He turned to the porch. Naya was watching him. Her eyes were not grateful. They were dark, assessing, and full of a terrifying intelligence. That night, the silence in the cabin was suffocating.
Elias moved around the kitchen with jerky, agitated motions. He dropped a spoon. He slammed the stove door too hard. Naya sat at the table, mending a tear in his work shirt. She did not look up, but her needle moved with a sharp, rhythmic violence.
"Why?" she asked suddenly. Elias stopped wiping the table. "Why what?" "Why were your hands shaking?" she asked. She looked up then, and her gaze pinned him to the wall.
"When the blue coats came, you were not just angry, Elias, you were afraid, and you were guilty." Elias turned away, facing the dark window. "I do not like soldiers. They are trouble." "It is more than that," Naya said.
She put the sewing down and stood up. "You bear the mark of the army. I have seen the way you ride. I have seen the way you track. And today, the officer called you scout."
The word hung in the air between them, heavy and poisonous. Elias closed his eyes. He felt the trap closing. "I was a young man," he said to the glass. "I needed money.
The army paid for guides." Naya took a step toward him. Her voice was low, trembling with a rising intensity. "Where did you scout? Which regiment?"
"It was a long time ago." "Naya, where?" she demanded. Elias turned to face her. He looked tired, decades older than his years. "The fifth cavalry," he said softly.
"Arizona Territory and New Mexico." Naya's face went pale. She took a step back, her hand going to her throat. "The fifth," she whispered. She began to piece it together, the dates and locations clicking into place like the tumblers of a lock.
"Three years ago," she said, "the winter campaign." Elias did not speak. "General Crook ordered the drive to the reservation," she continued, her voice gaining strength. "They hunted the bands that refused to come in. My band was in the Black Canyon, hidden.
We thought we were safe." She looked at him, her eyes widening with horror. "We were safe because the canyon is impossible to find unless someone who knows the land leads the way, unless a tracker shows them the secret trails." Elias looked at the floor. The shame was a physical weight, crushing his lungs.