"We will leave this man in peace," he said.
Her lower lip jutting out, Water Flows Fast let Three Horses pull her away through the crowd.
White Bear sat with his eyes downcast to discourage people from talking to him. Gradually the rest of the crowd dispersed.
The back of his neck bristled. He knew Redbird was in the wickiup behind him. Sooner or later she must come out.
To have her so close after all this time, to know she was there and to hear nothing but that terrible silence, and yet to sit with his back to that buffalo-hide curtain, all this was a torment for him. The urge to jump up and tear the curtain away pressed against his resolve to hold himself still. He thought he might explode like a barrel of gunpowder.
He forced himself to breathe slowly and pretend that he was hidden in shrubbery with a bow and arrow, watching for a deer.
After a time—he could not tell how much time—a face was peering into his. Dark and square. The brown eyes brimmed with tears.
His eyes opened wider. Sun Woman was kneeling before him.
"My son." She reached out to him, and he scrambled to embrace her. When her strong arms held him he felt like a little boy again.
He sat back to look at her dear face, wet with tears. Resting beside her on the ground was the familiar basket with blue cloth cover that she used to gather herbs.