Paty Jager-day 6

An Interview with the heroine in Spirit of the Mountain.


Tell us a little bit about your world.

I am the daughter and oldest child of Chief Proud and Tall the leader of the Lake Nimiipuu. I came to this earth in this lake and I wish to have my aged body put to rest upon the mountain of my heart. My younger brother is ready to go on his vision quest. He is boastful that his will be more important them mine. When an enemy Blackleg warrior asks for my hand, I wish I had never talked to my weykin or learned of my gift to my people. For this gift means I must marry the Blackleg and live far from my beloved mountain.

What makes you special?

According to my people the gift bestowed upon me during my vision quest is the greatest gift ever given.

Tell us about your most current adventure

I stumbled upon a wounded white wolf. He looked so much like my weykin I felt no fear and doctored his wounds. Later I found him asleep in a meadow, and after that we became friends. He followed me about the mountain like a huge white dog. Later, when I learned I would be traveling to the Blackleg for my marriage, he showed himself to me as a strong warrior. I had already held him dear but after experiencing his arms around me, I knew my heart would forever stay upon the mountain.

Are you happy with the way people perceive you?

The band believes I will save them, yet my father is watchful and untrusting. He believes because I have disobeyed in the past, I will not fulfill my gift.

What other characters have influenced you?

My grandfather and his words influenced my life while he was still alive and live within me in his spirit.

Share a little bit of the ‘real’ you with our readers. Any Dark secrets?

I am fearful to become a Blackleg wife. I have only seen destruction from these people. It is hard for me to believe by marrying one peace will come to my people, but as that is my gift I must do as the council has promised. Marry the enemy.

Excerpt:

Scanning the village, she sought her mother and grandmother. The women sorted the poles for their lodge. Erecting their home usually filled her with accomplishment. This day it brought sadness. If her father agreed to the marriage, she would not work beside her elders again. She would live among people who had been the enemy of the Nimiipuu since the time coyote slayed the monster, creating all the tribes.

How could the sweat and menstrual lodges stand exactly as they had in all her years? And the band go about building the village as they had for generations when the proposal brought to them by the Blackleg messenger would throw her into a life she could never understand? She could not change what had come, but there had to be a way to stay on the mountain where her heart belonged.

Picking up two poles, Wren replayed the Blackleg messenger’s announcement in her head. She wound the rawhide tightly around the smooth end of the poles. Her fingers turned white from the rage she used to pull the leather strips tight. She curled her lip back in distaste. Rage boiled in her belly. She refused to marry a man who took pride in killing and stealing.

She would not marry a Blackleg. Her stomach twisted. How could she be given to the Blacklegs without anyone caring what she wanted?

The voice and wisdom of her beloved, dead grandfather drifted in and out of her head as she worked. One phrase lingered, making her feel small for her selfishness. “He who thinks not of himself—but of others, is greatest.”

The band needed her to instill peace with the Blackleg. Her stomach clenched, and her hands trembled. She knew nothing good about the Blackleg. However, her father was unable to protect the band of Nimiipuu as he had in his younger days.

The destiny to save her people fell on her shoulders.

As foretold by her vision.

To learn more about me you can go to my website: http://www.patyjager.net/  or see what's up weekly on my blog: http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/  or to purchase this book in print go to The Wild Rose Press http://www.thewildrosepress.com/spirit-of-the-mountain-paperback-p-4175.html

Tomorrow I have a give-a-way!