We feasted, well, not by our standards, but we ate everything Melissa had on those picnic tables, which had been a lot. Since we had been in there basically all day, they had been able to make stews, buried and roasted a full side of a buffalo, and gone nuts with corn, potatoes, squashes, steaks, chicken, and even some venison.
For once, Jack ate in silence. Whatever he had seen inside the inipi, he wasn’t sharing, and I wasn’t keen on saying I saw a woman-shaped pattern in the wind, either. Sure, we had supernatural powers, but it wasn’t like we really embraced it or knew much about anything but our own powers or that of the other elemental tribes.
Nat took the lead while we were all eating, asking Melissa about Whirlwind Woman and other Lakota spirits. Since she patrolled this region all the way to the Great Lakes, that made sense. I listened in, as well, since I frequently jumped up here, plus it never hurt to know a little more about the people here. Since Maddy and I had been able to do some pretty cool mojo combining wind with water, I had taken an interest in other points of view. I even had thoughts that wind could join with fire, too.
Need to find a pyro willing to try, though. Not likely with their short tempers. Wait, what was that?”
“Say that again, Melissa?” I asked.
“I said that some of the stories of Whirlwind Woman say she started out human.”
“Whoa,” I said, again with the Keanu Reeves impression.
“So she could have been a storm rider?” Nat asked.
Melissa shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Well, now it makes more sense,” Jack said. “She’s one of us and just wanted to fuck with us. That makes more sense than anything else I’ve heard.” Jack looked up and raised his voice, just a little. “Good one, you temperamental bitch,” he grinned.
“That was Joaquin giving her five stars,” Anna-Maria smiled to Melissa.