PREVIOUSLY: I stirred up the center fire to get it going again and added more branches. Reflecting on my conversation with Grandfather, I gazed at inner wall of the tepee, which had painted designs from the men of our family's dreams and hunting exploits.

My brother returned to camp late that night. Grandfather and I were already in our pine-bough sleeping couches, but I sat up when Gray Eagle and Kicking Horse came into the tepee and crouched by the center fire. Wind Chaser was curled up beside me and he raised his head. I could see the men quite well by the light of the fire in the middle of the tepee.

"Did you find their trail?" I asked.

"Yes," said Gray Eagle. "We followed them at a distance until they entered Kootenai territory. We will decide at council tomorrow whether to continue to search for the kotea or move on to our summer camp. It may be too dangerous to go on to the sacred land of boiling water."

"I must leave on a Vision Quest tomorrow. How will I know where to find you?"

"You'll have to follow our trail."

"You should not let her go," said Kicking Horse.

"It is not for me to interfere with her Vision Quest."

"But the Piegan warriors are headed for the Sacred Mountains and that is where she always goes for her Vision Quests."

"Grandfather said that I should go despite the danger from the Blackfeet." I quickly intervened before Kicking Horse convinced my brother that I should not go.

"Your grandfather is a great man but he has grown old and lives in the world of visions and spirits now," said Kicking Horse. "He is no longer aware of this world, otherwise he would not allow his granddaughter to go on a Vision Quest with Blackfeet warriors in our territory."

"Only the world of Spirit is truly real," said Grandfather from his sleeping couch. "My vision is clear; not only do I know what is happening here but I see into the future and that is why I know Red Willow must go on this quest."

I was upset that Grandfather was not asleep, as Kicking Horse must have assumed; I did not want him hurt by Kicking Horse's words. "Red Willow," Grandfather continued in a voice that carried force and power, "must follow her own path. The spirits talk to her for a special purpose. She will never be content to live as other women. An older man of more experience might understand this."

"I did not mean to be disrespectful," said Kicking Horse. "I am just concerned for her safety. If she must go on this quest at least let me go along."

"A squaw does not travel alone with a warrior unless she shares his lodge. You do not think things through clearly."

Kicking Horse's jaw tightened and I knew he wanted to speak out. "I had better go," said Kicking Horse, raising up. His eyes met mine with a tense, worried look, and then he left the tepee.

"I cannot remain in our tepee forever," I said to Grandfather. "Most maidens my age already share a lodge with a brave. How long do you intend for me to be in mourning?"

"I do not see Kicking Horse in your future. I will pick a brave for you when your time of mourning is up."

"I love Kicking Horse! I won't marry another man."

"It is not for a maiden to decide who she is to marry."

I knew better than to argue with Grandfather. He would only become more set against my marrying Kicking Horse if I became rebellious. I lay back down, frustrated and worried. Marriages built alliances between families; a warrior would know he had a brother-through-marriage who would hunt and fight beside him. Fathers betrothed their daughters to warriors, sometimes when they were very young, to ensure a secure future for them. Father had not betrothed me because Grandfather told him that I had a special destiny. Now I worried that Grandfather would not let me marry Kicking Horse, but would marry me to someone else. Grandfather was the wisest man in the band and he could see things in the future and on a deeper level than most. Maybe he saw something I could not see. I curled up on my sleeping robe sick at heart.

Early the next morning, my Mother's sister, Talking Goose, came into the tepee as I packed supplies into a buckskin bag. "So it's true that you go off on another Vision Quest!"

I stiffened, knowing she did not approve. There was a loud silence in the tepee and I knew she wanted to speak her mind, but was respectful of Grandfather's presence as an elder and shaman.

"Your thoughts are like rain pelting against the side of the tepee," Grandfather sighed. "You might as well say them out loud."

"Red Willow should not follow the path of a warrior. She should follow woman's medicine, the path of healing and nurturing. Her training should be left to the women of the tribe. Her behavior is causing the women to gossip about her."

"You are wise in wanting her to follow the way of women and yet you do not see everything," said Grandfather. "Red Willow must follow her heart and go on this quest as part of her training to become a medicine woman. It does not matter what the women of the village think. When she fulfills her destiny they'll understand and be sorry for their harsh words."

My aunt looked very distressed. "I wouldn't say anything because you are known for your wisdom, but the Blackfeet are on the warpath. It is too dangerous for her to go off on a quest!"

 Read part 4: "The Journey"    

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