t her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "You kept your promise as
far as you were able. That is all the calumet requires. Your father
would not want you to die fighting for that land. It is better that you
come back here and be a Sauk again."

White Bear looked down, unable to meet Sun Woman's eyes. Feeling an ache
deep in the center of his body, remembering the great stone and log
house, the blizzard of blossoms in the orchards, the fields of green
corn and golden wheat, the herds that darkened the hillsides, he wanted
to clutch his chest where it felt as if it had been torn open. He could
not so easily forget Victoire.

_When I was at Victoire I yearned to go back to my people. Now I am with
my people and I miss Victoire. Will my heart never be at peace?_

Nancy had wanted him so desperately before they parted; Redbird would
not even let him see her.

White Bear saw that once again women had started to gather nearby, among
them the round-faced Water Flows Fast. And now White Bear saw another
familiar face he had not seen earlier, Redbird's mother, Wind Bends
Grass. She glowered at him as she always had, her fists on her broad
hips.

_O Earthmaker! Why would Redbird not come out and speak to him?_

A dozen cawing crows flew over the camp. Laughing at him.

He heard a movement behind him, a rustling of the buffalo-hide curtain.
He dared not look around.

A voice at his back said, "Go away, White Bear!"

A cool, sweet flow poured from his heart like a mountain spring at the
sound of Redbird's voice. He unfolded his legs, stiff from hours of
sitting, and pushed himself to his feet. He turned.

Weakness washed over him; he thought he might fall to the ground.
Redbird stood before him, her cheeks flushed, her slanting eyes
sparkling with anger. Her face was thinner than he remembered, her lips
fuller. She still wore a fringe of her hair over her forehead.

Standing silent and open-mouthed, he felt he must look utterly foolish.

"Go away," Redbird said again. "We do not want you here."

"To see you is a sunrise in my heart, Redbird."

"To see you is a foul day in my stomach!"

Reeling back from her anger, White Bear saw a little boy standing in the
doorway behind her.

He was bare-chested, brown-skinned. He wore a loincloth of red flannel
and fringed buckskin leggings. He was shifting uncomfortably from one
moccasined foot to the other and clutching at himself under the
loincloth.

Now White Bear unders