Ch’idzigyaak and Sa’ had settled down for the night. As usual, after doing their daily chores and eating their supper, the two women sat and talked over their fire. They spoke more of The People these days. Loneliness and time had healed their most bitter memories, and the hate and fear born from last year’s unexpected betrayal seemed to have been numbed by the many nights they spent sitting and listening to their own thoughts. It all seemed like a distant dream. Now, with their bellies full, the women found themselves in the comfort of their shelter speaking of how much they missed The People. When they ran out of conversation, the women sat silently, each wrapped in her own thoughts.
Suddenly, out of the stillness, the women heard their names called. From across the campfire, their eyes met, and they knew what they heard was not their imagination. The man’s voice became loud, and he identified himself. The women knew the old guide. Perhaps they could trust him. But what of the others? It was Ch’idzigyaak who spoke first. “Even if we do not answer, they will find us.”
Sa’ agreed. “Yes, they will find us,” she said as her mind raced with many thoughts.
“What will we do?” Ch’idzigyaak whined in panic.
Sa’ took a while to think. Then she said, “We must let them know we are here.” Seeing the look of hysteria enter her friend’s eyes, Sa’ hastened to say in smooth, confident tones, “We must be brave and face them. But my friend, be prepared for anything.” She waited a moment before she added, “Even death.” This did not comfort Ch’idzigyaak, who looked as frightened as her friend ever had seen her.
The two women sat a long time trying to gather what courage they had left. They knew they could run no longer. Finally, Sa’ got up slowly and went outside into the cold night air, hollering rather hoarsely, “We are here!”
Daagoo had been standing patiently, alertly, while the young hunters eyed him in doubt. What if it were someone else? An enemy perhaps? Just as one of the men was about to voice doubts, out of the darkness they heard Sa’ answer. The old guide’s face broke into a wide smile. He knew it! They were alive. Immediately, they headed in the direction of the sound. The cold air made the woman’s voice seem close, but it took the men some time to reach the camp.
Finally, the men approached the light of the campfire that had been built outside the shelter. Standing by it were the two old women armed with long, sharp, dangerous-looking spears. Daagoo had to smile in admiration of the old women who stood like two warriors ready to defend themselves. “We mean you no harm,” he assured them.
The women stared at him defiantly a moment before Sa’ said, “I believe you come in peace. But why are you here?”
The guide stood a moment, unsure how to explain himself. “The chief sent me here to find you. He believed you were alive and told us to find you.”
“Why?” Ch’idzigyaak asked suspiciously.
“I do not know,” Daagoo said simply. Indeed, he was surprised to find that he did not know what he or the chief thought would happen once they found the two women, for it was obvious that the women did not trust him or the other men. “I will have to return to the chief to report that we have found you,” he said. The two women knew this.
“What then?” Sa’ asked.
The guide shrugged. “I do not know. But the chief will protect you no matter what happens.”
“Like he did the last time?” Ch’idzigyaak asked sharply.
Daagoo knew that if he wanted to, he and the three hunters easily could overtake these two women and their weapons. Yet, he felt his admiration grow stronger because the two women were ready to fight whatever they had to face. These were not the same women he had known before.
”You have my word,” he said quietly, and the women could feel the magnitude of what he said as they stood still a long time.
Sa’ noticed how worn and weary the men looked. Even the guide who stood proudly had a destitute look about him. “You look tired,” she said in a grudging tone. “Come inside,” and she led them into their spacious and warm shelter.
The four men entered the tent cautiously, knowing that they were not welcome guests. The women motioned them to sit down, and after the men were seated around the warm fire, Sa’ dug around in the back of her bedding along the tent wall and pulled out a fishbag, handing a portion of dried fish to each of the men. As the men ate the fish, they looked around. They could see that the women’s bedding was made of newly woven rabbit fur. The two women looked to be in better shape than The People. How could that be? After the men ate their dried fish, Sa’ served them boiled rabbit broth, which they drank gratefully.
Meanwhile, Ch’idzigyaak sat to the side, staring rather balefully at the hunters, making them feel uncomfortable. With astonishment, the men realized these two women not only had survived but also sat before them in good health while they, the strongest men of the band, were half-starved.
Sa’ also stared at the men as they ate their food. She noticed that they tried to eat slowly, but now that they were in the light, she could tell from their lean faces that they had not been eating well. Ch’idzigyaak noticed this, too, but her heart was filled with resentment at this unwanted intrusion, and she did not feel pity. When the men finished their food, Daagoo looked at the women expectantly as he waited for them to say something.
For a while no one broke the silence. Finally, Daagoo said, “The chief believed that you survived, so he sent us to find you.”
Ch’idzigyaak let out an angry grunt, and when the men turned to her, she gave them a mean look and turned her face away. She could not believe that these people had the nerve to search for them. Surely Sa’ could see that they were up to no good. Sa’ reached out and patted her friend’s hand consolingly, then turned to the men and said simply, “Yes, we have survived.”
Daagoo’s mouth twitched in amusement at Ch’idzigyaak’s wrath. Yet Sa’ seemed not to hold too much of a grudge, so he avoided the glaring eyes of Ch’idzigyaak and spoke to Sa’ instead. “We are starving, and the cold gets worse. Again we have little food, and we are in the same shape as when we left you. But when the chief hears you are well, he will ask you to come back to our group. The chief and most of The People feel as I do. We are sorry for what was done to you.”
The women sat silently a long time. Finally Sa’ said, “So you may leave us alone once more just when we need you the most?” Daagoo took a few minutes to respond, wishing the chief was there to answer, for the chief was more experienced in answering such questions.
”I cannot say that it will not happen again. In hard times, some grow meaner than wolves, and others grow scared and weak, like I did when you were left behind.” Daagoo’s voice filled with sudden emotion at those last words, but he steadied his voice and continued. “I can tell you one thing right now. If it ever does happen again, I will protect you with my own life as long as I live.” As he spoke, Daagoo realized that in these two women, whom he once thought of as helpless and weak, he had rediscovered the inner strength that had deserted him the winter before. Now, somehow, he knew that he never would believe himself to be old and weak again. Never!
The younger men had sat quietly and listened to the exchange between their elders. Now, one of them spoke out in a youthfully passionate voice, “I, too, will protect you if anyone ever tries to do you harm again.” Everyone looked at him in surprise. Then his peers also vowed to protect the two women, for they had been witness to a miraculous survival and had regained a stronger sense of respect for the old ones. The women could feel their hearts soften at these words. Still, there was distrust, for, though they believed these men, the women were unsure about the others.
The two women huddled together for a private conference. “Can we trust them?” Ch’idzigyaak asked.
Sa’ paused a moment, then nodded her head and said softly, “Yes.”
“What of the other people? What if they knew of our caches? Do you think they will hold back when they see all our food? Look how hungry these men are. Last year they did not respect us. Here you are willing to let them come to us! My friend, I fear that they will take our food from us whether we like it or not,” Ch’idzigyaak said.
Sa’ already had thought of this, but she was not afraid. Instead, she answered, “We have to remember that they are suffering. Yes, they were too quick to condemn us, but now we have proven them wrong. If they do the same thing, we both know that we can survive. We have proven that much to ourselves. Now we must put aside our pride long enough to remember that they are suffering. If not for the adults, then for the children. Could you forget your own grandson?”
Ch’idzigyaak knew her friend was right, as usual. No, she could not be so selfish as to let her grandson go hungry when she had so much food to eat. The men waited patiently as the two women whispered between themselves.
Sa’ was not through talking, for she knew that Ch’idzigyaak still harbored fear about what was happening and needed confidence to face the future. “They do not know we have done well for ourselves,” she said. “But tomorrow in the daylight they will see, and then we will know if what they say is true. But remember this, my friend. If they do the same to us again, we will survive. And if they truly mean what they say, then maybe we will always be a reminder to them in harder times ahead.”
Ch’idzigyaak nodded in agreement. For a moment, seeing these members of the band, she felt her old fears and forgot her renewed strength. She looked at her friend with great fondness. Sa’ always seemed to know the right thing to say.
In the shelter that night, the two women and the guide exchanged stories while the younger men sat in respectful and attentive silence. The old man told all that had happened after The People left the two women behind. He spoke of the ones who had died. Most were children. Unshed tears glistened in the old women’s eyes as they listened, for they had loved some of these people, and the children were among their favorites. The women could not bear to think of how much the children might have suffered before they died so young and so cruelly.
After Daagoo finished his story, Sa’ told him how they survived. The men sat with mixed emotions. The story she told sounded unbelievable, yet the women’s very presence was evidence of its truth. Sa’ did not mind the look of awe she saw in the men’s faces. She continued telling her story as she looked back into the eventful year she and Ch’idzigyaak had shared. When she ended her story by telling them of their many food caches, their visitors’ eyes became alert.
“When we heard your voice the first time, we knew we could trust you. We also knew that since you were able to find us in the night that it would take little time for you to find our food caches, too. That is why I am telling you now. We know you mean us no harm.” Sa’ spoke directly to Daagoo. “But what of The People? If they can do such a thing as leave us behind, then they will have no feelings about taking what is ours. They will think of us again as weak and old with no need for our large caches. I do not blame them now for what they have done to us, for my friend and I know what hunger can do to a person. But we have worked hard for what we have, and though we knew it would be too much for us to eat during the winter, we stored it anyway. Maybe it was because we thought this might happen.” Sa’ paused to consider her words carefully. Then she added, “We will share with The People, but they must not become greedy and try to take our food, for we will fight to our deaths for what is ours.”
The men sat in silence listening to Sa’ speak in a strong and passionate voice. Then she laid down their terms: “You will stay at the old camp. We do not wish to see anyone else but you,” Sa’ motioned to Daagoo, “and the chief. We will give you food, and we hope The People will eat sparingly in knowledge of harder times to come. This is all we can do for you.”
The guide nodded in acknowledgment and said in a quiet voice, “I will return with this message to the chief.”
After they said all that had to be said, the women invited the men to sleep on one side of the shelter. For the first time in a long time, the women felt themselves relax. In those long months they feared many things. Now their visions of wolves and other predators faded away, and the women fell into a worry-free sleep.
They were no longer alone.