CHAPTER 45
At first there is nothing, just the glory of space and all of the creator's majestic splendor. Onendah is about to return to his sweat lodge and awaken from his vision. But then he sees an image of the golden lance. The full moon moves over it and glows, giving the lance a peculiar power. The lake ripples and shows a new vision. Suddenly, a large gray wolf appears. Puzzled by what he sees, Onendah looks at the ghostly image and can't seem to understand it.
A flash of lighting cracks and a radiant white wolf comes from it. It is smaller than the gray wolf and sits next to the larger wolf like they are friendly with each other. The golden lance arcs over them as a full harvest moon rises behind the wolves. Briefly, Kiowa's and Anoki's human faces reflect in the glowing lake in front of the wolves.
"Now I understand," Onendah says with a weak smile.
Three weeks have passed since Onendah's vision. He relays everything to Kiowa in its entirety, which of course breaks the great warrior's heart.
Kiowa presses his hand to his wrapped chest to try to hold the pieces together.
"Soon you will see these scars. Was all this pain for nothing?"
"No. Let me finish." Onendah tries to comfort him, but Kiowa won't be comforted.
"I turn on my own people. How can this be? Is nothing to be done?" Kiowa asks, with frustrated tears swelling in his eyes.
"Something will be done," Onendah says, putting his hand on the great warrior's, "and I am just the man to do it."
Kiowa's sad face melts with a crooked smile.
"We will travel to the lake of life, up in the pine forest, where the wolves howl at the moon and the eagles build nests."
"But that is a day's journey. The hunters and the warriors are gathering to hunt the buffalo. Won't they notice if I am missing?"
Onendah cuts him off. "Every bird must leave its nest and fly. No one can tell it when it is ready. It must know on its own and it must summon the courage to do so. Are you ready to fly, Eagle Boy?"
Judging by Onendah's words, Kiowa realizes that he may be taking a long flight, and the thought of being without his mother saddens him.
"Let the tribe worry about its own belly; you have a destiny to seize. I suggest you use your hunger for love to flap your little wings and fly with me to the lake of flaming waters while the moon is full, or I cannot be certain my magic will work."
"I will be there," Kiowa says, looking at his mother's hut.
Later that day, Kiowa and Makes Trouble come up with a plan.
"You cannot look at your mother-in-law's face, ever!"
"Yes, I know."
"I'm serious. If you see her, you have to run away."
"I know!"
"For this reason, I will be the one to fetch Anoki."
"But her mother was taken away by the Navajo, so I can be the one to steal her away."
"You are not thinking. Think, my would-be brother. What if the black robes have returned her mother? They are not like us. They sometimes do strange things."
"You are right. I cannot take that risk. The black robes do strange things."
"Spend the evening with a mother you can look at."
When the sun sets, Makes Trouble is off and Kiowa is in his mother's hut.
"I am so happy for you," she says, handing him a plate of meat.
"You have been a wonderful mother," Kiowa says.
"You speak as though I am not going to see you all of my days, Kiowa. Give an old woman's heart peace. Never leave me to suffer the winters alone. Bring me grandbabies that I may spoil in the spring. Have you given any thought to your vision?"
"I have," Kiowa says, laying a log on the fire.
"Oh, Kida will be very happy. When will you tell her?"
Kiowa doesn't want to disappoint his mother, but he also doesn't want to lie to her.
"I think she already knows what I want."
"Oh…that is so good! I am so happy for you," Grass Woman says proudly, beaming with delight. "I am going to be the best second mother to her, Kiowa. You will see."
"You have always been a great mother to me. Do you remember when I fell asleep in the grass field hunting the deer?"
Grass Woman nods and laughs. "Oh yes. I could hear your teeth rattling like the snake's tail."
"You brought me a blanket and stayed out with me."
"Yes, I remember. We watched the sun come up."
"I want always to have sunrises with you, Mother."
"They always will shine in my heart and show me your face, brave son."
When Anoki receives news from Makes Trouble, she does not ask questions or waste time arguing. She simply smiles, excuses herself, and dresses in her nicest one-shouldered white cotton gown. She fastens her best bead necklace and whispers to her brother, "I will miss you."
"Where are you going?"
"To a real secret place!" Anoki smiles with a glow on her face Walpi has never seen.
"Can I come with you?"
"On one condition. You must find and ride your own horse. Night Wind is mine!"
"Oh, okay. I will go and ask Father if I can borrow one of his horses."
"You will ask Father nothing, you tattling bird. I would already be married if you had not rattled your lips like the snake rattles its tail. You will not interfere this time, dear brother. Either you will come with me now or Makes Trouble will add your scalp to his belt."
Anoki signs the last part, hoping that Makes Trouble doesn't see her signs.
Walpi swallows deeply and takes shallow breaths. "I will go with you, Sister."
"You are wise beyond your years."
With the small hours waning on, Kiowa bids good-bye to his aging mother. He watches her eyelids flicker before she falls asleep. When she begins to snore, he covers her with a buffalo blanket and kisses her on the cheek. "I will miss you terribly, Mother. Maybe in a few winters I will bring you children and you will accept them. For now I cannot let you rob me of my happiness. I will never be far from you, Mother. I am flesh of your flesh, heart of your heart. If you knew what was inside my heart, I know you would want this for me. It is true happiness, and I cannot help but be drawn to it."
He leans in and kisses his mother on the cheek.
"I will have Onendah watch out for you, and you will have Two Moons and Weasel Tail to protect you until I return."
A chilling thought crosses his mind. If I return.
With that, he rises to his feet, takes a sweeping glance, then wipes tears from his eyes.
Why all these tears? Tears for Mother. Tears for Anoki. Women drink our tears and force us to choose between them. Then they shed tears. What cruel creatures. Kiowa sprints to his tepee and fetches his bleached buckskin pants, some war paint, and a wolf-cap headdress. He plops his war bonnet on and exits the tepee.
Paw and Onendah are already mounted on their horses.
"Look at this pretty white stallion. Onendah found him just for you."
"You will need all of the sacred magic you can gather, and this white horse has more potency than any mustang on the prairie," Onendah whispers.
The three mounted riders make for a late-night band. They draw Kida's attention. Not because it looks like the three are going to do a raid—no, that would be normal—but because she watches Kiowa's tepee like a hawk. She has even found herself circling it, not really knowing why, but having a constant curiosity of all things he does. An impulse she can never ignore and can satisfy only by seeing him or being close enough to smell him.