Flute And Fire

by Jill Wilder

Smoke, from the burning braid of sweet grass, trailed upward into the air. Stone loved the smell. He began to work on some of his leather pieces to his regalia, brushing and cleaning. His leggings had beautiful beadwork running down the side in a thin strip. Checking the beadwork for any needed repair, Stone smiled to himself remembering when he first got these leggings.

  When Stone was seventeen, his mother, one day out of the blue, sat him down to have a heart to heart talk. Stone remembers there were very few of those talks. His mother and him talked very seldom. She was a wonderful Mother, always caring for him and such. There was no question that she loved her son. But she did not open up too much to anyone, not even to Stone’s Father……

  “Stone, will you come sit here with me a bit? I want to share something with you my son”, Ella, Stone’s mother, asked with her honey voice. Her voice was always soothing. She was always calm like lake water during sunset in the still of the day. “Please come sweetie, I have a story I must tell you.”

  Being taught to respect his Mother and Father, Stone obeyed his Mother’s request. His seventeen year old toned body sat in a chair opposite of his mother. “Mother, I am always here for you. You have my ears. What story must I hear?” Stone smiled as he looked into his mother’s face and reached across to take one of her hands into his.

  “You are such a good son.” Ella paused a moment as if she was holding back a tear. Her eyes sparkled as she reflected back to her son, “I see so much of your Father in you, your face, your heart” She released her hand from his and lightly touched his chest where his heart was.

  “I knew the day you were born that you would walk the path of an “Akicita! A Warrior! Just like your Father! When I first met your Father, we were very young, very young!” Her eyes were wide with joy and humor.

  Stone simple smiled and let out a light chuckle.

  “Son, your Father and I knew we were going to be together the first time we saw each other. It was like magic.” Ella closed her eyes as if to bring forth a vivid picture of the first meeting to her mind. “I saw your Father and my heart stopped for a moment and I held my breath. He was handsome and very brave looking.”

  “Yes my Father is brave, but I always thought I got my good looks from you Mother!” Stone loved to throw compliments to his Mother, just to see her smile. And smile she did to his interjection.

  “Oh, you are always teasing me. Makes me feel good, don’t ever stop being so clever. But let us not stray too far from my story here. I want to tell about my gift to your father on the day you were born. While I carried you in my womb, waiting for your coming, I began to prepare some leggings for your Father’s regalia.” Ella reached for a bundle beside her chair.

  Ella placed the bundle in her lap and gingerly began to unwrap the package and she continued, “You see, my son, I was thinking what could I do to make this pair of leggings special for your Father. I prayed to the Creator for an answer. So I had a dream about some bead work design that spoke of who we are. Where our people are from. What we are about…..I wanted a piece that spoke of your Father, of me and of you. So the day after this dream I began the beading on your Father’s soon to be new pair of leggings.”

  Pulling out of the bundle were the leather leggings. She unfolded them with such tender care and ran her hands over the bead work.

  “Mother, I have always thought this was beautiful beadwork. You did our family well with pride.” Stone smiled at her.

  “Thank you my only son. I wanted to take the opportunity to speak with you about the design and the dream. I want to let you know what this is all about, because your Father is allowing me to give you these pair of leggings. Your Father has only used them on a few occasions. It is time for them to be passed to my little Akicita!” Ella smiled as she looked her son in the face.

  Spreading out the leggings, Ella smoothed out the beadwork with her hands. Her fingers began to trace some of the design. Beginning at the top of the piece she began to explain their meanings.

  “You see the word ‘LAKOTA’ We originate from the Lakota People, your Father and I. You are full blood Lakota. Not many of us around anymore. Just the Captain’s family and a handful of others. Historically we were known as a part of a big Sioux Nation.” Ella kept running her fingers back and forth over the beaded work.

  “And the stars that are in between each letter, is because we are now Lakota Star People?” interjected Stone.

  “Yes, all of us here on the Solar Star Base are considered Star People now, but still not very many are Lakota. A majority of our ceremonial practices, the pipe in particular came through the Lakota People by the White Buffalo Calf Woman. You remember the story of White Buffalo Calf Woman?”

  “Yes”, replied Stone.

  Tracing her fingers down to the next part of the beadwork. “Here you see the four buffalos in the four colors of our old Nation, black, red, yellow and white. These are represented also the four direction. The four buffalos also indicate the White Buffalo Calf Woman. So we have our Lakota People and now we have the Buffalo with the Sacred Directions.”

  Ella continued with interpreting the beadwork. “In my dream I was instructed to bead in four animals, the bear, the turtle, the wolf and the eagle.”

  Pausing for a moment, Ella closed her eyes again.

  “Are you okay, Mother?” Stone was startled by her abrupt pause.

  “I am fine, just a little tired, but I am okay.”

  Opening her eyes, Ella continued with her story. “The bear is for strength and protection. The turtle is our Mother Earth….notice I used blue and green beads for her. The wolf is our spirit guide and a warrior. This is the clan your mother comes from and the clan you are traditional a part of until you marry.”

  Ella looked at her son with sad eyes. Stone recognized the look of concern.

  “Mother what is wrong, why do you suddenly look so sad when you speak of marriage for me?”

  Taking in a deep breath, Ella replied, “My son, sometime I sadden because I wonder if things will turn out okay. It is merely a moment of doubt that always quickly passes when I look into your eyes and see such strength. Right now you…you are the bear.”

  Stone felt like he did not get a complete answer from his mother, but he let it drop.

  “So the Eagle is for…….?” Stone coxed his Mother to continue.

  Again, tracing the beadwork. “The Eagle is prayer. We must always remember the Eagle. We must always remember to give thanks to the Creator for all that is given to us, for all that is created for us to share. The Eagle carries all our spoken prayers on her wings up to the Creator.”

  “Now this last piece is very important.” Ella moved her fingers down to the last section. “This is the Tree….Tree of Life. It is our Sundance Tree. We always give to the People. We always suffer for our brothers and sisters so they do not have to. We sacrifice ourselves for the People. We are Akicita!”

  A small tear went down the Mother’s cheek. Silence filled the air momentarily, while Stone wiped the tear away.

  “I am sorry I sometimes get emotional very easy these days”, Ella managed to say.

  “That is okay, Mother. Life is good for us. We are surviving and getting closer to our Mother Earth every day. All things will be fine, you will see.”

  Ella looked deep into her son’s eyes, “Stone, this Tree of Life, this Sundance tree is the key to survival. Remember that. Remember the ceremony of the Sundance. This is the source of Energy….the source of Life!”

  “Yes Mother, I will remember…..”

  Coming back to the present, Stone found his fingers tracing the beads much like his mother did when she shared that story with him years ago.

  Stone spoke aloud to himself as he pondered, “source of Energy….source of Life.”

  Chapter 18