Chapter 21 #2
“We are.” He crawled toward her, taking a position next to her. “And now we have some leisure, I think, to hold our council, unless you object.”
When she indicated she had no disagreement, he produced his pipe from within the parchment bag he carried. “Is this your first Indian council?”
“It is.”
“Waste. Then let me explain the ritual, so you do not wonder about some of the ceremonies. First, the Red Man does not hold council without the pipe, for this is the way we communicate with the Great Spirit.”
When she nodded, Black Lion continued. “Once the pipe is lit, we ask the Divine One to listen to our words, and so we offer the sacred smoke to the Sky, to the Earth, to the Four Winds and to the Great Spirit, hoping each one in their turn will hear our words. We use piiksiistsimaan. This is the Blackfeet word for the sacred substance we smoke. It is not tobacco as the white man raises it, but rather a mixture of tobacco with bearberry, red-willow bark and the leaves of the sumac. It is a sacred substance used only in ceremony.”
Again, she nodded.
“Are you ready to begin?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Waste.” He lit the sacred mixture in the red-stoned pipe. Once the proper respect was shown to the sacredness of their council, he took several puffs from the pipe. Then he offered the pipe to Suzette.
Suzette accepted the sacred article from him. “You want me to smoke?”
He nodded. “Hau. You…smoke…”
She did as he instructed, coughing a little with the first puff. He gazed at her with some concern, but mostly with admiration, for it was endearing to watch her, even though it was obvious this was her first smoke.
But she said not a word. Instead, she returned the pipe to him.
Accepting it back from her, Black Lion began their council.
“We smoke the sacred tobacco, offering our prayers to the Creator and to our Mother the Earth so they may hear what we say. In accepting the pipe, you should know that one commits himself to a sacred oath, and one promises what he or she says in this council is the truth, and no alteration. Once the pipe is smoked, no lies must ever fill the air where a council is held, for one is speaking before the Creator, and to lie would be as to curse oneself. Do you understand?”
Suzette nodded.
“Waste,” he said. “It is good. Now is the time for us to discuss your dream. It might be a sacred dream or it could be an ordinary one. Let us determine which it is. Can you tell me of it?”
“Yes. But first, Black Lion, I am urged to tell you I fear you are in danger.”
“What you say is true. I am in danger. We are in a country which is hostile to any Indian.”
“No, I do not fear that you are in jeopardy from Buffalo Bill, his scouts or other white people. Rather, if my dream is to be considered, I believe you could be in peril from a mystical being, a god.”
“The Thunderer?”
She nodded.
This surprised him, though he tried to keep the look of astonishment hidden from her. As he had said to her before, it was rare enough for a woman to dream as the men did. But to dream of the Thunderer…
If this were true, hers was no ordinary dream. Such a vision was also dangerous for its beholder, since to dream of the Thunderer was to become a Heyoka, a backward person.
A Heyoka did everything topsy-turvy. He washed in sand, was dirtied by water, spoke the opposite of what he meant. He even walked backward. Indeed, to an Indian heart, to dream of the Thunderer was an occurrence no man dare ignore, lest he be struck dead.
Black Lion said none of his thoughts to her. After all, maybe he jumped ahead of himself. Perhaps it had been no more than a simple nightmare.
He nodded toward her. “Go on, tell me of this vision.”
“It was frightening at first, for there was lightning striking all around me…”
“But it did not touch you?”
“No. Instead, the Thunderer confronted me in a human form. That is, he looked as men look, but his skin was blue and gray. And he threatened you. He told me he was going to kill you, and he told me to leave here.”
“The Thunderer said this to you? He told you to leave here?”
“Yes.”
“And did you say anything back to him?”
“I did. I said it was my place to stay here with my husband, and that I belonged here, and I would always belong here. I am afraid what I said angered him.”
Black Lion nodded, and though he was pleased she desired to stay with him, he also knew he could not allow her to remain here if this truly were a sacred dream. To hold a vision of the Thunderer was the most sacred of all dreams, but it also carried the most penalties. Sudden death was one of them.
After due consideration, he said, “I am honored you would seek to remain here with me, and also, I am honored you would tell this to the Thunder Being.”
“Yes. In truth, it came as a surprise to me too.”
“And yet, I would urge you to do as the Thunderer has said. Though I am not a medicine man, I do know that to dream of the Thunderer is filled with danger.”
She frowned. “Why do you say this to me?”
“Because it is true.”
“Is it? I’m not certain I believe it to be true. Besides, perhaps it was not really a dream.”
“Not a dream?”
“What I mean to say is the dream was so real that when I awoke, I thought he had truly been there. I know it’s nonsense, but—”
“All things are possible,” interrupted Black Lion. “You may have met him in this world—perhaps you met spirit to spirit.”
“Perhaps. But I don’t believe in such things.”
“You do not have to believe for such occurrences to happen. Therefore, I think it wise not to take chances. You should leave this country, as he told you to do. If you do not, this dream could cause your death. You could be struck down by lightning.”
She looked as though the thought might have impressed itself upon her, because she remained silent for several moments. “Even if I did believe, I cannot leave here. I told him I would not, therefore I cannot.”
“But—”
“Please understand, it is not that I am being fearless or obstinate. It is merely the truth: I cannot go.”
“You must—”
“Shhh. There is more. He means to kill you, he told me so. And for some reason I cannot fathom, he is afraid of me.”
Black Lion remained silent. What could he say, when words failed him? The Thunderer? Afraid of her?
“Besides,” she continued, “let’s pretend for a moment you are right and the Thunderer does exist. I doubt seriously he is demanding I leave here for my own good. He was greatly antagonistic to me, and I fear it would be unwise of me to follow the orders of someone with such animosity.”
Black Lion shook his head. “But—”
“There’s also something else. He said I was a danger to him. How can I be a danger to him, unless… While you were gone, I thought much about this, and I believe my danger to him is that somehow I might be able to help you free your people. And if this is so, how could I, in all conscience, leave?”
Black Lion frowned, but he remained silent. In truth, he was afraid to speak, for he feared his voice might fail him. Did she realize what she was saying? Did she know she was aligning herself with him, with his people, and that to do so was dangerous?
After a time, he said, “It is good of you to think of others, but they are not your people. And even if they were, you are not bound to help them.”