Chapter 17

Straight Arrow watched as Two Bears and Bent Willow inspected his newly completed lodge. Custom decreed that the mother and father make the first inspection, but Straight Arrow had none in the village, other than his Aunt and Uncle, to do this for him. They took their duties seriously, inspecting every knot and pulling on the oily roof skins to check for their tightness. Two Bears found one stitch that had come unravelled and pointed it out to Arrow. The inspection was stopped while Arrow made his repair. When the last fur had been checked, the couple came out of the lodge and pronounced it ready to be lived in. Two Bears walked with Straight Arrow to the lodge of Wolf Skins, the village medicine man, for the formal presentation of Straight Arrow to the tribe.

"Skins, this is Straight Arrow, son of Broken Stick, my brother. Today, he is the master of his own lodge and fire pit. He has built strong and well, and I now release him from all the bonds of childhood."

"I welcome you to the people Straight Arrow, and acknowledge you as a member of the tribe. Do you have a woman whose wrist you covet?"

"I have Sweet Water who promises to cook at my cook fire. I would like to bring her at the full moon so that you might bind us within the tribe so that we can take our places at the fires of the village."

After he had been accepted into full tribal membership, Straight Arrow thanked his uncle and went to the lodge of Sweet Water's father, Falling Tree, and stood before the opening. Because Falling Tree thought himself to be a funny hunter, he delayed coming to the opening. Gray Squirrel, his woman finally pushed him forward to do his fatherly duty.

"I am Straight Arrow, intended of Sweet Water, and a member of the people. I come to take her to stand in front of the tribe and announce our future binding."

"Water, come greet your intended and follow him in all things."

"I greet you Straight Arrow. I obey my father's last command and announce my willingness to follow you wherever you may lead." Unable to contain her happiness, Water moved too close to Arrow for it to be seemly. Arrow, took her hand in his and they walked side by side, back to the Chief's lodge to make their wrist binding intentions known to the village members. Halfway there, Arrow stopped and turned so that he was facing Sweet Water. He reached over with his free hand and took her free hand in his.

"Before we go to announce our intentions Water, I have something I wish to say to you alone. I am filled with happiness just to know that you have consented to be my woman. Every day I find my thoughts turning to you, wanting to see you and be with you. When I am with you, my heart sings. When I think of the two of us, with our wrists bound inside our lodge, I ache with my need for you. If I am not everything you wanted in a hunter, tell me and I will change. I desire that our hearts both sing the same song." He dropped one hand and tried to resume their walk to the Chief's lodge. Water though, stood as if rooted to the spot that she occupied.

"Arrow, promise me that you will only speak to me as you just have when we are not standing out in front of the whole village. My legs are so weak now that I cannot walk. My heart is beating at so fast a pace that I fear it might jump out of my chest. I feel a woman warmth that makes me desire to hold you close to me."

Straight Arrow moved close to Sweet Water and bent down to place a soft kiss upon her lips, and as he did so, he enfolded her into his strong arms and lifted her up until her face was even with his while he stood up straight. Her feet were a foot above the ground. As their kiss continued, both became aware that people were looking at them, and that their action was not meeting with approval from the witnesses. After another minute, Arrow broke the kiss and set Water down on her feet once more.

"I breathed my strength into you Water, can you walk with me now?" Smiling up at him, her face burning with both her shame and her enjoyment of his touch, Water nodded that she could. Together, they finished their walk to the Chief's lodge.

Wolf Skins stood in front of the Chief's lodge watching as the young couple walked towards him to have their intentions spoken to the village. People continued to gather, and as they did, whispered conversations, from people who had witnessed Arrow's display, were taking place. The whispers grew until it was a steady murmer with occasional grunts of surprise or sighs of approval.

"I announce to you that at the next full moon I will join Straight Arrow and Sweet Water at their wrists so that they might better work in harmony for the benefit of themselves and for the people of our tribe. Straight Arrow is that what you desire? Sweet Water is that your desire also?" The couple were supposed to just nod their assent, but, instead, Sweet Water turned to face Straight Arrow, raised herself up on her toes, and with both of her arms drew his head down to her own and kissed him on his lips. Once again Straight Arrow lifted her off of her feet and continued their kiss. The people gathered to witness the binding announcement watched, most in shock, and some in embarrassment too. Some turned away, but not most. Those, who themselves, had mated well, looked on and smiled in remembrance of the feelings that they were now observing.

The newly announced couple stood together and jointly received the well wishes, and some criticism, from the villagers gathered there. They were gracious and warm with people who expressed either sentiment to them. They really only cared about what each other thought. There were at least ten of the younger, unattached girls that day who would have willingly changed places with Sweet Water. To them, watching such a public display, caused them pleasures of a personal nature. Each would, in the future, spend more time thinking about finding herself an eligible hunter. The young hunters that had witnessed that display said nothing to each other about it. Several of them went looking for new arrow shafts in the areas where the young girls traditionally gathered. Several others went further into the woods, to be alone, and to take themselves in hand, in order to empty out the passion that watching Water and Arrow had aroused.

Arrow and Water went to his foundry and spent the afternoon sitting together, planning for the time when they could truly be joined together. Had he wished to join with her right there in the grass, Water would not have objected. To her, Arrow was already her hunter, and she was his in any way that he might want. They just talked though, touching here and there, to bring emphasis to what they were saying. It was getting dark before Arrow returned Water to her father's lodge, waiting for her to enter before turning and walking back to his own. That night when he went to void his bladder before sleep, he too went deeper into the woods than was usual for him. This time, as he relieved the tension that being around Water always aroused in him, he thought of the how that he would share with Water, and not just the what.

Little Hawk and Wolf Fang were well on their journey of exploration. Already they had stopped at two villages to trade and spend some time. Since both hunters were tall and well formed, the unattached girls in each village had shown great interest in their visit. Fang had spent a few minutes in conversation with one pretty young girl, even helping her to carry back her bowls of water drawn from the village stream. Hawk was content to spend his time at the hunter's fire, listening to fresh stories of the hunt, and telling the best of his hunting stories as well. The two hunters were heading in a Westerly direction, but angling north as well. They were travelling at a slow pace, stopping to hunt and to rest whenever they felt the need.

The two hunters came upon a river so wide that neither could see the other shoreline. The water moved swiftly and carried in it all manner of debris. The water was brown from all of the soil that it collected from the banks as it moved down to the great sea. As they walked along the southern bank of the river, they came to another village, their first in almost a full moon of time. They walked in and were welcomed, and were brought to the trading fire. They found much interest in the goods that they had brought. Straight Arrow's metal points, and the bone and antler carvings all drew a lot of interest. As the trading started to wind down, Little Hawk began to notice that one of the village hunters was staring at him, and wouldn't look away, as was polite when caught staring. Instead, the other hunter smiled and kept his eyes on Hawk as if it were a normal thing for him to do. It made Little Hawk uncomfortable to be stared at thus, so he stood, and started packing up his trade goods to depart.

"I am Colato, son of Fallo. I'm sorry if my looking at you made you upset. It is just that you remind me of someone else who was a friend of my youth."

"I am Little Hawk, son of Broken Stick. I didn't know why you stared at me. I was hoping that I hadn't given offense somehow by not knowing local customs."

"Where is your village? Is it far from here?"

"We have travelled for three moons and more, but we've stopped along our journey. I would estimate it is no more than two moons time to walk there if you didn't stop too much."

"Do you have a woman waiting back in your village?"

"That is the purpose of our journey of exploration. Fang, my cousin, and I, we are looking for women to mate with us, and to return to our village with us."

"What is wrong with the women in your village that you must travel so far to find one for yourselves?"

"It was Fang's idea. I'm not sure that I can find a woman for me."

"I have had that problem too. I look around the village and see no one that would meet my hopes."

"You should go on a journey too then. Perhaps there is someone in my village that you would find acceptable."

"I already see someone from your village that I find acceptable." Colato's smile had tinges of fear in it. His preference for other hunters was well known in his village, but he was only making a guess at Hawk's preference. Rejection could take many forms. This he knew from bitter experience. Still, what was a brief time of pain when measured against what he was hoping to gain?

Little Hawk didn't know what to say, in fact, now that he was being confronted with Colato's blunt invitation, his mind didn't know what to even think. He lifted up his trading pack and walked rudely away from Colato, without saying anything. His face showed acute embarrassment as he went over to stand by his cousin. "Fang, we must leave now." Fang looked up and saw that something was really troubling Hawk. He had never seen so much emotion on his face. Well, perhaps on the day that he learned of Broken Stick's death, but certainly not since that time.

"Help me to put away my goods, and then we'll go." The two hunters packed hurriedly and were soon taking their leave from the village. they walked for an hour before setting up a fire and cooking their meal by the river's edge. For the whole time that they were walking, plus the time that they took setting up their fire and gathering the wood for it, neither hunter spoke. After they had eaten their fill, both sat back and Fang looked at his cousin. "What is the matter Hawk? What upset you in that village?"

"Fang, when you look at me, what is it that you see?" Fang looked over at his cousin. The tone of voice that he'd used left no room to doubt that he was being serious. Fang had some idea that he knew what would be coming. He had begun to suspect the reason why Hawk never paid much attention to the girls of the village. It wasn't something that he would find easy to discuss. He knew that there was no one closer to Hawk than him. They had been friends all of their lives. If something was bothering Hawk, it was bothering him as well. He had to try to help his cousin.