Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 17:15:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Daniel Running-water <danielrunningwater@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Heart of a Warrior/ Chapter Ten/ Interracial

The Heart of a Warrior

By

Daniel Running Water

Chapter Ten

List of characters:

Strong Bear				69  	Chief

Yellow Hawk			50s	Strong Bear's husband

Hawk aka Thomas Hawk		42	Strong Bear's son

Shadow aka Trevor Spenser	42 	Twin brothers to Hawk

Flaming Arrow aka Clark	40	Married to Hawk

Moon Shadow aka Jason		25	son of Shadow and Moon Dancing

Captain Bradley Anderson	47      Army doctor

Eric Williamson			24	Married to Jason

Gary Thompson			39	Head of a movie studio

Previously in chapter nine:

Suddenly the office door flew open and a photographer started snapping
pictures of Eric and Gary. Eric held Gary to his groin so that the
photographer could get a clear shot.

Gary shoved Eric from him and got up from the sofa, but stumbled over
Eric's foot as he tried to run after the photographer.

"You are sick Gary... fucking sick," an enraged Eric said. "Isn't it bad
enough that you blackmailed me into having sex with you, but now you wanted
photos of us doing it," he yelled.

"Photos of us having sex... are you insane? I had nothing to do with that
man or with him being here," Gary shouted as he grabbed for his pants.

"Then who else would knew that you and I would be here doing this?"

"I haven't a clue, I thought that you had something to do with it," Gary
said, looking closely at Eric, to see if he were lying.

"Also, where is Linda today, huh... she is always at her desk and today of
all days she's not," Eric asked, fully dressed, his hands fisted and
resting on his hips.

"I gave her the afternoon off, besides, she is too dumb to think of
something like this," he shouted, worried now what would become of the
photos.

"I am done here Gary, not only with your blackmailing schemes, but also
with doing a film with your studio," Eric said, pausing at the door and
then slamming the door behind him and smiling as he left.

"Don't be so fast there sweetie, for you and I had an agreement," Gary said
angrily. "I still can destroy Jason and your career, now get that sweet ass
of yours back in here," he demanded.

Eric knew that Gary still held the cards that could destroy him and also
Jason, so he reluctantly closed the door. Eric was about to strip when a
knock on Gary's door caused him to stop and Gary to hurriedly dress.

"You just stay right where you are and let me take care of whoever is
knocking," Gary ordered as he walked to his office door.

When Gary opened the door his mouth dropped in surprise...

Now chapter ten:

"Gary... what are you doing here?" Gary asked, stepping aside when Gary
stepped into the office and locked eyes with Eric.

"I've come to get Eric, Gary," Jason said and walked over to Eric, took him
into his arms and boldly kissed him, causing Gary gasp. "I'm sure that you
can keep a secret Gary, after all, its not just our careers that are on the
line, now is it?"

"What are you talking... you, it was you that was behind that photographer
showing up earlier," Gary shouted and moved hurriedly across the room to
where Jason was standing.

"I have no idea as to what you are talking about Gary," Jason said smiling.

"Don't go playing coy with me Spencer, I'll bury you and your studio if you
ever let those pictures leak out," he threatened.

"How so Gary, and how would you keep your own career and reputation safe?
Yes I was behind those pictures, and I won't hesitate to have them leaked
out to the press," he promised, not threatened. "If I hear one word of
gossip about Eric and I being in a covert relationship, I'll not only
destroy you and your studio, but I'll kill you with my bare hands, Gary."

"You release those pictures and you'll be destroying Eric's career also, or
have your forgotten that he was the one sucking my cock?"

"No Gary, I haven't forgotten, but I made sure that Eric had his face
hidden and told the photographer not to catch Eric's face in the
photos. You see, the photographer works for me and he got quite a pay
increase for taking those photos. I also told him how you were blackmailing
him into having illicit sex with you."

Gary suddenly sank down in a chair, for he knew that he'd been defeated.
His eyes looked up at Jason's and Gary could see the determination that was
in them to carry out every word that he had said.

"You win Spencer, so when do I get the pictures that you took?"

"Now you are playing me for a fool, Thompson. I'll keep the pictures in a
safe place and no one but Eric and I shall ever see them."

Gary did not like the idea of pictures showing him in a sexual act with
another man, just floating around, but he also knew that he had no other
choice in the matter.

"Get out...get the fuck out of my office," Gary shouted.

"Have a good day, Gary," Eric and Jason said in unison as they walked arm
in arm from the office.

***

Strong Bear stood looking down at the grave of Yellow Hawk and cried. He
stood beside his two sons who were also crying.

"Twice in my life I have buried my heart," Strong Bear said looking at the
grave.

"Maybe you shall find another someday," Hawk said, hoping to comfort his
father, but Strong Bear only shook his head.

"My heart can no longer love again as it did," he resolutely said. "I have
known the love of two men that loved me with all that they had in them, and
I too loved them as much. No my son, my heart has seen enough love to last
it until I too meet them in the hereafter," he added, turning to first Hawk
and then Shadow. "Now go back to your husbands and let your father have his
last moment with Yellow Hawk."

Hawk and Shadow both hugged and kissed Strong Bear before leaving, leaving
him to mourn Yellow Hawk in his own way.

"I don't like how father is taking this, Hawk," Shadow said as he worried
about Strong Bear's mental health.

"He's still strong in spirit my brother, father will weather this as he
does everything else that life tossed his way.

"Look at what Walking Tall said to us about father after he lost White
Deer, he almost wasted away from the loss."

"And this time shall probably be no different Shadow," Hawk reluctantly
admitted. "Only time will tell how he does," he added.

"How is Strong Bear doing," Abe asked when he met them coming back to the
village.

"You know him better than I do, Walking Tall," Hawk said sadly, looking at
Abe as if he had lost his best friend.

"That bad eh?" he said. "And if I know him at all, he'll just let himself
waste away as he did years ago when he lost White Deer."

"What can we do Walking Tall, its not like he needs someone to sit with
him," Shadow asked.

"Even if you were to sit and watch him, he's going to do what he damn well
pleases, and besides, he nearly seventy winters old, so I would say that
he's lived a very full life."

"Ay-uh he has, but still, he's our father and I for one am not ready to
bury another father," Hawk said bitterly. "I am going to move him in with
Flaming Arrow and me, that way he'll have someone to talk to."

"You can try Hawk, but I am telling you that Strong Bear will die first
before he lives with you and for that matter you too Shadow."

The three men grew quiet when they saw Strong Bear entering the
village. Strong Bear walked along and only stopped when a young boy came up
to him and gave him a hug. They spoke for a few moments and after Strong
Bear ruffled the brave's hair, he walked on smiling toward his cabin.

"I wouldn't worry to much about your father, boys, he'll be just fine once
he gets past his mourning," Abe advised watching Strong Bear who turned and
waved at Abe, before entering his cabin. "Ay-uh, he'll be just fine," he
added again.

***

The weeks past and Jason and Eric decided that they had waited long enough
to take a vacation. They sat quietly in their living room and were
discussing their options when Jason saw something move quickly past a
window.

"Stay here Eric and be prepared to call the police," Jason warned as he
hurried to the French door.

He pulled it open and stepped out, gliding his eyes over the large expanse
of land that made up his back yard. As his gaze moved about, so did whoever
he had seen, hurrying from a bush, a boy fled. Jason took off after him and
just as the boy tried to crawl over the fence, Jason grabbed him by the
waist and pulled him back into the yard and down onto the ground.

"What is the idea of trespassing on my property," Jason asked, gazing down
into the boy's eyes.

The boy had to be around five or six Jason surmised. He had dirty, stringy
black hair and from the light that was shining in the boy's eyes, they were
as black as midnight. But what got Jason the most, was not how skinny and
dirty the boy was, but that he appeared to be Indian.

"What is your name son," Jason asked softly, his anger now quieting.

"What the fuck does it matter to you mister?" the boy asked bitterly,
struggling to get out from under Jason, who was straddling him.

"Then let me put it another way boy, do you tell me your name and why you
were trespassing, or do you tell it to the police?"

The boy looked into the black eyes of Jason and knew he had no options.

"Lone Eagle, but most just call me injun," he reluctantly said.

"Then why were you trespassing?" Jason asked again.

"Someone always sets out a plate of food for me each evening," Lone Eagle
said, referring to Jason's cook and housekeeper.

"Why would anyone do that," Jason asked as Eric came outside to join them.

"Because I cannot stand seeing a child go hungry when we have so much,"
Eric said as he came up beside Jason.

"How are you, Lone Eagle," Eric asked, kneeling down so that he could be
eye level with the boy.

"Do you know this boy, Eric?"

"I really don't know him per say, but I've seen him begging around the
studio commissary for food. So I just mentioned within his listening range
how someone could find an evening meal on our patio and then said my
address."

"Lone Eagle thanks you for your kindness, but I shall not trespass
anymore," he said turning to leave, but Jason placed his hand softly on the
boy's shoulder and stopped him.

"I'm sorry Lone Eagle for the way that I treated you earlier," Jason said
after he placed a finger under the boy's chin and pulled his head
upward. "Why don't you come on in the house and have a bite to eat," Jason
asked, holding out his hand to the boy.

Lone Eagle stood there for a long moment and then placed his small hand
into Jason's and followed him back to the house. Although he knew about
Eric's kindness, Lone Eagle still doubted Jason's.

"Now please tell me Lone Eagle, why are you alone here in Hollywood, much
less in California," Jason asked while Eric went to get the boy something
to eat.

"My mother's husband, who was not my father, brought us here and then left
us," Lone Eagle said, watching Jason's eyes carefully as they spoke. "Then
my mother got sick after many long months of looking for food and shelter
for us and she never recovered, leaving me alone in this strange city."

"How old are you and what tribe do you belong to?"

"I am seven winters old and a proud brave of the Choctaw tribe in
Mississippi land." He said, puffing is small chest out. "My true father was
a proud chief and was killed defending land that a white man left to our
tribe."

Jason remembered how a white man that had been friends with his father's
tribe had left his land to those that stayed behind. He knew that once
Walking Tall, their son, learned of this injustice, he'd make it right.

"I am Choctaw also, Lone Eagle," he said and the boy's eyes widen with the
news. "My father was the chief of my people but stepped down so my uncle
could be chief."

"Do you think that they would take a young brave into their village?" he
asked, looking pleadingly at Jason.

"I know that they would, but let's not talk about that now. Eric is back
with some food so why don't you eat. We can talk about your options after
you finish eating."

"Ay-uh," Lone Eagle said and just hearing that Choctaw word caused Jason's
heart to yearn for his people.

Jason motioned to Eric to join him on the patio, while Lone Eagle ate. "I
want to adopt him and raise him as our son," he said softly once they were
outside.

"Really Jay... you don't know how much that makes me happy. I have been
feeding him for almost two weeks now and had wondered how to approach you
about taking the boy in."

"You were wondering how to approach me... babe, all you had to do was ask
me. Have I ever given you a reason to fear asking me anything?"

"No, but asking for a new suit or car is nothing compared to asking you to
take in a child and raise him as our own," Eric said.

"I don't ever want you afraid to ask me anything, darling, now let's go see
if our little man is interested."

"Yes...oh yes I am interested," Lone Eagle shouted as he burst out onto the
patio, rushing into Jason's arms.

Jason caught the boy as he leapt into his arms and hugged him tightly to
him. Lone Eagle's arms were rapped around Jason's neck as he kissed Jason
on the cheek.

"Why you little snoop... you were listening to our conversation," Jason
said smiling, not wishing to alarm the boy.

"Ay-uh," he said, hanging his head in shame. "I needed to know what was
going to happen to me," he added in barely a whisper.

"Look at me...son," Lone Eagle turned his eyes up to meet those of Jason
and had tears in them. "Never lower your head in shame, for you are a
mighty Choctaw and always be proud of that. As I know that you heard when I
was talking to Eric, I never want you to be afraid to come to us about
anything," Jason said, Lone Wolf nodded and then hugged him again.

"Then may I ask you why your name is Jason, and not a Choctaw name?"

"My name that was given to me at birth was Moon Shadow. It was a
combination of my mother and father's names. My mother was Moon Dancing and
my father is Shadow."

It was then that something struck his memory, remembering back to the way
of life for the Choctaw, especially the way of the chief and he smiled. He
knew that as long as Hawk remained childless, this boy could someday become
chief.

"Tomorrow I shall speak to my lawyer and have him arrange the legal papers
necessary to adopt Lone Eagle," Jason told both Eric and the boy.

"Then who shall be my father," he asked looking from Jason, to Eric and
then back to Jason.

"We will both be your father," Jason said, watching the look of
bewilderment on Lone Eagles face.

Jason sighed, for now it was time for him to explain his and Eric's way of
life to the boy.

"I need you to listen very carefully to what I am about to tell you, Lone
Eagle, and once I am done, you can decide if you still wish to live with
us."

Jason, Eric and Lone Eagle walked over to the sofa and sat down, with Lone
Eagle between Jason and Eric.

"Lone Eagle... I... Eric...oh how am I going to do this Eric," Jason said
looking over to Eric for help.

"What Jason is trying to say, Lone Eagle, is that he and I are in love and
we live together as a married couple," Eric said plain and simple to the
boy.

"Like my mother and true father did?" he asked.

"Yes, but the only difference is that we are both men." Jason added.

"Then you are what my people say as having two spirits," Lone Eagle said,
surprising them with his knowledge.

"Exactly, we both have two spirits," Eric said reaching past Lone Eagle to
take Jason's hand.

"And white people accept this also?" Lone Eagle asked.

"No they don't son, but so far only our people have accepted it. Also son,
we don't go around announcing that we are married either. We keep our love
quiet from others." Jason said, now comfortable about his and Eric's
relationship. "So now that you know about how we live, do you still want to
be our son?"

"Ay-uh... I am happy to be your son, father," he said hugging Jason. "I am
also happy to have you for a father," he said to Eric and then hugged him
also.

"Why don't we go to your family's village and share our new son with your
family?" Eric suggested.

"Yes, I would like that, what about you son, would you enjoy meeting more
of your new family," Jason asked and the boy nodded, because he was
fighting back his need to cry. "Did your mother ever teach you about her
people, their ways," Jason asked.

"No papa, she wished me to grow up as a white so that I could reap the
benefits of their society, she had told me."

"Then I shall see that you are taught all that being a Choctaw can be," he
promised. "I was raised in the ways of the Choctaw, Lone Eagle, and I am
much better for it."

Jason missed his Choctaw roots, but he knew that he could not... would not
ever return to living as poorly as his people do. He no longer wanted to
experience the hatred and prejudice that he felt growing up.

"My grandfather shall love teaching you the ways of our people," Jason
said, gazing down into the wide eyed boy who was hanging on is every
word. "But first things first, I need to make you legally ours," he said
looking over Lone Eagle at Eric, whose eyes were glossed over with tears of
happiness.

***

"Father, please, you need to eat or else you'll waste away," Hawk said,
sitting beside Strong Bear, who sat stoically staring into the fire.

"I do not wish to eat, nor do I wish to live any longer," Strong Bear said.

"So you seek the coward's way out," Hawk asked, knowing that his words had
to have cut deeply into his father's soul.

Strong Bear quickly turned his eyes toward Hawk, grumbled beneath his
breath and then turned them back to stare once again into the fire.

"You are just being stubborn, father," Hawk angrily said and got up
abruptly, leaving Strong Bear alone as he hurried from the cabin.

"How is our father today," Shadow asked, seeing the anger in his brother's
eyes.

"He still refuses to eat and join the land of the living," Hawk told his
brother.

"There has got to be a way to pull father back to us and the living,"
Shadow said. "There just has to be," he sighed as he thought about ways to
do this.

***

Strong Bear sat so quietly in front of the fire that one would have to feel
his pulse to see if he were alive. His heart was completely broken, as was
his spirit. He missed his Yellow Hawk so much that nothing but Yellow Hawk
mattered to him. There was something else... no it was someone else that
pulled at his heart, White Deer.

Strong Bear lowered his head and drifted off into a trance, as if his body
and soul had separated, with his soul drifting aimlessly off into the
spirit realm. As he fell deeper into the realm of sleep, he felt his soul
leaving his body behind. He gazed down and saw himself sleeping and gasped.

"I have died and now I am beginning my walk to the hereafter," he said, no
longer feeling afraid, but joyous to see White Deer and Yellow Hawk again.

"No my husband, you have not died, but I have been allowed by the Great
Spirit to return to you in this realm. We are neither in the land of the
living, nor in the land of dead, but between them where all life and time
comes to a halt," White Deer said, suddenly beside Strong Bear.

"Gah-ween, surely this isn't so," Strong Bear said, shocked to see his
first husband standing in front of him, young and handsome again.

"Ay-uh, I am here and we have been blessed with a time to share what we
once had, for the Great Spirit has seen your pain and felt your loss.

White Deer could see many questions in Strong Bear's eyes, the most
important being his Yellow Hawk's whereabouts.

"Yes my husband, Yellow Hawk is among us and waiting for you, but he is not
yet able to come to you. He heard when our Great Spirit told me that I
should come to be with you and asked me to tell you that he loves you."

"I was blessed with two men that loved me and me, them," Strong Bear said,
seeing how handsome White Deer looked.

White Deer looked as handsome and young as he did when he and Strong Bear
had first met, before life and the hardness of life had aged them. Strong
Bear gasped and quickly moved into White Deer's arms when he held them out
to Strong Bear, beckoning him to come into his sweet embrace.

"I love you White Deer, and even though I was blessed with finding Yellow
Hawk for a mate, you never left my heart," Strong Bear said, and then
lowered his mouth to White Deer's in a kiss that was not only emotional,
but all consuming too.

"It was our love for each other that I took with me, my love," White Deer
said, resting his head against Strong Bear's chest.

"Can I... am... am I allowed to make love to you, my heart?" Strong Bear
asked, holding White Deer in his arms.

"Ay-uh my husband, come and I shall take us to a place that is familiar to
you," White Deer said and when he took Strong Bear by the hand, a mist
enveloped them for a moment.

When the mist had lifted, Strong Bear and White Deer where standing beside
a water fall, the very one that they had made love beside when they were
but young men.

"This is the place where we made love together for the first time," Strong
Bear said, seeing how beautiful it was and when he looked into the mirror
like reflection of the water, he too was young.

"Ay-uh my dear, sweet husband for you are young also," White Deer said,
stepping away from Strong Bear to get a better look at his husband.

Strong Bear stepped closer to his White Deer and framed his face with his
hands, pulling his mouth to his in a sweet kiss. "I love you and I need
you, White Deer," Strong Bear whispered against White Deer's lips.

"I love you also, my husband," White Deer whispered back, weaving his
fingers through Strong Bear's raven black hair and urging Strong Bear's
lips to his in a heated kiss.

Ecstasy coursed through Strong Bear and White Deer with such an intensity
that both men nearly dropped to their knees, the moment was that
intense. While they kissed, White Deer slid his hands down Strong Bear's
sides and when he came to the waistband of Strong Bear's loincloth, he
eased his fingers beneath it and slowly eased it over his husband's hip,
letting it drop to the ground where it puddled around his ankles.

When Strong Bear had stepped from them and his manhood free, White Deer
wrapped his fingers around Strong Bear's sex and gently moved his hand up
and down on the shaft until it had reached its full length.

White Deer closed his eyes and reveled at the way Strong Bear moaned and
grew rigid in his hand, remembering how it was that first time together. He
moved his hand on Strong Bear's engorged member until he felt Strong Bear's
moan changing to a climatic groan and he released his grasp and stepped
away from Strong Bear, hurriedly undressing and letting Strong Bear look at
him.

"Let's go to paradise together, my love," White Deer whispered and Strong
Bear stepped forward, lifting White Deer into his arms.

As he walked over to a thick bed of moss, White Deer tenderly nibbled and
sucked on Strong Bear's nipples, causing Strong Bear to sigh with
ecstasy. He lowered White Deer down to the moss and covered White Deer's
body with his own.

"It has been to many moons since I have felt your body joined with mine,"
Strong Bear whispered and White Deer gasped when he felt Strong Bear's
mouth surround his nipple and gently bite it.

"Ay-uh my husband... it has been far too many moons," White Deer sighed, as
he entwined his fingers through Strong Bear's thick hair and held him to
his breast.

Strong Bear's mouth moved to White Deer's and his tongue began
seeking... searching and probing as their bodies pressed tighter together
in love's embrace. Unable to wait for their bodies to join as one, White
Deer lifted his legs in surrender and sighed when Strong Bear thrust his
manhood deep into White Deer's heat. White Deer became lost in ecstasy,
shuddering with each deep, long stroke that Strong Bear gave him and he
lifted up to meet them eagerly.

Their hunger was mutual and only their love for each other could control
it. White Deer's body molded perfectly to Strong Bear's, his head tossing
to and fro as Strong Bear's lips found a nipple and suckled it. White Deer
found himself moving rapidly closer to the precipice of his climax and
pushed Strong Bear away from him, needing to put off their climax. White
Deer knew that once they had both found paradise, his time in this realm
would come to an end.

Strong Bear's eyes widen when he found himself on his back and White Deer
now straddling him. White Deer reached behind him, wrapped his fingers
around Strong Bear's throbbing sex and gently lowered his warm, velvet
sheath down onto it, surrounding Strong Bear's sex with warmth.

Leaning back and placing a hand on each of Strong Bear's thighs, White Deer
began riding his husband's cock. His hips rose and fell while his muscles
tightened around Strong Bear's sex, milking it.

Strong Bear reached up, moved his hands to White Deer's chest and began
running his thumbs around his taut nipples, hardening them more. He pinched
and twisted them; causing White Deer to toss his head back in ecstasy as
his ass moved urgently on Strong Bear's sex.

"You have me so close darling...oh so close," White Deer moaned, feeling
his pleasure rising.

Strong Bear quickly turned them over and once again, he was on top and
thrusting deeply into White Deer's ass. White Deer clung to Strong Bear and
moaned as Strong Bear's thrusts became more urgent... more
demanding. Strong Bear's arms held White Deer closer...tighter as his mouth
took White Deer's in a savage kiss, their tongues dueling for supremacy
until White Deer surrendered and both men felt their ecstasy building, as
if a volcano were inside them spreading its fire through them.

"I'm cumming darling," White Deer moaned and spewed his seed between their
entangled bodies.

Strong Bear felt his husband's ecstasy and surrendered to the same wild
ecstasy as he thrust harder and deeper into White Deer, releasing his
seeds.

"Aaaiiiieeee," Strong Bear yelled out in complete bliss as his seeds spewed
from his manhood.

His hips pounded his cock deeper, faster and with passion as he found total
ecstasy in White Deer's body. Both spent and gasping for normalcy in their
breathing, Strong Bear refused to pull away, but clung to White Deer as if
his very arms could continue to hold him there.

"My time is over Strong Bear," White Deer said. "Another is coming that has
much to tell you," he added, moving from beneath Strong Bear and suddenly
dressed as he stood looking down at his husband. "Remember this love,
remember my love and how deep it is for you," he said with a smile.

Strong Bear quickly stood, grabbed White Deer into his arms and kissed him
heatedly, refusing to relinquish his hold. When he finally broke his kiss,
he gasped when he found that he was now holding Yellow Hawk in his arms.

"Hello my darling husband," Yellow Hawk whispered.

Strong Bear stepped back, surprised to find White Deer gone and Yellow Hawk
now standing before him.

"I am loosing my mind...truly this cannot be happening," Strong Bear said.

"You are not loosing your mind darling, this is all very real," Yellow Hawk
said, lunging into Strong Bear's arms and kissing him fervently.

"How...how can this be?" he asked. "First I make love to White Deer and
while I am kissing him, it is you that I am kissing," Strong Bear asked,
running his fingers through his hair.

"Your love was so great and strong that you had for us, that it was that
love that allowed us to come back to you, but for a brief moment." Yellow
Hawk told him, smiling warmly at the only man that he had ever given his
heart to.

"Moment...but it was more than a moment that I spent with White Deer," he
reasoned with Yellow Hawk.

"To you it was, but to those of us here, it was but a breath of time. I do
not have the time to spend in your arms, for I have not yet reached
paradise with the Great Spirit yet. I am still on my journey but you love
allowed you to walk with me for a while," he told him and when Strong Bear
looked around him, he was surprised to see that he and Yellow Hawk were
indeed on a road in the clouds.

"Am I dead?" he asked, seeing his body far below.

"Gah-ween my love, you are not dead," Yellow Hawk said with a chuckle and
then sighed, knowing that his time was brief. "I have much that I would
like to tell you, my love. But for now I shall tell you this, you shall
have many more winters before we stand together in paradise," Strong Bear's
eyes grew sad, for he did not want to live but he wanted to be with the two
men that he had loved.

"Gah-ween Yellow Hawk, I do not wish to return to the land of the living,"
he argued, knowing that it would not be his will done, but the Great
Spirit's will.

"You are still needed on earth and have much to teach our grandchildren and
yes, even a great grandchild before your time to join White Deer and I is
fulfilled," Yellow Hawk told him.

"But I have taught our sons everything that they need to know to be proud
men for our people," he argued, still hoping to stay.

"This is true Strong Bear, but they have forgotten much and it has fallen
onto you to teach their children and their children's children our people's
ways."

"How can this be, for Hawk and Flaming Arrow have no children and as for
Shadow, his son Moon Shadow is single and without children also," he
stated. "He knows the way of our people, oh please let me go with you," he
begged.

Strong Bear could feel that his hand was loosing its grip on Yellow Hawk's
and he panicked.

"Gah-ween... please stay Yellow Hawk, for I cannot bear to lose you again,"
he pleaded as he felt his spirit being pulled away.

"Soon my love...soon we all shall be together is paradise," Yellow Hawk
said. "But your time is not done on earth, for you have much to do before
you and I can be as one again," he confessed and then he pulled Strong Bear
into his arms and kissed him. "Go and purify your body in the river when
you awaken," he added and then kissed him again, but more powerfully.

Strong Bear closed his eyes and held tightly to Yellow Hawk as they kissed,
and when he opened his eyes again, he was sitting in his cabin before the
fire that blazed in the fireplace.

He smiled. "Thank you Great Spirit for my life and for allowing me one more
time with White Deer," he thankfully whispered, casting his eyes to the
door of his cabin as it quickly opened.

"Father, what is wrong," Hawk asked as he hurried to his father's side,
kneeling down beside him as he took the man into his embrace.

Strong Bear lifted his tear filled eyes to meet those of his son and
smiled. Hawk was confused by this sudden change in his father's demeanor,
and after helping the man to his feet, he urged him into a chair. Hawk
gasped when he saw a glow about Strong Bear, illuminating his face as if he
had seen the very face of the Great Spirit.

"Now tell your son what it is that has put this glow on your face," Hawk
asked, kneeling at his father's feet.

Strong Bear ran his hand softly over Hawk's handsome face and began to tell
him of the adventure that he had just had. Hawk listened intently to every
word that Strong Bear said and when his father was done speaking, he gasped
in wonder.

"Surely you have been given a great gift from our Great Spirit, my father,"
Hawk said to Strong Bear, who was still holding Hawk's face in his hands.

"There is still much that I must do before I am allowed to travel the path
of the hereafter," Strong Bear said softly and stood quickly to his
feet. "I need to go to the river and bathe," he said as he hurried from the
cabin, leaving a stunned Hawk behind.

To be continued...

I know that this was kind of different and I welcome your thoughts and
opinions... danielrunningwater@yahoo.com please do take a moment and let me
know what you like or dislike about the story. Although I enjoy hearing
from those few that have been reading since the first part of my Heart
Series, I would love to hear from you others that think I am being
bombarded with emails, when in truth I am not. Daniel