The season of young animals blew in on Sister Wind’s gusty breath. All night, the wind howled through the canyons as pink, white, and blue lightning sizzled across the black sky. The growl and booms of thunder bounced off the canyon walls.

Golden Fox sat next to her fire pit with Frost and Blue Spirit Dog sprawled close-by. Their grown pups wrestled along the back wall of the lodge. The arrows she had been making lay in a pile to one side, as she worked on yet another one.

Someone scratched at the flap and she glanced up. “Come.”

With hair tossed into tangled strands by the wind, and stuck to her forehead by the rain, Dances In Storms possessed a wild look, which the sparkle in her eyes enhanced. “Come out in the rain and dance with me, Golden Fox, my sister-friend!” She twirled and the fringes on the bottom of her skirt whirled in a wide circle around her.

Dances In Storms grabbed her hand, and they ducked out of the cave.

The crack-sizzle of the thunder and lightning stirred her blood, and she let Dances In Storms lead her into a joyful dance. Rain pounded from the sky as their feet pounded the ground beneath them. Water splashed high on their naked legs, and droplets hung from the fringes on the bottom of their deerskin dresses.

Around and around they danced, their arms flung high and their heads thrown back. They shook their hair and their bodies as they laughed out loud. Water poured from the tips of their fingers as they brought their arms down and looped them around each other’s shoulders.

Together, their feet stamped in harmony as they danced a circle in the storm. When, at last, the thunder dropped to a murmured growl, and the flashes of jagged lightning no longer split the blackness, they stumbled into Golden Fox’s lodge.

Giddy from the storm, they shed their clothes and dried off. Wrapped in sleeping robes, they huddled shoulder-to-shoulder by the fire.

“Dances In Storms....”

“Hmmm?”

“I am to go with the hunters and Blazing Fire when Father Sun rises. We need fresh meat, and will not return for at least five sunrises.”

Dances In Storms reached back and tugged Golden Fox’s arm over her side, and linked her fingers with the younger woman’s. “Your father, or those he sends, may be closer than we know. Be like Wolf—ever wary—and come home safe. I would miss you, sister-friend, if you did not.” She placed a gentle kiss against Golden Fox’s knuckles.

“I will be careful, but that is not what I want to speak of.”

“Speak, sister-friend, for soon my eyes will close.”

“I... I....” She swallowed hard and sucked in a deep breath. It eased from her mouth. “While I am gone, it would be a good time for you to lay with White Elk and make a baby.”

Dances In Storms jerked up, and the robe puddled in her lap. “Lay with White Elk? No! We will speak no more of this until after... after we go to the fort and get our Peoples.”

Golden Fox tugged Dances In Storms’ arm until she lay on her back and stared up at Golden Fox’s face hovering over her. With her arms crossed over the Holy Woman’s full breasts, Golden Fox rested her chin on her arms, and fixed her gaze on her friend. “While dancing with you in the storm, I... I felt in my heart a deep love for you. I do not know if I am grown enough to lie in the lodge while White Elk takes you to his sleeping robes, but....”

She heaved another breath before she continued. “But, as we danced, I knew that my heart would not be broken if I shared this man with you, so that you might have a child. I would be your child’s second mother. I am young and wish for children, but the seasons for you to have a child are quickly passing. I want you to have this happiness.”

Dances In Storms’ hands framed Golden Fox’s face as she searched the younger woman’s eyes. “I would let the seasons of having a child pass me by before I would do that which would bring you pain. In you, I find a sister and a friend. I would not give that up. I care for White Elk, but do not love him as a woman loves a man of her heart. I do not know why the Spirits have made this so painful for you, and for White Elk, and for me, but.... Know this: I will not lie with him to get with child unless you are truly at ease in your heart. You do not have to say now. We can wait until the warm season, when everything will be different, before you decide.”

Golden Fox shook her head, pushed forward, and placed a light kiss on Dances In Storms’ cheek. Dropping back onto her side of the sleeping robe, she said, “In my heart, I feel that your body is ready for a child. As we danced, I could feel the thrumming inside of you. You will make a good mother, and I will make a very good second mother to this child.” Turning onto her side, she met Dances In Storms’ eyes and squeezed her hand. “This is my gift to you, my sister-friend. When the time comes, you will be the one who joins White Elk and me. But now is the time for you.”

***

White Elk walked over to where Golden Fox tied supplies to Splash and readied a second mustang to carry meat back to camp. “I have talked to the Holy Woman. We do not have to make this decision now. When the warm season comes, we can perhaps walk and cry for a vision.”

With a firm shake of her head, she leapt onto Splash. “No, White Elk, her body cries out that now is the time for her to be with child. The Spirits have shown all three of us that you are to be the father of her child. It is best that this happens while I am hunting.”

When she started to tap her mustang into a walk, he gripped her lower leg. “Golden Fox, I will not do this. I will ignore what the Spirits say, before I will lose you. I have searched too long to let you go so easily.”

She leaned over and touched her lips to his forehead. “You will not lose me, silly one. Dances In Storms will have a child with you and, when I am ready, my sister-friend will do the ceremony to join you and me. We will be mates, and when I am ready, we will have a child. But now I have something I must do, and a joining with you must wait.”

“You have changed, Golden Fox—grown in ways I only now see.”

“Take care of my sister-friend.” She tapped Splash’s sides, and the mustang trotted toward Blazing Fire’s animals.

***

The hunt went well, and in six sunrises, they had enough meat for the camp.

Stands His Ground and Hawk Watches disappeared as Sister Moon rose in the sky. They would stand first watch.

Blazing Fire finished rolling out her sleeping robe as Golden Fox slipped beneath the warm cover of her own sleeping robe.

“Is it true, Golden Fox, that you sent Dances In Storms to White Elk’s lodge while we hunt?”

With hands linked behind her head, she stared up at the campfires in the sky and felt a smile turn the corners of her lips upward. “I am hoping that he will get her with child by the time we return.”

“Hmph! I thought you refused to share a man?”

“I do refuse to share a man. Dances In Storms cares for White Elk, but they do not have the feelings that a man and a woman who wish to share a lodge all of their lives should have. Their relationship will take nothing from what grows between White Elk and me. It will bring good to all three of us.”

“You no longer sound like the child who first begged me to teach her the ways of a warrior woman.”

“You have helped me to grow, Blazing Fire. I honor you for that.”

Before Blazing Fire could answer, the sound of mustangs coming had them both flipping the sleeping robes aside and grabbing their bows.

Stands His Ground rode in with the lead rope of a second mustang, upon which sat a white man, firmly in his hand.

Hawk Watches rode a little behind and to one side of the stranger’s animal. When they drew up to the fire, the warriors slid to the ground and motioned for the white man to get down.

As his feet touched the ground, one leg folded and he fell.

Blazing Fire moved close and stared at the stranger. “He bleeds.” She glanced from one warrior to the other.

Stands His Ground gave a slow shake of his head. “We found him riding like a man who sleeps. He was coming to our camp.”

Blazing Fire hunkered next to the man. “Why do you follow the People?”

Using his arms, he shoved himself into a sitting position. “I seek my... my daughter, Golden Fox.”

Before he could dodge her, Blazing Fire grasped a handful of his hair, bent his head, and laid her knife across his throat. “Why do you seek this daughter, white man?”

He shifted his eyes until he could see her. “Why would a man not look for his daughter?”

Stands His Ground moved forward. “A man does not send other whites with poisoned water to steal his daughter from her mother and her people!” He nocked an arrow in his bow. “I will kill him now.”

“Wait!” Hairy-Face No More, one of the two hairy-faces who had joined Eagle Thunder’s band during their journey, stepped forward. “This man is not the one who sent poisoned water from the fort. He is not the one who hunted the gold fox. That was the captain.”

Golden Fox frowned. “If this man is my father, then he is Captain. This is what my mother names him, if she speaks of him at all.”

“I was... was captain at the fort.” He squinted at Golden Fox as if he could not clearly see. “You must be... be my daughter, Golden Fox. I never... never sent men after you. Would never send... fire water to your people. I swear.” Sweat popped out on his forehead, and he slumped to the ground in the sleep that was not a sleep.

Golden Fox locked her eyes on Hairy-Face No More, and pursed her lips. “There is more to hear.” She laid a hand on Stands His Ground’s tense arm. “Blazing Fire and I will take care of his leg. We have finished hunting, and are journeying to camp when Father Sun rises. We will take him with us. If he lives, we will hear what he has to say.”

***

Sister Moon rode the cloudless sky as the man who claimed he was Golden Fox’s father swayed on the back of his mustang. Only the ropes, which tied him to the leather thing he sat on, kept him from falling to the ground.

It had taken two sunrises to reach camp, though the hunting party had ridden hard.

As Stands His Ground and Hairy-Face No More pulled the man off of the mustang, Golden Fox wondered if he would see Father Sun rise.

Sky Bird stepped out of the lodge she shared with Deer Woman. She swept open the entrance flap and held it. “Who is this dying white you bring to our lodge?”

Golden Fox touched her mother’s arm. “He says he is my father.”

Anger flared across Sky Bird’s face and her lips tightened into a thin line. “I should let him die. If I heal him, it will only be to kill him. I will not let that man harm you, Daughter.”

“Hairy-Face No More says there is more to hear, and that we should perhaps listen to this white man who was once your man. While he heals, Hairy-Face No More and Pale Hunter will tell us what they know. When he—” She nodded toward the man laid out on a sleeping robe. “—when he wakes, we will hear his words, too, before we decide if he is to live or to die. I have many questions for this man who claims to be my father, yet has never been a father to me.”

After a long, quiet span, they stepped outside of the lodge and wiped sweat from their faces.

Deer Woman walked out and looped an arm around her mate’s shoulders. “We have done all that we can.” She looked past Sky Bird to Golden Fox. “I am sorry that you are to meet your father only to sing him to the campfires in the sky. I know you had many questions for this man, but the bad Spirits have eaten into the bone of his knee, and it dies. Soon the bad Spirits will race higher on his body, until they take all of him.”

Long Sun’s drum sounded softly from behind them, and Dances In Storms’ voice raised in song. They sang for a hairy-face that Golden Fox did not know, yet she already felt a sense of loss.

Pale Hunter stepped around the outside cooking fire. “Sky Bird, you are a healer of the People and I honor you. Once, I was known as a healer of hairy-faces. Will you let me and Hairy-Face No More help this hairy-face who claims Golden Fox as his daughter?”

Bewilderment crunched her brows over her eyes. “What can you do? The man will not see Father Sun wake.”

“I have seen the bad Spirits get into a wound after battle. There is only one way to save life when this happens. We must cut away the place where the bad Spirits now live. It is better for a man to lose one leg than to lose his life.”

Sky Bird’s mouth flew open. “Take his leg off? How can you do this?”

“Not his whole leg, but part of it. Will you allow us to try?”

Golden Fox caught her mother’s eye. “He will not live if the bad Spirits are allowed to remain in his body, Mother. Perhaps, among the hairy-faces, this is not so bad to lose a leg.”

She pointed inside the lodge. “Go inside the lodge, Pale Hunter and Hairy-Face No More. Perhaps, your hairy-face medicine can save this man.” Mumbling, she added, “Though I wonder why we save him. If he is the one who sent hairy-faces with poisoned water after Golden Fox, he will not leave this camp.”

Pale Hunter squatted by the sleeping robe where Golden Fox’s father tossed and mumbled with sick dreams.

Hairy-Face No More took his long knife over to the fire pit, and placed the blade in the embers. As he worked, he talked about what he did. “The fire will kill anything unclean on my blade. If we do not do this, more bad Spirits will crawl into his leg.” Letting the blade sit in the embers, he opened his carry-all—the thing he called saddlebags—and took out a strong, short stick wrapped in leather.

He handed it to Golden Fox. “You must put this in his mouth and keep it there, or he will break his teeth.” Staring down at her with pale eyes, he said, “We can have Stands His Ground do this, if you want. Your fa... this hairy-face will feel much pain.”

She lifted her chin and accepted the leather-wrapped stick. “I am a warrior. A warrior does what is needed.”

He gave a brusque nod of respect. “Stand close to his head, then. You may have to hold his head tight.”

Pale Hunter gazed around. “Stands His Ground, do not let go of his good leg. Be sure to keep it away from the bad leg. White Elk, hold tight to his arm. Blazing Fire, hold tight to his other arm. It will be you two who must not let his chest rise up.”

He glanced over his shoulder at Sky Bird and Deer Woman. “Take the deerskin pieces that are in the hot water and cool them. Soon they will be needed to press against the piece of leg that I leave.”

Pale Hunter held his sword a finger-width from the hairy-face’s leg, sucked in a deep breath, held it, and placed the blade on the skin. The smell of burning hair and flesh rose in acrid clouds.

Golden Fox gagged, but swallowed down the bitter spit that came up in her mouth.

With a solid slam of a rock on the blade, the blade sliced through flesh. Blood spattered. Each time that Pale Hunter slammed the rock into the blade, more blood splashed on his arms and hands. The hairy-face fought against the hands that held him, though his eyes only opened once. They looked about wildly and the leather in his mouth muffled his scream.

It took five times of slamming the rock against the blade before the blade passed through the bone. As the leg parted, Deer Woman darted in and removed it from the sleeping robe. Hairy-Face No More pulled the rope Pale Hunter had placed above the wound tight, which slowed the flow of blood.

Pale Hunter rushed over to the fire and shoved his long knife deep into the red embers. When it glowed, he hurried back and placed the blade against the wound. He did this twice before the rope could be loosened, and the blood did not flow fast from the wound.

Pale Hunter wiped his forearm across his face and caught the sweat dripping into his eyes. “Sky Bird, I do not have the medicines of the hairy-faces for wounds. Will you dress this wound and care for it now?”

“Deer Woman and I will care for him. Please, open the bottom of the lodge, and then take the leg far from camp. We must be careful that the bad Spirits do not harm others.”

Golden Fox stayed in the lodge, cleaning the blood from her father’s body with soft deerskin scraps and warm water. After that, she found a clean, soft deerskin.

Deer Woman took it from her hand. “I know you are a woman grown, but you have not rested since returning from the hunt. Your mother and I will care for this hairy-face. We will come and get you if anything changes. Go to the river and bathe away any bad Spirits that might cling to you, then go to your lodge, eat, and rest.”

***

When Golden Fox returned to her lodge from the river, White Elk waited. He handed her a bowl of hot meat and tubers and new greens.

She sank to the ground and accepted the bowl.

After eating in silence, she stumbled to her sleeping robes. The last thing she remembered was White Elk brushing the hair from around her face and pulling the sleeping robe up over her shoulders.