Page 17 of Red Hawk's Woman

What was this? A vision at last? Or was she here with him now? Smiling at him, tempting him?

Ehh-fee? He mouthed her name, watching as a bubble of oxygen formed. He rubbed his eyes. But when he gazed forward once more, no one was there.

His spirits sank. However, a deep voice spoke up from behind him. “Seek out the water being. Seek what the water being seeks.”

Red Hawk spun around in the water.

Who was it that addressed him? He looked outward, then swam forth gently.

“Seek out the water being. Seek what the water being seeks.”

Red Hawk rubbed his eyes yet again.

Was it a fish or a monster that confronted him? If it were a fish, it was the largest one he had ever seen, bigger even than he was. If it were a monster, it might be one of the sea dogs that were rumored by the Blackfeet to exist. Whatever it was, it was about seven feet long from head to tail.

Mouthing the words, Red Hawk asked, “Are you my helper?”

But the monster/fish didn’t answer. It said instead, “The Creator has given you many clues, but you have not recognized them.”

“What clues?”

Again, the sea dog did not answer, except to say, once more, “Seek out the water being. That which you must find is that which the water being seeks.”

“Water being? Is that you?”

“Four golden images, when all in a row, slaves your people will be, no more.”

“I don’t understand. What images? All of what in a row?”

“Seek out the water being. That which you must find is that which the water being seeks.”

Red Hawk’s lungs were almost at the bursting point, and he knew he required air soon. But he was unwilling to surface. Not yet. He mouthed again, “I don’t understand.”

But the sea dog had nothing more to say, and with a flip of its tail, it spun around and swam away.

The water being? Who was the water being? He knew of no water being.

What else was it the sea dog had told him? That the Creator had already given him many clues.

What clues? Red Hawk was aware of no earlier hints given him that would indicate what he must do. Unless…

Could it be that the early morning mists were the Creator’s way of giving him help? It was certainly a time of day that he loved most, for always it reminded him of her.

Could that be the sign for which he hungered? If it were, he had been foolish, indeed, to have ignored it these many years.

He carried his conjectures further. Pretend for a moment that the mists were the Creator’s way of speaking to him, what would they have shown him?

That the mists raised his mood? That they allowed him to feel closer to…something. To her, perhaps?

Was she the water being? What if all those years ago, the Creator had sent the young girl to him on the very day he had been picked as champion? What if she had been more than a girl whose company he enjoyed? If she were his vision come to him in the flesh?

At last Red Hawk’s lungs protested too much, and the need to breathe blocked out further thought. He surfaced at once, gulping down the life-giving air. But his attention was as far removed from concern over his physical well-being as if his body no longer existed. Instead, he heard again the words of his spirit protector, who appeared to be a sea dog:

“Seek out the water being. That which you must find is that which the water being seeks.”

Ehh-fee.

Could it be? Had he not thought at first that she was part fish? Had not their entire encounter occurred in or near the water?