They sat on the bank where they had left their clothing, letting the air dry their bodies. From a pouch she had brought with her Redbird took a wood-stoppered gourd containing musk oil. She and Yellow Hair rubbed the oil on their bodies to keep mosquitoes off. Yellow Hair wanted to know if the first time with a man hurt very much. "Some women hurt much. Other women little." She patted Yellow Hair's wrist to reassure her. "I think you hurt little. After that, feel very, very good." She patted herself between her legs to make plain what she was talking about, and Yellow Hair blushed again. "_Best_ feeling," Redbird added, smiling. It was surprising, Redbird thought, that Yellow Hair could become a fully grown woman and yet still have her first time with a man to look forward to. They sat in silence for a time, Redbird afraid again because now she had to take the next step. But before she could speak, tears began to trickle down Yellow Hair's cheeks. She spoke brokenly, and it was hard for Redbird to follow her. She seemed to be saying that she expected to die before she ever knew those good feelings Redbird talked about with a man she loved. She had already lived for twenty summers, and now it seemed she might not live much longer. And never have a man. It was true. There was big danger to Yellow Hair. If anything happened to White Bear, she would have no protector. Many Sauk hated pale eyes. One might get at her. Or her own people might even kill her by mistake. Yellow Hair had missed so much. So tall and beautiful, but she had nothing to show for her life--no man, no children. Redbird felt sorry for her. "You love White Bear?" she asked, hugging herself as she said the word "love" to show what she meant. Now Yellow Hair turned pale--even paler than usual--and drew away from Redbird. She shook her head violently, her bright golden hair swinging all wild and loose, and said, "No, no, no!" But she stared at Redbird too fixedly, and Redbird could see that she did not mean what she said. White Bear wanted Yellow Hair, but said he did not want her. Yellow Hair loved White Bear, but said she did not love him. White Bear and Yellow Hair were both being foolish. It came of Yellow Hair being pale eyes and White Bear being part pale eyes. And so now Redbird took a deep breath and said, "When we sleep tonight, you go to bed of White Bear. He make you happy." Yellow Hair's eyes grew huge and her face glowed with a joyous wonder. She stammered and gasped as she asked Redbird if she really meant it, if she would really let such a thing happen. "I happy when you happy, White Bear happy," Redbird said. Redbird had come to see Yellow Hair as a younger sister who needed her help and guidance. She liked Yellow Hair much more, in fact, than she liked either Wild Grape or Robin's Nest. Her sisters had always sneered at White Bear, and Yellow Hair saw what a fine man he was.