om the traders to help the
Sauk get through the winter. Now they would not have to winter over at
Fort Armstrong, but could cross over at once to join the rest of the
tribe in Ioway.

The wound in Redbird's heart ached constantly, and she sat bent forward
on the buggy seat, her hands gripping her knees. As they rattled down
the road to Fort Armstrong she felt some small relief at leaving the
place where she had lost so much. She tried to tell herself that she was
on the way to a new life.

Yellow Hair said she didn't understand why White Bear was not with them.
She wanted to know if he would follow Redbird when he got better.

_She understands, but she does not dare believe he is going to stay with
her. She thinks it is too much to hope for._

Redbird said, "He still your husband, Yellow Hair. You want him?"

Yellow Hair's lips quivered as she asked, would Redbird not come back to
be with White Bear?

Redbird gritted her teeth. It hurt to have to explain to Yellow Hair.

Redbird made the flat-hand motion. "He not follow me. I never come back
here."

Now Yellow Hair's eyes were glowing like turquoise set in silver. But
she put a comforting hand on Redbird's arm.

She wanted to know why. How could Redbird part from White Bear and he
from her? Did it not hurt too much?

"Yes, hurt much," said Redbird softly, watching the rutted dirt road
pass under the wheels of the buggy.

But Yellow Hair pressed her. How could White Bear tear himself away from
the Sauk?

"Pale eyes family now his people."

But his son--how could he give up his son?

Redbird struggled to find words and gestures to explain this. "Maybe
some day White Bear come for Eagle Feather, like Star Arrow once come
for White Bear." She remembered how White Bear had wept when Sun Woman
told him he must go to live with the pale eyes. "That day, I not say
Eagle Feather must go or must not go. Eagle Feather do what he want."

Yellow Hair shook her head, her braids lashing. She repeated over and
over again an English word Redbird understood, but it asked a question
she could never answer.

"_Why?_"

Again Redbird wrestled with the English words. "Land of his father and
grandfather holds him. He not want to leave."

But what about the uncle who nearly killed him?

"That uncle no more trouble," said Redbird.

_And because of that, I must lose him._

Then when would Redbird see White Bear again? Yellow Hair's question
buried itself in Redbird's he