The sun was down, and there was a beautiful sunset in the northwest as shadows fell around the front lawn of Jennifer and Blake’s house on the Point the following Saturday night. A fire pan had been set in the middle of the sidewalk out to the dock in front of the house, and the wood for a fire carefully laid, but not lit. The wood was mostly cedar, which burned quickly and aromatically, and some dried sage had been added to the chinks between the wood.

Danny and Debbie had originally proposed just holding the ceremony, but Blake was not about to let a chance to host a banquet go by him. He’d served a classic. It was a Blake Walworth dinner, through and through: African peanut soup, lobster tails, eggplant surprise, and multiple varieties of slaw.

All of the Evachevski kids had been invited, along with their spouses, and, in one case, friend. Gil and Carrie were there too, of course; so were Josh and Tiffany, and John and Candice, who seemed especially close and touching.

There were some other guests, too – Ellen and Ruth Standing Bear, Sarah Red Fox and Dorothy Horned Owl. Danny didn’t know the last two as well as the first two, but had come to like and respect them fully as much as the slightly older Standing Bear women. He knew, of course, that the four had supervised Debbie’s vision quest, and in a way all were her spiritual mothers as a katara. He had learned much from each of them in the past month. They were strangers to the Evachevskis and Archers assembled in Blake and Jennifer’s dining room, but they were good at keeping up their end of the conversation among a group that included a number of serious individuals. Tara, the portrait painter, for example, was extremely taken with Ruth Standing Bear, and it was easy to see her wishing she had a paint brush in her hand, trying to capture the indomitable spirit of the wise old blind woman.

Eventually, it began to get dark outside, and Danny commented that it was time to get on with things, and led everyone outside. Ruth had little trouble with the steps, having Ellen and Toby to guide her, and soon they were gathered in a circle around the firepan.

"First," Danny said. "I want to thank you all for coming tonight. I think we got through the introductions well enough around the dinner table, so I’ll give them a pass here. Before we get under way, however, I want to congratulate everyone on their persistence in trying to pry and beg and wheedle what’s going to happen tonight out of Debbie and me. I have heard some of the most astounding excuses and attempts I’ve ever heard in my life. But, I think we’ve managed to keep you all in suspense. The time for suspense and mystery is ending. Dorothy, could I please ask you to do the honors with the fire in the Shakahatche fashion?"

Without comment, Dorothy produced a fire bow and stick, knelt down in front of the fire and began to use the bow to rotate the stick back and forth in a piece of hardwood. In but a few seconds, as everyone watched silently, the end of the stick was hot enough to glow, and with that, Dorothy lit a small piece of punk, then blew on it till a flame burst out. She transferred the flame from the punk to the fire she’d carefully prepared, and within a minute there was flame all through the pile. The smell the fire produced was almost intoxicating with burning sage and cedar, and the occasional spark drifted up into the sky.

"Thank you, Dorothy," Danny said quietly. "My part will now be brief. As I said, I think that everyone has asked us if Debbie and I are getting engaged or married. The answer is yes, no, and sort of."

Danny paused for a moment and smiled. Now he had them really confused. "As you know," he continued, "Debbie and I have had disastrous relationships in the past, we know we’ve been burned, and we have been reluctant to push on to what we think we ought to do. Now, in the past few months, a number of you have come to me and said something to the effect of, ‘Danny, I could see you were making the wrong move by getting involved with Marsha, but it was your business and I thought it best to stay out.’ So, as a result, everybody stayed out. I think now if any one person had come to me, I would have shrugged it off, but after three or four I might have stopped and thought it over for a bit. Now, I’m not blaming anyone for not getting in my face about it, but I consider it a lesson learned." He stood silently for a moment, realizing that he had everyone still wondering what was going on, then quietly said, "Debbie?"

"My story is much the same," she announced. "In the years after I left Kenny, I have had a number of people come to me and tell me that they thought I was a fool for getting involved with him, but they thought that they should stay out of my business. As a result, I was burned in much the same way as Danny. I managed to get out of it sooner, but I endured the pain longer. Like Danny, I consider it a lesson learned, and after much discussion, we have agreed that we will be applying that lesson. The reason that we have been so mysterious is that we have talked this over extensively with our friends from Three Pines who are with us tonight, and we have jointly decided to handle this a little differently than you or they are used to. It is not tribal tradition, and in most ways not Evachevski family tradition, either. We have asked our good friend and katara Ellen Standing Bear to explain what we will be doing."

Debbie stepped back a little, and took Danny’s hand, as Ellen stepped forward. "As Debbie said," the wise old woman began, "this is not tribal tradition, but mostly their idea. They have consulted with us considerably about this, and we have included some suggestions that they have accepted. I will comment that the four kataras they consulted with were very impressed with the wisdom of their idea, and that it came from such a young couple."

Danny looked around and could see half a dozen people just about to burst with curiosity. Michelle was just about exploding with the desire to blurt out some question. He smiled, and listened to Ellen continue: "You are aware that, like most young couples, each of them perceives problems in themselves and in the other, but they think they are wise enough to overcome them. We are not so sure, since they are still young and obviously think they are in love. But, we recognize a wisdom in them to identify the problems and courage to confront them.

"In addition," Ellen continued, "we had one other concern, which they share to some degree, and which some of you may share, but from a different viewpoint than ours. My friends and I are what are commonly called kataras, as is Debbie, though she is of lesser age and experience. Many even among The People do not understand the meaning of that word. Although it is not entirely a religious thing, it has religious connotations, and attempts to understand and seek wisdom of the spirits. But this does not mean that we are animists, as many would believe. I myself am an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and some of these ladies with me tonight are also active Christians. We look upon what we do as an addition to our Christianity, a way of adapting our heritage to Christianity.

"In truth, our purpose is less spiritual than it is to be keepers of the traditions of our people," Ellen explained. "Few of our young people fully appreciate those traditions anymore; a few years ago, Debbie did not. But she has become aware of the importance of recognizing those traditions and that spirituality in her life, and she has become one of us. She and we were very concerned for her falling in love with a white man, for she runs the danger of falling away from those traditions. There are few enough kataras left that it is worrisome to lose even one of us, especially one as young and brilliant and understanding as she. And, obviously, in a mixed cultural marriage that they propose, there is the danger that the children will grow up without that background and understanding of those traditions, and more will be lost.

It was the old Indian/white issue, Danny thought. He and Debbie had pretty well buried it between themselves, but there had been some concerns among the Three Pines kataras about it. In addition, Danny had been concerned that Michelle would misunderstand, which is why he’d asked Ellen to discuss the relationship between kataras and Christianity, and the racial issue. But that was a week behind them, now, and he just listened to the wise old woman continue.

"We have come to know Danny well, and have become impressed with the respect he has for our traditions, even though he does not share in them and only being slightly of The People will probably never fully understand them," Ellen said. "We have been impressed by his efforts to understand them, and more importantly, his support of Debbie in pursuing her understanding of them and the wisdom of what they represent. We are reminded that the most important touchstone that we of The People have to our past is not the work of an Indian, but of a white man, Reverend Robert Carter, over a hundred years ago. We would know much less of our own traditions without his journals, but he recorded as much as one man can of the old ways, and understood them as well as anyone not of The People can manage. At the same time, by respecting our traditions and gaining our respect and our love, Reverend Carter is more responsible than any one man for the Christianity among my people today. You may not know, but Danny already speaks more of the language of The People than any white man since Reverend Carter’s death, although he would be the first to tell you that he does not yet speak with fluency or a large vocabulary. But given Danny’s attempts to understand The People, we could not bring ourselves to shame the memory of Reverend Carter."

Danny glanced around again, and saw several people looking at him with curiosity that hadn’t been there before. That he’d been over to Three Pines with Debbie on several occasions was no secret – but how seriously he’d been studying hadn’t been understood. He hadn’t expected Ellen to bring up Reverend Carter, but he felt like it was a long reach to use the two names in the same sentence.

The flames continued to flicker in the fire pan as Ellen continued, "We have all discussed this considerably, among ourselves and with Danny and Debbie, and together, we have agreed upon a course of action. As Debbie told you, it is not tribal, it is not white, and it is not family custom . . . " She stopped for a moment, grinned, shook her head and continued dryly, "Although, as Danny has explained, it is more of a family custom than we first understood. However, in their case, and at their request, we are going to formalize it to a considerable degree.

"What we are doing now, and what we will be doing in the next few minutes, we of The People have no word for, nor do you. It is more than an engagement and less than a marriage. It is, in a sense, a consecration that may well lead to a marriage. What Danny and Debbie are going to agree to do tonight is to live together as if they were man and wife in every sense possible short of being in a legal marriage for a period of one year. During that year, they will undoubtedly test each other, and possibly they will discover that marriage is not the wisest possible course of action for them. If that is the case, so be it, and it will best be known before they can cause themselves too much damage.

"Toward the end of that year, they will sit in several forms of judgment, examining themselves and their marriage. The most important group sitting in judgment will be they, themselves. In addition, we, Debbie’s fellow kataras, will be another group judging the results, and we may possibly bring in some other kataras that do not know them to assist us in making that judgment."

Ellen smiled at the frowns around the fire, and continued, "The other group sitting in judgment will be those people of Danny’s friends and family sitting here tonight. You will no doubt have to develop your own questions and standards that you will use to make your judgment, although you are welcome to consult with me and my fellow kataras, or anyone else you wish to assist you in making your decision. If all judgments go in their favor, they will then marry a year from tonight. If any of the three decide against them, they have agreed to turn their backs on each other and walk away, but walk away as friends."

That did it. There were some seriously dropped jaws around the group standing in the circle around the fire, and a couple of audible gasps. Danny could see Michelle just bursting to speak, but Ellen continued, "Speaking for myself, I am impressed with the wisdom that they are showing to not only consult with family and friends and fellows on this important decision, but in the courage they are showing to accept its results. They realize they could have avoided much pain in both their lives had they had the courage to take this step in their previous relationships, for not only do they have to convince each other it is the right move to make, but convince the rest of us, as well. I will be honest and say that I envy the wisdom and courage they are showing to take an action like this. Many of do not understand the importance of marriage when they marry. Danny and Debbie are showing that they fully understand it, and are as serious about trying to do the right thing by each other as I have ever seen."

Ellen smiled a broad smile, a twinkle of the fire glinting in her eye. "I will be the first to admit," she continued, "that this innovative approach to a mutual commitment toward each other presented my fellow kataras and myself with a considerable problem. We of the people have traditional marriage ceremonies, as we have Christian ceremonies, and sometimes the partners choose to have them combined. As Christians and kataras, we applaud this. However, what would be the form of a ceremony to celebrate a commitment more than an engagement but just short of a marriage? Danny and Debbie suggested that we do something simple, rather than complicated. As their commitment is more than an engagement, we all decided that simple engagement rings would be inappropriate. After some discussion, the decision was made to do something of special significance to recognize their commitment to each other. My sister Ruth has prepared two special beadwork bracelets, and in a few minutes she will sew them onto Danny and Debbie’s right wrists. They will not be able to be removed without being cut off, so a serious decision would have to be made for either of them to remove them. At the same time, beadwork is not iron or steel or gold or silver. It can be accidentally damaged and Ruth will be happy to repair it if it is. But she feels they should last out Danny and Debbie’s trial year. If the decision is made that they will marry a year from tonight, then the bracelets will be removed and replaced with something a little more formal, like wedding rings." She sighed and shook her head. "That is, of course, assuming that these two don’t surprise us with another innovation."

There was some quiet laughter around the circle. Ellen did have her sense of humor, he thought. He wondered what she would think if she knew why he and Debbie had suggested the sewn-on wide bead bracelets. It should be enough, they hoped, to overcome his mental block about making love in the nude – and hers, about going out to the Club, if the need should arise.

"In any case," Ellen continued. "Given that symbol of commitment to each other, it was no problem for we four older kataras to come up with a little ceremony to ask the spirits, whichever they may be, to bless this couple and help them on their life’s path while Ruth sews on the bracelets."

It was all over in a few more minutes of traditional ceremony, with Ellen feeding sage and aromatic grasses to the fire to make it sparkle and touch everyone with the smoke, Sarah and Dorothy beating a kosanti rhythm on small drums and chanting while Ruth sewed on the bracelets in the light from the fire. Being blind, she didn’t need the firelight, of course, but her hands were deft despite their age, and soon it was done. Danny and Debbie turned to face each other and kiss.

As they turned to work their way around the circle of friends and family side by side, hugging and kissing each one in turn, Danny knew that there were going to be some amazed comments about what had taken place. And there would be some amazed comments from others, since his and Debbie’s relationship would be hard to explain, other than the word "committed" – which really didn’t mean that much. But he was confident of one thing: after a year had passed, no one was going to have room to say, "I should have told you."

But, he was just as confident that there wasn’t going to be reason for anyone to say it anyway, as he and Debbie stood in front of his friends and family, beaded bracelets sewn onto their wrists.

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