Free Lakota Dawn by Janelle Taylor Page A

His challenges couldn’t last much longer with departure looming before them in ten days.
    * * *
    Nearing dusk, Chase walked into the woods to relieve himself, as he had been given permission to tend that necessity in privacy. He finished quickly and started to return to his campsite when he heard sounds. He halted and listened: it was Dawn’s voice, singing softly as if to herself. He could not resist the urge to meet and speak with her.
    “Hau, Macha,” Chase greeted her from behind after making certain no one was nearby. He noted how she whirled in surprise, her dark gaze widened. “You pick flowers late on this sun.” She glanced around furtively before speaking to him; no doubt she had been ordered not to do so.
    “Mother has need of wayuco-onzinzintka, and they bloom as the sun goes to sleep,” she explained. “I must hurry, for darkness will come to our land soon.”
    “You no longer have the little girl’s face I remember,” Chase said, ignoring the hint she could not tarry. “You now have one of a beautiful young woman. It is good to see you again.”
    Macha was warmed by both his compliment and his nearness. He was taller and his chest was broader than she had remembered. And his looks were even more appealing. She tried not to stare or to stammer. “Your words are kind. You no longer have the boy’s face of Cloud Chaser; you have changed much during the many seasons you were gone from us. But you have not lost your stalking skills, for I did not hear or see you approach.”
    She was so enchanting that Chase had to order himself not to stare at her. Being with her was like having a wonderful dream come true. He felt his heart pounding with elation and excitement. “I did not mean to stalk or frighten you. As I walked nearby, I heard singing in a voice as sweet as the nightbird’s and was compelled to see who made such lovely sounds.” He knew their time was limited, so he decided to ask an important question: “Do you have a mate and children?”
    Macha was surprised by that query and wondered why he asked it. “No. Do you have a mate and children far away?”She almost held her breath as she waited for him to answer, though doing so only took a short time.
    “No. Perhaps it will soon be different, for I have reached twenty-two circles of the seasons. How many are behind you?”
    “Eighteen. Will you come with us on the buffalo hunt? We leave soon.”
    Chase shrugged. “That is for my father to decide, and he has not done so to this sun, but I hope to go. Do others in our band speak against me?”
    She lowered her gaze in shame. “That is not for me to say.”
    Chase eyed her bowed head and guessed the truth she didn’t want to voice. “That means the answer is yes.”
    “Not all speak…” Macha started to explain, but she halted when their gazes met and she read hurt in his. “Do not put meanings to my words which might be wrong,” she urged him.
    Chase smiled. “You still possess a good heart and quick mind. I remember when you played with me and sneaked me treats when other children would not. It is good you have not changed in that way.”
    “The Great Spirit and our teachings say it is wrong to be cruel. I try to be kind to all people, though it is hard to do so with some.”
    “That is true,” he murmured as his gaze roamed her features.
    “Did the Whites treat you bad when you lived far away?” Macha asked softly.
    “No. At least, most of them did not. I was accepted as the son of the white man and woman who found me injured and reared me.”
    “Hanmani said you did not return sooner because you thought your people had been slain by the enemy.”
    “That is true,” he said, then told her the other reasons he had related to his family. “I do not know why I was taken far away or why I was called back here by the Great Spirit, but He will reveal such things later.”
    Macha turned her head slightly, and tensed. “My mother calls to me,” she explained. “I must go.