Dancing with the Demons

Wolf Head woke early the next morning and tempered the fire. He had thought it odd to find River gone the previous morning, but hearing her recount her experience at the lake, he wondered if the fever had been a sign to him that Water Lilly was with River. But the wolf was another matter entirely. Why would it cleanse her physical and spiritual eyes? She already picked up things others did not. Or was it the cleansing that had allowed her to see her mother? Did she see more because of the cleansing, just as she heard more than he had first known?

Glancing over at his daughter, he watched her sleep. Out of habit, he went to her side and ran his hand over the short fuzz that covered her head. The fever had not returned and he hoped it would not. River's breathing remained deep as she continued to sleep. She slept longer than usual today before she rose and baked several small multi-grain loaves for them to eat.

"How are you feeling, River?" he asked.

"Renewed, Father. How was your rest?"

"Sufficient. What do you see?"

"See?"

"Yes. Can you see your mother still?"

"No. I see as you see."

"Did the wolf not cleanse your spiritual eyes as well as your physical eyes?"

"It did, Father, but there is nothing I see that you don't see." River turned the loaves over to finish cooking on the hot rocks.

"No other spirits?"

"Nothing."

"But you did see your mother."

River turned to the door and watched the shadow of a jack rabbit leisurely hop by wishing her father would drop it.

"Riv…."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm trying to understand what energies the wolf has awakened in you."

She just shook her head and made sure the bread was cooked. Then she handed one to her father and took hers outside. The air was cold now that the cloud cover had passed, leaving behind a bright blue sky. A few animals and people passed in shadow while River wandered through the trees and huts of her tribe. Only a few fires burned outside the huts at any given time, most of them were only used during celebrations and ceremonies. River didn't understand why the wolf had awoken Sight within her. She already knew her gift to hear a different world set her apart. Why widen the gap?

For five years River had been rejected as a possible wife. Would her rejection continue now that she could see a different world now too? She stopped when she reached the edge of the village. There would be no point in going to the lake today, she could dig through the snow and forage for roots, but that wasn't why she went.

"Hey, River," Bear Claw called. "What are you doing out here?"

"Nothing."

"Still too lazy to find a husband I see."

"He'll find me."

"Oh, really? Where is he then? Why hasn't he come for your lazy hide? Too busy keeping the house in order to look?"

"It doesn't matter where he is or when he'll come for me."

"I see how it is," Bear Claw said. "You've given up."

"Just because my hair doesn't appeal to the men of this tribe doesn't mean I've given up. My life has been too rich for such nonsense."

"So what are you going to do while you continue to lazily wait for his coming?"

River smirked at Bear Claw. "I'll just dance with the demons."

Bear Claw's mouth dropped open and she walked away.

She circled the edge of the huts like she circled the lake before returning to her hut. Bear Claw was there speaking rapidly with her father. When he saw her come in, he stopped what he was saying.

"Wolf head, River…," he started again.

Wolf Head held up a hand. "I can't stop her from going to the lake, if that is what she chooses, Bear Claw. It only ruins her chances of finding a husband if she does."

"There's always Abihu, Father." River straightened the medicine trunk, rotating the supply.

"Absolutely not. I will not mix blood."

She remained silent. Clearly she could get a reaction out of Bear Claw, but not her father.

"Thank you, Bear Claw," Wolf Head said to him. "I'd like to speak to my daughter alone."

"Yes, Wolf Head." Then with a final glare in River's direction, left.

"Why, River?"

"No one in the tribe will accept me, Father. Not in a hundred years."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. Steps retreat from me when I am near. Those that approach only come to mock me."

"They'll come around."

"It's been five years! No man will ever accept me for who I am."

"Do not raise your tone at me, River."

River had to consciously bite her tongue.

Wolf Head approached his daughter and set his hands on her arms to comfort her. She broke away and headed for the door.

"River, stop."

River stopped and turned slowly.

Her father still knelt where she had left him a confused look on his face. Standing beside him was her mother's spirit.

"River?" Wolf Head asked.

"You'll find a husband. Do not despair."

"No one will have me," she replied softly.

"What of the other tribes?"

"Father has refused their offers."

Wolf Head stood. "Who are you talking to?"

"What of Abihu?"

"The same."

"Wolf Head will come around. Be patient."

River's head bowed and tears filled her eyes as she sunk to her knees, but they never fell.

Her mother left again.

"River?" Wolf Head asked, lifting her chin.

She looked at him.

"Who were you talking to?"

"Mother."

"Is she still here? May I speak to her?"

River shook her head and went to her grass mat to lie down. Her back was turned to the room and her face turned towards the mat.

Wolf Head was disheartened. His daughter could see and hear her mother, yet refused to allow him the same privilege. More and more she was becoming silent, speaking less and less about what was important. This was a habit that a woman of their tribe should not have, despite them being submissive to their fathers and husbands. Her visits to the lake were the same, but he had been unable to stop that. However, this last visit had awakened her gift. Perhaps if Chief Stoneroot knew, they could finally find a man who would accept River as his wife. Donning on his Shaman's shawl, Wolf Head left the hut.

While he was out, River put on her deerskin jacket and ran to the lake. She knew her father had gone to talk to Chief Stoneroot, as he had for the last five years any time something about her had changed or troubled him. Each meeting ended the same. The eligible men of the tribe were gathered and the chief spoke with each of them to see if any would accept her as their wife. None ever did. Today's visit would be no different and she didn't want to be home when her father returned with a disappointed look on his face.

The top of the lake was completely frozen now. No branches broke the surface. The snow was still disturbed where she had lain only a day previous and her Sight was awakened. But here at the lake, neither sound nor Sight could disturb the stillness. River slowed her step as she circled the lake. When she met her starting point, she sat. She hadn't been sitting there long when two distinct sets of footsteps approached the lake. One was very heavy—like Abihu's had been—and the other only slightly so. Two voices joined those steps, speaking in a dialect she hadn't heard since she was little.

As a Shaman's daughter, River had been taught all various dialects for the other tribes in addition to her own Laudrian tongue. But this language was from none of the indigenous tribes. Still, she knew this odd language too. She tried hard to block out the sounds, keeping her attention on the lake instead of turning to see who came. But despite her attempts the voices continued. Two men, one of them sounding like Abihu. With the heavy, semi limping step to go with it, there was no mistaking his presence. The voices stopped before the softer set of footsteps approached her.

"Hello there," the man said in the Danam Tribe's dialect.

"Good day, Stranger," she replied in her own language, refusing to look at the man.

"Laudrian?" he asked, flipping dialects. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was enjoying the stillness."

"Does not your tribe believe this place to be full of demons?"

"They do."

"But you have still come. Why?"

"For the absence of moving life."

"And your hair?"

"Hasn't grown since birth."

"What of your husband?"

"None will have me."

"Because your hair has not grown?"

"Yes."

"May I?" the man asked, raising a hand into her peripheral vision.

River gave a small nod and the man ran his hand over her head, much like her father did. His touch was gentle as the hairs bent slightly beneath the weight of his hand. Then he took his hand away.

"Who's daughter are you?"

"I am the daughter of Wolf Head and Water Lilly."

"The Shaman. I'm sorry about your mother. She was a great woman."

Now River looked at him. "You knew her?"

"I did, but that was before her womanhood ceremony. You have her eyes."

River lowered her eyes then turned back to the lake.

"That would make you River then."

She didn't respond.

"I will leave you to the stillness."

"Thank you."

The man's soft footsteps retreated before he and Abihu left. The fact that the man knew her meant he had been in contact with the Laudrian tribe for quite some time, unless he just pieced the information together from what Abihu had been able to tell him. Whatever the case, it didn't matter. No Laudrian man would take her as a wife, even with her gift of Sight, and her father would continue to reject the other tribe's offers as he always did. She pulled her legs up against her chin and continued to watch the lake for several more hours. The trees' shadows were the only things that moved, but the changes were so slight that it didn't bother her.