his
other self, the Bear spirit. He will not leave the spirit world until
the Bear finds his uncle."

Redbird shivered. "What will White Bear's guardian do to his uncle?" She
remembered both Owl Carver and Sun Woman saying that a shaman's power
must never be used to harm any person.

"What must happen, must happen," the Bird sang. "If White Bear is to be
free to go back to his body."

Redbird still felt uneasy. A shadow, like a sudden prairie storm, seemed
to fall upon the landscape.

The streak of scarlet sailed out over the endless grass, and Redbird ran
down the hill until the tassels were waving high over her head. She
could see nothing on all sides of her but yellow spears of straw.
Overhead was a patch of bright blue framed by tassels. In the center of
the blue the Bird spirit hovered, wings a blur of red. She pushed her
way through the stalks as the Bird led her.

On and on flew her spirit guide. Redbird did not tire either, as she
would have in the ordinary world, trudging through the grass. She could
not see the sun, but the light seemed never to change. And no matter how
long she walked, the same bit of cloudless sky remained overhead.

Then White Bear stood before her.

He was wearing only a deerskin loincloth and moccasins. His long hair
was bound with a beaded band. The scar on his cheek stood out white
against his tan skin. She looked at his naked chest and saw the five
shining claw marks, and the small navel-like opening of the bullet
wound.

She looked deep into his dark eyes. His love flowed out to her, and she
bathed in it, as in a warm river. She knew his thoughts, how happy and
surprised he was to see her.

_I was lost out here. You have come for me._

He held out his arms, and she rushed into them. She felt his arms around
her even though he was a spirit and she was a spirit. She laid her head
against his scarred chest and listened to his beating heart. Would she
ever again, back in the world of flesh, hold him like this?

A huge white-furred head crashed through the wall of grass around them,
and enormous golden eyes looked at her. White Bear had described his
guardian spirit to her, but she had never realized the Bear was so big.
She looked at black lips that bared yellow teeth longer than her
fingers, she stared down at claws that crushed the grass and sank into
the prairie sod. She shivered at the thought of what might happen to
White Bear's uncle if this spirit found him.

Perc