Beneath the Stars Ch. 02

Calls to Them had touched the subject before, but it had never been broached again. Of course, she had been a fool not to consider this was what the people would expect of them. Hadn't they seen them under the courting robe? Around his lodge together? This was not a world in which men and women were simply friends-with-benefits in the 21st Century sense. No, bonds here ran deep, forged in the spirit world and tied to family and survival.

To refuse a gift was unthinkable. And in truth, would marriage to him be such a terrible fate? No, she did not yet know him well, but what were her options? With seeking out other whites being unthinkable and no way to return to her own time, Elaine considered the wisdom of having Tehanl Wanyanke to provide for her and protect her. To teach her, to talk to her. To make love to her. A shiver of pleasure ran through her. No, there were far worse fates.

"Mother, I am grateful," Elaine said. "It's beautiful. I accept this gift."

Elaine reached for the bundle, caressed its softness and marveled at how her life had come to this. It was almost too surreal to be believed.

"Mother?" She inquired. "How will this happen? I do not understand the way of marriage here."

"There are many ways it may happen," Calls to Them replied. "You are not a maiden, you had no one to protect your virtue so maybe it will happen more quickly for you since he knows he can already have you. He may steal you in the night. I don't know. I've said before, he is a strange man. His way may be different."

"But when will I know?" Elaine pressed.

At this, Calls to Them waved her hand, indicating that Woman Beneath the Stars had asked too many questions. Elaine took the hint and turned away, attempting to busy herself with preparing a breakfast of turnips and one of the hares which she and Calls to Them caught in snares set on the prairie.

What was it Tehanl Wanyanke had said of being patient? Whatever it was, Elaine's was growing thin. Two weeks had passed and he had vanished once more without a word. Summer was at its peak and the days, usually so busy with work, grew ever more lazy with the oppressive heat. Now, there was time to cool down in the river and splash at the children. Time to bead dresses and moccasins under the cottonwoods. Time to wonder where her betrothed had vanished to.

Elaine had begun to think Tehanl Wanyanke had abandoned any plans to hold true to his word when, one morning, she was roused by the whinnies of horses. They seemed to be right outside the lodge. Before she could rub the sleep from her eyes, Calls to Them shook her fully awake, thrusting the elkskin dress into Elaine's hands.

"Hurry!" She urged. "He has come to claim you, you must ready yourself!"

A burst of adrenaline shot Elaine from her sleeping robes. This was not at all how she imagined her wedding day, but then again, everything that had happened was so far beyond her imagining as it was. Quickly she slipped on the dress for the first time. It was like butter on her skin. As she fingered the quills and shells at the breast, Calls to Them tsk'ed and rushed behind her, quickly combing and braiding her raven hair behind her shoulders as a properly married Lakota woman should. When at last Elaine stepped into the brilliant sun, her heart shuddered at the sight of Tehanl Wanyanke.

His waist length hair was loose and lustrous in the late morning light and his flawless bronze skin slightly flushed at the cheeks a redder hue than usual. He was standing taller than he ever seemed to before in his finest shirt adorned with scalp locks and dyed a vibrant blue at the shoulders. In his hands he held the bridles of three beautiful horses and it was to Calls to Them he offered these.

"Mother-in-Law, since Woman Beneath the Stars has no father, please accept these humble gifts in his stead. They are but a fraction of the value your daughter holds for me."

Elaine had not understood everything, but she got the gist and was humbled by it. In a different world, reading of this custom in a book, she might have seen this as sexist. Like an exchange of chattel. But here, in this world, she saw it for what it was meant to be: A gesture of honor, of respect. An acknowledgement of her great value to Tehanl Wanyanke as a human being.

Turning to Elaine, Looks Far raised his hand, open-palmed and fingers spread before her. Elaine looked around them, uncertain of how to proceed. As this point a crowd had gathered about them, standing solemn and watching their every move. Turning back to Looks Far, head bowed and eyes downcast in the Lakota way, Elaine raised her own smaller hand to meet his. As their palms pressed flat together a great trill rose among the women in the crowd and the men shouted words of blessing. It became clear to Elaine that in the eyes of Wakan Tanka and the people, she and the strange man of the Lakota were now husband and wife.