Chapter 16

Wolf Fang grew weary of having to answer questions about why Twisted Path had chosen to travel with Hooting Owl on his trading trips. He was a hunter, not some medicine man, who could watch for signs and calculate the meanings for any strange occurrences. Path had wanted to go with Owl. Owl had been willing to allow her to journey with him. He was not like his father. Wolf Fang laughed at that thought. Two Bears had listened to all of the talk of Path's decision to journey with Owl at the hunter's fire, but he had made no comment about it himself. The next morning though, he and Bent Willow went out hunting together. No woman had ever been hunting in the collective memory of the whole village. There was a far larger gathering than was usual at the hunter's fire that evening, after all of the village had finished their evening meals. Two Bears took great enjoyment in telling the story about how Willow's presence had fooled the old buck who had come for a drink at the brook. Seeing her, the stag had continued forward, certain, from experience, that women only gathered. Two Bears told of how close the animal had come, close enough to allow Two to put an arrow through his heart with a single shot.

He told the hunters gathered there that he was taking Willow with him the next time he went hunting too. He was getting her a bow and some arrows of her own, he said. The next morning, Two Bears and Willow went gathering together, each carrying two baskets. When they returned later in the day, one of the baskets was filled high with large purple grapes. At the women's fire that evening, Willow bragged that Two Bears was so tall that he could reach high up on the vines, where no woman could ever hope to reach before. She spoke of how safe she had felt out gathering, saying that she knew that her hunter would never allow anything bad to befall her. She whispered to a few of the older woman about how she and Two Bears had taken a quick bath in one of the streams. She hinted that there had been more than a bath, but she gave no further information. There were many hunters in the village who had to listen to their own women complaining that the old ways weren't always the best ways.

Straight Arrow was finding reasons to walk past Sweet Water's father's lodge several times each day. It was the first time in his memory that people were laughing at his expense. He didn't like it, but he knew that it was the cost of his continuing to show an interest in Water. He was troubled about the fact that he didn't hunt. He could hunt, was a good hunter in fact, but, if he were to spend his time hunting, who would make the arrow points or the knives? Who would keep the steady metal making going? He had trained boys in the making of metal, but none so far had shown the necessary interest or commitment that it took to be a good metal maker. His foundry was open to any who chose to work the metal, but season after season, it was only him that pounded out all of the points and blades for the village, and for trade goods. He wished that there was another who wished to work by his side.

Perhaps it was because of what Twisted Path and Hooting Owl had started, or, perhaps because of the hunting and gathering trips that Two Bears and Bent Willow had taken together, but it was only a short time after both of those things had happened that Sweet Water came to visit him at the foundry. That first morning she stayed for only a short visit and said nothing, only watching as he worked. Her being there near him like that, sent strange feelings through him, causing him to want to make something so perfect that she would know of his special skill with metal. When she stood and left, Arrow felt somehow less energetic than before. She was at the foundry early the following day, sitting and watching as he pounded out the knife blade that he was working on. His arm, and the hammer in it, fairly sang to him that morning. Every blow he struck seemed to accomplish exactly what he wanted it to. He had had this happen to him before, but only rarely. Always, when it got like that, the metal he was working on would turn out to be something of special worth or exceptional beauty. When Water left this time, he set aside the blade he'd been working on, not willing to risk that his arm no longer had the special touch that it had shown when she was present to see him work. Instead, he spent the afternoon fashioning arrow points that required only his surface attention.

That night, after his evening meal, Arrow went to see his brother, Little Hawk, and his cousin, Wolf Fang, at the lodge they shared together. He was troubled by his feelings, and by the way that they affected every part of his life. He believed that the two older hunters would be able to explain what was happening to him, and tell him how to make it go away. Fang and Hawk listened to Arrow as he spoke of what he was going through. They paid close attention as he related what he had done and what Sweet Water was now doing. After he had finished telling them everything, neither one spoke.

"What do you think?"

"I have never before heard of a girl with an interest in metal working." Little Hawk was as good at hunting as any other hunter in the tribe. His arrows flew straight and true, and he could carry the largest dead game across his wide shoulders. That said, Hawk was not a very deep thinker. He was not one who pondered over mysteries in hopes of solving them.

"I think she is trying to show you that she is interested in being your woman. You have walked by her lodge ten times a day, and now, she comes to your foundry to show you that she returns your interest." Fang was smarter than Hawk, and he thought of better ways to do things, much like his father, Two Bears. He had even less experience with girls than Arrow did, and wasn't yet sure that he wanted to change that.

"What should I do? Invite her to learn to shape points, or ask her to be my woman?" He hadn't been looking for anything other than advice on what to do. The two hunters looked at him, each shrugging to show that they had no advice to give him. He got up and went back to his grandmother's lodge. She was old now, and ever since Eagle Claw had died, her mind wasn't as clear as it used to be. She got confused sometimes and mistook him for someone else.

He decided to go and speak with Bent Willow, his aunt. He saw her over at the women's fire, and went over to ask her if she could help him with a problem. She smiled, and walked with him down to the river where he could speak without having to worry about others hearing him. It took him only a short time to explain everything. He had organized his thoughts from his earlier relating of things to Hawk and Fang. When he was done, Willow put a hand on his face and smiled at him.

"When will you finish work on your lodge?"

"I do not have the time. There is a lot for me to do at the foundry. Too much, I sometimes think."

"What is left to be done?"

"I have dug the floor and I have the lodge poles in place. I need some more wall furs and I need the oiled skins to cover the roof. I haven't even started on a fire pit for the cooking fire." After recounting all that was needed, Straight Arrow knew that it would take a long time to finish his lodge. He would need many more furs than he now had. He could borrow from his brother and cousin, because they had far more furs than either would ever need. It wasn't good though to be in debt.