quote:
There is the father coming,
There is the father coming.
The father says this as he comes,
The father says this as he comes,
“You shall live, he says as he comes,
“You shall live,” he says as he comes.
-- "A’te he’ u-we" (translated), one of the songs sung during the Sioux Ghost Dance
September 16th, 1880. Evening, Night, and Morning of the 17th. The Main Camp around Bear Butte.
some mood music
The rest of the day is a blur for Rabbit. About a dozen of the Iron Dragon rail enforcers return with her to the camp, following her lead, eager to see this power that can stop bullets. The camp is abuzz with activity. The women prepare pemmican from Tatanka's holy meat, make shirts of cotton and leather festooned with stars, crescent moons, and birds, while knots of people form around Wovoka, Horn Chips, Kicking Bear, Eagles Floating On Gentle Breezes, and Screaming Rabbit herself. There is no real communication, but it seems as if Rabbit has been given the task of preparing the Chinese rail workers, the women, and the young, training them in the steps.
The preparations are followed by an enormous feast. The entire contingent of Oglala and Minniconju on the mountainside gather around a roaring fire, sing praises to the spirits, and partake of the food. The Chinese contingent cling closely to Rabbit, clearly a little uncomfortable by being surrounded with so many unfamiliar faces.
At the fringes of the feast, The Hooded One watches. He makes no move to join in, speaks no words to curse the gathering, he just stands, glaring at the assembled, his face hidden in the shadows of his robe. None approach him, save one: Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Wicasa.
Every Lakota present seems to recognize him, and points him out to Rabbit. Sitting Bull, too, is quiet as he watches the proceedings, but his frown speaks volumes anyway. The two watch in silence for quite a while.
In the Hunting Grounds
some mood music
It has been some time since Thunder Walker died, and was saved by Moses from the town of his nightmares. Time is difficult to gauge here, in the dream-like lands beyond the night sky. Thunder Walker has spent the time in the den of Laughs At Darkness, the puzzling shaman in the coyote skin. The two train as they wait for the call of the Ghost Dance. Laughs At Darkness is a trying master, demanding and more than a little free with that stick of his, but Thunder Walker has seen much in his time here.
"The time draws near." The shaman says one day, out of the blue.
"Are you willing to return to the land of the living?"