next to her. That woman turned, and then the
whispers spread in every direction and more and more people looked. The
crowd parted, making a path through which Sun Woman walked with her
stiff stride. White Bear followed.

At the end of the pathway through the crowd sat Owl Carver and another
man, side by side at the door of the sacred lodge. Owl Carver's long
white hair spread like a snow-covered spruce tree. His chest was bare
save for his necklace of megis shells, and was painted with diagonal
stripes of blue and green, the colors of hope and fear.

White Bear slowed his steps, studying the man seated beside Owl Carver.
His heart thumped hard when he saw who it was.

This was the man he had seen in his vision with the White Bear and the
Turtle. He stood still, his mouth open.

The vision-man had black hair streaked with white, tied with a ribbon at
the back. His face was dominated by a powerful beak of a nose. He must
have spent much time in the sun; his skin was tan, though not as rich
and dark as the skins of White Bear's people.

A beloved face caught White Bear's eye. Redbird was standing among the
people, looking not at the stranger, but at White Bear. Their eyes met,
and hers were wide with worry. He wanted to take Redbird's hand and run
with her into the forest, away from all these people and from whatever
made Redbird and his mother look so miserable.

And especially away from the thin, pale man who was now staring at him
as intently as a hunter with drawn bow watches a stag.

And yet, the pale eyes stranger had been part of the vision that had
given White Bear his new name and put him on the path to becoming a
shaman.

_He must be a good man if he appeared to me with the White Bear and the
Turtle. And he must be important to me._

"Sit here, White Bear," said Owl Carver, and White Bear walked slowly
toward him. Owl Carver gestured that he was to sit beside the pale eyes.
White Bear felt his heart fluttering as he sat down. Owl Carver pointed
to a place beside himself for Sun Woman. The four formed a semicircle,
backs to the medicine lodge, faces toward the crowd of curious people.

As was the way of the Sauk, the four sat for a long time with no one
speaking. White Bear's body grew colder and colder, and he had to fight
to keep from trembling.

After a time, White Bear turned to the stranger and saw in the gaunt
face a mixture of pain and joy. The man's pupils were a strange, almost
frightening g