“I like to believe so, yes,” Nicholas replied. “But truly, Katari was her own force of life. I have never seen one so able to adjust rapidly, and bear the pain of a severe and festering injury with poise beyond her years. She is a talented healer, with skills that I had never before witnessed. I will never forget her.”
Father Allouez closed his eyes briefly. “I must go and pray for thanks for these blessed developments. “Nicholas Belline, your place among our God is assured, and welcomed, so you need not hold fear about your worth in the eyes of the Father. Katari was a soul of kind innocence, and held the potential to do great things among her people. You do not realize the sheer blessing you have wrought her people. She will touch the lives of many more.”
Those words, uttered simply and sincerely, blew him away like the fluff of milkweed on the summer’s breeze. He had provided a blessing? A priest of God was giving thanks to Nicholas Belline for his holy deeds? He looked down upon his fancy tea cup and sputtered. The man could not know that he had coveted Katari, fantasized about her obsessively, and had dreamed of making her his own woman, in the most elemental of ways. Or that Nicholas had put his mouth quite possessively on her ‘kind innocence.’
One again, he felt a surge of indecency. Yet, it could not compete with sudden and insistent swell of hope burgeoning there. He cleared his throat and collected himself.
“Father Allouez, when do you plan on visiting these Minsi people? How many days riding is the village located from here?”
Allouez leaned over and withdrew a hand-drawn map from his satchel. “I have been mapping a detailed course of trails and distances during my travels, for those who may come behind me. I will show you where they are located. But, if you wish, you are welcome to travel with me, Nicholas. I would surely enjoy the company.”
Nicholas was surprised by the rapid rate of his heart as he pondered the invitation. Dare he make such a visit? If only to see her once again, and give her the things he had gathered for her enjoyment? They did not exactly part on the best of circumstances. How would he be received by her people? Her brother? The other fiercely protective braves who wanted her?
It did not take him long to determine the answer. “I would very much enjoy the journey, Father. I had hoped to venture into new trapping territories, and learn the lay of the southern land.”
Allouez steepled his fingers together and nodded. “I would leave within this very week, however, Nicholas. I want to travel as far south as possible before returning here to wait out the harshness of the winter in this gentler clime.” He shuddered. “The Lenape do not seem to fair poorly throughout the winter months, but I am growing much too old to bear the frigid temperatures and the heavy snows.”
Nicholas peered over the man’s shoulder at the map he had spread out on the table. It was not badly done, and boasted excellent penmanship. He obviously had a talent for it. “Why don’t we meet back here tomorrow and plan out our provisions?”
~~~~~
Deniel ‘Pétant’ Mollier sat outside on the back step, with the last of the day’s humidity resting heavily on his broad shoulders. Being a burly man, he seemed to sweat…well, just about incessantly. Even now he felt it pooling on his brow. New Amsterdam was ungodly hot, and it was only late July. The humid days of August loomed ahead. How he missed the coolness of the interior forests, and the fresh kiss of the Great Lakes breezes. Pétant wished he could douse his body in some cold spring waters right at this moment.
His wife, Opichi, was inside and curled up on her mattress. Her belly was in distress, yet again. The Robin was not in the best of moods as a result of her discomfort. Pétant was excited about her pregnancy, and yet he felt completely unprepared for the impending event. A little child…with his lifestyle? He was a Coureur de bois, through and through.
Pétant knew that Opichi now ached for her mother’s aid. His new wife was merely fifteen and half years of age. She was much too young to bear a child, in his opinion, although Opichi and her people saw it quite differently.
Yet, just this very morning, he had caught her crying to herself. “What is wrong, Opichi?” he had asked, grasping her slender arms gently. “I will do anything; just name it aloud to me.”
“I do not wish to give birth in the White way,” she sniffed. “I should have a birthing hut constructed for me, and female attendants that I trust. How can I do such a thing on my own? I am afraid, my husband.”
“But…the midwife?” he questioned. “Was she not able to ease your fears?”
“She knows nothing of the proper methods. The herbal teas, the incantations, the steps involved…she only knows the White way. Laying down in a bed and screaming through the pain. I am terrified, husband.”
Her trembling words weighed heavily on him. He would not be able to provide Opichi the comfort that she needed now. Hell, he had never even held an infant in his arms. How could he raise one?
A fat fly buzzed around his ear, and he swatted it away. He noted that Nicholas had returned. For the first time in the past month, his friend wore an expression that was not pensive or bleak.
“Ho, boy,” Pétant called out, still trying to squash the nagging insect mid-flight. “Did you find yourself a woman today?”
“In a manner of speaking,” his friend answered with a grin. “I will be joining up with the Jesuits.”
Pétant stroked his chin, where his beard remained oddly absent. He would surely never grow used to the feel of the smooth skin beneath his fingertips.”You’re talking in riddles,” he grunted. “And I am just not that sharp of a spear today.”
“It’s Katari,” he explained. “I need to return to trapping, and she said that the valleys surrounding her homeland are ripe with furbearing creatures, and are mostly untouched. The Jesuits know the Minsi, and will take me there.”
“Like hell you are leaving me alone with Opichi during this pregnancy,” Pétant growled at his friend. “She is unmanageable. And I do not know how to handle what she demands.”
“Then, bring her, and come with me,” Nick said quietly.
And suddenly, it all made sense. Pétant looked up and over his shoulder to see his young wife standing at the door, listening to their White talk. Although she held the curve of her belly with one slender hand, all look of discomfort had fled her face. Her eyes sparkled brightly with understanding.
“Opichi cannot wait to visit the Minsi. When will we leave?”
Chapter 16
“Look Mother, Katari has burnt the tàsëmënana once again, due to her silly daydreaming,” Grey Wolf tisked loudly.
Katari thought that she had had quite enough of her brother’s teasing for one day, indeed. She stomped smartly on his foot.
“Oww!”
“The roasted corn is fine,” Jenna admonished her son, “a few browned corn kernels will only enhance its flavor.”
“Do you dream of White Lynx’s fervent kisses, little sister?” he continued to pester, hopping on one foot now.
“Make yourself useful, and go away to find our father,” Katari grumbled at him. With a sigh, her brother eventually ambled off. His banter, born out of boredom, was grating on her nerves. The summer was passing quickly, and Grey Wolf had not found for himself a suitable wife, or even any particular female that was of interest to him. Katari thought that perhaps the seed of journey and adventure had buried itself in her brother’s own heart, and was sprouting, taking root there and causing his current agitation and discontent.
Katari had burned the corn, damn it all. And, she had been completely lost in her thoughts once again, just as her brother had teased. Everybody, even her parents, assumed she was love-struck.
She was certainly no such thing. Katari had merely come to terms with the fact that White Lynx would have to be the man for her. She loved his family, and they adored her in return. White Lynx doted on her. He was handsome, and he was accomplished. Why was there any question in her mind at all?
Her best friend, Kanti, She Who Sings, was to be wedded j
ust before the setting of the sun. Katari was happy for her, and yet knew that the activities would cause White Lynx to press her for a date to plan their own union. She would not be able to stall any longer. She had no cause to, anyway.
Reluctance was an unfamiliar emotion for Katari. She had always run headlong into new situations, and embraced such life-changes with joy. She was now eighteen winters in age. It was far past the traditional age for a Lenape girl to choose a man. If she waited any longer, she could lose the very best of her child-bearing years. Katari knew for certain that she wanted children – and several. Why did she hesitate?
She had long since halted her childish fantasies about the man she had once known, the French trapper Nicholas Belline. In a way, it seemed as if her very youth went away when she set those dreams aside. For once, Katari had come to realize that the possibilities of life were not boundless. There were rules, limitations, and a certain amount of failure all around. The stark awareness of this fact had come to change her quite a bit. Katari was lost in quiet thought fairly often now.
Sensing her mother’s increasing worry, Katari had decided that it was time enough to accept White Lynx’s request to become his bride. They would make beautiful, bright children together. It would surely be enough to sustain her, as well as bring much joy to Jenna’s life.
When her father approached, she graced him with a bright smile. “Ho, my beautiful daughter,” he called out. “What have you made for me this evening?”
“Why, a delicious ahtuhweyòk, venison baked in its own rich broth, ladled thick with tàsëmënana, only slightly burnt,” she laughed.
“Between you and your mother, I eat like a man with six wives,” Running Wolf replied, rubbing his stomach. “It is a blessing from the Creator that I have not grown fat like the black bear in a glen of ripe berries.”
Katari eyed her father’s lean and muscled chest and prayed fervently that she had inherited his ability to enjoy food while remaining firm and supple. He was closing in on his fortieth winter, though one would never know it.
“Tomorrow I will make you some journey cakes for your next hunting foray – I located some cranberries today!” she added, and was pleased by his resultant grin. They were difficult to come across in this mountainous locale. Cranberries seemed to prefer the wetter lowlands found several days ride to the southeast.
“Is your friend, Kanti, all atwitter for the upcoming ceremony this evening? Why are you not attending her today?”
Katari laughed. “I will be at her beck and call soon enough. She has requested my presence shortly, if only to gloat over the fact that she has beaten me to marriage first.”
“Had it been an actual race, you would have won it,” Running Wolf grunted, “but my only daughter appears to be incredibly picky in her tastes.”
Katari knew that her father was secretly pleased that his daughter was so choosy, much to her mother’s chagrin. Yet neither parent had pushed her in any direction, having learned early on that love would happen as it was meant to – no matter when or where it happened to transpire. The notion made her think of Nicholas Belline one more time, and she bit her lip against the same old wave of nostalgia. The sense of loss now made her angry.
“White Lynx has impresses me greatly with his wit and prowess very much as of late,” she told her father with a small, telling smile.
“Has he, now? I hold his family in the highest regard. If you chose him, I would certainly be pleased for you, daughter.”
Katari laughed. “I realize that my youth is slipping away. I am nearing the status of a spinster.”
“Oh hush,” Running Wolf replied, “you are the same age that your mother was when I first laid eyes upon her. Never had I seen as beautiful a face as hers. You are much like her, Katari. You are named after her own mother, Katarina. It is said she was a lovely woman as well.”
Katari nodded, yet held her tongue quiet. It was true that her mother was exceedingly lovely in her youth, and had matured into full womanhood with exquisite grace. Even today, she still held much feminine sway over nearly any man. But she knew the story behind their path to the loving bond that her mother and father now shared. It had not been easy. In fact, it had been very near to deadly for them both.
It was always obvious that Katari’s inherited good looks gave her a particular power to bend males to her will. Her attractiveness was a beacon that, should she choose to use it, would bring braves to her door in droves. She had just never bothered with the effort…at least before Nicholas Belline. But with him, Katari had failed quite dreadfully in her endeavor to entice him. The bitter knowledge stung. It was good that her father did not know this thing about her. No one did, and she would keep it that way.
~~~~~
She Who Sings was surely blessed to have such a lovely evening as a backdrop to her wedding ceremony. The air was soft and balmy, and a gentle breeze was like a whisper on bare skin. Smoking torches kept the insects at bay, and later, bonfires would warm the briskness of the night air and grant an ancient and flickering orange light to the deepening night sky.
Next to her, White Lynx lounged in comfort with his good friend, Bodaway, or Fire Maker. The brave’s bare knee touched her thigh, and Katari found that she did not mind the familiar contact. She smoothed the new buckskin of her skirt, on which she had laboriously spent days stitching porcupine quills and red ochre beads into the hem and waistline. She had chosen a simple sleeveless tunic so that she could better display the glory of her choker necklace from the faraway city of New Amsterdam.
The festive atmosphere was finally buoying her mood into something much more pleasant. Katari felt better than she had in a very long time. Watching all the preparations, and helping an overly-excited Kanti to dress in her finest clothes and primp had stirred something inside of her. Something youthful and free. She hummed along with the flute in the background as they waited for her father, the Sachem, or chief, to arrive.
Although the Lenape were generally a monogamous people, Katari knew that many other clans chose to forgo a formal ceremony altogether – either a couple was together or they weren’t. But the Clan of the Wolves held onto the tradition of celebrating the new beginning of a young couple’s union with both gaiety and the wise presence of the Elders. Katari was happy this was so, for it made such choices in life unique.
Katari gazed around the central ceremonial fire. All of her people were seated in a large circular formation. Although no food was allowed within the ceremonial circle, the nearby smell of simmering pots of food and roasting meats was quite tantalizing. She silently willed her belly not to rumble.
Kanti and her chosen mate, Black Waters, stood shyly in front of all. Although Kanti was plainer and a bit heavier than other girls her age, her face was flushed beautifully with her excitement, and a youthful smile dimpled her cheeks. Her dress was finely made and dyed to a light shade of bluish-purple, like a violet in the sun.
She wore the bride-gifts from her brave – a delicate necklace wrought of tiny shell beads and polished wampum, and earrings of copper. Black Waters had shaved his head in the fashion that was popular among many young warriors, leaving a long thatch that he had stiffened upward with grease into a mohawk. Katari herself, preferred the long style adorned with feathers that many older men of the tribe had adopted, although she would never say so to Kanti.
After a time, Running Wolf stepped forth into the circle with a solemn dignity. He advanced to the center, where he knelt to light the Ceremonial Pipe of the Minsi tribe. He took two firm puffs from the tip, and then held it upward to the sky for a brief moment; then slowly and smoothly moved it back toward the Earth.
“My people,” the Chief said solemnly, “Let us rejoice to the North, and to the East, and to the South.”He swept the pipe gracefully in each direction as he uttered the words. “And now, finally, toward the place where the sun is now setting in the West. May these two children of the Minsi be together in love, until the setting of their own lives.”
; After a few moments of silent meditation, Running Wolf gave the pipe to Black Waters, who very slowly, took a few puffs from the sacred implement. Then, holding the bowl end of the pipe toward his body, Black Waters handed it to the next man to his right, and he in turn took a puff or two and passed it on. And thus did the Ceremonial Pipe travel around the entire inner circle of Elders.
“And so our cycle is completed here,” stated Running Wolf, “While Black Waters and She Who Sings shall begin anew.”
As Black Waters lifted Kanti and twirled her, cheers and hooting rose like the flow of the tide among the people. White Lynx leaned close to her, and kissed her softly on the cheek. “I can wait no longer, Katari,” he murmured. “Can we not have the same joyful blessing as our friends?”
Katari looked into his brown eyes, warm with longing as familiar voices swelled around her. What other answer was there? “Yes,” she said softly.
“How soon?” he asked eagerly. “I will bring you bride gifts whenever you tell me to.”
Katari laughed. “Let me speak with my parents although I already know that they have caught wind of your intentions.”
Settling back against the firm chest of White Lynx to watch the dancing commence, Katari accepted a bowl of stew and a chunk of hearty bread that was passed her way. There would be plenty of time to dance later.
She observed Kanti’s animated expression of joy as the girl whirled around the fire, with the fringed and beaded hem of her skirts flying upwards with a swish. Katari prayed to the Creator to help her discover that kind of uninhibited freedom once again.
~~~~~
She awoke to the sound of falling rain. Ever since Katari had helped her family to replace their dwelling’s roof last fall, the raindrops made a unique swishing sound as they slithered down and off of the woven mats of reed and late summer grasses. It was quite different from the muffled drumming of rain the heavier bark roof they had previously utilized. She could not really decide which roof she preferred in stormy weather.
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