[30]
Over the next few months, Dove and Stands became close friends. Every day, Dove would come to Thunder Horse's lodge and she and Stands would complete their chores together, first by walking to the river for water, then by walking to the edge of the forest to gather wood. At Stand's suggestion, Thunder had taken Red Elk under his wing and had encouraged him about the joys of married life and fatherhood. It was not long before the announcement was made that he was looking for a wife. Dove Feather found herself with a lot of competition, including Yellow Flower and Silver Shield. With Stands guidance she tried to remain hopeful.
One evening, Stands invited Dove to stay for dinner as they finished their work on tiny moccasins and a tunic for the baby. Thunder Horse, Red Elk and Wind came in and the five of them sat around the fire. Stands made a meaty stew with flat bread, which Dove served to the men.
"The difference between being single and having a good wife is that married men eat much better." Thunder observed. The other men agreed.
"Do you think Yellow Flower even knows how to cook?" Red Elk asked him. Dove's mood changed from nervous excitement to despair. Stands quickly made an excuse for the two of them to step outside.
When the women had gone, the men continued their conversation.
"Are you interested in Yellow Flower then?" Wind asked cautiously.
"Honestly, I think that Dove Feather would make a wonderful wife, but I feel that I have no other choice. I must choose Yellow Flower for my wife because I have lain with her." Red Elk admitted. Thunder and Wind looked at each other, and then at Red Elk with disappointment.
"How did that happen?" Thunder Horse asked.
"I woke up and she was standing there in my tipi…naked! It just happened. I have to marry her now. You said yourself Thunder, that a man must be honorable. How can I leave Yellow Feather to pay the price alone for what we did together? "
"Remember that she came to your bed and that she did so with intent to be bedded. You did not deflower her." Thunder Horse revealed.
"What are you saying?" Red Elk asked.
"I've bedded her myself many times." Both men turned to look at Wind in His Hair.
"What? I wasn't the first, and you won't be the last, even if you do marry her. That much is for certain." He announced.
"She would have had me for her husband if I had not the good sense to resist her." Thunder said, casting an admonishing glance at Wind in His Hair. Wind simply shrugged.
"What do you think I should do then?" Red Elk asked.
"A man must do what his own heart dictates." Thunder answered.
"It would not be wrong to choose Dove Feather?" Red Elk asked.
"The woman you choose will be your wife for life. She will be the mother to your children. Only a fool would choose a woman ill suited to keep his home and his children. Dove Feather has confided to my wife that she is interested in making a match with you." Thunder revealed. Wind slapped Red Elk on the back to congratulate him, as a smile spread across his face. All three men nodded, then nothing more was said on the subject.
[31]
"He loves Yellow Feather!" Dove cried into her hands. Stands looked with pity on her new young friend.
"You don't know that. He only mentioned her name. Have you done the things I told you to do?"
"No. I tried to go fetch his bladders to get water, but I got so scared. I ran away. Why do I feel so shy when I'm around him? I'm just not good at this like you are Stands." She continued to sob. Stands sat beside her on the old fallen log next to the river and placed her arm around Dove's shoulders.
"Don't give up hope. I will get Thunder to talk to him. Red Elk looks up to him." Stands explained.
The two women walked back up the path.
"Come by tomorrow and I will tell you what he says." Stands said as the two hugged and parted company.
[32]
The next morning, Dove stood outside the tipi flap calling inside to Stands.
"Good morning! Are you there?" Stands took their empty water bladders and stepped outside.
"Yes, I'm here." She said. Dove threw her arms around Stand's neck.
"Thank you! Thank you, and thank your husband too!" Dove cheerfully greeted.
"What has happened?" Stands asked when she was released.
"Red Elk has made my father an offer!" This time Stands grabbed Dove around the neck and the two women squealed excitedly.
"This will be so wonderful! The four of us will be great friends!" Stands promised. "There is no chance that your father will turn down the offer is there?"
"No! My father is very proud of the match!" Dove said, smiling.
"Then you will be married soon?" Stands asked.
"Not as quickly as you and Thunder Horse were married, but by the next new moon."
"Then we have much to talk about. You will be getting a lot of information about the wedding night. You should ignore all of it…" The two women continued to talk as they walked towards the river.
[33]
The camp was once again buzzing with news of a wedding. It was a happy time as Stands and Thunder began to prepare for the arrival of their baby as well. Already Stands and Dove had stored up a good selection of baby sized clothes, and Thunder had built a papoose frame and covered it in doe skin so that Stands would be able to carry the baby on her back. They were excited, and Stands was also apprehensive. She had been there for the birth of each of Black Shawl's babies, and she knew that it must be painful for the mother, but she remembered how quickly that pain was forgotten, so she prayed for the strength to do what she must do when the time came.
On the day before Dove's scheduled marriage to Red Elk, The two women met once again outside on the path to the river and they laughed and talked as they went about their daily routine. Neither of them suspected how quickly everything would change.
[34]
Just like every other day, the two women continued their conversation as Stands waddled over to the river's edge and bent carefully at the waist to fill her water bladders. Dove sat on the fallen log and waited for her turn. This time however something terrible happened. The rocks shifted beneath Stands' feet, sending her head first into the river. She cried out, startling Dove who had been daydreaming about Red Elk. Dove jumped up and dropped her bladders on the ground by the log and she rushed to help her friend.
"Stands! Are you alright? Here, take my hand!" Dove shoved her hand out to Stands who sat in the knee deep water holding her stomach.
"Dove, I need you to go get help. Find Black Shawl or Thunder." Dove looked at the terror in Stands' face and took off running down the path. Stands rubbed her belly and hummed soothing songs as she prayed that no harm had been done. She tried to calm her pounding heart as she waited for help to come. Suddenly she was struck by panic as she spotted a grey wolf watching her intently from the other side of the river. The thoughts raced through her mind…"Got to get up….Why is it taking so long for Dove to get help?" Stands rose to her feet, never taking her eyes off of the wolf, who had not taken its eyes off of her. Cautiously she began walking back towards the edge of the river. As she stepped up on the rocks, her foot slipped and she went down hard on her knees. She screamed, as pain ripped through her body and blood began to spread across the front of her tunic. The white-footed grey wolf paced back and forth on the opposite side of the river, and then it threw back its head and howled.
[35]
Thunder heard the scream just moments before he heard the howling of a wolf. Something was not right. He took off running towards the river, leaving Red Elk and Wind in His Hair behind. A few moments later, Thunder's warrior call pierced the air and they took off running with weapons drawn.
Thunder found Dove Feather in the tall grass beside the path to the river. She was dead, her head beaten in by a large rock. He found his wife in a heap on the side of the river, soaking wet and sobbing uncontrollably. The source of the howl, a grey wolf looked him in the eye and then dashed away. He picked her up and saw the blood on the front of her tunic.
"What happened?" He demanded.
"I slipped on the rocks and fell in. I sent Dove for help."
"Dove is dead!" He told her. Stands looked at him in disbelief.
"What…?" She asked, and then the pain over took her again. She passed out in her husband's arms as he ran past Wind in his hair and Red Elk, and the body of Dove Feather.
[36]
Black Shawl ushered him into Kicking Bird's lodge and then she sent her oldest daughter to get the mid-wife.
"Is she going to be alright?" Thunder asked, worried.
"I don't know. You can't be in here. You must wait outside." Thunder reluctantly stepped back outside, just as Red Elk arrived with Dove Feather's lifeless body. Her mother was inconsolable. Wind in His Hair pulled Thunder Horse and Kicking Bird aside.
"This was no accident. Dove Feather was beaten in the head with a rock." Thunder Horse nodded in agreement.
"The rocks by the river were loosened and there is something slippery on them. I think it is grease." Wind revealed and Thunder stared at him in disbelief. The men ran to the river and Wind pointed out the evidence.
"Who would do this?" They wondered.
[37]
Word passed through the camp that the women were viciously attacked by someone who meant them harm. Everyone was talking about it. Rumors said that it must have been the Utes or the Pawnee, or perhaps even white hunters. Women kept their children inside and the men had armed themselves.
Thunder paced outside of Kicking Bird's lodge while the mid-wife, Pretty Shield and Black Shawl tended to his wife. The sounds of her screams were like arrows shooting through his flesh. Suddenly the screaming stopped and he waited for a sign that everything was going to be alright. Kicking Bird and Wind in His Hair waited beside him. Finally, the tipi flap was thrown open and a blood soaked Black Shawl stepped out. She carried a small bundle wrapped in a blanket, and she placed it in Thunder Horse's hands.
"I'm sorry. We could not save her." Thunder Horse looked down and understood that he was holding the lifeless body of his daughter.
"Stands?" He asked suddenly. "Is she alright?" Fear was written on his face.
"Tend to your child. Stands will live. We will care for her until you return."
"I want to see her." He pleaded.
"She has been through so much. She needs to rest. Give her a little time." Thunder Horse took his daughter and walked back to his tipi, returning with the papoose on his back. He mounted his pony. Wind wanted to go with him but Kicking Bird held his arm.
"He must do this alone."
[38]
Thunder Horse rode out to the prairie. His heart was broken as he felt the weight of his beloved baby on his shoulders. After an hour on the trail he spotted a place where one tree stood alone. There he would give his daughter back to the earth. He dismounted and gathered enough wood to build a small funeral pyre. Then he opened the blanket and looked upon the face of his tiny daughter. Her features were perfectly formed and he marveled at her tiny fingers, her delicate lips, and her little toes and ears. After some time, he carefully wrapped her up and placed her on the fire. He wept. As the sun set in the west, he danced around the fire, chanting, praying, and crying. His wife was heavy on his heart. He pulled a stick from the fire and pressed the glowing end into the skin of his fore arm repeatedly, screaming out his anguish to the star-filled heavens. When he was drained of all his energy, he dropped to the ground and stared up at the moon. A lone wolf howled in the distance and Thunder closed his eyes. When dawn came, he woke up. He gathered the ashes and spread them around the base of the lonely tree and then he mounted his pony for the ride back to camp. He wasted no time, riding at full gallop to get to his wife's side.
[39]
Kicking Bird rode out to meet Thunder Horse as he returned.
"My wife! Is she alright?" Thunder Horse asked.
"She is changed. She does not cry. I am worried." Kicking Bird admitted. The two men went straight to Kicking Bird's lodge. There Thunder Horse found his wife lying wide-eyed on a blanket, not moving or making a sound. She did not respond to her husband's arrival, or to the sound of his voice. Her eyes were opened, but she looked straight ahead.
"Does she know?" He asked Black Shawl.
"I think she does. She has been like that since it happened. I think she is in shock."
Lovingly, Thunder lifted her into his arms.
"You should just let her rest." Black Shawl urged.
"She can rest in her own bed. I will care for her at home." He thanked Black Shawl and carried his wife down the path to their own home. Once there, he sat her upright on their bed. Her eyes were vacant. He knelt before her and tried to see her, but she was not there.
"Where have you gone?" He asked. Black Shawl appeared in the doorway.
"I haven't been able to get her to eat anything. If she doesn't eat, she will starve. "
"I will get her to eat." He said.
"If you need help, call me." She said before she turned to leave.
[40]
There was much sadness in the village that day. Thunder Horse had buried his daughter, and his wife had disappeared inside herself. Instead of celebrating her wedding, Dove Feather's family was mourning her death. Another Sioux woman lay dead in her bed, as of yet, undiscovered, for during the night, Lone Tree had taken his hunting knife and slit the throat of his precious Yellow Flower. After news had spread about the tragedy at the river, he finally understood why his daughter had insisted on catching the drippings from their dinner the night before, and why she had returned to his lodge covered in blood.