Little Feather

Chapter 9

A couple days had passed since little wolf expressed interest in wanting to marry me and by then everyone in the village had heard including Nek. I knew she wanted me to marry him and thought highly of him and knew he would be a great chief one day. I also thought he would too and I knew any women would lucky to be married to him. I knew I had to wait til the current chief and the gods made a decision in the matter. It usually took several days or sometimes weeks or months to know what the gods really say or do and it sometimes took our shaman some time to figure out what it meant and what it represented.

As I went to go get some water from the lake, mud slushed under my feet as I approached, making squeaking sounds as I went. Birds chirped and the blue sky had many clouds floating around high above us and the sun shined bright in the sky. The grass would blow in the wind every so often and once in a while a bird would fly in and out of the grass again and again doing a little dance as they went. Bugs buzzed around in the grass, occasionally flying off from one blade of grass to the next. I put the bucket in the water and ran it through the water once to make sure it wasn't collecting any mud or dirt in it before getting some clean water that filled the entire inside before making my way back towards camp. It became warmer as the day went on and the ice and snow began to quickly melt under the sun as it shined brightly on the ground. It was noisy with the sound of children playing and running and people walking about doing little tasks here and there. But before I knew it, it was the day of my womanhood celebration and everyone was hurrying to get everything ready and done for the evening. Nek and my sister helped explain what was to happen tonight and what I should do when the time came for the ceremony to start. I was nervous about everything and couldn't help but show a worried look on my face as my sister held my hand and squeezed it gently.

"Little feather, you'll be fine and we know you will do just fine during the ceremony. We'll be there if you need us." Nek said gently with a small shadow of a smile on her face. I continued to hold my sister's hand as I reached for Nek's hand to reassure her that everything was going to be okay and there was nothing be worried about. Once we were done talking, they helped me prepare the ceremonial outfit for today. They each took a braid from either side of my head and began to untangle them so Nek could brush my hair out and my sister could paint my face with ceremonial paint. Once that was done, I was dressed in ceremonial clothing and was told to wait inside until I was called for. The clothing was light red color and had white feathers on the hem of the shawl and dress. Nek had placed a black hair band on my head dawned with a couple blue feathers on one side. My sister has also placed long strands of beads around my neck and helped place feather earrings to complete the outfit.

I sat waiting in the hut for quite some time, taking a sip of water every so often when I got thirsty or was nervous. Everything was quiet til I heard the sound of footsteps approaching the entrance of the hut. The flap of the animal skin cover was pushed aside to the right ever so slightly and in peeked Stoa from behind the doorway.

"Are you ready? Everyone is waiting." She asked me as I slowly stood up from where I was sitting.

I nodded my head yes in reply and she motioned for me to follow her to where the ceremony was held. I followed her out of the tent, hurriedly along behind her as we walked towards the edge of the village and to a big bonfire in the distance. In the distance, I heard the sound of music and the loud rhythm of drums beating like hearts off in the distance and people chanting as we approached closer and closer to them. The glow of the light shined on some of the faces of the crowd and I could see people standing while others chanted and slowing keeping in rhythm with the drums. Everyone was dressed in bright colors and beautiful celebratory clothing covered in feathers and headdresses of white, blue, red and yellow like on one big feather of a bird taking flight.

People starting making a pathway for me to where the bonfire was in the middle of the crowd and where the shaman was waiting for me. Stoa had taken her leave and went into the crowd as her duty was done and it was time for mine to begin. I walked through the crowd of people and as I did so, I could feel the many eyes of people staring at me, many with blank expressions on their faces as they waited for the shaman to start the ritual of womanhood.
First the shaman greeted the crowd and told us why we gathered here tonight before having everyone say a ancestral prayer, the music quieted down as we did so, eyes were closed and people held each other's hand in silence. Once it was over, the shaman continued to speak and recited the words for the passage of womanhood as he put paint on my face to indicate that I went from being a girl to a woman. The shaking of bells rang once then twice once he had finished putting the paint on. He then put a wool blanket on me, made up of blues, reds and whites with a black threaded pattern in the center. I held onto the ends of blanket with both hands to make sure it didn't off as I walked or turned around while being there. Shaman then turned me around to face the crowd and then announced that the ceremony had ended and I was now a woman. Chanting and singing began again and I hear the faint sound of the bells chiming a few times before people began coming up to me making circles and singing or congratulating me for now being a woman. Once it was over, we all gathered where the food was and started the feast.

Everyone gathered around the bonfire, eating, laughing and smiling as some played music while others danced and their shadows danced around the outline of the fire as they do so. I felt relieved that I made through the ceremony and could relax a bit, but the thought of marrying little wolf weighed heavy on the back of my mind. I finished my food before cleaning up and heading towards the woods a bit. I walked a little but not too far where I couldn't see the light of the fire or everyone around it. The frogs croaked and the crickets chirped in the distance and I could faintly see bugs buzzing around in the dark. The wind blew a little breeze and I could hear the faint sound of leaves rustling along with maybe a couple of leaves brushing along the ground as the wind blew them a ways from the tree in which they fell from. I sat in the grass, listening to the sounds around me and sighed. A small white wisp of air came out as I did so, quickly fading away in a instant. I sat there for a good while before coming back to the village but as I was doing so, I thought I saw the faint sight of smoke rising up in the sky in the distance coming from the tree line. At first I thought I imagined it and thought maybe it was a trick or someone who wandered off into the trees, my mind telling me to hurry back and forget the whole thing. I hurried back to the village, pressing the sight into the back of my mind and decided to enjoy the feast.

"There you are. We were wondering where you went. Little wolf has been looking for you." Stoa said giggling as she came over from talking with Tek and grabbing the side of my arm and walking with me to the camp fire.

"I was taking a moment to myself out in the field nearby." I said.

"I see. I know the ceremony can be a bit hard to get through sometimes for some women and it feels like a relief when we can have a moment to ourself and just think." She says, loosing her grip on me as she did so.

The fire felt warm against my skin and gently covered me in bright red glow around me, making my shadow dance as it flickered and moved in the night sky. Embers once in a while would fly off and float away in the air as if they were little butterflies dancing and fluttering about, doing a little dance as they did so. Stoa and I stayed there talking while everybody around was either dancing, singing, talking or eating food for a while, before we heard the unexpected sound of a loud scream and shout coming from the north side of the campfire then the unmistakable sight of settlers running towards us on horseback, guns in hand and ready to kill.