The First Shall be the Last
For now, the man calling himself Henry Strong-Bird, was asking for the baby and motioning for them to come along with him, down to the campsite, and to be with the people he called the Tewa. Lara took Monica's hand and they made their way down the hill.
They were greeted with open arms. Smiling women welcomed them and many greeted Len with hugs. The many children followed him excitedly, even the youngest of them and begged to see the baby Len carried in a basket. He bent down on a knee and lifted the blanket from her face, and she looked at them with somber blue eyes.
They were entranced with her pink skin and touched her feathery strawberry hair lovingly. Len smiled and nodded.
He received many more hugs from the children and then their mothers shooed them off and went back to the things they were doing.
They were a modern people of which Lara was surprised. They were somewhere between their ancient native culture and anyone else. They seemed happy in this place of coexistence with tribal tradition and the twenty-first century, and Lara was instantly intrigued by the mystery of their joyful and peaceful nature.
As they were shown around the camp by the elder men, Len was taken off by Henry, Lara figured, to see this Basket Weaver Woman. Edward Feather-Dancer led them around and finally showed them an area they could make camp. Nathan and Buck went back to get the vehicles and Lara sat down with Monica and Deag to watch over the kids. Hollis and Verbena were no where to be found but Lara did chance to see them as they connected with relatives. Keith was with them and he was busy trying some baked goods the women had baked in a clay oven. The look on his face was comical as he savored every bite and they plied him with as much as he was willing to eat.
Nathan and Buck brought the vehicles over carefully weaving through the camp with the dogs running alongside. They parked them against the trees and Deag jumped up as they started to unload everything, setting up the tarps and soon Hollis and Keith were there helping. Verbena came with a basket full of meats and cheese, some of the breads and lots of fruit. The kids sat right down, and Lara was so glad to see their hearty appetite. She made Monica eat and watched her worriedly. She knew the girl was suffering with PTSD and she planned to get help for her as soon as she talked to Verbena.
After getting their bellies full the kids fell asleep with Monica under the tarp and Lara asked Verbena to walk with her, so she could talk to her about Monica.
All the guys were on the lakeshore fishing and Buck was lounging near the tarps whittling so she and Verbena made their way down near the water where a dock jutted out into the crystal blue waters of Cimarron Canyon Lake.
〰️
In the dim light of a primitive hut at the back of the grounds where the Tewa tribe had taken refuge in the weeks following the viral contagion, Basket Weaver, the Medicine Woman who was also known as Mother Onawa, sat listening to Henry as he explained to her that Len had returned and had brought with him the one searched for.
"Bring the child to me."
Len entered the hut and placed the basket at her feet.
"Leave us," Mother Onawa directed quietly.
Henry and Len did as she requested and when the tent flap closed behind them, she carefully unwrapped the squirming baby, barely a month old and peered down at her with care. She reached in after a moment and lifted the baby out, holding her in the air in front of her. The baby squirmed and kicked but was otherwise content. Mother Onawa looked into her penetrating blue eyes and smiled. The child truly was the one the Heron had spoken of in her vision. A child, red of skin and hair would appear to her to mark the time of waiting.
"Tuwa-Pantch," she proclaimed with happiness. Their land would be restored, and the red earth daughter would rise with many visions and many, many words, hearing the voice of the elders and when the child became of age the waiting would be done.
Mother Onawa called for Len. He came in and sat down with her. She handed the baby to him and picked up a small painted gourd filled with dried seeds and shook it as she hummed.
Len waited patiently. He closed his eyes and the methodic sound filled the hut as the Basket Woman sang and shook her Hola gourd. Eventually she stopped and looked at Len with a serious expression on her wrinkled brown face.
"Len Cloud-Song, you will be the one responsible for Tuwa-Pantch. Until she comes of age you will be her guardian. What do her people call her?"
"They have not called her with any name, Mother Onawa. Her mother is waiting for the Father to name her.
"Ah," Mother Onawa breathed. "You do not know her father do you?"
"No," Len answered truthfully.
"Tonight, you and I will have a celebration for your arrival. We will ask the Great Spirit to tell us who she is to be called."
Len nodded.
"Now I want to ask you about the aimless ones. The ones who walk with no sight."
"I saw a great many of them, Mother Onawa. On the Mesa Verde they came. They are stricken with the sickness which does not harm our people. Soon they will die out, but others will take their place until none are left. This is a time of renewal for the first peoples, but the Tuwa-Pantch was chosen by the Heron to live. Through her we will become one people, one nation. Her blood is protected and the nation which rises from her shall finally know peace."
Mother Onawa rested a hand on Lens shoulder and closed her eyes.
"You will teach her all the things I taught you Cloud-Song. She will be my granddaughter, daughter of my son. Go and tell the people you have a daughter. Our time of waiting will not be long."
Len placed the baby in her basket, took her and left the hut.
Mother Onawa was satisfied, and she shook her Hola and continued her song as he left her.
"Our Mother the earth our Father the sky!
Your children are we and with tired backs we bring
The gifts that you love
Then weave for us a garment of brightness
May the wrap be the white light of morning
May the weft be the red light of evening
May the fringes be the falling rain
May the border be the standing rainbow
Thus, weave for us a garment of brightness
That we may walk fittingly where birds sing
That we may walk fittingly where grass is green
Oh, our Mother the Earth, oh our Father the Sky!"
〰️
When Len returned to Mother Onawa later that evening, with the baby, the others stood outside the hut in the proper fashion of the naming tradition, but the two young women who accompanied him inside would not be going out to perform their common ritual.
This child, sent by the Heron, would receive her name from the one Mother Onawa had made her guardian. Her son, Samuel Lensey Cloud-Song.
"Len Cloud-Song. Has the Great Spirit spoken to you for the child?"
"He has spoken. Father Sky has shown me, she will bring life and peace to us. She will be known by all as Shiloh. Daughter of Peace. The one who has been sent."
Mother Onawa bowed her head and nodded. She and the two young women chosen as witness picked up decorated rain sticks and chanted in unison, following Len outside where he stopped before the people. He handed his Sitsi, a daughter chosen for him by the Great Spirit, to Nathan and looked out over the faces of the gathered community including his niece Verbena and her husband, Seth and Haven and all the ones he had survived with over these long months and spoke.
"The Sky Father has given us a daughter. The Heron chose Seth as the forerunner who brought her to us and now, we give honor to her mother Haven, with a feast. She has given us Shiloh; peace, and so her name shall be."
The End