Chapter 9C
"If I had not been banished, I would have run away right after the Ceremony. There was one brave who would smile every time he saw me. He had very cruel eyes and a way of smiling that froze my soul. I knew he was waiting until I completed the ceremony to talk to my father. He could pay any price he asked." She stopped again. "There was no way I could avoid him. He was the son of the Shaman I was training under. I was willing to throw away my place in the Tribe to avoid becoming his wife. I sometimes still have nightmares of what might have happened. It was during one such nightmare that Victoria's face appeared for the first time."
"That is amazing." Maude said,
"It took me several weeks to discover why she would appear nightly. When I found out she was facing the same thing I would have run away from, I knew I had to help her. It was not until later that I would find out that her Destiny and Cassie's were the same. They belong together."
"With the distance between here and Virginia, how were you able to find that out?"
"Distance has no meaning in dreams. It took me many weeks to find out what the dreams were telling me, to have her face change to Cassie's. By the time I was able to contact Victoria, both their faces would appear together. It was at that point, their destinies became clear to me."
"When Victoria was first brought here, Cassie said she had seen her in her dreams. You were able to touch them through their dreams."
"Yes but only after I found out they belonged together. Cassie's dreams were much harder to enter."
"Why when she was right here?"
"As I said distance means nothing. Cassie is content with her life. She is happy running the ranch. Lonely, but happy. She never gave a thought to being alone. She would never go out to find someone to love. Running this ranch fills her every waking moment. It never relaxes even in sleep and was a very hard place to enter. Only after I learned about Victoria was I able to enter Cassie's dreams."
"You would have been a very powerful Shaman, Granny. What was that dance you mentioned?"
"Thank you, Miss Maude." Granny shaded her eyes as she looked out to the gate. "The Dance is a very sacred part of the Ceremony. After the girl-woman has left the lodge, she starts to dance. The first day for several hours, the next for a longer period. Each day she dances for a longer time until she can dance for a whole day. She has a limited amount of time to make it the full day. This shows that she is strong and can handle the work and responsibilities of a woman. If she can not complete the dance in the required time, she is in disgrace and would never be allowed to marry with in the Tribe." Granny looked at the dust cloud that came closer. "Riders are coming." She said.