Finally they came to the edge of the world. There they could see that the sky was a great arch of stone. When that stone arch lifted up at dawn, the sun passed through the doorway that was opened. One of those young men tried to pass through that doorway to see the land that Sun came from. But the sky arch came down and crushed him.

Sadly, his six friends turned around and began the long journey back to their homeland. It took so long that they were all old men when they got there.

That story is on my mind as I sit with my friend Yugi. Like that young man who lost his life, I have six friends. Or I used to before they became afraid of my father and me. But am I also like that one young man in another way? Am I attempting something as foolish as trying to enter the land of the Sun? I hope not. I do hope that the journey I’ve decided to take will bring a new light to all our people and not end in disaster.

But I can’t take that journey alone. I need to be able to convince at least one person that what I am doing is not witchcraft. What I am doing is for the good of our people.

Yugi is waiting to see what I will show him. I can see that he is worried. Part of him is wondering if I will do something bad, if I will try to work bad medicine on him. Yet part of him also sees me as his friend and wants to trust me. His two hands are clenched together. Soon he will start rubbing them in that nervous way of his.

Of all my friends, Yugi has always been the closest. He is the only one of my friends who’s cared enough about me and had courage enough to seek me out and warn me. He’s always been the best listener of all of us. Still, I can see that he is uncertain. I have to be careful in what I say. But I do have an idea. I take a deep breath.

“My friend,” I say, “can I ask you a question?”

Yugi looks confused, but he nods his head.

“Do we Tsalagi like horses?”

Yugi can’t help but smile at that question. He loves horses. One of his goals in life is to join our Tsalagi Nation Lighthorse Police.

“Of course,” he says.

“Did we always own horses?”

“No, the white men owned them first.”

“That is true. And I have heard it said that when our people saw horses for the first time they ran away from them because those horses frightened them. People thought those horses were dangerous monsters.”

Yugi nods. “I’ve heard that, too.”

“Here is another question. Do we Tsalagi like guns?’