other name you called me?"

"Miyo Kisikaw means "Fine Day" in English. You may change your name a number of times during your life with the tribe, depending on events in your life. The other name was Okimahkan and it is not a name, it is a title. It means "War Chief".

Dean stared into Grandfather's eyes. He had no idea how to respond to that. He knew though, that for the first time in a long time he was not being coerced or threatened. This path was one open to him. He was not doomed to follow it. Unlike so many other pathways in his life, he was not being ordered to do something; he was being offered the opportunity to decide for himself if he wanted to accept. It was not pre-ordained; he had not been bred for it; It was something to consider off in the future.

He was happy with that.