Buck sat his horse on the rise above the Kiowa encampment. It hadn’t been hard to find. He knew his brother well, knew what his brother would have advised the elders as to a place to camp for the season.

Buck had removed his shirt and hat before approaching the camp. He sat now waiting to be acknowledged. After a certain amount of time had passed, he nudged his horse forward, riding slowly down the hill and into the camp.

He was taking a chance coming here. While he had proven himself a Kiowa the last time he had been here, he had also been asked to leave. He had no idea what type of reception he was about to receive. It was something that he had not voiced to Teaspoon when they had talked of his visit with Red Bear.

Warriors surrounded him as he moved into the camp. Some poked at him with rifle barrels or the ends of bows. But none challenged him at first. In fact a few nodded at him in acknowledgement. He was halfway into the camp before he was roughly pulled from his horse by a group of three warriors. He didn’t fight them. One warrior pushed him, as if to provoke him. He wasn’t going to fight these men, but he wasn’t going to give in to them either. He continued walking.

As another warrior was about to push him once more, Buck heard a voice commanding the warrior to stop. He turned toward the voice as it drew nearer him.

"Hello brother."

Red Bear made a horizontal slicing motion in the air and the warriors backed off and went on their respective ways. Red Bear stood in front of Buck. Then he suddenly gathered the younger man into his arms in a welcoming hug. He finally pushed Buck out to arm’s length, his hands remaining on Buck’s shoulders.

"It is good to see you Running Buck, but you have taken a great risk to come here."

"I know."

Red Bear studied his brother’s face.

"What is wrong?" he asked as he placed his arm over Buck’s shoulder and led him to his lodge. It was a teepee befitting the war chief, painted with power symbols and tales of Red Bear’s conquests.

The two sat in front of it, a small cook fire sitting merrily off to one side. A woman walked from behind the lodge carrying a pot of water from the creek, which she hung over the fire. Buck looked at his brother, his eyebrow raising in question, as the woman knelt and began adding vegetables, meat, and ground nut flour to the pot, stirring it with a bone spoon. The woman cast furtive glances at Buck, but said nothing. She moved off to do some other chore and Buck could wait for the answer to his question no longer.

"Brother? Have you taken a new wife?"

Red Bear nodded unhappily. "The elders felt it necessary. She is Climbing Vine, Raging Water’s sister. The elders felt a union between our war chief and the daughter of Tree Frog would be beneficial to us against the blue coats. Neither of us had a choice in the matter."

"I take it she is an unhappy wife."

"She understands the arrangement. She is a dutiful wife." Red Bear sat quietly for a moment in contemplation. "So little brother why are you here? What troubles you?"

Buck told him about Ike’s death and about his attempts to find peace. He told of the frustration the others were feeling with him as he struggled to accept Ike’s loss and of Teaspoon’s suggestion that perhaps the Man of Dreams could help him. While he talked, Climbing Vine moved around the lodge area, preparing the evening meal for her husband and, whom she had learned from others, his brother.

Red Bear listened to Buck’s tale. He knew his brother better than anyone, knew by the sacrifice he had been willing to make for his friend when the Kiowa had captured him just how much Buck had cared for the boy called Ike. He also knew the depth of feelings his brother was capable of. Running Buck had more compassion than it was safe for a warrior to have. And yet, contrary to his compassion, he was a very brave warrior when the need arose. Red Bear would be proud to have the young man at his side in battle if the opportunity ever lent itself.

Members of the village passed by as the two brothers talked. Many of them Buck knew and he was surprised to hear many of them greet him as though he were there every day, as though he were not the half-breed they had scorned during his childhood. Buck found this puzzling and asked Red Bear about it as they ate, Climbing Vine serving the men first as was proper. Buck had to stop himself from asking if Climbing Vine were going to join them.

"You proved yourself Kiowa the last time you were here," he said calmly, as if the answer were obvious.

The two continued to talk well into the evening. Climbing Vine ate when the men were done, then joined the other women down by the creek to talk and clean the wooden bowls and utensils just used. She returned to Red Bear’s lodge and prepared sleeping robes for Buck, then sat nearby weaving a basket by the cook fire light until her husband had something else he needed or they turned in for the night.

It was very late when they finally went to bed. Red Bear was aware of Buck’s quietly tormented sleep, watching his brother as he tossed and turned, and he became determined to help him find peace and acceptance.

~*~*~

Climbing Vine was up with the sun, Red Bear and Buck not far behind her. Buck hadn’t realized how much he had missed his brother until last night. It felt good to talk to him as he had when he lived here with him. And looking around the village, watching the outwardly carefree life around him, it was easy to put aside the worries and concerns he had brought with him.

Buck knew life in the village was not as easy as it appeared on the surface. At best it was a life of feast or famine, more famine lately than feast with the intrusion of more and more white settlers and their demands for land. Whole Indian villages were being wiped out or moved onto reservations against their wills, left there to starve or die from the numerous white man’s diseases.

Villages were constantly on the alert for attacks from both white men and enemy tribes. They often had to travel great distances to find food, meat especially being hard to come by as the buffalo, once plentiful, became scarce. Even in the course of Buck’s young life, he noticed the changes in the land, and their way of life, that the white flow caused.

They ate the breakfast Climbing Vine prepared for them, then Red Bear went about his duties in the village, Buck at his side, getting reacquainted with village life. Buck was still amazed at the reception he was receiving. Apart from the three warriors who approached him upon his arrival, no one else bothered him. In fact they acted as if he had been among them for the last six years as an accepted member of the tribe, instead of living amongst the whites. He began to feel at ease, lowering his guard just a bit.

Buck talked with some of the elders, the wise men wanting to know, like Red Bear had, what brought Buck back to the tribe. They agreed to let Buck talk to the Man of Dreams again.

Buck spent the evening sitting at his brother’s side as Red Bear and the elders discussed plans for a hunt the following day. The elders agreed that Buck could be included and the two brothers headed off to sleep.

On to Chapter Two