Bright Star walked quickly to keep up with Captain William. The group that was going was made up of herself, Captain William, Edward, Edward’s crony, and a few other men. They had guns.

Bright Star noticed the guns, but didn’t say anything.

“I thought she couldn’t speak French?” Edward’s crony asked.

“No, but she can speak English and the native language, Thomas,” Captain William said.

“Can she be trusted?” Thomas eyed her warily.

“We have her weapons,” Edward sneered. “We are her superiors.”

Bright Star bit her tongue. She didn’t want to speak unless translating. It was fairly easy considering her training to be completely silent.

When they arrived at the tribe and sat with the elders, Bright Star felt uncomfortable under the gaze of one in particular that looked half familiar.

“We’d like to make peace between your people and ours,” Captain William started.

Bright Star translated and the elder who was the leader and the one that she thought she recognized nodded.

“But how can we?” he asked.

Bright Star translated before another elder spoke.

“Moon Man is right,” the elder said.

Bright Star’s translation froze in her mouth.

“Translate,” Edward hissed. “What did he say?”

Bright Star quickly translated.

“Is she your translator?” Moon Man asked.

After the translation, Captain William nodded and said, “Yes.”

“What is your name?” Moon Man spoke directly to Bright Star.

Bright Star stared.

“What did he say?” Edward asked.

Bright Star considered sassing Edward, before she decided on lying. She pointed to herself and said, “Flower’s Breath.” Then she turned to Edward and said, “He wasn’t talking to you.”

“Go outside,” Captain William commanded and Bright Star obeyed.

Moon Man asked Captain William, “Was the girl’s name Flower’s Breath?”

All Captain William could make out was “girl’s name” and he said, “Bright Star.”

Realizing he couldn’t do the Sahaptian, Bright Star was brought back in. A glance at Moon Man told all.

Captain William told him, Bright Star knew. I wonder what he thinks of me.

But she didn’t have much time to wonder because the next question Moon Man asked her was, “How was your life?”

Bright Star froze. She couldn’t answer. He kept asking questions. Edward was growing impatient for her to translate. She couldn’t find the English words. All of a sudden, Edward threw her to the ground. She stood quickly.

“Is this how they treat you?!” Moon Man shouted, rising to his feet. He started calling to the elders to fight.

“Moon Man, don’t!” Bright Star pleaded. “The guns!”

“FIGHT!” Moon Man roared.

Edward jumped to his feet and pulled her aside, handling her roughly. “What are they saying? What did you tell him? Answer me, or I shoot!”

Bright Star couldn’t answer. She dashed out and started calling for warriors.

“Warriors!” she started screaming in Sahaptian. “Fight with the elders! Hurry!”

The warriors all hurried to the teepee and a girl that looked exactly like Bright Star ran up.

Bright Star seized her sister’s, Bright Sun, hand and ran. The bewildered Bright Sun could only follow.

Finally, after hours of running, Bright Star and Bright Sun were miles from any soldiers and had found Yucca’s Shadow and Black Night. But just as they were catching their breath, there was a rustling in the forest. They tensed again, ready to run, but all that broke through was a roan blue Appaloosa.

“Who’s this?” Bright Star asked.

“It’s Stream Runner,” Bright Sun sighed in relief, “my promised filly. She must have followed us.”

Bright Sun looked into the distance where smoke was rising. Neither girl had the courage to say anything. Bright Sun asked Bright Star what had happened. Bright Star explained, then pulled out the book which she had taken from the abandoned site. Bright Sun held it, then looked up.

“You can read?” she asked.

Bright Star nodded, then set up camp. But that night, Edward found them. Bright Star only afterwards knew how she woke up in the dark tent the next morning with a roaring headache.

A voice stated something in French behind her and she whirled. It was a boy. Bright Star stared at him.

The boy continued in French and Bright Star started to get annoyed.

“If you want to talk,” Bright Star said in English, “stop talking gibberish. I can’t understand a word you’re saying. You can speak English?”

The boy started. “Y-Yes, I can,” he stuttered, “I just figured that you spoke French and Sahaptian.”

Silence.

The boy whistled. “Phew! You’re gonna get it this time! Edward brought you back this morning. You’ve been out for awhile. Did you hit the ground that hard?”

Bright Star didn’t feel the need to explain.

“Reverend Paulson’s comin’ to claim you,” the boy said.

“Good-bye,” Bright Star said curtly and turned her back.

The boy whistled another “Phew!” and slipped back out. But when he was gone, Bright Star secretly took a peek out of the flap. But there were now men moving outside and she knew that she couldn’t swing it. She stood up and stomped her foot.

Stupid soldiers! she thought angrily. Walk somewhere else!

There were voices outside and then Reverend Paulson came in. He took Bright Star back to his tent and she followed.

He started talking again and Bright Star didn’t answer. The next day they had chapel, then started heading “home.” Reverend Paulson said her new home was at a place called Michigan. It sounded familiar from the word in Potowatomi for “land of great water” so she assumed the soldiers of the U.S. had taken it over and made it their own. John and Reverend Paulson talked awhile and Bright Star marched on ahead. Bright Star tried to run several times but never quite succeeded. She and John were to be adopted, and she didn’t like the idea. She didn’t care a copper coin about Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, this thing called the Trinity, or anything else in Reverend Paulson’s Bible.

When on Michigan ground, they walked on a dirt path to a big, out-of-the-way, country house.

“My father died a while ago,” Reverend Paulson explained, “and with his passing, he left me a fortune. A big house and a lot of land and too much money for me and Annie to handle.”

Annie Paulson was Reverend Paulson’s wife. Bright Star hadn’t spoken the whole, long journey but John had started calling Reverend Paulson “pa.” Bright Star hadn’t addressed either yet.

“Paul!” a woman cried.