Midwinter's Eve

"I know Linda is the greatest thing to happen to you. But, it would be better if I just fade into the background and find something far away from here. You know me, I don't like the limelight. I just want to make a good living doing a good job in the background."

"I know John, and that is why I'm giving you this severance. Hell, just think of it as all those bonuses you never took and we can call it even. Once you get your feet under you, let me know and I'll give you a good reference." He handed John a check in an envelope and shook his hand. "Good luck John. If anyone deserves it, it's you." He walked out without a backward glance.

"Okay John, they've brought your car around so you can leave. Ignore the cameras and the questions." His favorite nurse came into his room. "A local paint shop fixed the door and that guy paid for it be cleaned and made just like new. He still swears on a stack of Bibles that he never saw you, but he might have been suffering from delirium too. He was very happy that you are not going to sue him and asked the Sherriff's office to drop the investigation."

"Yeah well, we both made it out. So, no harm, no foul." John shrugged. "Do I have to really ride in that silly thing?" he pointed to the wheel chair.

"You know the answer to that." She smiled. "I hope you find her again. If you do, don't forget to tell her you love her. If you don't, there is a daughter of mine I'd like you to meet." She smiled.

"No thanks, I think I've had enough woman trouble for awhile. Nothing against her, but well... you know better than most." John shrugged, not knowing how to say what needed to be said.

"Darn and she needs a good man. I'd just loved to bring you home for the holidays." Nurse Mel chuckled and hugged John. "Take care of yourself. I don't want to see you in here again, but don't be a stranger either." She plopped him into the chair and started pushing him to the front door. John waved good naturedly as he quickly climbed into the car and headed off into the great unknown.

*****

"There are said to be seven sisters. It is their job to keep things growing and the balance between all living things." Tallbear was talking to John over a warm fire. "Every tribe I know has a story about the seven sisters. They are all different, but all the same in many ways. Some say they were chased away by seven very eager braves and sit high in the sky looking down at their creations. Some say they are the spirit women and that can still influence any male in their territory."

"What are their names?" John leaned forward to listen.

"No one knows for sure." Tallbear shrugged. "There is the Great Mother Bear, for there are none fiercer in protecting their children than the great Grizzly. Then there is the Otter woman. She makes the best wife. She is playful and wants to give you as many children as possible. Next would be the Beaver woman. She is strong and determined. You will have to have a strong house to capture her heart, but once you do, you will own it forever."

"The Deer woman?" John looked at Tallbear and waited for his answer.

"The deer woman is the worst wife. She always wants to be the center of attention. She is flighty and fickle. She wants the strongest man, but will change her mind in a blink of an eye. Of course the males make fools of themselves trying for her attention. One spritz of her musk and every male that can smell it will be fighting for her attention."

"She is the one men would kill and die to breed." John whispered.

"You have heard of this one. I can tell in your eyes. She is said to be the fairest and the most dangerous if you are not careful." Tallbear answered. "Many do not live to greet their offspring, and then you can never be sure who the father is." He sighed. "The Eagle woman is tall, fierce and proud. Her head is always in the clouds, but if you get her attention, you must be sure you want it. You see, if you catch her eye, it will never waver off of you. She is a woman who, if you play her false, you will not live to tell the tale."

"The next two are twins and never to be trusted. They are the Snake woman and the Lizard woman. Both have cold hearts and vile tempers. You can never tame either one of those, but many men fall for them because next to the Deer woman, they are the most fair to look at. But just like the rattle snake, they are also the most poisonous."

"And these are all Doni women?" John asked, thinking hard.

"These are all spirit women. Doni women, well some if these women can be Doni Women. Like a Beaver woman, or Otter woman, because they are the closest to the great Mother Earth. It is their job to bring forth ever abundant life. These women will be built for having babies. They tend to have large breasts to feed children and if another woman is dry, they can spare enough to feed other children as well. They have wide hips and plush curves. When they sit in counsel, they look the most like the Mother earth... round." He smiled and gestured.

"What about the Bear woman?" Something nicked his brain.

"The Bear woman is a great mother, but not the best wife. Once she has cubs, she forgets her mate to raise the cubs. Once they are on their own, she will search out her mate until the cycle completes again. They mate for life, but it can be a lonely life for the male. He can disappear for years until she is ready to mate again. Lord help him if he has found another to mate with while she was distracted raising her cubs. Then there will be a great battle for the mating rights. Many things get killed in those battles. Many innocents who do nothing but get in the way are killed in their blind anger. WW2 is a good example of what happens when two of the great bears fight over a mate. Well in that case, the eagle and the bear. But the point is the same." John was about to ask another question when there was a zap of lightning at the edge of the fire.

"That is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. You need to go back to your granny's knee and pay better attention Small Bear man! And for your information, you mixed it up. There are hundreds of us sisters." She pointed at Tallbear with authority.

"You seem to have forgotten a few, like the horse woman, or the wolf woman, or the coyote woman. And we're not good, bad, or evil. We are necessary!" Sparks were flying from her hair. "Do you think I want to drain every unacceptable male? No, it is a necessity. Only the strongest can survive. He should know that." She pointed at John. "Quit making it into some moralist pile of bullshit."

"Enough...!" John stood up and faced her, instantly angry.

"Take that tramp he was going to marry." The woman gloated. "They could never have kids. She was too weak, so I found someone to get her pregnant. It was the only way. He should know better, he who lived with the strongest of the sisters. Was it fun, well maybe a little, but still, it was necessary!"

"Eve, I said that is enough!" John shouted his fists clenched.

"How did you learn my name? Did she tell you? That's forbidden. There is power in the name." She flinched back in fear. Seeing an adversary she could defeat, she turned to Tallbear. "And what about you Bear man? Do you think you have what it's got Mr. Tall-Bear-man?"

"I am too old to fall for you wilds." Tallbear was shaking in his boots. "Besides, I am unworthy of your attention." For a tanned man he looked very pale.

"What a waste. You could have had me, instead of my big hairy grouchy sister!" She stopped mid-rant. "Oh shit, you are too close to her range and she heard that." She looked around frightened. "I'm gone!" With a flick of light and a strong smell, Eve vanished out of sight.

*****

What happened next would depend on who you asked. You see, both John and Tallbear saw it very differently. Tallbear was still stunned by the spirit woman who raged against him and his stories. So, when he saw the mountain of brown come running into the fire light, he was sure he was going to his ancestors by the way of an angry bears gut. It had to be the biggest, meanest, most pissed off Grizzly Bear in all of history.

When John saw her, all he saw was Doni. Yeah, she was angry and yelling at her sister, but still, it was his Doni.

Doni ran after her sister, knowing she was trying to take what was hers again. She couldn't allow that. This spring was too fruitful to allow her to take her mate away from her. She was so mad. She didn't even notice John and she screamed after Eve.

"Get your scrawny ass back here so I can give you something to remember not to mess with what's mine." She clawed where her scat was next to her musk. How dare she mark anywhere her Mate was sleeping. She'd show her once and for all.

"Doni...?" John reached out to her.

She froze at the sound of his voice. She spun, not realizing her claws were still out in the hopes of marking her sister in a very sensitive place. She saw him fall back in pain and his blood on her hand. "John..." She said frightened and then remembered the girls. "Girls... tree!" She commanded in a loud voice.

"But mommy what is it? Is it yummy like those fish, or yucky like those bugs?" The girls asked snuffing around.

"It is your father. Are you old enough to meet him yet?" She huffed. "I said get in a tree!" She snarled, hitting her head on the ground in irritation. Never before did she have to deal with two girls. They were driving her crazy. She turned back to her mate and shifted herself back into his lover. "I'm so sorry." She looked at his bleeding arm.

"Hi Doni, I've missed you." John reached out to touch his lover.

Tallbear couldn't believe what he was seeing. He watched frozen in place when the bear came rushing in. He saw John reach toward it and he saw John get slapped back for his efforts. "John, stay perfectly still." He warned his friend in a low voice.

"Who is that?" Doni turned on Tallbear. "Do I know him? Can I trust him? Have I smelled him before?" She went down on all fours and sniffed his scent.

"Doni, no...! He is a man, and my friend." John got up and walked between Tallbear and Doni. "He will not hurt you or our children." He promised her.

"What have I done to you, my love?" She sniffed his arm. She loosened her fur coat and pulled him close. "Here drink from me and I will clean the wound." She pulled his head to her breast and let him suckle. "Not too much dear one, since those two haven't learned to forage for themselves yet." She sighed as his lips worked her breast and made her remember what it meant to be loved by her mate, while she licked his wounds.

Tallbear about shit his pants when the huge grizzly pulled John in close. He thought he was dreaming when he heard the sucking sounds and the big bear lay down next to the fire, licking John's arm. He looked to the tallest trees and saw two cubs looking down at him. He could see the light of their eyes as they swayed with the tree tops, not having any more tree to climb.

*****

The next morning John woke up from a dream. It was just on the edge of his awareness, but he felt safe and warm. "Mommy can we come down now, our paws are tired. Why do bugs fly? Do we have to eat the flying bugs too? Can we come down now?" He heard high squeaky voices over his head.

"Go to the stream and try and catch some fish. And don't go wandering off again. I have to tend your father's wound so let's not make him mad!" John hugged her close. "You, man thing, stay put!" She ordered Tallbear with a gruff snort.

"My god, I understood her." Tallbear said in a shocked voice.

"Dearest one, time to get up, I have to go get our daughters before they get into mischief again." She kissed him. "They take after you with their incessant questions. Maybe you can raise them for awhile, while I get ready for the winter?"

"I don't see how that would work love. Like you said before I left home, our children are not human." John didn't want to leave her warmth.

"I said our children will not always be man things." She sighed. "Take a quick suckle love, and meet me like you were supposed to, once the first chill wind blows. Those two have a lot to learn between now and then." She offered John her breast to feed off of.

"Mommy, mommy the wolf pack took our food and won't give it back!" They groaned as Doni shook her fur back into place and sundered off to take care of her girls.

"I love you my mate." She said over her shoulder walking towards their cubs.

"I love you too my Doni." John rubbed his arm and looked around.

"Oh Jesus Christ, Oh my God... I've got to... go!" Tallbear ran behind a tree and yanked down his pants before he shit all over himself. "I don't fucking believe it, not a Doni woman, but The Doni Woman. No wonder you felt safe and warm all winter. She is the essence of the Great Mother herself. And you gave her twins?" He babbled as everything that he had been holding back escaped in a big noisy rush. "Could you be so kind as to toss me some paper please?" John waited until the noisy sounds of Tallbear's bowls empting stopped, before tossing a roll of toilet paper in his general direction.

Tallbear came walking none to steadily back to the camp. "And she made me understand her. I've been blessed by the Great Mother Spirit." He beamed and his knees wobbled. "But you can't tell anyone! They would lock you away and toss the key, if you told them the truth. That's probably why you couldn't remember it when they asked. Your Doni was keeping you safe." He wiped the sweat from his brow. "I've never seen a mother grizzly let anything get close to her cubs, but they were there watching us all night. Do you know what they were saying? I couldn't make it out."

"Dude, chill." John laughed at Tallbear's reaction. "They spent most of the night begging to come down or asking questions about the stars, the fire, the clouds, the bugs they didn't like eating. They wouldn't shut the hell up and give us a moment's peace." John sighed and looked in the direction Doni and walked off.

*****

A month later, John was walking in the mountains, just waiting for the time he could meet his lover again. He crested a small hill and stopped in shock. Down in the valley, next to a stream, three people were doing something to the girls... his girls!

"Hey, let them go!" He shouted and stated running. Those were his daughters. How he knew it was them, he didn't know or care.

"Oh shit...! Dan, get the trank gun. Here comes another one." One of the guys shouted as John ran at them, swelling in his anger.

John, being a human, knew what was happening and dodged at the last second. "Do you fucking mind!" He yelled at them. "Let my daughters go!" He rounded the big rock he was behind.

"Oh, sorry dude, we thought you were another grizzly." The oldest of the group said, while trying to hold down one of the girls and put a collar on her.

"Let her go now!" John stepped closer and yanked the long rifle out of the stunned young man's hand. He glared at the young woman and stepped closer.

"Relax, we're not hurting them, we're just trying to track their migration patterns." The older guy said shocked.

"Daddy, Daddy, momma is coming. Please help us. Daddy, Daddy... please?" John spun and saw one of his girls in a cage.

"Why is she in a cage?" John asked and heard Doni's scream of rage.

"Oh, we're separating them so they can mate in different ranges and we can track their progress. We're trying to increase the population of the natural born grizzlies, and we don't need two fertile females in the same range. We're from the University. Hey, what are you doing?" He asked when John opened the cage.

"Their mother is coming and if you think this gun will stop her, you are sadly mistaken." He grabbed the now midsized cub out of the cage and started rubbing himself all over her.

"You smell right daddy, they smell bad." They young girl cub rubbed against John and licked his face.

"Girl... Tree...!" John shoved her towards a stand of lodge pole pines.

"Yes daddy!" She scampered off and found the tallest tree she could find and started climbing.

"Man oh man. Give me back my gun. Here she comes, and boy is she pissed." The young guy was grabbing for his gun while the older guy was reaching for a pistol on his hip.

"Get off her, and go sit down over there." John pushed them toward the large rock.

"Daddy, I don't feel good." The cub on the ground moaned.

"Momma is coming, let me get their smell off you." John smashed the black box on the collar and tossed it in the bushes. "Don't fucking move!" He ordered the three on top of the rock before getting down and rolling over the ground with his other daughter.

"Daddy I feel sick." She whined.

"Can I borrow your coat?" John asked, as he heard Doni running towards them.

"Yes daddy. Make it better Daddy..." She sniffled and shook out of her coat for him

"Look at the size of that one." The woman said.

"What have you done to my children?" Doni screamed and came smashing into the human's camp. With a swipe of her hand, she split open the cage and looked for her daughter. "Where is she?" She turned and reared up, looking at the puny humans who were cowering in fear.

"Doni, they are safe." John raced up and knocked his lover away from the humans before she could kill them.

"Look at that, that's not normal bear behavior." The scientist said, getting over his fear and pulling out his pad and started taking notes.

"Yeah but, where did that other bear come from?" The girl asked as the two huge bears wrestled on the ground. By the sounds, she thought they were trying to kill each other.

"Look how she holds back. She is bearing her teeth, but not striking. Look how he is nudging her away from us. I'm willing to bet that this is the mating pair that created those twin females. I didn't know they interacted except for during the mating season." He was lost in his science and didn't notice that John wasn't there any longer.

"Doni, they are okay." John went muzzle to muzzle with his wife. "I sent one in a tree and the other is sick from man things." He head butted her to keep her attention on him. "Doni, our daughter needs you. I'll deal with these people." He started nudging her to the sick cub.

"Why are you in her coat? How did you know how to do that?" Doni asked her husband, shoving herself into his warmth, almost knocking him over.

"A wild guess." He nuzzled her. "She is sick and needs your milk my love. I'll give her coat back when she is hidden from their view.

"It's almost like the male is herding the female to the tranquilized cub." The older one was busy taking notes.

"She is in menses. As long as I smell that, they can go. They are hers but need to be gone soon!" Doni lay down next to her cub to let her nurse.

"I didn't know the males had any contact with the cubs." The woman said looking on with wonder. "Hey, where did that guy go?" She realized the John had gone missing.

"He probably beat feet once he saw the female coming. That is the biggest griz I've ever seen or heard about. She has to be over seven feet at the shoulder. That would put her about nineteen feet standing." The other guy was looking on, hoping he hadn't pissed all over himself.

"If you want to get out of her range alive, you need to listen to me." John startled them from behind the rock. "You are on your cycle. Take out your pad or whatever you are using, and mark these two males as yours. She will leave you alone as long as she smells you on them."

"What the fuck...?" The young guy jumped at the sound of John's voice.

"What about the big male?" The scientist asked, looking around.

"He will be on the hill protecting his family until you leave. But you need to be careful in the future, your scent has been marked. I wouldn't come back into this range again if you know what is good for you. Bears can remember who their enemies are, and you did just try and destroy this family unit." John explained in a low voice.