away, girls.
(They go out, the girls with them. But Bright Water lingers, and comes back to the Chisera.)
Chisera —
Chief's daughter?
Call me by my name.
Bright Water, what would you have of me?
Can you – will you make a charm for one going out to battle whose name is not spoken?
How shall the gods find him out, if he is not to be named?
(Earnestly.) Oh, he is handsome and strong in the shoulders; the muscles of his back are laced like thongs. He is the bravest —
(Laughing.) Chief's daughter, whenever I have made love charms, they have been for men handsome and strong in the back.
(Abashed.) I know not how to describe him.
(Still smiling.) And his name is not to be spoken? (Bright Water continues to look down at her moccasin.) If I had something of his: something he had shaped with his hands or worn upon his person, that I could make medicine upon —
Like this?
(Takes amulet from her neck and holds it out.)
(Taking it.) Did he give you this?
He made it.
(Examining it.) It is skillfully fashioned.
Will it answer?
To make a spell upon? Yes, if you can spare it.
Shall I have it again?
When the time is past for which the spell is made.
Make it, then; a powerful medicine against ill fortune in battle. And this for your pains, Chisera. (Holds out bracelet.)
(Proudly.) I want no gifts. Keep your bracelet.
(With equal pride.) The Chief's daughter asks no favors.
But if a Chisera choose to confer them? (With sudden feeling.) What question is there between us of Chief's daughter and Chisera? We are two women, and young.
(Uncertainly.) The Chisera is the friend of the gods.
And therefore not the friend of any tribeswoman? (Passionately.) Oh, I am weary of the friendship of the gods! If I have walked in the midnight and heard what the great ones have said, is that any reason I should not know what a man says to a maid in the dusk – or do a kindness to my own kind – or love, and be beloved?
(Moved.) Therefore take it (offering bracelet again) as one woman from another – and you shall make a charm for me for love.
(Taking the gift.) I shall make it as though I loved him myself.
(Startled.) Oh, I did not say I loved him.
(Smiling.) No?
(Studying the pattern of her moccasin.) Is it true, Chisera, that you have been called to the Council that decides upon the war leader who is to be chosen in my father's place?
I am to inquire of the gods concerning it.
(Diffidently.) Chisera, I have heard – my father thinks – Simwa, the Arrow-Maker, is well spoken of.
(The first note of the love call is heard far up the cliffs. The Chisera starts and controls herself.)
(Coldly, in dismissal.) Simwa needs the good word of no man. It shall be as the gods determine.
(Goes over to hut. The love call sounds nearer.)
(After a moment's hesitation.) Farewell, Chisera. (She goes.)
(Looking up the trail.) Ah, Simwa, Simwa, what bond there is between us, when, if I but pronounce thy name in my heart, thy voice answers.
(The love call is repeated far up the cliffs above her hut, and she answers it, singing:)
Over-long are thy feet on the trails,
O Much Desired!!
Dost thou not hear afar what my blood whispers,
Betraying my heart as the whir
Of the night-moth's wings betray the lilies?
(As she sings, Simwa, in full war dress, comes dropping down, hand over hand, from the rocks, until he stands beside her.)
Did you not hear me when first I called?
I heard you, Most Desired. When do I not? Even when I sleep, my heart wakes to hear you. The women have been with me.
You know, then?
That this very night a war party of ours must go out to meet the Castacs.
And before that there will be a Council to choose a war leader? Has the Chief told you?
Not since this latest word, but yesterday he bid me prepare a strong medicine, for he thought the election would be made by lot. But I did not tell him, O Much Desired, that I had already made medicine a night and a day to let the choice fall on you. A day and a night by Deer Leap on Toorape, where never foot but mine had been, I made medicine, and the answer is sure.
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