Golden Fox kept gazing up at the rim of the canyon, unable to see the sweat lodge for the snow that fell in large, dry flakes.

Sky Bird walked out of their lodge and laid an arm around her shoulders. “It is his time to find what the Spirits want to tell him. You will only get cold and cough, if you stay out here any longer. Come, Daughter, I have something I wish to share with you.”

Settled comfortably near her mother’s fire pit, Golden Fox crossed her legs and waited.

Her mother picked up a tunic she was beading and threaded a needle. “You are a woman and a warrior now, and no longer need a mother in the same way. It is time to speak to you of where my heart takes me.”

“You want Stands His Ground to move into your lodge.” Heat climbed Golden Fox’s neck after she blurted her thoughts.

Sky Bird threw her head back and a warm laugh rolled from her. After her laughter trickled into chuckles, she shook her head. “Why did you think this, Golden Fox?”

“Stands His Ground has been your friend since you were a child and... and I have seen how you bend your heads together and whisper. I have heard how you laugh together.”

Sky Bird lay the tunic to one side, reached forward, and tossed another small piece of branch into her fire. Red embers flew up toward the night-dark reaches of the lodge, where a smoke flap lay open. “Yes, Stands His Ground and I have been friends since we were barely out of our cradleboards. And you are right: I love him.” She caught Golden Fox’s gaze. “But, I love him as a brother, not as a lover.”

“But he gave you sky beads, and you wear them always. And... and you thought he might become your man.”

“I wanted so much to be like other girls in our camp. I wanted to dress like them and learn to cook like them and....” She waved a dismissive hand. “I was not like them, Golden Fox. I knew that in my heart. The boys of the Sun People would not look at me as they did the other girls. This is why I let your hairy-face father take me to his wooden lodge. I wanted to be like other women, but I was not, and so I thought if only I had a child of my own, this would make me like them.”

Brows crinkled in bewilderment, Golden Fox stared. “I do not understand, Mother.”

A sigh eased from the older woman. “My mother told me that I should be glad for my differentness, but it was too hard. I became the woman of a white man, thinking that perhaps the color of my hair and my eyes was what kept me from being like the other girls and women among the People. Perhaps, among the whites, I would be happy. When that did not happen, I thought a baby would make me like other women. Though I have loved you from the first time you drew breath, you could not make me what I was not. When I returned to my father’s lodge, my mother held me and I cried. She told me that someday I would find what I searched for, but only if I learned to accept myself first.”

Softness touched the lines beside Sky Bird’s eyes and the ones that bracketed her mouth. “Stands His Ground has looked at me with the eyes a man has for a woman, and for a short span, I thought I could try once more to be like other women. But he saw where my heart looked, and he helped me to accept myself. Someday, he will find a wonderful woman and they will have many children. That woman will never be me, for my heart belongs to another.”

Golden Fox leaned forward, her elbows biting into the flesh of her thighs. “Who is this man who has claimed my mother’s heart? Do I know him?”

Chin lifted, Sky Bird caught and held her daughter’s gaze. “You know the one who has claimed my heart, but she is no man.”

Mouth gaped, Golden Fox leaned back and stared at her mother. “Not a man?”

“Long I have had eyes for Deer Woman, and she for me.”

“Deer Woman?”

“Will you echo the words I speak, Daughter? Or will you ask the questions I see in your eyes?”

“I... I do not know what to say, Mother. You are... Two-Spirit? How did I not know this about my own mother? My eyes must be blind to the looks you gave each other, and my heart must be deaf to your feelings.”

“You did not see what Deer Woman and I hid, even from ourselves. Only Stands His Ground saw the love that we had for one another. It was he who echoed the words of my mother, and told me to speak my heart to his sister.”

Golden Fox glanced around the lodge. “I will pack my things and move in with Blazing Fire. When will you and Deer Woman have a joining?”

“There is no need to pack your belongings, Daughter. After we are joined, I will move to Deer Woman’s lodge.”

***

Sky Bird had gone to be with Deer Woman after her talk with Golden Fox. Now, Sister Moon rode high above the canyon rim. Soon the lodge behind Golden Fox would be empty, except for her and Blue Spirit Dog’s and Frost’s family. Only a moon ago, her grandfather had moved into Sun Rising’s lodge after his woman had journeyed to the campfires in the sky.

Golden Fox stared up at the night sky.

So many changes. What changes will happen when White Elk returns from his Vision Quest?

She stomped her feet to push warmth into them.

“Granddaughter, do you wish to become one with the snow and the ice that hangs from the bare branches of trees?” Eagle Thunder stepped from around the lodge. “Where is your mother, that you stand here with snow making your hair white?”

She grinned. “She has gone to be with Deer Woman. How long have you known about her becoming Two-Spirit, Grandfather?”

He bent his neck and stared up. The clouds filled with snow hid the campfires in the sky. “A person does not become a Two-Spirit, Granddaughter. Like the color of our hair and our eyes, it is a gift given by the Great Mystery.” He brought his dark eyes down to meet hers. “Your grandmother and I always knew Sky Bird was Two-Spirit. We just had to wait for her to know it, too.”