Grace and the Guiltless

Chapter 14

The next day, Grace saw Sequoyah heading toward the medicine lodge. Most of the young men had gone off hunting, and once again Joe had refused to let Grace accompany them to try out her skills.

Instead, she hurried after Sequoyah, needing to find a distraction from her annoyance at being excluded again. And from the strange new thoughts she was having about Joe . . .

“Sequoyah, wait,” Grace called. “Where are you going?”

Her friend stopped and waited for Grace to catch up. “Cheveyo is teaching me to be a shaman. I will learn about healing.”

“Cheveyo did a wonderful job healing my arm.” Grace held it up. It was still scarred, but it was much better. “I’d like to see what you’re learning. May I watch?”

Sequoyah smiled at Grace’s eagerness but tempered it by warning, “This is sacred. I will ask Cheveyo if it is all right.”

When they reached the lodge, Sequoyah talked to Cheveyo in rapid-fire words. At first he shook his head, but Sequoyah’s voice turned pleading.

After some argument back and forth, Cheveyo turned to Grace. “You cannot watch.”

Disappointment flooded through her. She turned to leave but Sequoyah grasped her arm. “You stay.”

Grace shook her head. “Not if Cheveyo says no.”

“He says you cannot watch. You must do. You must learn to heal.”

“You mean he’s willing to teach me to heal too?”

When Sequoyah nodded, Grace hugged her. Sequoyah looked surprised at first, then she hugged her back.

“Thank you!” Grace said, smiling at them both.

Cheveyo’s normally stern face split into a grin. “You must work hard.”

“I will. I promise,” Grace said quickly.

She hoped she could learn what ointment he had used to heal her blistered hands. She already knew he had put willow bark on her infected arm. Having the skills to take care of herself and Bullet would be really important when she set out on her own.

Cheveyo sent them out to gather several plants.

Sequoyah hurried along with Grace at her side. “I will show you where zagosti grows.”

Grace helped harvest the weed that Sequoyah said made old people’s blood flow through them more easily. After they had also dug up osha root, they returned to the medicine lodge, where Cheveyo showed them how to grind the osha root with tobacco.

“What is this used for?” Grace asked as she tried to copy Sequoyah’s motions with the mortar and pestle.

Cheveyo did not answer but looked to Sequoyah. “Tell Grace what this do.”

Sequoyah shook her head. “I do not know the English word.” Then she smiled. “It is for this.” She sneezed, then rubbed under her nose with the back of her hand.

Grace smiled. “A cold? It’s for colds.”

“No. This is cold.” Sequoyah clasped her arms around her and shivered.

How could Grace explain that ‘cold’ meant two different things in English? “You are right,” Grace said. “This is cold.” She repeated Sequoyah’s shiver. “But we also say this is a cold.” She achooed.

Sequoyah frowned. “Same word?”

Grace nodded. “That’s right.”

Sequoya chuckled.