Fairytales
"WELL, MA CHÈRE," Bouchard said to the steaming Charmian, "perhaps the fact that, where I come from, this 'Manitou Island' is nothing more than a fairytale, might help explain things!"
Charmian blinked, then immediately fell silent. She and the others, as well as the group of voyageurs they had just encountered heading up the river, were settled under the pine trees, crickets cheeping around them as night had long ago fallen, discussing their plans for heading north to Lake Superior...and here the lead voyageur had just about told her that the Island she'd just come from didn't even exist.
She lowered her arms, brow furrowing in confusion. "Wh...what?" she asked after a moment. "What do you mean, a fairytale...?"
"Just as it sounds, ma chère," Bouchard replied, putting his pipe to his mouth. "People on the mainland've been telling tales of this odd little Island for years--but nobody really believes them! It's just a fairytale."
Charmian shook her head, baffled. "But...I've been there. Three times so far! And Francois lives there--and her--" she pointed at Winter Born, then at several of the others in turn "--and him--and him--they were all BORN there! How can you rightly say there's no such place--?"
Francois gestured at her again to settle down. "It's much the same where I head back to, ma chère," he said. "Whenever I return to the mainland. For the most part, people do not believe in Manitou Island. I stopped trying to tell them about it long, long ago. The way I see it..." and he shrugged "...it's probably best that way. That Island is a fragile place, and you've seen all too well what outsiders can do to it, even without intention."
"So you really do believe you've been to this place," Bouchard said, earning a look from both of them. He was tapping his pipe and looking curious; several of the other voyageurs had drawn nearer as well.
Charmian scowled. "Of course we do! Because we HAVE! You can just go back to the mainland and tell everybody--"
"That I've been drinking a little too much?" Bouchard started laughing. "'Cause that's what they say about everybody who's come from the 'Island'!" He waved at one of the voyageurs off to his right, who looked as if he might be part native himself. "Just ask Baptiste here, he claims he went there at least a dozen times!"
"But I did go there!" Baptiste protested. "And it wasn't a dozen times, it was seven!"
"See?" Charmian exclaimed, getting to her feet and waving at the second voyageur. "Told you it's real! You've seen it, right?"
Baptiste nodded vehemently. "I certainly did! The trees a thousand feet tall, the moose as big as the Pictured Rocks, and beavers the size of moose themselves! All over! And flowers of a million colors falling from the sky, and water the color of wine!" He waved his arms. "The water even TASTES like wine! Wine flows from the very hills! Told you it's real!"
Charmian's mouth fell open. She caught Francois giving her a sympathetic look that might have been saying, Told you it was no use. She drew her mouth shut and slowly sank back to her seat, feeling her ears grow hot; now all the voyageurs were staring at her, Bouchard the most of all. He arched an eyebrow as she sank into her vest.
"Well...?" he prompted after a moment. "Does wine flow from every hill...?"
"N...no," Charmian said in a tiny voice, wishing she could disappear. "Not really."
She hated the betrayed look that Baptiste gave her before sitting back down and sulking. "So what does this Island of yours look like?" Bouchard asked, sounding genuinely curious.
Charmian bit the inside of her mouth and fiddled with the edge of her vest. "Just...like the other island," she murmured. "Only with manitous."
There was a brief moment of silence. Then Bouchard and the other voyageurs, aside from Baptiste, burst into raucous laughter which echoed off the trees themselves. Charmian squinched her eyes shut, feeling them sting; it was just like flubbing her lines in the third-grade school play all over again. She bit her lip hard enough to hurt, wishing that she'd just taken Francois's hint to start with. Even being right wasn't worth this trouble.
"Ahh," Bouchard said at last, wheezing and wiping his eyes. "That's the best you can come up with? Truly, ma chère, I thought maybe you stood a chance against Baptiste when it came to spinning yarns, but...well...that left a lot to be desired!"
Charmian tried to take a bit of comfort from the way that Francois patted her knee. She heard a rustling noise, and then a voice exclaimed, "But she's NOT making it up! THAT'S the real Island! Every bit of it!"
Her eyes popped open, then her head shot up; Winter Born was on her feet, fists clenched and lower lip sticking out. Bouchard and Baptiste and the other voyageurs all stared at her now, and before Charmian could grab onto her arm to pull her back down or shut her up, she hopped toward the fire, glaring at each of them as if she could knock them over just with a look.
"Every word she says is true!" she insisted, everyone's laughter falling silent. "There aren't any trees with a thousand feet, or beavers the size of moose, or flowers falling from the sky! But there's a big Arched Rock, and a big Sugar Loaf Rock with an old manitou woman, and a Devil's Kitchen where GeeBees live, and a lake with a demon in it, and manitous ALL OVER the place just like Charmian says! It looks exactly like that!"
Bouchard stared at her with wide eyes. "Really?" he said. "And how is it that you know it so very well--?"
Winter Born lifted her head so her white braids fell over her shoulders. "Because I live there! My mother and father, too! We've always lived there, as long as I can remember!"
"And who exactly are you, that we can take your word?" Bouchard asked.
Winter Born lifted her head even further. "Winter Born!" she answered. "Daughter of the medicine woman Silver Eagle Feather, and Black Elk Horn, ogimah of our tribe!"
Silence. Nothing but crickets. Charmian and Francois stared at Winter Born, Charmian's eyes as wide as moons. They slowly shifted over to look at Bouchard and Baptiste and the others, and she saw that they had the exact same looks. She took in a slight shaky breath--they actually looked surprised, and for a moment, she thought that perhaps Winter Born had finally convinced them.
"Really...?" Bouchard said again, after a long pause. Winter Born's eyes lit up. Then, "So you're a little Indian princess...and are these all your little Indian vassals...?"
Winter Born blinked, then just looked confused. "Vas-sals?" she echoed. "What...what's a vas-sal...?"
Charmian shut her eyes again. The laughter started up immediately after. She found that she felt even worse now, if that were even possible, which it now appeared it was. She cracked one eye open to peer at Winter Born and saw the look of confusion on her face grow; she glanced from one voyageur to another, and Charmian's heart twisted when she saw tears start to well up in her eyes. "But...it's true...!" she said again, her voice sounding very small amidst all the loud guffaws. "Every word of it...!" Her face screwed up. "Why are you all LAUGHING at me?"
Charmian glanced at Francois, rather wishing that he would put a stop to it, but a look from the corner of his eye told her that Winter Born had made her bed and now had to sleep in it. She dug her fingers into her knees and gnawed on her own tongue, trying to think of anything that would at least make them stop their laughter; maybe a strategically aimed fireball--but she didn't want to antagonize them too much, if they were going to accompany them to the lake--
More rustling noises came and her head shot up again. Niskigwun strode toward the fire and halted, his own fists clenched and a scowl on his face. Bouchard glanced up at him, again wiping at his eyes. "Ah," he chortled. "So I guess you're one of the vassals."
Niskigwun's nostrils flared. "Hardly!" He grasped at a leather cord hanging at his side. "One can hardly be a human's vassal if they were on the Island FIRST!"
He yanked on the cord and his wingcase fell away, his wings shooting out and flaring up into the air. Charmian's eyes went wide. Bouchard's goggled, then he jumped back with a startled yelp, nearly knocking over Baptiste. The other voyageurs all clambered to their feet, looking bewildered.
Charmian's brow furrowed, then she sucked in a breath. That's right--! The Michinimakinong lived on the Island even before humans--and I doubt these guys have ever seen one of THEM--!
Taking courage from this, she got to her own feet again. "Happy now?" she snapped; the voyageurs all glanced at her, faces pale. "Don't buy it just yet--?" She turned to Mani and jerked her hand. "Show them! Since they think we're all such liars and all!"
She thought perhaps that Mani wouldn't wish to draw attention to himself, but the manitou obediently rose. He snorted and his eyes flashed blue; streams of water appeared out of nowhere and began whipping around his legs. Bouchard and the others gasped and jerked back even more.
Charmian jerked her hand next at Thomas. "Go on! Let them see since they're being so stupid about it all!" Thomas raised his hand and a gust of icy wind arose, tearing at their clothes and hair and making Bouchard shield his face. She gestured at Moon Wolf. "Just in case that's not quite ENOUGH!" Moon Wolf lifted his own hand now, and blue flames licked at his fingers. She raised her hand last of all and flames arose, flaring orange-yellow.
Bouchard bared his teeth. "How--how do I know that isn't all some sort of jugglery!" he stammered. "The old medicine men around here do all SORTS of stuff like that--!"
Charmian ground her teeth hard enough to hurt. "IT'S NOT TRICKS!!" an awful voice suddenly screamed, and all of them faltered, the water around Mani vanishing just as quickly as Thomas's wind and Charmian's and Moon Wolf's fire. They all glanced to the side and gawked when they found themselves staring at Winter Born again. Charmian nearly swallowed her tongue. She'd never heard the girl talk quite like that before.
As if that weren't enough, Winter Born clenched her fists and bared her own teeth, her eyes still wet but now burning as well. "EVERY BIT OF IT IS TRUE!" she yelled. "I DON'T LIE!!" The hair on Charmian's neck prickled again and Winter Born practically snarled, "Mother and Father taught me NEVER to lie!"
Bouchard blinked at her a few times, seeming genuinely bewildered; then a scowl started to come to his face and he glanced at Francois. "How about holding your little girl in check--?" he exclaimed. "Because I think she needs a spanking--!"
Winter Born's teeth practically flashed. "I'M NOT A LITTLE GIRL!!"
Charmian's mouth flew open. Then her breath rushed out in a whoosh when something grabbed her wrist and hauled her back. At the same instant Francois leapt to his feet and jumped back as well, and she was surprised to see how surprised he looked--she glanced back to see that it was Manabozho who had grabbed her arm, his eyes wide and his face pale. Niskigwun and the others traveling with them retreated also. Manabozho met her eyes; she was sure she must look as astonished as he did.
"You can see it too--?" she blurted out.
He shook his head. "But I FEEL something!!"
That was all they got to say. Wind started whirling around the clearing again, tearing at the pine boughs and sending needles flying every which way. The voyageurs threw up their arms to cover their heads, yelling in surprise and stumbling against the trees. Only Bouchard held his spot, but he too shielded himself, grimacing and cowering. The wind whipped in circles--Charmian remembered one of the ways she'd seen in which Ocryx had made his entrance, as a hissing spinning whirlwind--and even as she looked at Winter Born, the girl's eyes started glowing, and she looked just about ready to change into a demon herself. She quickly glanced at everyone else. It seemed that she was the only one who could see the horrific glow surrounding Winter Born herself--flaring red and yellow and blue and green and white just like the northern lights--but at the very least, the others could sense it, judging by how they reacted. Only the voyageurs didn't seem to get it, but they appeared to be getting the point clear enough now. Charmian felt something clinging to her leg and glanced down to see Kenu and Marten both holding onto her.
Bouchard managed to lower his arm from before his eyes, which were squinting and streaming. Winter Born's braids rose slightly as if electricity surrounded her, and Charmian could have even sworn that she felt a crackling in the air; Kenu's fingers dug into her leg, and she was just about positive that it was so, if he was afraid too.
Bouchard stared at Winter Born with goggling eyes; most of the other voyageurs had by now fled back toward Mishupishu and the river. "NOW do you believe me?" Winter Born snarled, her voice positively awful--she sounded almost like a younger version of Ocryana! "NOW do you believe it's REAL?"
Bouchard blinked again, then started nodding frantically. "I--of--of course, ma chère!! I believe you! All right! I believe!!"
A hideous growling sound arose in Winter Born's throat, and the crackle in the air grew--then Charmian pushed herself away from Manabozho, Kenu and Marten falling away, and launched herself at her. She grabbed Winter Born's wrist--and immediately the wind vanished, the crackling vanished, the glow vanished--even the aura which only she could see promptly faded to only about a third of its brightness--and Winter Born let out a breath, her eyes and face returning to normal, like turning off a light. She blinked a few times, swayed a little, then blinked again and glanced up at Charmian as if puzzled. When she saw how white Charmian's face had gone her brow furrowed, and she looked back toward Bouchard. He still cowered beneath the tree, shaking so hard that his teeth rattled; the rest of the voyageurs were long gone. A glance around the clearing showed her the others, all standing at a distance, eyes wide. She looked up at Charmian again.
"Ch...Charmian?" she asked, her voice soft. "What happened...?"
This time Charmian blinked. She slowly let go of Winter Born's arm and let out her breath; everyone else started to relax, though the astonished looks on their faces didn't diminish. "Why's everybody looking like that?" Winter Born asked now, looking around. She frowned. "And where did everybody go--?"
"Winter Born." Charmian knelt down beside her, taking her arm again. "You don't remember what you just did? What just happened?"
Winter Born's confused look grew. "I...I remember being laughed at," she said. "And getting mad...but..." Another perplexed look. "Where did everyone else go? And why is everyone staring like that?" She started gnawing on her lip. "Did I do something wrong...?"
Scrabbling noises came from the tree and they looked up to see Bouchard shakily getting to his feet. "All--all right," he stammered. "All right! I believe in your little Island--every bit of it! With an Arched Rock and a--an old manitou woman and--and manitous and things. Very well! Every bit of it!"
Winter Born stared at him, then turned to Charmian, her voice growing strident. "What did I do?"
Charmian glanced down at Marten, who was affixed to her foot again, then pulled him off and put him on Winter Born's shoulder where he clung like a koala. She turned to Bouchard and took several steps toward him, but the voyageur promptly scrambled back. He even made a cross sign at her with two fingers, as if she were a vampire.
"All right! I said I believe now!!" he cried, his voice cracking.
Charmian halted and rolled her eyes. "We're hardly going to go hurting you guys now! You're our ticket to the lake!"
Bouchard started making huffing noises. "You think we want to go THERE now?!" he squeaked. "Your own medicine show was quite enough, thank you very much!!"
Charmian's brow furrowed. She looked at Francois over her shoulder. "'Medicine show'--? That some kind of voyageur thing--?" She turned back to Bouchard and waved at him when he kept making the cross. "Oh, knock it off! Like that'll do anything!"
"Any little thing we can get!!" Bouchard retorted. "Whatever works!" He stooped and started tossing pine needles at her, muttering something in French; for some reason her necklace didn't translate it. "For all I know as soon as we get you to that lake, you'll toss us to the Lynxes like that OTHER fellow! You think we're that stupid?"
"Other fellow--?" Charmian echoed, then started walking toward him so fast that he yelped and turned, running for the river. He didn't make it far before running into Mishupishu in the dark and tripping over one of his spines; Stick-In-The-Dirt and the Lynx watched him with curiosity as he started scrambling on hands and knees over the rocks, the other voyageurs already huddled near the water. Charmian lifted her hand and called up a flame just to see where she was going; she blinked when Bouchard and the voyageurs all yelled and dashed even further away. Bouchard made the cross and waved frantically at all the others to do the same; she sighed gustily when she found herself faced by a few dozen finger-crosses.
"B-b-BACK wabano!!" Bouchard yelled, waving the cross at her. "Back back BACK!!"
"What--? I'm not a wabano!" Charmian shouted, suddenly feeling quite annoyed. "What the hell makes you think--"
"Ah...Charmian?" Stick-In-The-Dirt ventured; she glanced back at him and he pointed at her hand. She looked at the flames licking her fingers, blushed, then shook the fire out. She lifted one of Mishupishu's glowing spines instead, holding it up as if it were a lantern.
"I'm not a wabano, morons!" she snapped. "HE is!" She pointed back at Moon Wolf, who was now approaching in the company of several of the others. "I'M not!"
"Bad enough!" Bouchard cried. "You have ONE in your company. And you beg us to take you to the lake! As if we would be so stupid! Disguising yourself as a little girl! GAH!!" He ran back into the others, nearly bowling them over, when Charmian scowled and took a threatening step forward. "Y-y-you might think that's tricky but we'll HARDLY fall for such things!"
"I'm not disguising myself, butthead!" Charmian retorted. "Why the hell would I have to DISGUISE myself?"
Bouchard dared to give her a venomous glare. "What better way for an old wabano to capture a bunch of poor hardworking voyageurs!"
Charmian's mouth fell open. "Old wabano?!" She whirled toward Moon Wolf and clenched her fists. "TELL THEM I'M NOT A WABANO! NOR AM I ANYWHERE NEAR OLD!!"
"It's true!" Marten exclaimed, Winter Born drawing near. "She's only FIFTEEN! Practically a NEWBORN!"
Charmian's eyes just about rolled back into her head. They halted as soon as she noticed how Bouchard and the others quailed at the sight of Winter Born; the young girl stopped and her lip quivered, but Charmian made a quick gesture at Niskigwun, who blinked before taking her by the arm and leading her back toward the woods. Charmian turned back toward Bouchard. "All right, what's all this about?" she demanded. "Why is it that you think we're a bunch of wabanos and that we're out to roll you?"
"Well what ELSE are we supposed to think?" Bouchard said. "When you pull out a bunch of wind and fire and such on us like that? Practically scaring our hearts out of our breasts!! I was even willing to share my drink if you wanted!!"
"Hardly!" Charmian snapped. "You don't have to be a wabano to do those things! On the Island, people do that stuff all the time!"
"HA!" Bouchard leaned forward and jerked a finger at her so hard that she jumped. "KNEW IT! That OTHER wabano is from an island TOO!"
All the blood drained from Charmian's face. Bouchard must have noticed her look, for he got an uncertain one of his own; then he gasped, and would have stumbled back had not the rest of the voyageurs and the river been behind him, as Charmian stormed down toward him as quickly as she could, and reached out to grab onto his bandolier bag, yanking it so he instead stumbled forward.
"An old wabano?" she echoed. "On an island?"
Bouchard started nodding frantically. "O-O-Old Man Mishosha!!" he quailed. "Everybody's heard of him around here!"
Charmian stared at him with wide eyes, then the blood rushed back to her face, turning it crimson, and she gave the bag another yank which made him grit his teeth, and bared her own. "Tell me everything you know!"
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