The crowd of white men was louder and more repulsive than he expected.

As he was being yanked forward towards the scaffolds, May Hoo Way Wa briefly shut his eyes, trying to clear his head.

Prepare.

Family. He did everything he could for his family.

The sky and the land. The wind, trees, and blood.

All the blood, all the darkness. All the men dead by his hands. All taking him further from the Great Spirit.

He realized the impossibilities of the choices he had to make, and remembered how easily he had made some of them. A spirit in conflict with itself, cannot rest in peace.
He also knew that he would do the same all over again. What else? Except he wouldn’t let it end this way. Not the white man’s rope.

In a minute the length of hours, he finally came to terms with who he really was. He didn’t forgive himself. He forgave everybody.
He looked into the Sun as a Dakota, as a man of Earth, as a human.

They all stood firmly on the scaffolds, while the brigadier general recited the order of Abraham Lincoln.