Beyond the women he could see the camp of the British Band. In his joy it seemed to him that the wickiups were bathed in a golden light. Rings of gray domes began near the trees where he stood and spread into the tall yellow prairie grass. Before the wickiups he could see what the women had been working at, tasks abandoned for the moment, clothing being mended, skins stretched, meat and fish cleaned and set on frames to dry. "White Bear is here!" cried one woman, and he recognized Water Flows Fast, plump wife of Three Horses. Three Horses, a short man with broad shoulders, stood beside his wife. His nose was flat and spread out. White Bear did not remember it that way. Something must have happened to Three Horses while he was gone. _Much has happened to them while I was gone._ "I told you White Bear had come back," Three Horses said over and over again. White Bear breathed in the familiar smells of campfire smoke and roasting meat, of leather and freshly cut wood and tobacco smoke. His delighted eyes took in quillwork and beadwork and paint, blankets and ribbons, bodies clad in fringed buckskin, warm brown faces, dark, friendly eyes. Murmuring greetings, he searched the crowd for specially loved faces. "Where is Owl Carver?" he asked. After such a long time the Sauk language came awkwardly to his lips. Three Horses said, "Owl Carver visits the camps of the Fox and the Kickapoo, to invite them to Black Hawk's council." _What is Black Hawk planning now?_ White Bear did not like the sound of the news, but there would be time to think about it later. "Where is Sun Woman, my mother?" Water Flows Fast spoke up. "She has gone to gather medicine plants." She looked as cheerful as, he remembered, she always had, but her eyes penetrated him. "Will no one find her and tell her that I am here?" Water Flows Fast said, "Redbird should go and tell Sun Woman. Redbird lives with Sun Woman now." _Redbird!_ He felt almost dizzy at the sound of her name, a name he had not heard spoken aloud in six years. As soon as Water Flows Fast spoke, she started to giggle, putting her hands over her mouth. Many of the other women in the group giggled too. White Bear wanted to hide his burning face. He had forgotten how painful it could be to be made fun of by those who knew him so well. But joy blazed up in his chest. Redbird living with Sun Woman? He wanted to whoop with happiness, even as Wolf Paw had whooped with rage. That could only mean that she had not taken a husband. Then he took a deep breath and stiffened his body to hide his feelings. He looked at the laughing faces all around him, especially the bright, curious eyes of Water Flows Fast. If they saw how excited he was, they would laugh at him all the more. Trying to keep his voice steady, he asked, "Where is my mother's wickiup?" With a knowing smile--but what was it that she knew?--Water Flows Fast beckoned to the wickiup of Sun Woman--and Redbird. "Come. I will take you."