Part 113: Back To The Bluff

Main story folder & table of contents: "Return To Manitou Island" 
Previous chapter: "Part 112: Tough Love" 

PART ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN:
Back To The Bluff

MANABOZHO HAD ALWAYS been a good runner--rabbits had to be--yet he certainly wasn't doing very well today.

He slipped and tumbled every few leaps, getting up and brushing himself off as best as he could after every spill, gritting his teeth and stumbling on his way. His moccasins were soaked straight through, as the snow which had been lining the ground was now turning into piles of messy slush. He cast glances at the treetops as he went and yelped every time a great gout of the stuff came spilling down toward him, just barely missing his head; by the time that he cleared the woods he was wet from head to foot, and more than a little bruised, his feathers sticking out every which way. He made a face as he approached the lake, pulling off one moccasin and hopping along on one foot as he shook it out.

An arrow whizzed past his face and he gasped and collapsed, jerking his head back to see it disappear into the forest. He turned back to see a strange man with yellow eyes running his way, wielding a bow and letting out a gurgling shriek. Manabozho gawked and then held up his hand, ready to call up a wind or--something--before the man halted in his tracks, spine arching, and then fell to the ground. Manabozho stared at the glimmering arrow shaft protruding from his back before it vanished into thin air, then he blinked a few times, confused.

Thudding footfalls caught his attention and he glanced up just as Niskigwun reached the fallen man, halting beside him and panting heavily. He leaned his hands on his knees for a moment, then took the man by the shoulder and rolled him over. He looked around a bit, then poked at the snow and picked something up. He held it between thumb and forefinger and then tucked it in a pouch that he was carrying, and noticed Manabozho at last, lifting his head and blinking at him in seeming surprise. The two of them stared at each other.

Niskigwun finally scowled and came his way, savagely tugging the pouch shut. "You could make yourself useful," he muttered.

Manabozho frowned and started clambering to his feet, though he slipped and fell again. When he looked up Niskigwun was offering his hand; Manabozho scowled this time and pushed himself up. He had to wipe the slush off of his hands and couldn't conceal his disgust as he did so.

Niskigwun just shrugged.

"Help you what?" Manabozho snapped. "I thought you were taking care of this problem on your own."

The Michinimakinong rolled his eyes. "Do I have ten arms? I already have most of the bits of the spirit stone, but there is a horde of strangers here, wondering where on the earth they are. Since that huge lunk of a brother of yours is seeing to the Shadow Wolves, I hoped that perhaps you would feel up to herding them out through the Arch."

"Back to the Island--?" Manabozho blurted out. "Are you CRAZY? At least here they're contained! If they head back--"

"What do you think they will do?" Niskigwun retorted. "Now that they have no Wendigo spirit stone they are not powerful, they are just confused! It's your Island--figure something out!"

"Oh--so it's my Island now," Manabozho huffed as Niskigwun started walking up the bank. "Only when it's convenient for YOU! I thought it was YOUR Island!"

"I never even claimed this," Niskigwun said in a voice that a tired parent might use on an ill-tempered child.

"Yet look who moves in and decides to make it his own once trouble starts!" Manabozho had to put out his hands to keep from falling; how did Niskigwun walk so easily in that slush? "Convenient how all of you are gone right until the moment comes to claim all the glory! And then, you suddenly care about the Island again! Convenient how--"

Niskigwun stiffened, then whirled around and came at him so abruptly that he nearly fell over again. "I am tired of this!" he snapped, jabbing his spear at Manabozho's face. "I am tired of hearing all your whining about what awful people we are! Right now that is HARDLY the issue! Do you think I care one bit that you are not one of us--? Do you see yourself being tossed out of the Arch? No? Then put your head on straight and think! Everything is not about YOU!"

Manabozho clenched his fists. "I can say the same about you! So before you even think of ordering me around, remember who was not considered good enough to even set foot here until now!"

Niskigwun lost all his composure and waved his arms in the air, wings flailing. "GET OVER THIS STUPID ISSUE!!" He flung his spear down into the snow; several Michinimakinong began appearing from the woods, staring up at them in puzzlement. "Do you even SEE me telling you to leave?! Don't you realize there are bigger things to deal with right now? The longer you argue with me about this the longer it will take us to get back and get this over with!!"

"Back--?" Manabozho echoed.

Niskigwun jerked his hand toward the top of the slope. "THE ISLAND, STUPID! Right now there is a MAINLANDER out there doing everything she can to fix this mess! Do you hear me?--a mainlander! Not an Islander, not a manitou, not a Michinimakinong!" He snatched up his spear and his lip curled back. "If you hate me because of what that woman did, then fine--I hardly like you myself! But you could at least hold off on it until this is all through!"

He turned and stormed back up the slope. Manabozho watched him go several paces before clambering up after him. He grabbed onto the butt of Niskigwun's spear to pull himself along as he had started slipping again; the Turtle Fairy glared at him, but didn't shake him loose.

"What?" he snapped. "You mean you are actually coming, now--?"

"The mainlander?" Manabozho panted. "You said she was doing something! What can she even do?"

Niskigwun's nose wrinkled. "Whatever she tries! While you sit and sniffle by yourself, she is out there trying to bring your brother back!"

Manabozho let go of the spear. "How?" he barked. "She doesn't have this power!"

The Michinimakinong glared at him in disgust. "As if that has stopped her before--?" He turned away again. "Either start rounding up those strangers, or head back through on your own--either way, be useful for once! Since you are falling far short as it is!"

Manabozho stood on the slope as the other Michinimakinong made their way up past him; they glanced at him, yet he ignored them, staring after Niskigwun. He glanced over his shoulder, back toward the lake and the man who had been left in the melting snow.

Charmian. She's...she's doing that...?

But what can she possibly do--? Go to the Spirit Land hersel...

He blinked, and his eyes grew. He sucked in a breath and started trying to climb again, then fell to his hands and knees; he scowled and crabwalked back toward the bottom, grabbed hold of the Iroquois's arm, and started trying to drag him along. He didn't quite know how he would round them all up, but decided that he would worry about that later.

* * * * *

The path crusted with hard ice as Charmian and Moon Wolf walked through the woods toward the east. Thomas walked some distance ahead, holding his hand out in front of him to keep the trail from melting into slush, as great glops of the stuff continued to tumble from the trees overhead. Already the temperature had risen dramatically, and more and more green foliage, although sopping wet, was beginning to show all around them. Charmian had to blink often, not used to the sight of something other than stark white. She sighed to herself, rubbing at her eyes, though it wasn't the scenery that was making her eyes blur.

Moon Wolf peered at her. "You do believe me," he said after a long while spent in silence. "You could never be like Ocryana. I knew her. There is no part of you that is like her."

"You don't know me that well then." She lifted her head, and her eyes were red but at least they weren't streaming. "You know that we're not too different...?" When he just looked at her she let her stare drift back toward the trail. "The way I figure it, both of us just wanted what we thought was the right thing. And we did everything we could to get it. Only when we got it, it turned out it wasn't the good thing we thought it was...we just let the real good thing slip right out of our hands. And then we spend the rest of our time trying to fix all the messes we made." Moon Wolf averted his eyes, but it didn't matter as she too was shrinking in on herself. "Messes we wouldn't have made in the first place if we hadn't been so fixated on that one thing we thought was the good thing." She lifted her head and looked at him. "Ogimah-Quae said I upset everything. I can't help but keep thinking...maybe...even the first time I set foot here, maybe from that moment everything was supposed to go wrong. Maybe just by coming here I messed everything up. It could've happened."

His eyes grew hard. "You were called to the Island," he said. "Remember this. You never would have come if you had not been asked."

"But I didn't have to come. Tal Natha could've talked to Red Bird some more, and she could've settled it all on her own." She shrugged and sighed. "Or maybe that's it right there. By helping her, I set everything else in motion, and no matter what I do, things will always get worse. Who's to say that even if we do defeat Chakenapok...something worse won't just happen right after? Who's to say that the Island couldn't have survived if Ocryana was the only thing fighting it? Right now she seems kind of like the lesser of two evils..."

"You may wonder about this forever," Moon Wolf said. "It will not change things. Do you wish to seek blame?" He turned so that he walked almost sideways, and gestured. "Take a look, then, at everything each of us has done. Perhaps all is my fault--for leaving the Midewiwin, and seeking medicine from the demon. Perhaps it is Stick-In-The-Dirt's fault--for setting Ocryx free. Perhaps it is the trapper's fault, for coming here, and allowing others through. Perhaps it is some bird's fault for falling out of the nest at the wrong time. You could go on forever seeking blame, and maybe all of them are right, or maybe none. Things will always be changing, and even if you refuse to act, something else will happen."

"But what if I'm supposed to not act?" Charmian asked, brow furrowing. "How do I even know what I'm supposed to do--?"

He stared at her for a moment, then turned back to the trail and resumed walking beside her.

"If I knew this," he said, "do you think I ever would have left the Mide? Or joined them in the first place?"

Charmian opened her mouth, then shut it. She saw the look in Moon Wolf's eyes, and though she'd been seeing it a lot lately, it made more sense now. She'd assumed that he felt guilty purely about Shadow Water...but being a teacher who did not even know what he himself was supposed to do must have been galling, as well.

She turned away and stared at the path, Thomas still walking far ahead. "This is exactly how I felt after you died," she murmured. "I didn't know what to do. I'm used to people always helping me."

"You will not have this help on the Spirit Road," Moon Wolf said quietly. When she looked up at him, he didn't return her stare. "You plan to seek more than a vision this time," he continued.

She nodded, sensing that it was a question. "I have to cross over it. I was told that I don't have to die--I just have to 'come close.'"

"The Road will not help you this time." He looked at her. "Before you only spoke with it. This time, you will have to walk it. It is not meant that the living should enter the realm of the dead. The Road will do everything in its power to trick you."

Charmian's brow furrowed again. "Trick me...?"

"To keep you from the Spirit Land. It will know what your purpose is this time, and no amount of any gift you try to give it will sway it from its purpose." He lowered his voice somewhat. "I can give you only one bit of advice. Take always the most difficult path."

"Most difficult...?"

"The Road branches as it goes along, and some paths will seem easier or harder than others. It is up to you to determine which one is the most difficult and why. This is the one you must take. No matter how difficult it is. This is the only way you can reach the Spirit Land. The Road will tempt you, distract you, terrify you, and do everything it can to keep you from that path. You will have to use your head, stop, and think."

Charmian chewed slightly on her fingernail. She didn't much like the thought of that...what exactly would the Road deem to be the most dangerous path?--fiery pits?--raging water?--rockslides?...but if it took her to the Spirit Land... "I spoke with Yellow Turtle in Scott's Cave," she murmured, at which the medicine man glanced at her, his eyes plainly saying that he was surprised to hear that. "At the edge of the Spirit Land. He said that if I stay too long, my spirit might get stuck there. I keep thinking, Wabasso's gone there before me...if I might get caught...then what about him? How do I get him back?"

Moon Wolf stared at her for a moment before seeming to realize that she was being truthful. "From what I have heard," he said hesitantly, "the reason one's spirit gets 'caught' in the Spirit Land is because once they have reached there, they will not want to return. They usually have no reason to return."

Charmian frowned. "You mean...they get stuck there because they want to?" Her stared drifted to the ground. "I guess that makes sense..."

Moon Wolf slowed his step but she didn't notice. She continued walking on ahead of him, oblivious, until she felt him grasp her wrist, and she halted, glancing back. She noticed Thomas ahead of them and saw that they had come close to the edge of the East Bluff, and he was looking back at them with a frown of his own. Charmian turned to see that Moon Wolf was still holding onto her tightly, his eyes fixed on hers. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could he took a step forward and placed his free hand to her head.

Charmian blinked. "What--"

The words died in her throat. She felt something hot seeping through her skin, feeling almost like liquid pouring down behind her eyes and inside her skull. It actually made her sinuses hurt, until it seemed to fade, creeping down even further into her neck, her shoulders, her chest. She had the brief unsettling feeling of it winding its way down into her spirit stone, but she couldn't be sure; then, it began to fade away, and Moon Wolf pulled his hand away from her head. She touched her fingers to her forehead and frowned again.

"What...what was that...?"

Moon Wolf lifted his hands and looked down at his fingers somewhat sullenly. "The only thing of use that it seems I can do for you."

Charmian's brow furrowed. "Huh--?"

He looked her in the eyes, and the look in his own made her take pause. "I tried to protect you," he said, "though I did not do the best job..."

Charmian stared at him in silence for a moment before she began to understand. "Cave of the Woods," she said softly. "You were the one who took me back from Chakenapok." Her eyes grew. "And he couldn't sense me..."

"This does not work anymore," he said, sounding somewhat bitter. He looked at his hands again. "I did not have this ability before. This is not a Mide or a wabano power. I have to assume that he gave it to me...on purpose, or on accident, I do not know..."

"When he brought you back to life," Charmian said.

He continued looking at his hands, then shrugged. "It is yours now. You can make better use of it than I can. Perhaps it will help you keep your spirit safe, or find Wabasso, or something...I do not even know by now." She blinked when she realized that he seemed to be irritated with himself. "I am the one who has died, and even now I have barely anything to offer you," he muttered.

Charmian blinked again. "Moon Wolf--you taught me half of what I learned the last time I was here! That's hardly 'barely anything'!" She looked at her own hands and wiggled her fingers. "Who knows...what you did in Cave of the Woods...you probably saved my life there. Chakenapok was going to take my spirit. Maybe it'll help me here too." She glanced up at him and saw that he had averted his eyes, looking disappointed with himself; without thinking she stepped forward and hugged him. She felt his muscles tense, and could tell that he hadn't expected her to do that; she pulled away before she could upset him, and saw that his eyes had widened and his face had gone red. She smiled and pretended that she didn't notice, turning back to Thomas, who until now had been pretending to ignore them. "You've already done a lot more than you think," she called back as she jogged toward the bluff.

Thomas stood waiting. He pointed over the edge, and Charmian peered down at the Fairy Arch, snow dripping from its top and striking the bluff itself with wet plopping noises. They started making their way down the slope toward it.

"You're really going back there...?" he murmured; when she glanced at him he nodded in the direction of the shore. "Arch Rock."

She hitched a shoulder. "If it's the only way to get Wabasso back..."

"You know, most girls your age spend their time flirting with boys, or doing their hair. I have yet to meet somebody who spends most of their time climbing around on rocks, or fighting evil spirits. Not to mention climbing around on rocks while fighting evil spirits..."

"I haven't done that yet," Charmian protested. "I was dreaming when I fought him," she clarified, "and I wasn't climbing, I was sitting, and having a vision. And talking to a Road." At that he rolled his eyes, but didn't press the point. "Besides, I suck at flirting." She reached the Arch and eased herself down around it, trying not to slip in the snow, peering in through the hole. "I don't see anything...then again, I never do..."

Thomas opened his mouth, then glanced up to see Moon Wolf coming down the slope after them, and shut it. He gave Charmian a look, and she scowled at him.

"What?"

He shrugged. "One on one side, one on the other. And both of them coming here just for you."

Charmian's jaw fell. "You're not even saying what I think you're saying!!" she hissed under her breath so that Moon Wolf couldn't hear.

His smile grew absolutely nasty. "And you didn't see how red his face went when you--" He cut himself off when a ball of slush hit him in the side of the head, and had to spend the next few minutes wiping it out of his hair while Charmian shot daggers at him with her eyes. "I was just saying," he murmured, shaking off his fingers. "You draw a crowd wherever you go. Why you came through that dreamcatcher alone, I have no idea."

"I'm a GEEK where I come from!!" Charmian whisper-hissed, and now the both of them shut their mouths when Moon Wolf reached them. He gave them an odd look which said that he'd heard the whispering, if not the words, but he said nothing of it. They all looked at the Arch when it started to shimmer, and a moment later Niskigwun came out, stumbling a bit in the slush and leaning on his spear. His sides were heaving and his feathers all askew; when they looked at him he suddenly noticed them staring, and his face flushed a little, as if he had not expected them to be there.

Charmian leaned forward. "Well--?"

He blinked, then dug around at his side and pulled out a pouch. He held it out and Charmian looked at it. He rattled it and it made a clinking sound.

"Every piece...fifty-seven of them." He made a face. "If he decides to be useful, Manabozho should come through soon, with fifty-seven confused mainlanders."

Charmian let out her breath. "At least that's over." She touched the pouch with one finger. "Now what are you going to do--?"

"I will take them back to Geezhigo-Quae and let her dispose of them. Since they are of the old Island, she should know what to do."

Charmian frowned a little. "Well...why didn't you take them straight to her, then? You didn't have to come all the way back here first..."

The Michinimakinong blinked and his eyes grew. He got a look on his face much like the one that he'd gotten when she'd tossed her wrap over his shoulders, and turned and slipped back through the Arch, disappearing from sight. Charmian's brow furrowed and she opened her mouth in protest; Thomas started laughing out loud. She turned around to glare at him.

"Knock it off!!"

He threw up his hands. "He came all this way just to show it to you! Hello! What does a cat do when it kills a mouse--? It comes straight back to show it off." He started laughing again. "I can't believe how you treat that poor fellow..."

Charmian looked to Moon Wolf for support but he avoided her eyes. "Not YOU, too!" she cried.

He gestured in much the same way as Thomas had. "He came back to show it to you! You can think of any other reason why he would do this--?"

Charmian clenched her fists. "You two are UNBELIEVABLE--!!"

The Arch shimmered and she stepped aside just in time for Manabozho to come sailing out, landing in a muddled heap on the side of the bluff. He pushed himself up, shaking out his feathers, and glanced up at them; then he shot to his feet and gawked, and pointed wildly at the Arch.

"Big--big group of them!" he gasped. "Confused! Running! REALLY, REALLY UNHAPPY!!"

Charmian clutched at her vest in alarm, not sure of what to do. Moon Wolf reached out to nudge her and Thomas aside. "I'll stay and take care of them," he said, giving her a look. "They should be little bother now that they have no medicine."

"But--where will you put them--?"

"I'll think of something. Now that you know Niskigwun is all right, go on ahead to Arch Rock. Stop and speak with Stick-In-The-Dirt or Silver Eagle Feather before you do." He scowled and waved at them as if in irritation, stationing himself before the rock; Thomas took Charmian's arm and started helping her up again.

"I hope Black Elk Horn stays where he is," she murmured as they climbed.

"Trust me, I think he's the least of your problems." They didn't talk further until they reached the top of the bluff once more, panting for breath and brushing water from their clothes as they made it onto the trail to the Red Leaf Tribe. Charmian closed her eyes briefly and sent out a message for Mani, then opened them and sighed. "What are you going to say to Stick or Silver--?"

"I think he wants me to ask them for advice. They would know about seeking visions, but as for walking the Spirit Road, I have no idea. Moon Wolf's the only one I know of who's done that." She paused, and bit her lip. "Maybe."

Thomas stuck his hands in his pockets. "Now what was this about you being a 'geek'--? Do you have any odd habits that I should know about?"

Charmian's face screwed up. "Cripes! Don't tell me THAT has a different meaning here, too!"

He shrugged. "Where I come from, a geek bites the heads off of small animals."

Charmian groaned and ran her hands down her face. "I meant I'm a nerd. A dork." She looked at him and saw that he still seemed rather puzzled, and let out a gusty sigh. "A loser! There, is that clear enough?"

He gave her a very odd look now. "You're not still insisting on that spirit stone rubbish, are you--?"

"It doesn't have anything to do with my spirit stone." She drew in on herself and put her own hands in her pockets. "It's just the way I am." When he said nothing, she blurted out, "Where I come from, all I do is go to school, and go to the library, and go home and read some more. I don't have any friends. I just hang out on my own. You said you wondered why I came through alone, well that's why. Because nobody else would think of coming through with me."

He tilted his head. "Did you even ask--?" She started walking faster, and he blinked before jogging to catch up. "What is it--? Did I just say something wrong?" he asked; when she didn't reply to that he hopped along to get in front of her, walking backwards as they neared the abandoned campsite. He held up his hands. "You could at least let me know what I did to upset you this time."

"Nothing," she said, not meeting his eyes.

He stopped now so that she was forced to stop as well. "Charmian," he said, in a voice that made her grimace. "You're a lousy liar, you know. Either you tell me what I said, or..." He looked around himself, then shrugged. "Or we stand here all day."

She scowled at him. "That's a stupid threat!"

Another shrug. "This is a stupid fit."

"It's not a fit! It can't be a fit if it makes sense!"

"If what makes sense?"

"Me being a loser!" She threw up her hands. "I meant everything I said! This isn't the real me. You don't even know what I'm like."

Thomas furrowed his brow. "So...you've been faking yourself, all this time...?"

She gave a loud sigh. "No, I haven't been FAKING myself! It's just that--" She racked her brain trying to think of the right words. "Where I come from, all I do is go to school and read and go to the library. I don't fight demons or monsters or spirits, and I don't climb rocks, and I don't yell at Indian chiefs, and I don't beat up Wendigoes or chase around spies. I don't talk back to anyone and I don't fight back and I don't do anything that makes people afraid of me. I don't have anybody getting a crush on me and I don't have guys lining up at my door! No matter what you think! I'm nothing like this. I'm the complete opposite of this. This isn't the real me. You don't even know who I am."

He seemed confused. "And you wouldn't tell me this because--?"

"Because THIS is what you're used to! Right?" She gestured at herself, feeling utterly stupid; here they were surrounded by broken and shattered wigwams, and piles of melting snow, and they had to be talking about this. "You like the Charmian who takes on evil spirits and climbs around on rocks," she said, her voice cracking a little. "Not the Charmian who thinks checking out a good book is exciting. You like the Charmian who worries about saving an Island, not the Charmian who worries about getting a good math grade. That's the real me. Not this."

His brow furrowed again just as her vision of him blurred. "You think I wouldn't like you if I knew all that--?" he exclaimed.

She shrugged and scowled at the wetness in her eyes, rubbing it away. "It's the truth, isn't it? All you know of me is everything you've seen here. Why would you care about me on the mainland? I'm nothing like who you know now. This me, ninety percent of my life isn't like this at all. Of course you would never have a word to say to me in the real world."

He blinked, then looked offended. "You think the reason I like you is because you fight evil spirits?" he snapped. "That that's HONESTLY the only reason why I even talk to you--?"

"It's the TRUTH, isn't it?" she snapped back.

He put his hand to his chest and flailed his arm. "THAT'S how little you think of me? That I'd just be interested in you because you go around fighting demons and saving Islands--?" He scowled. "For your information, I find you interesting because you found me interesting! I talked to you and you actually stopped and talked back. And listened! And even after this--" he held up his hand and waved it, a little breeze of chilly air making her shiver "--you STILL talked to me! That's a whole lot more than anyone else on this Island has ever done. Did you know that you're the first person I've ever held a real conversation with--?" When Charmian merely looked at him with wet eyes he nodded. "There hasn't been anybody else with the time or inclination. And frankly, even if there had been, I don't think I would have felt half as inclined to talk to them as much as I've liked talking to you."

Charmian avoided looking at him, rubbing her eyes. "If you were on the mainland, you wouldn't have even noticed me," she said sullenly. "You never would've had a word to say."

Thomas crossed his arms. "But I'm not on the mainland, am I--?" he countered. "And if it's even half as big and crowded as they say it is, then you're right, maybe I wouldn't have noticed or talked to you. But you talked to me, and that's what mattered." Charmian sucked in a breath and took an inadvertent step back when he stooped to look her in the eyes. "Charmian, I don't care how many evil spirits or flying cannibals or whatnot you fight. I don't care if you'd rather spend your days reading in a library rather than climbing around on rocks. I don't care if you're the--geekiest geek in the world." Charmian's face screwed up and she hid it with her hands. "All I care about is that you care about other people. I can see that in how you treat everybody here. You do every single thing you can to help someone, even if they don't appreciate it. You have the most giving, selfless heart I've ever seen." She tentatively lifted her eyes to peer at him over her hands. He gave her a pointed look. "That's a whole lot more than I can say about anyone else on this Island. And there's no way you can convince me that you don't care about anyone on the mainland. Just the way you acted about that dreamcatcher is more than enough to prove it."

"My...dreamcatcher..." Charmian murmured. She couldn't believe that she'd forgotten about it.

Thomas nodded. "Your grandmother's dreamcatcher. You must have cared about her very much." He stooped forward again. "It just seemed to me that someone who cares about people as much as you do would be worth knowing. And so far, I haven't been proven wrong."

Charmian blinked and her face flushed. She ducked her head.

"I'm really boring where I come from," she said in a small voice.

He rolled his eyes. "Do you think that I'm a fantastic conversationalist, myself...?" He paused, then put his hand on her shoulder. "No matter where you come from--no matter who or what you are--it isn't where you are or how somebody else sees you that matters. It's what you do, and what you believe. So you're boring on the mainland. I probably would be too. But I know you'd be the same person, and I know you'd do the same things if given the chance. Your heart is way too open to hide that."

Charmian just sniffled and rubbed at her eyes. A loud whistle came from the woods, and they both glanced up. Thomas cast her a sideways look. "Besides," he murmured, "I really don't think I could stand you, if it was like this all the time."

Charmian's eyes grew, then her face went bright red. She opened her mouth but didn't get to speak, before Mani and his manitous, and the people of the Red Leaf Tribe, began filtering back into the camp.

* * * * *

Chakenapok stared silently at the image of the Island, its mounds and drifts of snow rapidly melting away, its greenery returning. He looked at the GeeBee pushing himself up from the ground, and rubbing at his head with a pained look, then glancing around himself in confusion; he looked at the strange mainlanders, creeping out of the Fairy Arch and peering around in bewilderment; he waved at the image, and it shifted, and he looked at the Michinimakinong, standing aside as the Sky Mother watched the tiny shards of dark crystal slowly melt in a pot of blue fire. Lastly he looked at the mainlander girl, standing in the ruined camp with the long knife, as the manitous and Islanders came slowly back into the clearing. He watched this all in perfect silence, his face expressionless.

"So you plan on crossing over yourself, do you," he murmured, barely even a question. "No matter what anyone says, you insist on playing yourself as a hero." He looked at his image of Manabozho, near the East Bluff. "Not so very different from someone else I know." He turned and stared at her image a bit longer as the Islanders moved around her, and his eyes glowed faintly. He lifted his hand and flexed his fingers as if testing something.

"And your wabano friend has no more ability to protect you," he said...and only then did his leer return, his eyes flashing yellow. They narrowed.

"Oh well. That gift I gave him, and that he gave you...can work both ways." And he clenched his fist, his pointed teeth glittering in the flare of fire.

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Part 114: The Reluctant Visionary  (13+) Charmian returns to Arch Rock for a long wait... #961543 by Tehuti, Lord Of The Eight

Please REVIEW if you rate.
Please DO NOT RATE if you won't review.
Thank you!

This item is NOT looking for literary critique. I already understand spelling/grammar, and any style choices I make are my own. Likewise, I am NOT seeking publication, so suggestions on how to make this publishable are not being sought.

This item IS looking for people who are simply interested in reading, especially in long/multipart stories, and who like to comment frequently. My primary intent is to entertain others, so if you read this and find it entertaining, please let me know so and let me know why.

If in the course of enjoying the story you do find something that you feel could use improvement, feel free to bring it up. Just know that that's not my primary purpose in posting this here.

If you have any questions about the story or anything within it, feel free to ask.

I do hope you enjoy! :)