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your life forever? Or do you really love me but are afraid of what others will think if you accept me? Are you only afraid I’m not really your son, or that I’ll betray you out of bitterness? How, when,and where can I find truthful answers to those tormenting questions?
    Chase sought to calm himself. He had to keep his head clear and his emotions under control to obtain his objective. Surely there was some important reason why he had been born here, had been taken away, and had been summoned back. But what was it? When would it be revealed to him? What would he be forced to endure before it was? So much had changed here in twelve years. So many Whites had intruded on Indian lands, resulting in so much hatred and violence, which no doubt would worsen as time passed and more settlers and soldiers came. The territory assigned to the Lakotas was a large one, but there were many bands—from the Seven Council Fires of the major tribes—to share it and to live off its offerings for as long as those life-sustaining needs were available. Once those necessities were depleted, the Lakotas would not—could not—hold to their treaty promise or be contained in this area.
    From what he had learned, it was evident the Whites didn’t comprehend the Indian way of life, and their demands were contradictory to those customs. The Dakota Nation had conquered the Northern Plains long ago and controlled it with the might of their great number and elite warrior skills. But the white man’s encroachment—which had begun and increased with the fur trade, California goldrush, and Far West settlement and all things which enabled those three realities to continue and expand—had thrust other large Indian Nations closer and into this vast domain; many of those tribes were fierce enemies of the Lakotas, such as the Crow and Pawnee.
    The pressing in of such powerful and skilled opponents had led to generational animosities. Battles over hunting grounds, for coups, retribution, and defense had become a way of life for Indians. With peace demanded by the treaty, there were no coups and glory to be earned, no plunder to be taken, no challenges to be met, no high ranks to be won, no need for warrior societies, no way to prove courage and manhood. This was like telling the grizzly to lose his claws; the eagle, his talons; a warrior, his strength, and honor, and purpose for being. A Lakota male’s existence centered around his family, band,tribe, Nation, the “Four Virtues,” the land and sky, the seasons, the animals, the hunt, his freedom, independence, his enemies, his training and prowess, and his belief in and worship of the Great Spirit, Wakantanka.
    The 1851 Laramie Treaty, called the Treaty of the Long Meadows by the Indians, was meant to change that lifestyle. Yet, two huge factors had been overlooked: not all Nations and tribes had agreed to the treaty and not all who had done so would honor their pledges. When only one band or tribe attacked another or Whites, all Indians would be blamed, for the white man saw all Indians as one group of people. Why couldn’t the Whites realize the Dakota Nation was as different from the Crow and Pawnee Nations as the American Nation was from the British or French or Spanish? Why couldn’t they remember how fiercely they had battled those forces for independence and freedom and for possession of this enormous country? Had they forgotten the Indians were here first? Did they really expect the Indians to allow them to just ride in and take over their ancestral lands, to wreak major changes in their lives, all for some scant and inferior annuities?
    On the other hand, Chase reasoned, did his father and brothers understand the grave situation—and him—better than he himself did? Did they truly understand the serious and deadly extent of the risks they would be taking if they challenged the Whites? Knowing the Army’s certain retaliation could mean extermination of his people, could he help kill Whites