Pale Crow looked around awkwardly, apparently unsure of quite what to do about the sobbing white man knelt beside him. Finally he crouched down by Kurt and slowly spoke.

"What's wrong?"

Kurt gasped between sobs, trying to find his voice, until he had enough air to speak.

"Blaine. Leaning Bear. Dead."

Pale Crow tipped his head back and let out a loud, deep laugh, prompting Kurt to snap at him.

"I know you didn't like him, but you don't need to be so callous!"

Pale Crow shook his head, and once his laughter had subsided, he explained himself to the red-faced, tear stained white boy.

"He's just gone. He was hired by some white men to help them find a place. You must have thought the scowl I was making was because he was dead in the flames... no. I was unhappy because he was doing so much better and he and I were actually getting along and then the men came and hired him and he left. I did not agree with him going away when he was close to being mended."

Kurt heaved in a few deep breaths and looked at Pale Crow skeptically.

"So he's alive?"

"As of four days ago he was."

Kurt made a small whine and without warning, lunged forward to hug Pale Crow, who remained crouching with wide, surprised eyes and a stiff form. Apparently being hugged by mood-swinging white men wasn't high on the list of things that happened to him regularly.

Kurt took one last deep breath to even himself out, and pulled back, smiling now at Pale Crow who looked back in bewilderment.

"Sorry. I thought he was dead... I wasn't ready for him to be dead."

"That was evident." Pale Crow noted stoically as he stood up, looking around to see who might have witnessed the scene. Thankfully for him, most people were at the funeral pyre.

Kurt stood back up, brushing the dirt off his trousers and rubbing his face to clean off the dried salt from his tears. "Is he coming back?"

Pale Crow nodded, folding his arms together across his chest. "He told me he would. Bear Mother can not tend to all the sick on her own. He is the one with the most training in the healing arts. He justified his leaving by saying he could bring back supplies to help with the ill from the town he was going to."

Kurt heaved another sigh of relief, and put a hand to his chest over his heart. Pale Crow arched a solitary eyebrow as the gesture.

"The tipi you shared with him is free for you to live in while you wait for him. I also assume that you will want to see Bear Mother."

Kurt nodded and gave Pale Crow an appreciative smile. He felt like all the air had to been taken from him and then pushed back in during the course of the last few minutes and was having a difficult time coming up with a response. Pale Crow seemed to understand this and relieved Kurt of having to speak by walking towards the pyre.

Kikife whinnied behind him and Kurt snapped back into focus, leading the stallion to the pen where he stripped him of the saddle and saddle bags before letting Kikife join the other horses. The stallion neighed and his eyes searched around the pen, looking for Ominitago, and seemingly irritated when he couldn't find her.

"She'll be back boy." Kurt said, as much for himself as for Kikife. He grabbed the bags and walked through the overly quiet village towards the tipi.

Since he had left, it had been decorated, or at least it had the beginnings of paintings over the hides. He could make out a bear leaning against a boulder. Kurt smiled to himself. If Blaine had done this, then he had been also hiding artistic skill from him.

Kurt set down the bags and traced the outlines of the images with a finger, trying to discern the meaning or story behind the pictures. The bear had to be Blaine, and the boulder was true to his name - a light brown bear leaning for support against a boulder and surrounded by forest. The next picture showed a bright light shining and the bear following it. The next was still a work in process, but the light was now around the bear, who stood upright without support. Kurt's fingers gently drew over the lines of that bear, hoping that this was a symbol of Blaine's overcoming his need for alcohol.

"You're the light you know."

Somehow, Kurt wasn't surprised that Bear Mother had snuck up on him. Part of him had expected it. He didn't reply right away, letting her crouch beside him as he looked back to the other pictures and saw how the light led the bear away from the forest and boulder.

"I don't see how."

"He wouldn't change his ways for his mother, for me, for anyone. You come along and he makes the choice to change. You are his Vohokase ... his light that leads him."

Kurt's mouth twitched at the corners into an unsure smile, and he looked to Bear Mother then, who in the past three months looked like she had aged even more, if that was possible. He thought she looked skeletal and ancient before, but now she looked like she was ready for the grave herself. It was her eyes that were different, her eyes didn't have the same twinkle to them anymore. She was worn out.

"I heard about the sickness... I'm sorry." Kurt murmured, not sure what good his apology would be.

She shook her head, "So much death... whole families gone. I have never fought a battle like it before. Leaning Bear... he was more useful than I was in helping. Showed me how others dealt with it from in the east where he had seen it before. Even so... we couldn't help everyone."

Kurt frowned and looked down to the ground. He knew the histories. When Europeans had come to North America they had brought all kinds of diseases that, while they had built up an immunity to, the natives here had never encountered, and as a result, huge numbers of natives died from disease and sickness. Cholera... he didn't really know much about it, but knew someone infected with it usually brought it to new areas.

"How did it come to this place?"

Bear Mother shook her head, "Our people started getting sick after the Sun Dance. Leaning Bear thinks another tribe brought it with them and infected our water. He says that's how we get it... Water. We need water, and now we send our warriors out to gather water from other places because we can not trust our own river. So many children... the littlest ones went first."

She broke into a sob and Kurt hurried over to wrap his arms around her as she cried. He had never known her to be sad before, let alone cry, but given the circumstances, he could understand it. To be the healer of a community for so long and be powerless to save so many had to be devastating her. No wonder the spark was gone in her eyes.

"How can I help?" Kurt uttered, holding her tightly against him. She was so tiny. Kurt had never really realized just how small she was behind her big personality, but in this moment she fit into his arms like a little girl would.

She sucked back her sobs and made a little snort to clear her nose, pulling away, "I just need, help with those who are too far gone. To give them peace and calm before they go."

Kurt nodded, his heart twisting for he knew what this entailed. He would have to help those who were bound for death.

Bear Mother pulled herself up and brushed off her skirts, leading the way back into the village with Kurt tagging behind her. Around her tipi, there was an infirmary of sorts set up, with those crippled by the illness laying in beds, tended to by family and friends. In a few cases, no one was around, or the ill held each other's hands as they lay aside one another.

"Some of them are the last of their families..." She noted sadly, going pick up a satchel by her tipi entrance and then tending towards a child nearby. Kurt stood awkwardly for a moment, before going to the closest person to him, kneeling down and squeezing their hand. The hand was limp and sweaty in his own and he cringed a little with the touch, but hid it behind a smile when the young girl it belonged to looked over at him.

"Am I dead?"

Kurt shook his head, "No little one. You're still with us."

She turned her head away, looking up into the sky, "How much longer? I want to be with my brothers?"

He winced. How could he respond to that? As much as he had been through he had never longed for death, but he had also never lost all his family. When his mother died he still always had his father, and then Carole and Finn came into his life.

"Your brothers would want you to live for them... and keep their memories."

It was a feeble attempt at consolation and trying to motivate her to fight the sickness in her, and despite her youth, she knew it.

"You wouldn't know what my brothers would have wanted."

He sighed, and looked around, wondering what to say or what he could do that would help. In the end, he decided to sing.

"And I... tell you something... I think you'll understand..."

The girl looks back at him in curiosity, and he continued.

"When I... say that something... I want to hold your hand."

A few more heads turned his way and he kept going with the song until its end. The girl gave him a soft smile and squeezed his hand back weakly.

"Can you sing another song?"

Kurt smiled and nodded, glad for something he could do that came naturally. For the rest of the evening, he sang until his voice chafed and Bear Mother told him to get something to eat and go sleep for the night.

He didn't even unpack his gear when he got into the tipi, he just crawled into the furs that seemed all too familiar and smelt soothingly of Blaine and passed out, ignoring the growl in his belly.

Kurt didn't rise until he felt the heat of the day in the tipi and begrudgingly sat himself up, poking around to see what provisions Blaine might have left so he didn't have to bother with cooking to have something to eat. He was relieved to find some dry biscuits and chewed on those before going out to relieve himself and return to Bear Mother's tipi to continue to help her.

Throughout the day he sang, cooled fevers with wet rags, held hands, and spooned soup into people's mouths.

This continued for several days, and Kurt only took breaks when Bear Mother told him to. One one particular enforced break, he was looking at Blaine's tipi when he stood up and gathered some soot from the fire in a bowl, walking to the opposite opening of the tipi, the blank side, and began drawing with the soot and his fingers.

Before he knew it, Kurt had drawn out a small glint of light surrounded by dark which transformed into a brighter glow in the next picture as the head of a bear growled, indicated by waves coming from the bear's mouth.

He stood back, looking over his work, and mentally directing himself to paint and finish the illustrations during the rest of the breaks imposed on him.

"How have your dreams been?" Bear Mother asked him one day while they worked.

Kurt shook his head, "It's been awhile since I've had any troubling ones. I have been working on visiting the memories of my pain while I'm conscious, like you said, and coming to terms with it. They're not gone... but... I have better control."

"You are stronger than you know. Most allow their dreams and memories to overtake them because it's easier to let them take control then to fight them. In time, if you continue, it will just be a memory and not anything that has any hold over you."

"I hope you're right..." Kurt leaned back, wiping sweat off his brow with the back of his sleeve. He probably stunk, but was too cautious to take a bath in the river, knowing that it might still be contaminated.

"I like what you've done with your home."

Kurt's mouth twitched into a smile at the word home. There was a certain finiteness to having painted the tipi and making it his... their own.

"Thank you."

"You white men are just so obvious with your symbolism though. Even Leaning Bear makes it too obvious. In the future, try to make people guess a little more." She chuckled as she spoke, and it was the first time since he had returned that Kurt had heard Bear Mother tease as she used to; the first hint that things were looking up.

It was that night that Kurt was woken from his sleep by the sound of breathing close to him, and as he opened his eyes, he discovered an arm encircling his waist and the warmth of a body against his. Without having to look, he knew it was Blaine back from his travels. Blaine was the only one who smelled of musk and sweet herbs, and the only one whose fingers twitched as he dreamed. Kurt smiled to himself, wrapped his arm over Blaine's and went back to sleep.

In the morning, just before the sun had fully cast its beams over the tipi, Kurt was awoken again, this time by small kisses being pressed on his neck. He moaned softly and turned himself in place, face to face with Blaine now and more than eager to see him again.

"Sorry... Didn't really mean to wake you..." Blaine smiled blearily at him, his eyes still glazed from sleep. He had cut off his beard and shaved his stubble off. Kurt reached up to run his fingers over the clean shaven face which made Blaine look so much younger.

"Forgiven." Kurt murmured before pressing himself forward into a kiss. They both reached for one another then, wanting to hold one another and touch one another, thirsty from the drought of affection for the past three months. Their hands moved swiftly, ridding one another of the clothing they were wearing and tossing it haphazardly across the tipi until they had shed everything on them and were naked, kissing and running their hands up and down one another's bodies.

Blaine's fingers reached between Kurt's thighs and pressed gently between his cheeks at the puckered entrance, and Kurt lifted his leg up and over Blaine's hips to allow him better access and to draw him closer. Fingers rubbed the small folded flesh and Kurt whimpered needily, opening his eyes to look at Blaine pleadingly, and Blaine knew. His free hand reached back to dig into a nearby sack and procured a bottle of oil, uncorking it with one hand and letting the liquid drip over his fingers before he brought that hand down to press a finger slowly up into Kurt.

Kurt moaned. It had been too long and his body was hungry for this, needed this. He could feel the heat pulse up through his cock and down through his ass. Blaine worked his finger in and out, eyes watching Kurt's face as the white boy moaned and shuddered with the action. Another finger was added and Kurt hissed. His body hadn't been touched since the last time he was with Blaine, and even before he left it had been weeks since they had been intimate. Even on his own he hadn't touched himself, and now every bit of him was aflame with need and want. He thrust himself back on Blaine's fingers greedily, staring back at Blaine and whining lowly.

Blaine added a third finger and Kurt could already feel himself coming close to orgasm despite the sharp stretch of his hole from the addition. "Please... you..." he begged, keeping his eyes locked on Blaine who nodded and withdrew his fingers, making Kurt growl lowly. He wanted Blaine inside him, but he hated that moment of loss after prep where he felt so empty and still in so much need of stimulus.

Still on their sides, the boys lined up against one another, Blaine rubbing the head of his slicked up cock against Kurt's ready entrance. As he pressed up into Kurt, Kurt found his cries silenced by Blaine's lips on his own, catching the cries in his mouth.

It was slow at first, gentle in a way they had never really been. Their sex had always been hot and furious, usually prompted by emotion - be it anger, or sadness, or Kurt's need for control. This time Blaine thrust slowly and deliberately, his hands travelling up and down Kurt's sides, exploring the skin he already knew so well and tracing lines lovingly along that skin. Kurt's fingers buried themselves into Blaine's chest hair, twirling it around his fingers in already existent curls.

Kurt rolled himself back slowly, pulling Blaine along with him so that he was straddled over Kurt as he thrust. Kurt's legs bent back and he hooked his heels on Blaine's shoulders - even he was surprised as his own flexibility. Their tongues lashed at one another as they continued kissing, and every so often, Blaine's mouth left his to trail kisses down his neck and back up to his ear, sucking on his earlobe gently until Kurt's whimpers and cries became too loud and Blaine had to silence him with lips on lips again.

Eventually, despite his best efforts, Blaine was unable to keep Kurt quiet as his erection pressed against Kurt's prostate time after time and his sensitivity was at its limits. When he came, Kurt's back arched up as he howled, spraying the sticky white cum between their bodies. Blaine thrust a few more times, with a little more urgency, and he too came, shoved completely within Kurt and biting down on his lower lip to keep himself muffled.

Blaine collapsed beside Kurt, huffing and wiping his brow off with his hand, running the sweat back into his curls. Kurt whimpered and twitched for a few moments more until he felt Blaine wiping him off with something and then laying back down beside him, wrapping him up into his arms and pulling the blanket back up over them.

They stared at one another for a long time, goofy grins on their faces. After awhile, Blaine reached for Kurt's hand and lifted it up, exposing the ring on his finger, "Naehame..."

Kurt nodded, reaching with that hand to gently stroke Blaine's cheek, "Yes..."

"I didn't think you'd come back." Blaine acknowledged, a hint of sadness behind his joy at being proven wrong.

"I didn't plan on it originally... but the things I didn't plan somehow fit better than what I did plan."

Blaine arched a single brow, "Cryptic."

Kurt chuckled and shook his head, "No. I just love you despite my best efforts not to."

Blaine pursed his lips together, eyes drifting as he thought aloud, "I don't know if I should be insulted or happy about that."

Kurt pressed his already kiss swollen lips against Blaine's and after a moment of oral exploration, pulled back away, "Happy. You should be happy."

Blaine nodded, his face full of bliss. "Yes Naehame."

That word would never get old. It was music to Kurt's ears and hearing it from Blaine's mouth just reinforced to Kurt that returning was the right thing to do. "Naehame..." he repeated, staring back into amber eyes.

Blaine beamed and Kurt chuckled again, reaching down to clutch Blaine's hand, "Now we just need to get you a ring."

Eyes rolling and a shake of the head. Blaine reached back into his nearby bag and pulled out a ring, one that matched, "Done!"

Kurt laughed and took the ring, sliding it onto Blaine's finger, "I never knew you had an eye for jewelry."

Blaine shrugged his shoulders up, "I saw them and with all the money I saved on not drinking at the bars, I had more than enough for them and to have them engraved. What else am I going to spend it on?"

"Are you really done with drinking?"

Blaine nodded, and Kurt saw the sincerity in his eyes. Another kiss and embrace, and Kurt murmured, "How about you spend that money on a permanent home for us?"

Blaine nuzzled his face into the crook of Kurt's neck, "Anything for you."

"And Blaine...?"

"Hrm?"

Kurt kissed his earlobe and then whispered into it, "Let's take the morning off and celebrate our unofficial marriage."

Blaine chuckled against the skin of Kurt's neck and within a moment, then were rolling together again atop of fur.