Hot Cannons & Warm Lovers Ch. 01

"He had to leave for Shawanaga early this morning," Kiwidinok smiled, "He has some business there, but he told me that he would return in maybe three days and then we can go on to Michilimackinac. First, we must go to Manitou's Island. I have a young daughter and she is there waiting for me. Then you will have a first friend too and we can go on.

You can help me, little fighter," she smiled, finding that young Étienne possessed more than ample charms to make him adorable to most women for a seven year-old with good manners and a pleasant disposition. "We will go down to the beach and look for clams and if you help a lot, I will be sure to leave you some to eat - the best of what we find."

"Little fighter?" he asked and she smirked, "I have already watched as you fought out in the sunshine with that metal thing. I think it is a large knife, no?" she asked Lise who nodded a little wearily.

"It's a thing from the past, and I don't let him play with anyone else when he practices so seriously every day. It is an old weapon from long ago back in France, but it was a gift from his Grand-Père who died only days before we left and it is Étienne's most prized possession. At first, I thought that only tragedy could come of giving a thing like that to a boy, but he takes it all so seriously, more than I thought that he would be able to for one so young."

"Take a little advice then," Kiwidinok said quietly, "the rulers here are English, and they gather some strength in this place -- to guard the large batteaux, I think," she pointed at the tall sailing ships in the harbor, "Tell your boy to hide a thing like that before some fat fool in a uniform comes to take it away from him."

The three of them wandered off with a bucket that Kiwidinok borrowed from her relations and spent a lot of the day digging for clams. "I know where I can get good things to cook with these," she said, "we will have a fine meal later."

Lise felt as though she'd found a friend in Kiwidinok and it was clear that the other woman liked her and her son. She'd seen Indian women before, but this was the first one that she'd gotten to know personally first hand and she felt thankful for it.

"I don't know anyone here," she said, "Étienne can make friends as fast as he can blink, but I do not have that ability. I feel a little lost."

"You will make many," Kiwidinok smiled, "You are beautiful and to us, even though we have all seen yellow hair before, it is a little magical to look at. Where we go for the winter, there are more people like me than there are whites. I will be your first friend in a strange place to you, and I know everyone."

Lise smiled and thanked her, but after a while, she saw that something seemed to be bothering Kiwidinok somehow. She just wasn't certain of it, only having met the woman the afternoon before. Eventually, she asked and Kiwidinok frowned a little as she looked down, searching for the words to explain.

"What Jean-Luc would like, more than anything I think, is to have a trading post of his own. But that is hard to do because the posts are all placed by the large fur companies. He tried twice before in different places, but the posts were burned in the night. It was before I knew him. About two summers past, he ordered some goods from a company and it took most of his money to buy them.

When they arrived, Jean-Luc found that he had been cheated, because he could not be there when the goods were sent. Many things were not right. Things that he asked for were not there, and some things that were not asked for came anyway. As we looked through it, we saw some things that were not the best quality.

He would have sold those things for less money, but to buy everything, some people had already paid Jean-Luc and it was too close to the winter to do much about anything. It has cost my man some customers.

Now and then, he has to go and make his apologies and give money back for some things. A poor blanket is not a large problem, but you must see that my people often move a lot and so they travel lightly. A badly-made axe - or even worse - a musket which does not work, can mean that a family cannot hunt and ...

Jean-Luc always asks that anyone who wants to buy a musket try to fire it first to be sure that it works, but sometimes, problems come later. People who feel that they have been cheated by a white can get very angry. I am afraid that one day, he will not come home anymore."

They did indeed eat well that evening and Kiwidinok patiently began to teach them a little English as well as some Ojibwe.

"What is this called again?" Lise wanted to know.

Kiwidinok grinned then, "Ojibwemowin is the full name, though it can get even longer if one wants to be correct. We like long words. But it is alright to say only Ojibwe. It is a very useful language because many tribes speak a form of it;" she said, counting on her fingers, "the Ojibwa, the Odawa, the Algonquin, the Potawatomi, and all of the different Ojibwa groups, ..." she related them and used more fingers until she held up her palms, "There are many more to the south of here, the Shawnee and the Kickapoo; many, many more, all the way down to the great salt water to the south.

Often, we are divided by our language. We are enemies with the Iroquois and most of their relatives, the Sioux and the Dakota. They speak differently. But it is not always so. We have friendship with some of the Wyandots, who are Hurons and can understand their Iroquois cousins."

"It sounds as complicated as the culture of the Europeans," Lise laughed a little as she counted off nations on her own fingers while it was Kiwidinok's turn to stare and then they laughed together, deciding that things were not all that different.

Each day, they learned from Kiwidinok a little more as they waited. Sometimes, she'd lead them on little walks, pointing to a thing or other and giving the name of the article in English or Ojibwemowin and then having them repeat it. If she could, she'd get them to try to use the new word in a sentence, though that usually only went as far as 'I see a ...' and whatever it was.

And each evening, Lise thanked her new friend as they sat together and talked after Étienne had gone to bed.

It kept them busy as they looked for greens to eat, so that Kiwidinok didn't have to ask her relatives for very much meat. It also taught Lise and Étienne a lot beyond the words. Up to this point in their lives, they hadn't been wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but they'd still been able to buy a few staples to make a meal out of, and Lise had always kept a little garden for vegetables.

Out here, they were learning that there was an astounding array of things to eat all around them, pretty much, if one knew what it was and how to cook and prepare it. "The Great Spirit always feeds his children," Kiwidinok would say with a smile.

Lise learned how Kiwidinok had come to meet her brother and where they'd been together.

"Your daughter is not by Jean-Luc?" Lise asked and Kiwidinok shook her head as she looked off at something across a clearing for a moment.

"Ayashe's father died fighting the Iroquois," she said, looking back at Lise. She shrugged, "I was very young when I made her. She was always a very happy little girl, but when her father did not come home to us anymore, she did not even smile anymore for over two years.

But Jean-Luc is a good father to Ayashe and she cares for him as much as she can."

Kiwidinok smiled a little, "She will change her name soon, I think. A name is only good if it fits a person. My daughter's name means 'little one' and it was a good name while she was that. But she is a little large for her age and she is strong. She thinks that she does not want to live planting and picking a few crops for her family to eat. She tells me that she does not want to belong to any man and says that she can do anything that a boy can do, but make her water go a long way like a boy can."

Kiwidinok laughed a little, "She tries though, and I tell her that if she ever does find a way to do it, then I will name her 'Far Water Woman'. It makes us both laugh.

She misses him as much as I do. When she was small, she did not want to even touch Jean-Luc and she told him that she hated him. But he only smiled. She would have nothing to do with him until one day; she fell on some rocks right in front of him. He knelt beside her as she picked herself up but he said nothing.

Jean-Luc waited, knowing that we do not make much out of a child's hurts, but he knew that she carried something else in her heart. Ayashe's eyes were full of fire when she looked at him. He only smiled and gave her a piece of dried meat to chew. He said that he saw no tears on a strong girl, but he said that he saw that she was a little hungry and strong girls need to eat like anyone else. He walked away then and sat down to sharpen his knife.

It took a little time, but Ayashe came to sit beside him. She was still sniffling a little from the hurt of the scrapes and he knew that she felt shamed that she could not stop the few tears that came. He told her that sometimes they are pushed out by other things and she nodded and told him that her father was dead.

Jean-Luc nodded and said that he would be proud to be her father, even for only those times when she needed one. He said that she nodded, but said nothing at first. But after a little while, he saw that she began to cry, though she made no sound. He picked her up and took her away, where no one could see and he held her until she'd cried everything out. He told me later that it took a long time."

Kiwidinok laughed then, "I knew nothing of this! All that I knew was that when I came back from washing a few things in the lake, I saw Jean-Luc walking to me with Ayashe on his shoulders and she was laughing for the first time since her father left us to go to war. He gave me back my laughing girl!

They are very close. She often sits between his knees and they talk while she pokes a stick into the fire. Her uncle teaches her to hunt like any boy and she will fight with anyone who tells her that girls cannot do this or that." She nodded with a bit of pride, "Ayashe is a wild little cat."

It all sounded wonderful and quite romantic to Lise, though Kiwinidok was careful to mention that it was not always so. "You must always look to the winter long before it comes," she said seriously, "No good to forget something because to forget is to starve or to freeze."

One day, she borrowed a canoe and took them out of Penetang Harbor out into Severn Sound. They went north and then northwest until they could see another body of land off in the distance. It was an island with an impossible name for Étienne and Lise and seeing their faces caused Kiwidinok to laugh. "I will not ask you to say it," she chuckled, with an apologetic wave of her hand, "but I know there are good things to eat that we can gather there."

It took a while to get out that far, but she showed them whole meadows full of blueberries and a few groves where the ground was covered in mushrooms. Lise couldn't believe it. Kiwinidok only said that getting there was too much work for a lot of people and so the ones who took the trouble were always rewarded.

As they foraged, she leaned toward Lise and put her arm around her to speak to her quietly, "I do not know if you are like me, Lise, but when I come here, I always like to see that I am alone, and if that is so, then I look for a quiet little spot to, ... " she sought for the words.

We say 'abaasandeke'. It means to sun one's self."

Lise nodded in understanding and then Kiwidinok smiled a little conspiratorially, "And I am a woman who must often wait for her man while he is gone for a time. Sometimes I miss him very much, so while I lie in the sun for a little while, I, ... "she struggled for a moment, "I use my hands?"

She ended it as an uncertain question, not knowing a better term in French. She saw Lise's very slight knowing smile as she moved her hand in front of herself for just a brief moment.

"I do not have a man," Lise said, still smiling a little, "but I know what you mean, Kiwidinok."

The other woman looked a little surprised, "But, ... Étienne, ..."

Lise shrugged a little sadly, "A mistake, the very sweetest kind for I have Étienne from it. I was very young, just the same as you. But I am so happy to have him for a son. I must catch myself thinking of it every day at least once. His father was just a young man, nothing else, and I was a fool. But I know what it is to want a man, so I understand."

"I will speak to Jean-Luc," Kiwidinok smiled, "I would have killed you for the wrong look at him if I saw that you had the wrong thought, but that was before I knew you. We might share a little sometime."

She saw Lise's expression and it caused her to laugh, "He told me that you never knew each other; never even saw each other before. I am not saying that you should take him as your man, Lise. He is mine. I think only of some nights when you have the want and he is there. I would help.

A shame to have that body and waste what the Great Spirit gave to you."

She seemed to carry a look as though it was a pleasant thought to her for a moment, but then she came back to the present.

"I could take Étienne on a little trip around the island," Kiwidinok smiled, "It could take a little time, and you could ..."

Lise nodded, "I could sun myself," she laughed a little.

Her friend nodded with a grin, "and you could go for a swim if you wish. You could," she switched to Ojibwe, "aagonige -- bagizo, to swim unclothed, since there is no one to see you. Can you swim?"

Lise shook her head, "No, I was never in any place where I could learn."

"Then do not go into the water today," Kiwidinok said seriously, "But if I find a chance, I will teach you. A woman should know how to swim.

Come, Étienne," Kiwidinok called, laughing a little, "Bring these berries to the canoe with me and I will show you how to use a canoe to paddle yourself wherever you wish to go. Your mother will wait for us here until we come back."

The boy asked Lise to be sure and she nodded, so they walked off while Lise looked along the beach where they'd been standing. A little sunshine would feel wonderful on her body now, she thought.

She was a little reluctant to disrobe however, and she chided herself a little for it. It was such a beautiful day and there was no one around on an island where Kiwidinok said that few people go. She looked behind her and saw the rise to the low crest. A person standing there could likely see all or most of the island, she reasoned.

So off she went, and in a little time, she stood on the spot and looked around. She could see her son and her friend as she taught Étienne by watching and correcting him from where she knelt in the back of the canoe. Other than that, she saw no one and nothing.

So she walked back down to the beach and her clothes were off in a minute and she was right.

The sun did feel wonderful.

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Part Two

On a Georgian Bay not far from Penetanguishene Harbor, Upper Canada, 1792

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There was much on his mind. The whole of the Ohio Valley was on needles and pins. And that was only the start. Almost everywhere, the interest of the white settlers and their questionable ways of dealing with the many tribes and groups, driven by their insatiable hunger for ever more land -- and always at the Red Man's expense kept things as dry as tinder just waiting for the application of a lit match. He wondered how much hotter it could get before it needed no match at all.

There had been many battles and wars over land and even over beaver pelts, the combatants on either side dying for one thing or another and the survivors or the relatives of the dead swearing vengeance. One thing was certain, there seemed to be no end to the flood of people coming -- it was as though the white people walked out of the sea in their thousands, each wave walking a little farther westward past the fields, homesteads and settlements of the last.

He wondered for a moment. If they got their way and drove the tribes from the land - and if they reached the end of the land themselves -- what would happen then?

Would they just keep on going, on to the next patch of dry land to steal and cheat the existing inhabitants there out of their land as well?

Or having reached the end of the available land, would they turn on each other then?

Nehaseemo didn't know. He couldn't answer it. From the little that he knew or had heard tell of, there was a reason why the hated ones had come, and it was because they'd run out of land on the other side of the great water to steal from each other. They might not be as good as the tribes at fighting from close up, but they were very adept at killing each other in multitudes whenever they fought.

He came from a family of warriors. Trying to look back over his lineage, he failed to come up with even one relation of those who had risen to become chiefs who had been a peace chief.

They were all war chiefs, every one. The peace chiefs ran things in the day to day, and always counseled the cautious path forward, given the chance and the choice.

But when the day to day was tinged with the blood of the people -- where peaceful villages had been attacked and burned with women and children paying for the greed of the settlers as the white 'Fathers' preached peace and joint prosperity when they offered treaty after treaty, none of them honored by their own subjects ...

While the Red Man had to listen as he was talked down to as though he were a slightly slow child, hearing how the leader of them was the 'father' and how the white settler was his 'brother', and then coming home to find his 'brothers' squatting on the land that had just been promised to him ...

Lies.

Dirty cheating lies, all of it.

Nehaseemo was on his way to visit with a good friend. Sometimes it was good to hear a different view. He was a war chief himself, though as yet little-known with only a few followers. Mostly, he rode with his brothers and other male relations; Blue Jacket, Dragging Canoe, his brothers Cheeseekau and Tecumseh, though Cheeseekau had been killed three years ago now in Tennessee.

As far as they were concerned, it would be best if the whites were pushed back into the sea from whence they'd come, but that wasn't going to happen. Tecumseh had noticed something though.

To try to turn one tribe against another to further the ends of the whites came as nothing to their leaders. The Americans hated the British and vice versa. Why not use this in the same way?

It had been done before to limited success, but that was when it was still the fractious tribes seeking a toehold. Perhaps with a united front where the enmity of one white man was played against the other it all might come out better. The brothers were agreed on one other thing as well.

None of them could be trusted.

But it had been Tecumseh's idea to find out how their northern allies fared in their dealings with the British and so here he was, going to visit Assiginack, an Ojibwa chief and an old friend. 'Old' was perhaps an incorrect description, however. The man was in his early thirties, but Nehaseemo had first met him when he himself had been fifteen and Assiginack had been a brave and the two had just formed a friendship, liking each other instantly.

Assiginack never joked or kidded the younger man about his lack of years, guessing that he came in for enough of it in the usual course of events and Nehaseemo learned from the other one's every move and spoken thought and was thankful for it. The youngest sons of war chiefs in a busy time get fewer opportunities to learn and Assiginack knew this.