Prelude: Homecoming

[Vardaen]

Hunts listens and nods to his brother. "I thought to search your warrior's hunting camp, not here." He considers tracking the thing backwards but the mention of the council is brought up. "If we know our children will be safe here when they return from the whiteman's schools, then I will go to the council and speak on wht I know."

[Trogdor]

"Yes," Speaks-to-Ravens nods. "The Council must be told." He looks over at his brother. "The children are important," he says. "More than important. But the safety of all our people must come first. Runs-with-Bison can care for the children. For if our village is truly gone, they are now his children too." Raven speaks with the finality of a shaman making a proclamation.

"The Council may have more information from other villages. We must find out if they know anything of the darkness."

[Bitom]

A few hours later, Listening Raven arrives out of nowhere with some of the children, then immediatly vanishes and soon is back with more. The camp leaves explanations of what happened to the two brothers, who are family of sorts, but has people ready to take care of the children once they know what has happened to their parents. During this time, Raven is very busy acting as the broken camp's Shaman for the children. Hunts is less so, but still has no time to break away until late into the night, when the children have all been put to sleep. Now Runs With Bison, Thomas Seeking Bear, Listening Raven, and the two brothers sit around the last campfire, planning for the next few days.

Listening Raven is an oddity. She is not a Shaman, but when it was discovered that the White man could work Magic, too, she was among the first to find out how. Through memorized arcane formula, she can work power upon the land in the way that the white men do. She carries one of their books with her, and her spells are differant from that of Speaks to Ravens. She is one of the council's advisors, but is not part of the council itself, nor is it likely that she will ever be. There is some argument about whether she should be allowed to teach the children, and her own Apache people deny her any rights, but Wandering Lynx, the Lakota representitive on the Council, has taken her in.

[Vardaen]

Hunts spends the day with the children, explaining the situation to those in the camp and to the children themselves. "Do not cry little ones, your mothers and father are with Wankan Tanka, the Great Spirit. You shall see them again some day, but not today. Go to sleep." He comforts some of the children and gets them into bed.

At the fire he sits crosslegged packing a long pipe with a soapstone bowl carved into the shape of an otter. He packs the red willow bark into the pipe and takes a lit stick from the fire. With tamper and 'match' he lites the pipe and puffs on it. Many long draws up the stem, running his hand on the outside from bowl to mouth as if drawing the smoke up with his hand. A cloud of smoke rings his head as he exhales puffing hard. Spinning the pipe clockwise he passes it to his brother before speaking. "Aho, friends. I speak out of turn, forgive me Thomas, but my heart is filled with your kindness to us. I give thanks for your kindness, for being generous and true of family. I pass the pipe to thank you, and to send my prayers of good will to the Creator. You are true Kola, true brothers."

[Trogdor]

"Our thanks for protecting the children," Raven echoes his brother's words. "Knowing that at least the children are safe puts our hearts more at ease. We owe you much for seeing to their safety."

He then turns to the matter at hand, wasting little time. "Listening Raven, can your magics bring us all, with horses, to Denver? Or would it be better to ride?"

Like many in the indian lands, Raven does not fully understand the woman's magic. But he likewise doesn't understand how the craftsmen make their clay bowls. But he eats from them just the same. Not everyone is called to speak with the spirits, he knows. All serve as their skills allow. And all members of a tribe should respect those varying gifts.

The female shaman clearly understood the whire man's magic. It was foolish for the Lakota to hide from such things like a prairie dog hiding from a hunting cat. So long as she kept the spirit's teachings in mind as she practiced this odd magic, Raven could not fault her for it. For that reason, more than anything else, he supported her position as a shaman. Where better for her to maintain that spiritual focus?

[Bitom]

"I could," says the woman, "in an emergency, but I do not like to. Horses do not handle the travel well. they tend to panic when the world changes around them. Denver is many weeks travel, and I think you will want to be back here and looking into these matters before the month is out. I will bring you there, you will meet with Wandering Lynx, and I will bring you back. You should not have need of your horses."

[Vardaen]

Hunts listens to the woman as he hands over the pipe. "If we leave our horses, we will need them. If we take them, we won't need them. That is how I have learned life is." He nods sagely as he watches his brother take the pipe.

[Trogdor]

"The horses that Hunts and I ride are very well trained," Raven explains as he takes a puff from the pipe. "We will explain the matter to them and they will not panic. If necessary, I will calm them with a song."

"But Hunts is right. If we don't have them, we'll likely need them." He hands the pipe over to Listening Raven. "I would prefer to bring them, if it's possible - though I will not be intractible about the issue."

[Bitom]

Listening Raven smiles, taking her turn at the pipe. Perhaps the smoke convinces her to tell the truth, perhaps she jsut doesn't want to argue anymore. "Bringing such large creatures is very difficult, and I have seen your pack of horses. It would take me several days to bring them all, and I really don't want to use all of my most powerful spells moving horses to Denver and then back. I understand that you are Lakota and fond of your horses, but you will not need them in Denver. If you decide to stay in Denver, I'm sure we can get someone to bring your horses there."

[Vardaen]

The brother nods to Listening Raven. "If it is too much difficulty, then we can survive without them. I will leave my horses here with you and call on them if we need to leave Denver on foot." He nods and agrees to being sent to Denver via the white man's magic, but not until after some good smoking, some good food and some good rest before hand.