that much."

Redbird wished her mother could feel this pain and know how much it
hurt. She felt like telling Wind Bends Grass to leave the birthing
wickiup.

Sun Woman said gently, "No one knows how much another person hurts."

_I don't remember this much pain when Eagle Feather was born. Maybe I am
going to die._

Sun Woman stood up and wiped Redbird's forehead with a cool, wet
kerchief, then cleaned her bottom for her, where a little blood was
dripping.

"I can see the top of the baby's head," Sun Woman said. "It will be a
good birth. You are almost done now."

Redbird looked up at the mare's tail, dyed red, that hung over the
wickiup doorway, medicine to make the birth go easier.

_Let it be over soon_, she prayed. Her pains had started at dawn, and
now it was past midday. Sun Woman had used up four candles, and in the
whole band there were hardly any candles left. It had not taken this
long with Eagle Feather.

Yellow Hair rubbed the arm she was holding, and Redbird managed to look
at her and smile. Though Redbird had meant to honor Yellow Hair by
asking her to help here, she was not sure now that she had done the
right thing. The pale eyes woman's face was icy white, and she kept
biting her lips as if trying to keep from being sick. She had probably
never seen anything like this before.

Wind Bends Grass had insisted that it was bad luck to have Yellow Hair
present, but Redbird had ignored her.

The next pain came, and Redbird, to show her mother how much it hurt,
screamed even louder and longer than she had to. This time the pain gave
her hardly any rest before it came again. And another came stepping on
its heels. And another.

Her screams were continuous now, and she was hoarse and coughing and did
not have to pretend. Her eyes were blind with tears. She dug her nails
into the arms of Wind Bends Grass and Yellow Hair and bent forward,
pushing as hard as she could.

She felt the enormous mass breaking out of her, and found her voice
again in a scream that could split the very sky open even as the baby
was tearing her in two.

Her ears rang. She felt broken and useless, like an empty eggshell. She
hurt terribly, but a great weight was gone from inside her.

Wind Bends Grass said, "You have done well, my daughter."

Redbird started to cry, from pain, from relief, and because she had
finally pleased her mother.

From the floor she heard a tiny cough, and then a drawn-out wail. She
looked down