Sonya laid down the law.

That law lasted for about fifteen minutes, before the harpies were back at it again. What the fuck?

Banshee lost it. I think the women were shocked to be out talked to that way, even if they couldn’t understand Pawnee. If I doubted my fever memories of Banshee before, I didn’t now. A force of nature unleashed.

Mouse stood in the middle of the path and tried to translate but she couldn’t keep up. Banshee physically moved each and every woman to their spot, scolding the entire time. Apparently Banshee had no patience with foolishness.

I was flat out stunned and so were the women. Banshee had a lot to say.

I was sure glad I didn’t speak Pawnee.

I turned to Sonya and said, “Have you met your new assistant?”

Michelle smacked me.

**** ****

Sonya stepped up again, once Banshee was finally satisfied and the women were all standing quietly in their plots. They actually looked chagrined and a bit fearful. The fear may have had something to do with Matilda sitting calmly on a stump, stropping her straight razor.

Sonya was bold now and she pointed due east. “Ladies, that’s the way home. Just head towards the rising sun. If you don’t like our rules, then you are welcome to leave with what you brought. We’ll tell your man where you went.”

“Otherwise, our rules apply. And every person is equal here, regardless of color, religion, or sex. Zach gives everyone an equal say on items that need a vote. Having neighborhoods by color is not one of those things you get to have a say in.”

“These are the most basic of our rules and your choices are to stay and follow them, or leave. If you want to argue about them, go see Matilda and Banshee.”

Silent pause, and everyone could hear Matilda calmly stropping her razor. Banshee simply glared.

Sonya charged on, “If you have a problem or question, you come privately to me or Michelle. You do not pester Zach.”

“Now, please call your children to you.” Kids came flooding into the lots and the ladies had to start explaining that this would be the spot where they lived for a little while, until the house was built. Trust children to lighten the mood, as only kids can.

Michelle took over now, “Ladies, I think suppertime is approaching rapidly. Please go assist Matilda with the cooking. Leave the kids here.”

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Damn if they didn’t do as they were told. I knew the shadow conversations would start soon, but I trusted my ladies to handle it. I also noted that Capt. Timmons’ wife had been silent - downright stoic - during the entire episode. Interesting.

Once the ladies were gone, I had Amos grab the older kids and head off for chores. Sonya started playing games with the kids.

“Our first game is, 'Where’s Your Friend.' When I point to you, you find your friend and run to their house…”

That was under control.

Mouse came to me and I just relaxed in her arms for a minute. I needed that minute.

**** ****

Timmons was in awe of the tractor. I was worried about the amount of diesel I was going through and whether our little watering brook was going to flow. There wasn’t much of a slope here, so we had to make use of every little bit we could find. We spent a couple of hours, trying to map out a path for the brook, before Timmons came up with the brilliant idea of just letting the water show us. So we did.

We simply started at the brook with shovels and hoes. I didn’t have many, but we had enough to get started. Timmons had a better understanding of water flow than the rest of us, so we just followed his lead. He found a little bend in the brook which had a very slight hollow next to it. The brook was gently eating away at the bend. He explained to us that water changed course all the time and that all we had to do was to take advantage of what it wanted. Then, with a couple of quick pulls using the hoe, the water took over and the hollow started to fill.

Patience turned out to be the name of the game. After the hollow filled the water, it went searching for another route. We’d check to see if that route had any hope at all, and if not, we used our tools to start a new one that went in the direction we desired. It ended up being a winding course, due to the very slight grade we were on. Everything was heading down from the bluff and eventually would wind up in the Nemaha, but it wasn’t going to be a quick straight line.

To go the thirty yards to the pasture edge, that water must have travelled almost sixty yards in total. We let the water do most of the work, but someone would have to walk this daily for years, until the bed and banks truly established themselves. Once we were out of the woods, the slope became a tiny bit steeper and the tractor took over.

It was still a game of follow the water, but it was easier now without trees and bushes blocking anything. When the water chose a path, I simply cut a six inch trench on that path until we reached a small hollow near the middle of the pasture. I dug the hollow out a little deeper and widened it with sloped banks. In the end, it was almost ten foot by ten foot and about four feet deep at its deepest point. At that point we left it to fill; it would take a while.

We still need to collect and transport gravel to line the bed of the brook and the bottom of the pond. That would take a while, because most of it would have to come up from the river. Most of that would be transported by pack horse and llama. The final step would be to give the brook an outlet back to our stream, downstream from our homestead, of course. We should have the men and tools on hand to take care of that shortly. I expected them to be here tomorrow and then the boat to show up within a day or so after that.

Cleaning up after building a water course is nasty work. Everything was covered in mud and we were all varying degrees of wet. We used a bucket to rinse the worst of the mud off of the tractor and then headed down to the stream to wash ourselves and the tools.

Supper was being laid out on the table when we got back. And a Pawnee brave was waiting for me. He was a runner from the herd. They would be here tomorrow before noon. Better news could not have been wished for, and the ladies and kids were all excited. I treated the young warrior to his first taste of quality beer and Mouse interviewed him for a long while.

A good night was had by all.