She gazed into his obsidian eyes for a long, long time. Without him, her life would be easily planned, things done just as she wanted them. Without him, she would have calmness and peace in her tent.
And without him, she realized as she felt herself falling into those black, black eyes, she would have a terrible emptiness in her life.
"I can," she whispered.
"I love you," he murmured. "No more broken promises between us, wife."
"None," she answered as their lips met.
Above them, the Darkstar winked brightly.
Epilogue
Four years later
"What is this place?" asked Star, glancing up. "I have been here before, I think."
Falcon and Star and their little daughter stood at the foot of a steep gravel slope. Old Blue Jay sat resting nearby on a bison robe. The long trek from the Badger camp had wearied her.
Falcon answered, "This place is called the Canyon of the Doves."
"Canyon of the Doves," repeated Star, puzzled. "Why did you bring us here?"
"I have something important to do," he said. He reached out his arms. "I will carry Hope now."
His little daughter went into his arms with a squeal of delight.
Star laughed. "She wants her father to carry
her! Are you tired of Mama carrying you, little one?"
"Now that you carry our second child in your belly, we must be careful not to tire you," said Falcon.
"I am not weary," Star assured him, warmed by his concern for her.
They started up the steep hillside, pausing many times to rest. She had brought along extra strips of dried meat and three water bladders so that no one suffered from hunger or thirst on this journey.
At last they reached the top of the slope. Star gazed down into the canyon on the other side. "It is a long way down," she observed, stepping back from the edge.
"It is," he agreed. Young Hope squirmed in his arms. "Be still, my child. I have something to show you." He lifted her arm and pointed out the directions, just as his father had done before him.
Star watched her husband and daughter and a wave of love burst over her. How she loved him, this man who was so different from her in his ways. That he loved her and their child had been proved over and over. Ever since he had stayed with her through Hope's birth, a bond had been tied between them, a strong bond, stronger than leather, one that could not be cut.
Star no longer feared he would cast her aside. And no longer did he pretend that nothing mattered. Now many things mattered to him and he was unashamed to tell her.
She loved him, this Jaguar man of hers. And he loved her. He told her so every night. And showed her.
She listened to Hope's murmurs as she repeated her father's words. Perhaps Hope was still too young to understand what he said, perhaps not. But knowing this husband of hers as well as she did, Star knew he would bring his daughter here many times again and explain the land to her.
Star smiled as she watched them pointing at the hills and valleys below.
"And you will pick thick bulrushes in that river bottom."
Her life had turned out very different from what she had planned or expected. But the life she had now was wonderful, much better than she could have ever planned.
Joy filled her as she gazed up at the blue bowl of sky above their heads. There was Someone who could be trusted to guide human lives, after all.
"You will butcher big deer in those hills."
Hope nodded solemnly at her father's words.
"You are a fine daughter, and all this land is yours. I, and my father before me, stood on this place. It is Jaguar land. Good land. Someday you will stand here again and look out over the land, your land."
Star smiled at the solemn looks on both their faces.
"It is good, this land. It is for you, and your daughters and your sons."
Hope was very still, as if she understood what her father told her.
Star smiled to herself at her daughter's wisdom.
Suddenly Falcon glanced at Star. She met those bold dark eyes and her heart leapt with happiness.
"It is time to return, wife," he said, and his low voice sent thrills through her.
How she loved him! She gave one last, shivery look down into the canyon, then fell into step as they carefully climbed back down the steep slope.
When they reached the bottom, Blue Jay was waiting for them. "I will carry her," she said, holding her arms out to Hope. Falcon handed the child to his mother-in-law.
Then, together, he and his beloved wife walked hand in hand along the trail toward the Jaguar lands.
REFERENCES:
Cahalane, Victor C. Mammals of North America. New York: MacMillan, 1964.
Dixon, E. James. Quest for the Origins of the First Americans. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1993.
Driver, Harold E. Indians of North America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.
Fryxell, Roald and Bennie C. Keel. "Emergency Salvage Excavations for the Recovery of Early Human Remains and Related Scientific Materials from the Marmes Rockshelter Archaeological Site, Southeastern Washington, May 3 December 15, 1968." A final report to U.S. Army Engineer District, Walla Walla, Corps of Engineers. Washington State University, 1969.
Fryxell, Roald, Tadeusz Bielicki, Richard D. Daugherty, Carl E. Gustafson, Henry T. Irwin, and Bennie C. Keel. "A Human Skeleton from Sediments of Mid-Pinedale Age in Southeastern Washington." American Antiquity 1968: 33, pp. 511 514.
Grady, Denise. "Death at the Corners." Discover, Dec. 1993: Vol. 14, no. 12, pp. 82 91.
Gustafson, Carl Eugene. "Faunal Remains from the Marmes Rockshelter and Related Archaeological Sites in the Columbia Basin." PhD. thesis. Dept. of Zoology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 1972.
Hoeffecker, John F.W., Roger Powers, Ted Goebel. "The Colonization of Beringia and the Peopling of the New World." Science, Jan. 1993: Vol. 259, pp. 46 53.
Jelinek, Arthur J. "Perspectives from the Old World on the Habitation of the New." American Antiquity 1992: 57(2), pp. 345 347.
Kelly, Robert L. and Lawrence C. Todd. "Coming Into the Country: Early Paleoindian Hunting and Mobility." American Antiquity 1988: 53(2) pp. 231 244.
Krantz, Grover S. "Oldest Human Remains from the Marmes Site." Washington Sate University. Pullman, WA, circa 1975.
Meltzer, David J. "Why Don't We Know When the Firsst People Came to North America?" American Antiquity 1989: 54(3), pp. 471 490.
Rice, David G. "Preliminary Report. Marmes Rockshelter Archaeological Site. Southern Columbia Plateau." Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 1969.
Schurr, Theodore G., Scott W. Ballinger, Yik-Yuen Gan, Judith A. Hodge, D. Andrew Merriwether, Dale N. Lawrence, William C. Knowler, Kenneth M. Weiss, and Douglas C. Wallace. "Amerindian Mitochondrial DNAs Have Rare Asian Mutations at High Frequencies, Suggesting They Derived from Four Primary Maternal Lineages." American Journal of Genetics 1990: 46 pp. 613 623.
Sheppard, John C., Peter E. Wigand, Carl E. Gustafson, and Meyer Rubin. "A Reevaluation of the Marmes Rockshelter Radiocarbon Chronology." American Antiquity 1987: 52(1), 118 125.
Torroni, Antonio, Theodore G. Schurr, Chi-Chuan Yang, Emoke J.E. Szathmary, Robert C. Williams, Moses S. Schanfield, Gary A. Troup, William C. Knowler, Dale N. Lawrence, Kenneth M. Weiss, and Douglas C. Wallace. "Native American Mitochondrial DNA Analysis Indicates That the Amerind and the Nadene Populations Were Founded by Two Independent Migrations." Genetics 1992: 130, pp. 153 162.
Trafzer, Clifford E. and Richard D. Scheuerman. "Renegade Tribe: The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest." Washington State University Press, Pullman, WA, 1986.
Turner, Christy G. II. "The First Americans: The Dental Evidence." National Geographic Research 1986: Vol. 2(1) pp. 37 46.
Wallace, Douglas C., Katherine Garrison, and William C. Knowler. "Dramatic Founder Effects in Amerindian Mitochondrial DNA." American Journal of Physical Anthropology 1
985: Vol. 68, pp. 149 155.
Whitley, David S. and Ronald I. Dorn. "New Perspectives on the Clovis vs. Pre-Clovis Controversy." American Antiquity 1993: 58(4), pp. 626 647.
Theresa Scott has been writing for ten years. She has a degree in anthropology from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, and has spent time on archaeological digs. She shares a home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two daughters, and assorted pets. She is currently working on her next novel for Leisure. If you wish to write to her, send an SASE to Theresa Scott, P.O. Box 832, Olympia, WA 98507.
Broken Promise Page 30