up in the
shelter of her body, Redbird lay awake, thinking that she had never in
her life slept with a man. That was White Bear's fault, and she ground
her teeth in the dark as she thought of the wrongs he had done her.

_He left me in the Moon of First Buds, and he returns in the Moon of
Falling Leaves--six summers later._

One afternoon they had been lovers. And then he had gone to live with
the pale eyes. For nine moons she had carried his son and then given
birth to him. He had not been here to give the baby a birth name. Owl
Carver, the baby's grandfather, had to do that, embarrassed at the
necessity, complaining that the people were laughing at their family.
She knew Star Arrow had required that no messages pass between White
Bear and the tribe. But if White Bear really loved her, could he not
have broken that rule--even if he had smoked the calumet with Star
Arrow--at least once? For six summers White Bear had been as silent, as
absent, as if he were dead.

_Even the dead sometimes send a sign._

The next day the sky was cloudy, and the air warmer than last night. All
morning long women walked past Redbird's wickiup, looking curiously at
the man who sat there motionless. Like Redbird herself, they had never
before seen a man while his spirit had gone to walk the bridge of stars.
When men went on spirit journeys they always retired to the forest or to
caves.

In the afternoon He Who Sits in Grease, a Fox brave, came to Redbird as
she and Sun Woman sat before their doorway plaiting baskets, a short
distance from White Bear. The brave was carrying a stout bustard with
feathers striped brown, black and white. He hunkered down facing her and
laid the bird before her.

His thick lips worked nervously. "This is for White Bear," he said.
"When he wakes up. It is the fattest of the three that I killed this
morning. Tell him that He Who Sits in Grease gives him this gift. I want
him to ask Earthmaker to make the animals come to me more willingly when
I hunt them."

Before Redbird could protest, the brave stood up and backed away, his
eyes timidly averted from the figure outside the doorway.

_He thinks White Bear is holy!_ The thought made her more angry at White
Bear than ever. She wanted to kick him again, but women were watching
from a distance, and she knew they would make fun of her.

"Get _up_," she said softly to White Bear. "Go _away_," she said,
grinding her teeth.

She wished Owl Carver would come ba