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Sings-In-The-Morning was born in a Kiowa Indian camp, in the fall of 1844. Her father, a widely known and highly respected warrior called Standing Elk, had then four daughters, and soon three of them were married, in order to keep the tribe alive. Sings-In-The-Morning was thereafter treated as an only child, spoiled with her mother's love and her father's over-protectiveness.

Sings-In-The-Morning was named after all the early mornings when she had awoken her family, by crying in her cradle as a child. She could just as well have been singing, thought her parents.

Sings-In-The-Morning loved everything that was bright and warm. The fall, when she had been born, was dark and cold, and so she began to cherish the months from spring to late summer. Hearing birds sing and feeling the warmth of the sun meant a world to her.

Though considered beautiful and well-liked in the tribe, she was never very interested in the men. Her sisters had taught her how men could be, all cold and mean. They didn't know love. All that her sisters told her made her strong and self-confident, without a man by her side to protect her. Independent and almost too bold at times was how people knew her, and that wouldn't change until the day she met her true love.

In her early twenties, the Kiowa branch-tribe she lived in rejoined with its relatives in another Kiowa camp. They hadn't lived together for generations, but were now united again to hunt and look for food. And fight white soldiers.

The war chief in this new camp, known as Red Bear, took on the title as highest tribal chief, and ruled both camps as they became one. Sings-In-The-Morning came to know Red Bear quite well, as her father, still a warrior despite old age, had a lot to talk about with the new chief. After all, they had a lot in common.

Shortly after the reunion of the Kiowa Indians, a sole rider came through their land, spotted immediately by a young warrior, and also the new war chief, called Torn-By-Rage and his party. The rider was brought to the camp, and there he was recognized as Running Buck, a long lost half-white. And Red Bear's half-brother. Sings-In-The-Morning didn't know him at first, but soon learned more about him from Red Bear. He seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he had a slight limp, but never spoke of it. Something had definitely happened to him, and the mystery of what it was had Sings-In-The-Morning listening with keen ears as Red Bear continued to tell her about his younger brother. One day she realized she was being watched carefully, by the dark and sad eyes of Running Buck Cross.

Daring finally to go talk to him, she never realized it was the most important day of her life. Though it took time, several years in fact, the two finally joined in holy matrimony. Running Buck was the one to give her the nickname "Morning Bird" which she earned by getting up at crack of dawn every day, but to her parents and most tribal members she was and always would be Sings-In-the-Morning.

~***~

This is not the end of the story, actually merely the beginning! I have several pieces of stories to put together, where Buck's life with Morning Bird continues, and after the posting of that story, (which I hope it will eventually become) I suppose this page will have to be updated!