Walking in Two Worlds

Chapter 1: The Mountain-4

The men sat by the evening fire. Lee waited for Running Buffalo to open the conversation. He had a dozen questions, but he would wait until the brave was ready.

As the sun sank behind the pines and cottonwoods that defined the border of the forest, Tatanka turned to Lee. With speech labored and punctuated with many pauses, Tatanka struggled to explain to Lee what had transpired. “Brother,” he began. “Come to take home, me.”

Lee nodded.

“I chief’s son. Son one.

“You’re the chief’s oldest son,” Lee clarified.

“Hau, yes.”

“Want me home. Chief sick. I next chief.”

“Oh.” Lee’s heart sank.

“But if I wiayaa-wic’asa. I not want be chief.”

“Woman-man?”

“Hau, like you. I want man…not woman. So, they say me wiayaa-wic’asa, woman-man.”

“Your brother called you ‘Winkte.’ What did he mean?”

Tatanka sighed. “Winkte mean…” He groped for words. “Ah…not same?”

“Different?” Lee offered.

“Hau, different,” Tatanka nodded then continued. “Winkte is man who different. He have power of Great Spirit, he can see future, can heal with touch. He also man who men come to for make…like we do. They believe that give them great power.”

“Make love, have s*x? They think that gives them power?” Lee queried.

“Hau, yes,” agreed Tatanka. “Winkte not shaman. He not medicine man. He Winkte. People of tribe…ah…yuonihaa…?”

Tatanka seemed to struggle to find a word in English to describe the feeling the people of the tribe would have for the Winkte.

“Yuonihaa?” Lee repeated. “They think he is really good, they respect him, honor him?”

“Yes, yes. Yuonihiaa.” Tatanka nodded.

Lee shrugged, “That sounds like a pretty good deal. You could be the chief or you could be this Winkte thing. Why wouldn’t you want to go back for that?” Having said this, he cringed inside. s**t I don’t want to encourage him to leave me! Lee thought angrily.

Tatanka answered. “Winkte must live alone, or be wife two or three to chief or powerful brave. I not want that. I want be man. Just man. Have man for partner.”

“Is that why you left?”

Tatanka nodded. “I no have to leave. I stay if I wear dress and be like woman and do work of woman. Use woman talk. Be Winkte. I no want. I man. Want to live like man. Brother come, say you come home now. You be chief or be Winkte. I tell him you be chief. I not be Winkte and let men use me for…fuck or be chief and have to marry woman. If you not let me be man with man for partner then not be chief. I say him, I come home, be chief with this man…you, Lee Masters.”

Lee was astonished. “You mean it’s all right for you to be like us as long as you live like a woman and let men screw you?”

Running Buffalo nodded.

“But it’s not all right for us to be together if you are chief and act like a man.”

Tatanka nodded again.

“What did your brother say when you said you’d be chief if I was your man?” Lee asked.

“Brother say…‘Here wedding dress. Marry White man but no be chief. No be Winkte.’ He say, ‘Hiya makoce nupa umnipi. You not walk in two worlds and be chief, no be Winkte.’ ”

Tatanka smiled. “You want marry me, Lee Masters?”

Lee returned the smile. “You bet I do, but not as a woman, not in a dress. You’re a man and that’s what I want you to be.”

Tatanka moved closer to Lee. They embraced and kissed. Lee wriggled out of his jeans and stretched out on the blanket by the fire. Tatanka joined him. Lee took the bands from the brave’s braids and ran his fingers through his hair; allowing it to fall free. They kissed and explored each other’s bodies, each relishing the feel of one so different than their own.

Tatanka tried to roll over on his back to position himself for Lee’s penetration.

“No,” Lee said firmly. “Tonight you’re the man.” He rolled over on his back and spread his legs to allow Tatanka to be the dominant partner.

The brave hesitated. “If I do that, then you wiayaa-wic’asa, woman-man, too.”

Lee smiled up at him. “f**k me.”

The Indian positioned himself. Using the copious pre-c*m oozing from both of their erect c***s, he opened Lee and lubricated himself and pressed against the entrance to his lover’s body.

Lee breathed deeply, trying to relax. He hadn’t been f****d for many years. Lee was determined to make his brave’s first time the best. He felt the pressure. Then his sphincter began to relax. There was pain. He resisted the urge to tighten and grimace.

Continuing to smile into his lover’s eyes, he mouthed the words in Tatanka’s native tongue. “Was’tecidake, I love you.”

Tatanka entered and filled Lee with his manhood.

The rhythm was set slowly; each man relishing the newness of the experience. Tatanka snorted through his nose and gazed intently into the cowboy’s eyes. Lee felt the brave was close to orgasm. He groaned as Tatanka released his seed into him for the first time.

Lee felt Tatanka’s weight on his chest. He smiled and wrapped his arms and legs around his lover. It was good.

As they rested by the dying fire, wrapped in the wool blanket, Lee wondered at the similarities of their situations. Both men left their previous lives because they were men who preferred men to women. Lee was forced to leave. Tatanka chose to leave. Now they had forged a life together here on the mountain. What would come next? With such unresolved thoughts, Lee drifted off to sleep.