A Child Between Worlds

This thread traces Cicada’s movement from Kiowa belonging through forced return and toward a life that can hold more than one cultural inheritance.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Kiowa Name

A Kiowa Name Identity stated Cicada names herself through her Kiowa identity and says she wants to go home. Her words are not heard aloud by the men around her, but the narrative makes her inward certainty unmistakable. Belonging under pressure Her stillness and watchfulness register a child who has survived a radical change in guardians and culture. The adults may call her Johanna, but that label does not yet describe where she feels she belongs.

Learning the New Road

Learning the New Road Words and gestures Kidd teaches Cicada names for himself, objects, and animals through repeated gestures. She responds cautiously, making a small shared vocabulary possible without erasing the distance between them. Curiosity returns The wagon, horses, stove, and food become subjects she can investigate. Her attention to practical details shows adaptation as a survival skill, not proof that she has accepted the destination.

A Child’s Defiance

A Child’s Defiance Customs collide At the Bosque River, Cicada bathes according to the habits she knows and is chased by a local woman who sees her conduct as indecent. Kidd intervenes and explains her captivity rather than treating her as willfully disobedient. Memory breaks through The encounter brings back memories of bathing with her Kiowa family. Her grief makes visible the life that conventional lessons and new clothes cannot simply replace.

The Kinship She Chooses

The Kinship She Chooses A reunion without recognition Cicada meets Wilhelm and Anna, but their house, expectations, and memories do not feel like home. She hides from visitors and retreats to the barn rather than performing the gratitude they expect. A child’s decision After being mistreated and sent out alone at night, she runs to Kidd. Her choice reveals that safety and trust have become more important than blood relationship or a recovered childhood name.

A Chosen Adult Life

A Chosen Adult Life A life not dictated by return Kidd raises Cicada within his family, though she continues to carry Kiowa habits and a sense of cultural difference. Her adjustment is partial rather than a restoration of the identity others expected. Partnership and continuity As a young woman, she chooses John Calley and builds a mobile life in cattle country. Her adult future does not cancel her Kiowa past; it gives her room to make new attachments on her own terms.

Winter 1870, Wichita Falls

Late February 1870, on the road south

March 1870, Durand

Early April 1870, at the Leonberger farm

Several years after the return journey