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“I’m fine Carter really, stop fussing,” Vie said like it was no big deal.

“Your head?” he said remembering the deep wound.

Carter moved her hair off her face and searched for the wound above her eyebrow that was bleeding profusely but all he could find was a small scratch and no blood.

“Vie? Your head, it was bleeding,” Carter said freaking out.

“It must not have been as serious as you thought,” she said hoping he would let it be.

Guardians have the power to heal themselves while in the human vessel at ten times the rate at which a normal human would heal. There are also a select few Guardians that can heal instantly with just a touch and Gabriel was one of them. Vie needed to get Carter off the subject and create another distraction so she did the only thing she could, she kissed him. Not a romantic kiss but a short, quick, hard, friendly peck on the lips and yelled out, “Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving me!” It worked like a charm.

“Are you sure you’re fine Vie?” he questioned.

Vie looked into his beautiful forest green eyes and said, “I always knew I would be…fine that is.”

“Vie, why
would you
assume plunging 3000 feet would render you fine?” he asked looking at her as if she were crazy.

“Because you promised you wouldn’t let anything happen to me and I believed you,” she said.

Carter just looked at her thinking how completely amazing she was. He was still trying to wrap his head around what had actually happened to them and how the hell they survived it.  Then, looking at her he thought, “
she
really had to be heaven sent.” It was the only thing that made sense to Carter.  He wasn’t big on religion but nothing that just happened was humanly possible to survive. But here they both were, alive with only a scratch to show for it. It just did not make any sense to Carter. “Who was this girl,” the thought lingered in his mind.

While Carter was busy trying to figure out how the two of them could have possibly survived the fall, Vie was looking up at the eagle circling above. Vie knew what, who had saved them from their plunge of death. It was Gabriel that had swooped in to save the day. Vie felt the touch of his wings cradling them as they descended to the ground below. Gabriel had the power to transform himself into other living beings, with the eagle being his staple. Gabriel was a messenger and felt the eagle depicted him accurately and often used its vessel as a disguise on missions.

Vie grabbed her pendant that Gabriel had given her in the hospital and whispered, “Thank you Gabriel,” with a heartfelt smile. After some fancy showing off by soaring through the sky, Gabriel glided out of sight with his wings spread wide. Vie knew Gabriel would always be there to protect her. They had a special bond and had since the moment she arrived at the gates. Gabriel was the one soul in her life who had never let her down and Vie loved him dearly. He was her mentor and her best friend.

Carter, still feeling bewildered, helped Vie up from the ground. The fog was thick around them and the sun had almost set in the western Wyoming sky. It was getting late and Carter’s star gazing plan had just fallen apart. He had planned to view the stars from the top of the tower as he had so many times before. There was no place like Devil’s Tower to gaze at the stars up above and he was disappointed that he could not show it to Vie.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Carter asked again.

“I’m fine Carter…really,” she said trying to convince him again.

“Now there’s your miracle!” Carter yelled out.

“Oh, so now you believe in miracles huh, Mr. Brocken
Spectre
,” Vie joked with him while dusting herself off.

“I don’t know what I believe anymore,” he claimed, wanting to believe as Vie did. “But what I do know is that I see a miracle every time I look at you,” Carter said grabbing
Vie’s
face and guiding her closer to him.

“You, Vie Thorn.  You are my miracle,” he said looking deep into her eyes.

Vie’s
soul was on fire, she felt such a strong foreign feeling deep within her, almost burning as it surfaced. She wanted him to kiss her so badly that she could feel her body aching in anticipation. Something powerful came over her and she pulled him closer, tighter into her, wanting to feel his moist wet lips touch hers. She closed her eyes and gently parted his lips with hers, feeling a warm tingling through her body. Carter was receptive to
Vie’s
advances, wanting her as much as she wanted him.  Then he took control by grabbing the back of her head and pulling her lips in quickly to his. He parted her lips gently with his tongue and went in for the kiss. Suddenly they felt tiny droplets of water falling down on them. The droplets quickly turned to pouring rain falling from the sky, completely soaking and sending them running to the jeep for cover.

The lightening flashed and the thunder continued to roar, pounding the ground around them. When they reached the jeep they looked at each and laughed knowing that there would be no shelter from the pouring rain. Vie looked up letting the rain cleanse her face as she marveled in fascination at the water falling from the sky. Carter just watch
ed her taking it all in and thought
that he had never seen anything more beautiful than Vie here and now. He hurried to the back getting the soft top and the windows out to place back on the jeep. Vie helped and they were able to secure shelter from the rain in no time.

The two of them headed back to the reservation not uttering one word between them. Vie was in deep thought about what had come over her minutes before the rain. She had never felt anything like it before and she worried again that perhaps her vessel was responsible for the feelings she was experiencing. Lust was not an emotion Guardians would be capable of harboring and they would certainly not respond to it as Vie did. Even though it was wrong, on some level it felt so right in the moment. These feelings were better than anything Vie had ever felt in her entire existence and now that she had them, there was no turning back. Vie wanted Carter more than ever now after the kiss and there was no stopping her.  Carter was feeling the exact same way. It was a though the two of them were made for each other…true souls mating.

They arrived at the reservation as the rain dissipated and the sky was suddenly filled with stars. Carter told the chief what had happened at the tower and how lucky they were. He looked at Vie and then told Carter it was obvious he had a guardian angel at his side. Vie felt the chief’s eyes looking into her soul. She was sure he knew who she was, but how was that possible?  “How could he know?” she wondered. Although Vie had no answers to her question there was one thing she knew for sur
e; t
he chief could see right through to her soul and he seemed to be glad she was here.

Carter had another idea to star gaze with Vie. He told Vie that they could view the stars from the reservation. There was a ceremony about to take place and the chief invited them to stay and celebrate with the tribe. They both gladly accepted. Vie was astounded by the purity of the people and their spiritual beliefs. She loved watching the little ones dance around the fire with smiles that could light the world. Carter leaned into Vie and asked if she approved of his church.  She smiled with admiration and approval. The ceremony had ended and all of the people disbanded to their homes to put the little ones to bed.

While Vie was changing into some dry clothes, Carter laid out a large buffalo hide on the ground where the fire still burned and prepared to star gaze with her. He ran back to the jeep and grabbed the telescope from the trunk and set it up near the fire. Just as he finished, Vie returned looking beautiful. She was wearing a tight fitting leather hide dress that was strapped across one shoulder. There were multi-colored paintings of animals on the front. She came out of the hut with her hair down, swept gently over her shoulders and a small wild violet flower tucked behind her ear. She was a vision of beauty, “a real life Pocahontas,” Carter thought, mesmerized by her beauty yet again.

“Vie…you look,” he started.

“Silly?” she interrupted.

“No Vie, and stop interrupting every time I want to tell you how beautiful you look, I mean how beautiful you are,” Carter corrected himself.

“Why don’t you see how truly beautiful you are?” he asked her sincerely wondering how she could not see what he did.

Humbled, she looked at the area Carter had set up for them to start the assignment. The chief came out to say good night.  Before he did, he told them a story about the legend of Devil’s Tower.

“According to the Native American tribes of the
 
Kiowa
 
and Lakota
 
Sioux, two best friends went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears that began to chase them. In an effort to escape the bears, the friends climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the
 
Great Spirit
 
to save them. Hearing their prayers, the Great Spirit made the rock rise from the ground
toward the heavens so that the bears could not reach them. The bears, in an effort to climb the rock, left deep claw marks in the sides, which had become too steep to climb. Those are the marks which appear today on the sides of Devils Tower. When the friends reached the sky, they were turned into the star constellation known as the
 
Pleiades.”

Carter laughed when he looked at Vie, who seemed to buy into the Chief’s silly story. She sat engrossed in every word he spoke. Carter reminded her it was on old Indian folktale and was fiction, not fact. The chief seemed disappointed in Carter’s beliefs about the legend, but understood he had not yet found himself.

“Come,” he said to Carter and Vie, “I will show you both.”

“Look,” the chief said, walking over to the telescope to show them the constellation. Then he put his hand to
Vie’s
cheek endearingly and said, “Welcome back KITALA
OLOWA ZITKALA.”

Vie saw it again in his eyes.  This was not their first meeting. She could feel his heart beat through the palm of his hand resting on her cheek and she knew that sound. It was more than familiar.  It was something she had experienced before, she was sure of it. Spooked by her feelings, she asked Carter if she could have visited the reservation before. Maybe she came here with her dad on a church mission or volunteered to help with a charity.

Carter said, “No, not that he was aware of.”  If she had been there before, the chief would have certainly remembered her. He questioned her about why she was asking and Vie nonchalantly said she was just having a déjà vu moment and wondered if she had been here before.  Carter kept insisting she had not been to the reservation and that very few people in Newcastle ever come out this way. Still Vie felt as if somehow, someway, the chief did know her and he wasn’t afraid to let her know it. The chief told the kids he would let them get back to their homework and then winked at Carter and Vie, noticing secret memories of long ago.  With a smile on his face he said goodnight.

Carter and Vie lay side by side on the buffalo hide gazing up to the beautiful night sky. There were millions of stars out twinkling. They laughed and talked about everything except constellations and then there was an uncomfortable moment of silence between them. Out of the quiet, Vie spoke suggesting that they begin their homework assignment. Carter agreed but told her before they got started there was something he needed to do. Suddenly, he rolled over onto Vie and said, “I need to kiss you Vie.  Any objections?” he asked.

Vie just stared into his eyes and shook her head back and forth. She wanted Carter to kiss her very much, but this time it was not like before. When they were at the tower, what she felt was something very different than what she was feeling now. Back there it was a burning lust and while it was still hot and powerful, it was nothing like she was feeling before. Here, under the beautiful night sky with this perfect creature lying on top of her, she felt safe and loved. Carter leaned into her, pushing her hair back off her forehead and looking at her face as if he was
looking at a masterpiece. He leaned closer putting his lips to hers and kissed her softly on the mouth. This time there was no yearning desire to rip his clothes off like before. This kiss was sensual and warming to all of her senses. Vie could feel his passion straight down to her toes. It was romantic and sweet and her heart danced with joy when he kissed her. This was truly something beautiful, something that Vie never wanted to end and that was when she realized… this was love. Just as she came to that realization, Carter stopped, looked deep into her eyes again and spoke three little words to her.  ”I love you.”