Isaugh told him that they will keep coming until they get what they want.
Your relatives knew this and still they tried to forgive them.
“My own father fought against them in the rebellion where that half breed led them into battle,” Isaugh said to him.
“If they didn’t then maybe we would not have been here.” “Remember that you came from a line of warriors who fought for the people. Your father married a woman whose family knew all about the Sundance”.
It is hard to understand them.” “Even the ones who have accepted our ways still have strange times in their minds when they ask us questions.”
He asked Isaugh: “How come they are like that?”
“They just have that way about them,” is all Isaugh said.
“We cannot change them but there is still a chance we can give them the same vision that Itaugh had for us human beings.”
“Kunshi and I took you from your parents because You were meant to follow a different path from everyone else. You are going to travel the world and learn from other humans. You will go into a strange war where you will kill people who you will never see. It will hurt you but it will teach you something about why they choose to kill until they get what they want.”
“One day, you will be back,” Isaugh said.
“We won’t be here anymore so you must say goodbye to us before you leave.”
“Your spirit will be many years ahead of you. It will always make you restless.”
“You will get older, and it will take many years of trying to catch up but you will listen to people’s stories and learn from them.”
“I was lucky to find your Kunshi from the Dakotas. She kept me going because she knew of many of the old ways.”
“You won’t know this for many years, I am afraid to tell you grandson but many will help you.” “It is what is laid out for you.”
He didn’t like hearing that but he listened to Isaugh and worked beside him for many years and listened to all that was said to him. He learned to hear what elders were saying and never forgot to thank people.
He learned the medicine of the gun. It was a strong medicine that helped him to feed families every year. He liked its medicine. One day it spoke to him as a spirit.
“We can help you to make a difference when the time is right. All you have to do is grab us and we will do the rest for you.”
This scared him and he put his guns away for a season. Other relatives filled the hunt for the people but he could not. He knew what guns could do. He fired much bigger ones into the night.
He saw the power of their medicine when it would take the life of another young relative without feeling. “How could he stop this?” he would ask.
The spirit spoke to him again.
“People want to use us all the time because we are so strong, yet they do nothing to honour us after we do as they ask. So we come to take something that they value. Tell the people to have a ceremony for us and feed us what they capture. We will feel like we are honoured and will return the respect to the people.”
“You must show restraint to make peace and not ask for us unless there is no alternative.”
“Remember when that time comes we will not rest until the battle is decided.”
“Tell the people to ask the women for direction. They know the value of life.”
Then the spirit was gone.
He must have just dreamt it. No one will believe him anyways.
