The Prodigal Sister
This story and all ideas, themes and original characters are the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Any unauthorized use is actionable in a court of law.
To borrow a phrase: Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman and all characters and settings no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please? Author's Note: I'm not fully clear on Sully's childhood and family. If something doesn't jive, sorry!
"I keep telling him not to go out by himself, but he keeps doing it" Michaela said, telling Brianna about one of her "chronic" patients, Donald Tether, who tended break bones when he went out hunting by himself. "Ah, what fools these mortals be"
Michaela looked up at her sister in law. Brianna smiled at her mischeviously.
"Surprised?"
"I must admit that I am" Michaela replied. Brianna chuckled.
"The one thing about our family that Sully is ashamed of is that I got sent off to school back East"
"I'm sure he's not ashamed of that" Michaela said, pulling the sheet over the edge of the bed. The woman insisted she was well enough to be about, and Michaela had agreed she could get up today. Brianna studied her for a moment.
"Maybe not now. But he was then, even I remember that" Brianna took a breath, ready to tell the whole story, "I was six years old. Our Mother had just died. Father...Father had no idea what to do with a little girl, and he figured I would need some schooling so he sent me off. Oh, Sully threw a fit. Of course he was only ten, so I went"
"How?" Michaela asked. Sully had spoken, limitedly about his family. All Michaela really knew was that his mother had drowned in the Hudson when he was ten, and that his father had died some years later of heart failure.
"The normal way, by train"
"No, I mean...."
"How did he pay for it?" Brianna chuckled again, "Father had money. Inherited it from some Uncle in England. He just wasn't proud of the fact"
"He wasn't proud that he had money?" Michaela wasn't surprised. Money meant practically nothing to Sully, or to Brianna for that matter. She supposed they had to get that from someone.
"Nope. Reminded him of the nobles back in England. Hated them. He just used it. Sent me all the way through college"
"College? You went to college?" Now Michaela was surprised again, and excited to meet another woman who had gone to college. Had Sully's father been so liberal as to send his daughter through college?
"Yep"
"What did you study?"
"Linguistics. I have a degree, pretty as can be. I graduated just before Father died." Now Brianna looked away, "A good thing too. Father had...written Sully out of his will, and so my Uncle was given power over my inheritance"
"Why did your Father write Sully out of his will?" Michaela asked, now too enthralled with Brianna's story to do much else. She spread the quilt over the bed and sat down to listen. Brianna was watching Sully and Brian work on the fence outside. Michaela took the chance to study her face close up. She looked remarkably like Sully, except that her hair was lighter, her features not, well, as masculine. She had a world weary sort of look in her eye though, and Michaela recognized the same kind of loner look in her face that had been in Sully's for so long.
"I don't know" her sister-in-law answered, "You'd have to ask Sully. Anyway, at seventeen I knew I had only two choices...."
"You graduated from college at seventeen?" Michaela interrupted, now much more than just surprised. She was astounded. Brianna smiled.
"Yes"
"You must be a very smart young woman" Michaela exclaimed, completely forgetting her earlier thoughts.
"Well, that depends on who you talk to I suppose" Brianna laughed.
"You had two choices..."
"Yep. Either stay and let my Uncle rule my life, or move out here with Sully. He'd.....already been here quite a few years. Well, the women of my family have always been independent, and so I moved. Sully spent a lot of time with the Cheyenne. I found it all facinating of course, being a linguist. I learned their language quick enough and started doing some interpreting work. Mostly I stayed in their camps with them. And then I met Dark Moon"
"Your husband?" Brianna nodded.
"Not then though. That didn't happen until after I started Riding"
"How did you start doing that?" Sully had mentioned that she had done some things he hadn't entirely approved of. Perhaps......but a woman? Even Michaela had doubts about that.
"The camp was attacked one night. A bunch of soldiers who didn't have anything better to do in their drunken stupor but slay unprotected women and children. All the men were gone hunting, except for a few of the old ones. In the defense of the white men they probably couldn't tell it was all women who were fighting them between being drunk and the lack of the moon that night. Still. They took off after I got an arrow through one of their arms. When the light came, bringing the men with it, the camp was ruined, trampled by horses. Three women and two children were dead. A low count compared to some other massacres. Dark Moon's sister and niece were among the dead though. She...." Brianna stopped talking for a moment, "Her name was Laughing Moon. The girl was Soft Feather. Her son was left, Thunder Rolling. Her husband, Colt Swiftly Running, was...........angry. As was Dark Moon. And so was I. We rode. At first, the men didn't want me to come, but, I...uh, convinced them." Brianna looked off, at nothing in particular now. Michaela felt maybe she should say something, but she didn't think Brianna was finished yet.
"Sully.........was not happy" she said slowly, "He even threatened to send me back to my Uncle. He said I should help keep the peace, not help to threaten it. He was right but I didn't see it then. All I saw was dead women and children. He couldn't stop me, so he didn't try. We'd be gone for months, come home. He was always glad to see me, he always tried to get me to stay the next time we left. Then, when I was about 21, he and Dark Moon both decided I should stop. They thought maybe if I settled down I would. At first I told Dark Moon no because I knew that's what they thought, and I thought that was the only reason he wanted me. But......" She smiled quickly at Michaela, "well it wasn't and eventually we married. But it didn't stop me, didn't even slow me down. Dark Moon would've been looked down upon for having such a wife, but everyone knew me. I rode every time he did" She looked back at Michaela, "We didn't attack people, you know. Mainly we were....well I guess you could call us mercenaries, except we didn't get paid. We just fought along side of any Indian that was fighting the Calvary. That was years ago. Almost a year before Sand Creek. According to Sully, just before you moved here."
"It would've been. I tended to Chief Black Kettle after that." Michaela said.
"I remember Sully writing about it" Brianna smiled kindly, "He was impressed"
"But you don't ride anymore, do you?" Michaela asked.
"No. Not anymore" Brianna answered, and returned her gaze to the scene out the window.
Just move your mouse down a little and click! That's it!
This story and all ideas, themes and original characters are the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Any unauthorized use is actionable in a court of law.
To borrow a phrase: Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman and all characters and settings no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please? Author's Note: I'm not fully clear on Sully's childhood and family. If something doesn't jive, sorry!
"I keep telling him not to go out by himself, but he keeps doing it" Michaela said, telling Brianna about one of her "chronic" patients, Donald Tether, who tended break bones when he went out hunting by himself. "Ah, what fools these mortals be"
Michaela looked up at her sister in law. Brianna smiled at her mischeviously.
"Surprised?"
"I must admit that I am" Michaela replied. Brianna chuckled.
"The one thing about our family that Sully is ashamed of is that I got sent off to school back East"
"I'm sure he's not ashamed of that" Michaela said, pulling the sheet over the edge of the bed. The woman insisted she was well enough to be about, and Michaela had agreed she could get up today. Brianna studied her for a moment.
"Maybe not now. But he was then, even I remember that" Brianna took a breath, ready to tell the whole story, "I was six years old. Our Mother had just died. Father...Father had no idea what to do with a little girl, and he figured I would need some schooling so he sent me off. Oh, Sully threw a fit. Of course he was only ten, so I went"
"How?" Michaela asked. Sully had spoken, limitedly about his family. All Michaela really knew was that his mother had drowned in the Hudson when he was ten, and that his father had died some years later of heart failure.
"The normal way, by train"
"No, I mean...."
"How did he pay for it?" Brianna chuckled again, "Father had money. Inherited it from some Uncle in England. He just wasn't proud of the fact"
"He wasn't proud that he had money?" Michaela wasn't surprised. Money meant practically nothing to Sully, or to Brianna for that matter. She supposed they had to get that from someone.
"Nope. Reminded him of the nobles back in England. Hated them. He just used it. Sent me all the way through college"
"College? You went to college?" Now Michaela was surprised again, and excited to meet another woman who had gone to college. Had Sully's father been so liberal as to send his daughter through college?
"Yep"
"What did you study?"
"Linguistics. I have a degree, pretty as can be. I graduated just before Father died." Now Brianna looked away, "A good thing too. Father had...written Sully out of his will, and so my Uncle was given power over my inheritance"
"Why did your Father write Sully out of his will?" Michaela asked, now too enthralled with Brianna's story to do much else. She spread the quilt over the bed and sat down to listen. Brianna was watching Sully and Brian work on the fence outside. Michaela took the chance to study her face close up. She looked remarkably like Sully, except that her hair was lighter, her features not, well, as masculine. She had a world weary sort of look in her eye though, and Michaela recognized the same kind of loner look in her face that had been in Sully's for so long.
"I don't know" her sister-in-law answered, "You'd have to ask Sully. Anyway, at seventeen I knew I had only two choices...."
"You graduated from college at seventeen?" Michaela interrupted, now much more than just surprised. She was astounded. Brianna smiled.
"Yes"
"You must be a very smart young woman" Michaela exclaimed, completely forgetting her earlier thoughts.
"Well, that depends on who you talk to I suppose" Brianna laughed.
"You had two choices..."
"Yep. Either stay and let my Uncle rule my life, or move out here with Sully. He'd.....already been here quite a few years. Well, the women of my family have always been independent, and so I moved. Sully spent a lot of time with the Cheyenne. I found it all facinating of course, being a linguist. I learned their language quick enough and started doing some interpreting work. Mostly I stayed in their camps with them. And then I met Dark Moon"
"Your husband?" Brianna nodded.
"Not then though. That didn't happen until after I started Riding"
"How did you start doing that?" Sully had mentioned that she had done some things he hadn't entirely approved of. Perhaps......but a woman? Even Michaela had doubts about that.
"The camp was attacked one night. A bunch of soldiers who didn't have anything better to do in their drunken stupor but slay unprotected women and children. All the men were gone hunting, except for a few of the old ones. In the defense of the white men they probably couldn't tell it was all women who were fighting them between being drunk and the lack of the moon that night. Still. They took off after I got an arrow through one of their arms. When the light came, bringing the men with it, the camp was ruined, trampled by horses. Three women and two children were dead. A low count compared to some other massacres. Dark Moon's sister and niece were among the dead though. She...." Brianna stopped talking for a moment, "Her name was Laughing Moon. The girl was Soft Feather. Her son was left, Thunder Rolling. Her husband, Colt Swiftly Running, was...........angry. As was Dark Moon. And so was I. We rode. At first, the men didn't want me to come, but, I...uh, convinced them." Brianna looked off, at nothing in particular now. Michaela felt maybe she should say something, but she didn't think Brianna was finished yet.
"Sully.........was not happy" she said slowly, "He even threatened to send me back to my Uncle. He said I should help keep the peace, not help to threaten it. He was right but I didn't see it then. All I saw was dead women and children. He couldn't stop me, so he didn't try. We'd be gone for months, come home. He was always glad to see me, he always tried to get me to stay the next time we left. Then, when I was about 21, he and Dark Moon both decided I should stop. They thought maybe if I settled down I would. At first I told Dark Moon no because I knew that's what they thought, and I thought that was the only reason he wanted me. But......" She smiled quickly at Michaela, "well it wasn't and eventually we married. But it didn't stop me, didn't even slow me down. Dark Moon would've been looked down upon for having such a wife, but everyone knew me. I rode every time he did" She looked back at Michaela, "We didn't attack people, you know. Mainly we were....well I guess you could call us mercenaries, except we didn't get paid. We just fought along side of any Indian that was fighting the Calvary. That was years ago. Almost a year before Sand Creek. According to Sully, just before you moved here."
"It would've been. I tended to Chief Black Kettle after that." Michaela said.
"I remember Sully writing about it" Brianna smiled kindly, "He was impressed"
"But you don't ride anymore, do you?" Michaela asked.
"No. Not anymore" Brianna answered, and returned her gaze to the scene out the window.
Just move your mouse down a little and click! That's it!