The little girl stands inside the circle, waiting for the hand that will soon pull her back into the fiddle dance.
Surely, that hand will come soon - won't it?
It looks like it's coming... or is it reaching for someone else?
This time, it must surely be coming for her...
Yes, it is! The little girl is back in the dance! But won't she get too hot, wearing that jacket while dancing with such vigor and energy?
Yes, but it is a simple thing to remove a jacket.
And then she takes a run into the cool midnight-air outside.
She is back. She is in the dance and she is smiling.
I did ask her name afterward and she did tell me - but her voice was soft and shy and the music and laughter was loud. I could not quite make it out.
Update: Eliza Hutchinson, a former school teacher in Fort Yukon who returned for the gathering, has identified the little girl as sweet Patience Tackett, one of her former students.