As they entered the Sister Wolf Band’s camp, Golden Fox rode next to Dances In Storms.

Will Calls Elk be angry that his daughter wants to join with a man? Surely, he will not ignore what the Spirits have said?

Strong Wind shifted on his mustang. “I wonder if your father will be very angry, as Stands His Ground thinks. Maybe this is not such a good thing to do.”

She reached over and squeezed his hand. “The Spirits have shown me in a lodge with a child of my own. I was still a Holy Woman. The Spirits sometimes give us great gifts. You, Strong Wind, are a great gift from the Spirits.”

As they rode through the center of the camp to Calls Elk’s lodge, the people spilled from their lodges and gathered to listen to what the scouts would say.

Golden Fox slid off Splash, and Girl Who Does Not Speak reached out to take the lead rope. “She has ridden long and is tired. I am glad you will take care of her. Splash has a special like for you.”

The young woman smiled and hurried away.

Golden Fox walked behind Dances In Storms and Strong Wind into the lodge of Calls Elk.

Calls Elk stood by the fire pit in the center of his lodge. “Who is this stranger, Daughter?”

With her fingers threaded through Strong Wind’s hand, Dances In Storms lifted her chin and pulled her shoulders back. “As I have told you, Father, the Spirits have given me a great gift. They have said I am to have a child of my own.”

He folded his arms across his burly chest and glared. “This one does not look like a child.”

Red crawled up Dances In Storms’ neck.

Golden Fox laid a hand on her sister-friend’s trembling shoulder. “Calls Elk, the Spirits have spoken to me as well. They wish for Dances In Storms to be with child.”

“Is she not with child from your man, Golden Fox? What need does she have of this... this half-blood? The Spirits gave her the gift of a child, not a mate! A mate will steal her Power—Power that her people need to survive the hard times that approach.”

“Father!” Dances In Storms’ voice lashed out and jerked Calls Elk’s attention to her. “I am a Holy Woman. Spirits have given me visions to know that a mate can be a help to one such as me. Strong Wind will be there when I cannot be there for my child. I will not give up such a great gift from the Spirits!” She whirled and stormed out of the lodge, dragging Strong Wind with her.

Golden Fox tilted her head to one side. “Why do you believe a mate will steal Dances In Storms’ Power?”

Weariness lay heavy on his features. He rubbed a hand across his face as if he could wipe some of it away. With a wave of his hand, he motioned toward the fire. “Sit, and we will speak, sister-friend of my daughter.”

He looked at her and swallowed. “When a Holy Person takes a mate, Power is lost. It has always been this way, even from my grandfather’s father.” He poked a twig against an ember, then tossed the small branch into the fire. “When the father of Small Feet gave her to me, I was a Holy Man. If I had not accepted Small Feet, it would have shamed her father. I prayed all during Sister Moon’s time in the sky. All I heard was Sister Wind telling me I had to accept Small Feet as my mate.”

He folded his hands in his lap and met her gaze across the fire. “I rode away with Small Feet, her sister, my mustang, and three dogs her father gifted to me, along with their belongings. I never again heard the whisper of Sister Wind. I do not say this to say how pitiful I am. The Power I lost has come to live in Dances In Storms. Out of four children, she is the only one with Power. Sometimes, I think that her woman’s need for a child has perhaps clogged her ears to the Spirits.”

Golden Fox nodded. “You still grieve the loss of Power. I feel your pain, here.” She tapped her chest. “Dances In Storms’ ears have not been clogged by her own desires, Calls Elk. You must believe in your daughter, know that she listens well to the Spirits.” She pushed to her feet.

When he got up, she walked toward the flap. As she brushed past him, she froze. Mouth agape, she stared up into his dark eyes. “I... I feel....”

With a step back, he stared down at her. “I have heard that you have a special Power to feel what is deep inside another human. What is it that you feel, Golden Fox?”

Awe filled her voice. “Your Power, Calls Elk. I feel your Power.”

“My Power is gone! Do not tease me.” His face twisted in anger.

Golden Fox closed the distance between them and laid a hand upon his chest. Her hand landed upon the wolf beaded on the front of his tunic. “I feel your Power, Calls Elk. I feel how your fear has tied it in strong ropes of braided mustang hair. It wishes to be free. Stories from those who did not know—or perhaps from those who felt jealous—have filled your mind, and made your ears deaf to the call of Sister Wind and of Wolf. Wolf howls to be free, Calls Elk, but your own stubbornness has kept them from finding you. Go to a quiet place. Let the smoke of the Sacred Plants open your ears.”

Without waiting to see what Calls Elk would say, Golden Fox left his lodge.

As she made her way across the crowded camp, many hands stopped her and asked questions. To each one, she said to wait for Calls Elk and Dances In Storms to speak.

***

Golden Fox sat outside her lodge as Father Sun sneaked above the rim of the canyon. This would be the fourth sunrise since Calls Elk went out into the canyons to pray.

Frost nudged her hand and whined.

“I worry, too, Frost, but what can I do? Even Grandfather will not go to find Calls Elk. There is a place inside me that feels Calls Elk needs me to talk to him.” As soon as the words crossed her lips, she hopped to her feet. “We will go find him, Frost.”

***

Golden Fox glanced down at the wolf. “Which way did Calls Elk go, Frost?”

Nose to the ground, Frost trotted back and forth, seeking a scent, then headed into a winding canyon, in the direction from which the cold season winds blew.

The red-orange-streaked walls of the canyon rapidly edged closer and closer, until the pathway between them forced Golden Fox to lay on Splash’s back with her feet on top of the mustang’s rump. In some places, water trickled down the sides and pooled at the bottom of the sandstone walls. Even though Eagle Thunder had removed the met-al from Splash’s feet, the sound of her walking thudded through the narrow confines.

The walls gradually moved back away from each other, and changed from red-orange to tan-yellow. As she rode, she gawked at the walls. Herds of humpbacks, and deer with long horns bent back over their bodies, raced across the ancient stone. What looked like mostly human creatures had small heads that became pointed. They carried long lances. Handprints painted in reds and browns decorated the walls, some smaller and lower than others.

As she rounded a bend in the canyon, a voice spoke from a shallow cave. “Golden Fox, you have found me.”

She halted Splash and tried to decide if Calls Elk was angry or not. “I worried that you may need something. I do not mean to disturb you, Elder.”

Beside him sat Frost’s male pups.

“Come, child.” He tossed another twisted, grey branch on the small fire. “Come, sit and eat with me. It is time to break my fast. I have much to share with you.”

As they ate, Calls Elk picked through his words. “It is not often that an Elder shares a vision he has had with someone so young, and who is not a Holy Person.”

Golden Fox tipped her chin downward to acknowledge what he said, but held her silence.

The pair of wolves moved closer.

“I am an old man, Golden Fox, and old men become used to things a certain way. Ha! Then a young one comes along and stirs up the nest of the ones who buzz and sting.” He sipped broth from his eating bowl. His eyes took on the gaze of one who peered at a place a long distance away.

“I am of Shining Light’s people, a sister band of the first Wolf Band people. When I was young, before I took my journey alone, Wolf howled in my dreams. Visions came as easily to me as sunrises. I studied and became a Holy Man. Our Holy Man was not so old, so I had time to visit other bands, and to learn more.” Tears glistened on his cheeks. He did not try to brush them aside.

Night Hunter whined and licked the side of his face.

Calls Elk dug into the wolf’s thick black fur. “By the time I returned to my people, I had mated. My father was furious. He had given much to the Holy Man to train me, and now it was all wasted.” The slurp of broth passing his lips broke the tension. “These wolves followed me and have stayed by my side.” He offered his bowl to the wolves.

“Our people had no Holy Person until Dances In Storms was born. No one could deny that Power sat on her shoulders. When she passed her sixth winter, I rode many days to take her to a Holy Woman to be trained. For long cycles of seasons, we only saw our daughter at gatherings. When she became a Holy Woman, she returned to our People.”

When it seemed as if he might not continue, Golden Fox cleared her throat. “You feared that your people would once again have no Holy Person.”

He sighed. “I wish that was my only fear, child. I am a selfish man. I pushed Dances In Storms to become a Holy Woman, took her away from her mother and her people when she was only a small child. I thank Great Mystery that the Holy Woman who trained her was not mean, like some are. Yes, I wanted a Holy Person for my people, but even more, I wanted to be the father of the Holy Person.”

He would not lift his head and look at Golden Fox. “I took away any chance she had to find a mate, have a child, to be happy. I forced her to live a life that always gave and never received. And when she found someone and had hopes of having a child, I lashed out at her.”

Finally, his gaze settled on her face. “She has given much. She deserves to be happy.”

“You have changed much, Calls Elk. I would be honored to ride next to you back to camp.” Golden Fox stood and gazed down at the older man. Her heart felt heavy as she wondered if he would return to the Band, fearing he would walk alone in the way many Elders did who no longer wished to live.

With a noisy exhale, he pushed to his feet, took a quick scan of the cave, and turned back to face her. “Would you walk with me, Golden Fox, as I did not ask my mustang to come?”

Splash trotted ahead of them through the narrow place, as did the wolves.

Walking allowed Golden Fox to look more closely at the painted walls. A drawing of a man whose head came to a sharp point caught her eyes. She stopped and studied the painting. Some places had become faded, or had chipped off the stone. He rode a mustang, and roped together behind him, six people of dark-skin walked, feet hobbled.

“Slaves.” Calls Elk pointed at the dark-skinned people. “My father told a story of dark-skinned people, stolen from their homes across the salty waters, and brought here by the white men. They were worked until they died.” He pointed to a painting a bit higher up. “Those are the big canoes that brought the people across the salty waters. I have never seen these canoes, nor have I ever seen the salty waters, even when I traveled. But it was on my travels that I heard of these things. When I returned home, I came here and looked again at these paintings.”

Father Sun had lowered behind the canyon rim when they came to a place abandoned by the Wolf People long ago. “On these walls, you will see the story of the Wolf People. Our band believes this is a Sacred Place. We will not speak as we walk through it.”

Plants had grown over a pile of rotted lodge poles. Squirrels scolded from nearby trees. High above them on the canyon rim, a new tree grew from the jagged stump of a tree that long ago snapped off. As the canyon curved, a copse of trees grew on the side where Father Sun rose. Bundles that held ancestors of the people lay undisturbed among the high branches.

Sometimes, all she could see was a glimpse of a tattered sleeping robe hanging below the thickness of a branch.

A tree nearer to the path they followed had been lightning struck. The lightning had split the trunk, and the bundle that had rested high in the tree’s arms lay on the ground, broken open.

Not wanting to upset the Spirit of the one whose body lay exposed, Golden Fox turned her eyes away as they passed.

The weight of the dead lifted from her shoulders as they stepped out into a meadow.

Frost lay on the ground, tongue lolling from the side of his mouth, waiting for them. Beside him lay Night Wolf, and his children.

Golden Fox’s heart lifted as Night Wolf ambled over and sat next to Calls Elk.

When the older man simply stood and stared, Night Wolf gently took his hand between gleaming teeth.

Calls Elk fell to his knees, tears streaming unashamedly down his face.

The wolf leaned forward and licked them off, then leaned the top of his head against Calls Elk’s chest.