Wild Embrace

Strong Heart also admired the hawk. Above everything, he admired those whose hands were skilled enough to make the hawks look so alive, as if more than mere wood.

“These story poles are being built to replace those that were burned,” Strong Heart quietly explained. “They are to remind our youngsters of their heritage. The hawk is the crest of my family, and thus of this clan. It is the heraldic emblem of nobility.”

He glowered as he looked around at those totem poles that had been ravaged by the recent fire. “It was me-sah-chie, bad, that the raiders saw fit to destroy that which is so precious to the Suquamish,” he grumbled. “But soon the desecration will be gone. These new story poles will not be robbed of their future teachings as those others have been. Warriors will forever guard our village now. It is understood that there will always be someone who chooses to be the enemy of the Suquamish. Those who do, will die.”

Hearing Strong Heart talk in such away, his words filled with such venom, caused an involuntary shiver to course through Elizabeth. She hugged herself and watched Strong Heart as he directed his eyes to something else—someone else.

In Strong Heart’s eyes she could see pain as he stared at an elderly man. The man was reclining on the ground close to those who were laboring, too old to help with the regrowth of his village.

Elizabeth wondered what Strong Heart was thinking about the old man. His eyes were filled with longing.

Strong Heart was remembering another old man. He thought of his beloved grandfather who was still missing. His grandfather had often sat beside a young Strong Heart while he was playing on the ground, saying, “My grandson, when you rest upon the earth, you sit as in your mother’s lap. Our Mother Earth gives us all things, like a loving parent. She provides sustenance, comfort and joy. Though we may pass, she will always be here.”

“What is it, Strong Heart?” Elizabeth asked, placing a hand on his arm. “What are you thinking about?”

“My grandfather,” Strong Heart said, a haunted expression crossing his face. “He, in his beautiful eagle-feather headdress so long ago, taught me many things—how Indians loved the earth and all things of the earth.”

With a nod of his head, Strong Heart motioned toward the elderly man. “See that Suquamish elder?” he said softly. “See how he lies upon the ground? It is with a feeling of being close to a mothering power that he does this. My grandfather, my mother’s father, told me as a child that it is good for the skin to touch the earth. The old ones of my people touch the earth with reverence. They feel her strength when they weaken, know her healing power when they sicken. My grandfather would lie upon the ground when he had a problem to solve or a decision to make. He always told me he could think more deeply there and felt an almost spiritual connection to those around him. Feeling the comfort of Mother Earth’s embrace and gazing up at the limitless sky above, he could better grasp the mysteries of life.”

“That’s so beautiful,” Elizabeth said. Then she jumped when Strong Heart suddenly threw his wooden mallet to the ground.

When he turned to her and clutched her shoulders with his fingers, she looked wide-eyed up at him, seeing a determination in his eyes, replacing the haunted look that had only been there a moment before.

“I must go and find my grandfather,” Strong Heart blurted out. “He deserves to know that so many of his beloved have passed away. It is my place to carry this message to him. It is my responsibility, for I am his only grandson.”

“You have never mentioned your grandfather before,” Elizabeth said. “Where is he? Why is he gone?”

“Over a moon ago, he disappeared from our village and no one knows where he went, or why,” Strong Heart said, his voice filled with emotion. “I have searched for him more than once, but still I have not found him. It is my duty to search again, and now. He must be allowed to mourn the dead with the rest of our people.”

“Where will you look for your grandfather?” Elizabeth asked slowly, afraid that he was planning to leave her behind in the village. Although she had made friends here, she did not relish being among those who still were suspicious of her.

“The first time we met,” Strong Heart said, reaching a hand to her cheek, softly touching her, “I was searching for my grandfather. You see, your house sits on the hallowed ground of my tribe. It once belonged solely to our people. Where your house sits once housed many Suquamish longhouses. Close by, in the forest, are our burial grounds. It was my assumption that my grandfather had gone there to make peace with the spirits of the dead who were deserted by our people when we were forced to move north, away from land that was no longer ours.”

Elizabeth listened with a pounding heart, now understanding so much. She now knew why the Indians had tried to burn down the old mansion in the past, and rid the land of any white intruders.

Then she suddenly recalled the old Indian walking outside her house with a staff in his right hand. It had to be Strong Heart’s grandfather.

“Strong Heart, I wish you would have told me this earlier,” she said eagerly. “Strong Heart, more than once I saw an old Indian close to my house. He carried some sort of staff. But he disappeared as quickly as he appeared, so I never did get to question him.”

Strong Heart’s eyes widened. He clutched Elizabeth’s shoulders, almost desperately. “You . . . saw an elderly

Indian?” he gasped. “It was surely my grandfather! I must go now and find him! Come. Come with me. We shall search for him together!”

“Return with you?” she asked, searching his eyes. “Now? Have you forgotten why you took me away from Seattle in the first place?”

Strong Heart eased his fingers from her shoulders and dropped his gaze to the ground. There was danger in returning to Seattle so soon after the escape. And, especially, with Elizabeth.

“Ah-hah, yes, it is dangerous,” he conceded, turning his eyes to Elizabeth. “But, ah-hah, yes, I still plan to go. This is the first time I have ever had true hope that my grandfather is still alive. I must go and search for him now, not later, no matter the risk.”

Elizabeth stroked her fingers through her long hair as she pondered what to do.

She thought of her father, Frannie, and then Maysie. It was not at all fair for them not to know that she was alive.

And although she knew the risk of returning to Seattle, she saw that she must. She would just have to make sure she wasn’t seen by the sheriff. She would not go into Seattle under any circumstances.

She must not be the one to lead the sheriff to Strong Heart. She knew what Strong Heart’s fate would be, if she did. The memory of the gallows stayed in her mind.

“Yes, I will accompany you on this venture of the heart.” Elizabeth decided. “While there, I must see my father, and others who are important to me. I must let them know that I am alive.”