Gan, or Mountain Spring Dancers.
It is an expensive ceremony, but Nalte is a great chief, and he has
supplied much for his sister's rite. The Gan dancers symbolize the four
directions.
They are elaborate.' Tess watched the dancers as they prepared for the
day.
They were painted black and white, and they carried huge fan racks and
wore buckskin kilts. They carried wands. On their arms were trailers
made of cloth and eagle feathers. Their huge masks had false eyes. The
fan racks portrayed snakes and other creatures.
She shivered, grateful that Jori was there to assure her that the
dancers were involved in a ceremonial rite and were not preparing for
war. She looked into his green eyes and realized that he had kept
talking to ease her mind from worry, and she was grateful to him.
'He must be furious to be disturbed today!' she whispered.
'He is not disturbed. He will make his decision quickly,' Jon told her.
An Apache warrior emerged from Nalte's tent. He spoke briefly with Jori
and took Tess by the arm.
'Jon!' she cried.
'Go with him,' Jon ordered her.
'He isn't going to hurt you. I'm wan led with Nalte. And you are not.'
She didn't want to let Jon out of her sight, but he moved away
resolutely, and she had no choice but to accompany the warrior who took
her by the arm.
Seconds later she was thrust into an empty tepee. The fire that had
burned in the center was nearly out. On rocks beside it were corn cakes
and dried meat. She hadn't been told she could, but she was alone and
she was starving, so she helped herself. She had barely bitten into the
food when she became so nervous she couldn't chew. She set the food down
and began to pace.
After a while she sat again and looked sadly at her tender and torn
feet.
They would never be the same again.
Moments later, she heard a rush of air. She catapulted to her feet,
staring toward the opening of the tepee. Jamie was coming in. She gasped
softly, then raced toward him, flinging her arms around him.
He quickly untangled himself, staring fiercely into her eyes.
'We're going to get out of this. If you can manage to behave.'
'Behave!'
'Listen to me!' He shook her so hard that she felt her teeth rattle.
Indignantly she tried to jerk away from him, but his grip on her was
firm and he wasn't letting go. 'You're hurting me!'
'I'm hurting you! We're in the midst of a fiasco like this' -- 'It
wasn't my fault!'
His jaw twisted hard.
'I know. It wa~ mine. For being so damned determined to try to
understand you.
She felt the color drain from her face. The planes of his face seemed
very lean and hard. He was more bronze, tauter. There was a fresh scar
