Okwaho looked down at their small walled village. The Peacemaker’s story made sense to him. Like so many stories that seemed simple at first, it contained a lesson. It was a lesson that could be applied in more ways than one. It was about the results of war—but it was also about him. He had been holding on to his anger for so long—like that snake holding on to the frog. If he did not let go, that anger would eat him. He would either be destroyed or become as twisted as Atatarho. It had cleared some of the clouds from around his head. He saw now that there was a way forward. It was a way as simple and clear as that story of the boy Rabbit Foot. It was a way that required him to let go of his anger, to clear the clouds from around his head. To no longer look back and regret the past, but to look forward. He turned to Carries.

“I want to follow the Peacemaker’s way,” he said. “What can I do?”

chapter thirteen

KEEP LISTENING

Carries placed his hand on Okwaho’s shoulder. “What can you do, my young friend?” he asked. “Do what you are doing now. Keep listening. And be ready.”

He stood and brushed himself off. “I have delivered my message here. Now I must move on to other villages and tell them to prepare. The Peacemaker will soon come.”

“Soon?” Okwaho said, rising to his own feet.

Carries nodded. “He has been to almost every other place in our land where the people have been suffering from endless war. But the last place he will come, I have been told, is Onondaga, to the big village your people left. That is where everyone, people from all of our Longhouse Nations, will gather to bring the Great Peace into being.”

“But what about Atatarho?” Okwaho asked, seeing in his mind the angry face of their powerful, giant leader who had sworn that none were greater than him.

“The Peacemaker will speak to him,” Carries said. “And the Peacemaker will not come alone. He will have many people of our different nations behind him. And by his side will be his two greatest allies. Tsakonsaseh, the Mother of Nations, is the first of them.”

“Tsakonsase?” Okwaho said. Hers was a name he had heard before. Of course he had heard her name. Everyone knew her name. Her neutral lodge was far to the west where the war trails crossed. Anyone seeking shelter could come to her lodge and she would welcome them. She was known for giving advice to any warrior who sought her help. It was said that the path to war led through her lodge of peace. “Is that the same Tsakonsaseh whose lodge is by the huge waterfall?”