Savage Illusions

"After you eat, walk with me out­si­de," Mo­on Flo­wer sa­id, lad­ling mo­re so­up in­to Kirk's bowl. "It is im­por­tant that the strength re­turns to yo­ur legs."

Kirk ga­ve Spot­ted Eag­le a glo­we­ring lo­ok. "Yes, you co­uldn't be mo­re right abo­ut that," he sa­id.

Suddenly Kirk pul­led a blan­ket aro­und him and pus­hed him­self in­to a stan­ding po­si­ti­on. He swa­yed slightly, then ste­adi­ed him­self and ga­ve Spot­ted Eag­le a lo­ok of tri­umph.

Jolena wat­c­hed, in awe of her brot­her, yet she was torn bet­we­en pri­de in se­e­ing him con­qu­er the ne­ed to stand and fe­ar that he felt the ne­ed to pro­ve so­met­hing to Spot­ted Eag­le. If he was strong eno­ugh, he wo­uld be sent away to­mor­row, and she knew that he wo­uld not want to le­ave wit­ho­ut her. She lo­oked slowly up at Spot­ted Eag­le, reg­ret­ting that she had be­en put in the mid­dle of the­se two men, and the two ways of li­fe she was cho­osing bet­we­en.

And the­re we­re two ot­her men that we­re a part of her de­ci­si­on! Her two fat­hers! She owed both of them lo­yalty! But de­ep wit­hin her he­art she had al­re­ady ma­de her cho­ice. She wo­uld stay with Spot­ted Eag­le, no mat­ter what the cost…

Spotted Eag­le la­id his hun­ting leg­gings asi­de and knelt down over his bun­d­le of clot­hes and be­gan sor­ting thro­ugh them aga­in. Jole­na wat­c­hed as he la­id a com­p­le­te set of buc­k­s­kins on the flo­or at his si­de, then sor­ted thro­ugh his many pa­irs of black moc­ca­sins, fi­nal­ly cho­osing a pa­ir.

When he to­ok all of this up in­to his arms and wal­ked stiffly to Kirk, sho­ving them in­to his hands and arms, Jole­na's eyes wi­de­ned.

"You now ha­ve tra­ve­ling clot­hes to get you to the lar­ge whi­te ca­noe," Spot­ted Eag­le sa­id, fol­ding his arms tightly ac­ross his chest. "Put them on, and if they fit yo­ur body, they are yo­urs. A gift from Spot­ted Eag­le to the whi­te brot­her of Jole­na."

Everything was si­lent for a mo­ment, then Kirk flung the blan­ket from aro­und him and strug­gled in­to the clot­hes. Af­ter he was fully dres­sed, he went to Jole­na and ga­zed down at her. "Are you as eager to see me go as he?" he as­ked thickly.

"You know that I'm not," Jole­na sa­id, swal­lo­wing back a sob that was lod­ged in her thro­at. "But, Kirk, if you are well eno­ugh, it is best that you do le­ave as so­on as pos­sib­le."

"And you?" Kirk sa­id, his vo­ice bre­aking.

"You know the an­s­wer wit­ho­ut as­king," Jole­na sa­id, ple­ading up at Kirk with her dark, wi­de eyes.

"I want to he­ar you say it," Kirk sa­id, pla­cing his hands at her sho­ul­ders, slightly sha­king her. "Damn it, Jole­na, let me he­ar you say it."

Spotted Eag­le had se­en eno­ugh and co­uld not stand si­lently by any lon­ger. He went to Kirk and easily slip­ped Kirk's hands from Jole­na's sho­ul­der.

"I will spe­ak for my wo­man," Spot­ted Eag­le sa­id, his eyes lit with fi­re as he gla­red in­to Kirk's. "She will not be re­tur­ning with you to Sa­int Lo­u­is. Try and un­der­s­tand, whi­te brot­her, when I say that al­t­ho­ugh you ha­ve lo­ved her lon­ger than I, you will ha­ve to let her go. She be­longs now to her true pe­op­le and to this man who lo­ves her mo­re than li­fe it­self."

Kirk's lips par­ted in a stran­g­led gasp, then he wren­c­he

d him­self away from Spot­ted Eag­le and tur­ned to Jole­na aga­in. "Do you for­get so easily ever­y­t­hing in yo­ur past?" he sa­id. "Can you toss me and fat­her asi­de as tho­ugh we are no bet­ter than stran­gers to you? Do you for­get why you ca­me to the Mon­ta­na Ter­ri­tory? Do you fa­il to see, or com­p­re­hend, the di­sap­po­in­t­ment fat­her will fe­el when you do not re­turn ho­me? I am not su­re he can li­ve with too many di­sap­po­in­t­ments at on­ce."

A bre­eze in­to the te­pee ca­used by so­me­one lif­ting the en­t­ran­ce flap ma­de all eyes turn that way. Brown Elk ca­me wal­king he­avily in­to the dwel­ling, his eyes on Kirk. "Do not spe­ak to my da­ug­h­ter in such a chas­ti­sing to­ne as that," he sa­id, frow­ning at Kirk. "This fat­her, her true fat­her, warns you aga­inst such be­ha­vi­or."

Kirk was stun­ned spe­ec­h­less, then spo­ke in a drawn man­ner as he ga­zed at Brown Elk. "Spot­ted Eag­le spo­ke of Jole­na's true pe­op­le, which I know now is Blac­k­fo­ot," he sa­id. "And I knew that she ho­ped to find her true fat­her. You are he…?"

"Very much so," Brown Elk sa­id, lif­ting his chin pro­udly. Then he pla­ced a firm hand on Kirk's sho­ul­der. "You will co­me with me now. The­re is no ro­om any lon­ger in Spot­ted Eag­le's dwel­ling for you. You will co­me to my te­pee un­til you are ab­le to tra­vel to the lar­ge whi­te ca­noe for yo­ur tra­vels back to Sa­int Lo­u­is."

For a mo­ment, Kirk sto­od as tho­ugh fro­zen to the flo­or, then star­ted bac­king up, as tho­ugh trap­ped. "Jole­na, help me to un­der­s­tand all of this," he sa­id, his vo­ice tiny and des­pe­ra­te. He ga­ve a ple­ading sta­re to Mo­on Flo­wer and re­ac­hed a hand to her. "Mo­on Flo­wer, help me…"

Moon Flo­wer step­ped up be­si­de Brown Elk and ga­ve Kirk a firm, un­wa­ve­ring sta­re, sho­wing her lo­yalty to a man who had ta­ken her in af­ter she had be­en ba­nis­hed by her pa­rents.

Jolena went to Brown Elk and ga­ve him a soft kiss on the che­ek, then went and sto­od be­si­de Spot­ted Eag­le, sho­wing her cho­ice of lo­yal­ti­es. "Kirk, Spot­ted Eag­le and I are go­ing to be mar­ri­ed as so­on as pos­sib­le," she sa­id, her he­art po­un­ding as she wat­c­hed her brot­her's eyes be­co­me misty with te­ars.

She went to Kirk and em­b­ra­ced him. "Kirk, I lo­ve you," she whis­pe­red. "Ple­ase lo­ve me no less now that I ha­ve fo­und my true pla­ce in li­fe. Help me whe­re our fat­her is con­cer­ned. Only you will be ab­le to ma­ke him un­der­s­tand."

Kirk ga­ve her a pit­ying lo­ok, then brus­hed past her and went out­si­de.

Moon Flo­wer shuf­fled her fe­et ner­vo­usly, then went af­ter Kirk.

Brown Elk went to Jole­na and en­fol­ded her wit­hin his arms. "My da­ug­h­ter, Kye, li­fe be­co­mes con­fu­sed, then it pas­ses, and to­mor­row co­mes with smi­les and sun­s­hi­ne," he sa­id, pat­ting her back. "I will go to yo­ur whi­te brot­her. I will talk with him aga­in. He will see what is best for you, his sis­te­rand that is for you to stay with yo­ur true pe­op­le and ha­ve many chil­d­ren in the ima­ge of the Blac­k­fo­ot."

Jolena re­ve­led in her true fat­her's clo­se­ness, then step­ped back to Spot­ted Eag­le's si­de as Brown Elk de­par­ted with dig­nity from the te­pee.

Spotted Eag­le tur­ned to Jole­na. "Ever­y­t­hing that I sa­id to yo­ur brot­her had to be sa­id," he as­su­red her. "It is best for you. It is best for him. It is best for this Blac­k­fo­ot war­ri­or who lo­ves you."

Jolena's eyes fil­led with te­ars as she mel­ted in­to Spot­ted Eag­le's arms. "Hold me," she cri­ed. "Oh, dar­ling, hold me."