Lake in the Clouds by Sara Donati Read Free Book Online Page B

a moment.
    “Is that her name, Selah Voyager?”
    Hannah nodded. “It’s the name she has claimed for herself.”
    “Never heard that name before, Selah. Is it African?”
    “I don’t know. You can ask her when she’s feeling better.”
    “Is she going to die?”
    “Someday,” said Hannah. “But not today, or tomorrow either. Why don’t you go over to Many-Doves and see if she’s got any soup left over for me? I haven’t eaten since this morning.”
    Lily was already at her aunt’s door before she realized how gently her sister had weaned her away from her plans. She might have marched right back to tell her so, but Kateri was calling out to her and Lily could not resist being drawn into the half-circle of women around the hearth. Here was something more tempting than fishing: her mother sitting down and her lap empty, her knitting put aside for the moment. Lily stepped over Kateri to get to her, pausing to examine the face of Many-Doves’ youngest son, asleep in the cradleboard on her back. Pines-Rustling was there too, piecing new leggings for Runs-from-Bears while she kept an eye on Kateri, who hadn’t yet finished her part of grinding the day’s corn.Pines-Rustling was a cousin to Many-Doves; she had come to visit three years ago, and just recently Lily realized that she never intended to go away. This suited her very well;
    Pines-Rustling was generous with her many stories of the Kahnyen’kehàka at Good Pasture, and she had made Lily a pair of moccasins with the most beautiful quillwork. She admired them now as she climbed up into her mother’s lap.
    “I was wondering about you,” said Elizabeth. She spoke Kahnyen’kehàka, except it came out with a strange rhythm and turned-around sentences, just the same way that Pines-Rustling spoke English. Only the children were truly comfortable in both languages, but in this cabin everyone spoke Mohawk. Many-Doves and Runs-from-Bears had chosen to raise their family away from the Kahnyen’kehàka longhouses where they had grown up, but Many-Doves only let as much of the O’seronni world in as she found necessary.
    Lily rubbed her face against her mother’s shoulder, wiggling a little to make herself a more comfortable spot. “Sister sent me, she’s hungry for soup.”
    Many-Doves smiled without looking up from her sewing. “The visitor must be out of danger if Walks-Ahead has time to take note of her own stomach.”
    Elizabeth tucked a stray curl back into her daughter’s plait. “It is very good of you to look after your sister.”
    Lily wiggled like a puppy, pleased with this picture of herself as Hannah’s caretaker. She had always been a serious child, self-contained and earnest even in her play, but since Robbie’s death she had turned even more inward. She was often at odds with the other children, arguing with her twin and her cousins and then going off to play by herself. Daniel mourned Robbie too, but still he rose every morning to fling himself out into the world. Since their youngest had gone from them, Lily was truly content only here on the mountain, with her family around her.
    Too much like me.
Elizabeth set her daughter on her feet and pushed herself up. “Let us take your sister her soup then.”
    As soon as they were out of the door, Lily said in English, “What’s a bounty hunter?”
    Elizabeth stopped. “Where did you hear that word?”
    “Hannah wrote it in her daybook. That Selah Voyager fears bounty hunters.”
    Her first impulse was to scold Lily for reading her sister’s daybook, but this was an old battle and one Elizabeth feared she would lose in the end. Lily intensely disliked sitting in theclassroom, but she would read whatever came her way, regardless of warnings and repercussions.
    “A bounty hunter is a man who hunts down criminals or escaped prisoners or slaves and returns them for a cash reward.”
    The small mouth pursed thoughtfully. “Did a bounty hunter come after Curiosity and Galileo, or Joshua