[h2]The approx. location of present day Livonia[/h2]

A light snow fall fell upon the field. Lightly forested and inter-spaced with trees the snowfall came down in a light dusting. It was the prelude to a storm to come, and gathering by the fires in the field a growing gathering of native men and women came to flock at the site of the council gathering. The winter's snow was already building up around the trunks of trees and drifts were forming that built up so high that a man had no trouble walking onto the lower branches, and climbing nimbly a little higher so as to see the building show that played out below.

The sea of men carried for what looked to be leagues to the sharp hunters and warriors. And gathering here in this space the multitudes of tribes shuffled through the snow to gather. And with them the multitudes of dress of the tribes they represented.

In one corner of the field were the Miami, who sat stoically by their fires dressed in their light cotton shirts, supplemented by furs. In the gray cloudy light of the weather about them, and in the warm orange crackle of the fires their beaded headbands shone in the light. Their leather moccasins buried in the light snow fall as they sat hunched by the fire, arms resting on their knees. They watched the gathering nations through stony eyes as their women sat cross legged in buckskin dresses and heavy pants, babies clung slung to their mother's backs, their small fisted hands wrapped about their mother's shoulders and necks as they watched the presently peaceable tribes men walking among them with eyes wide with awe and wonder.

The noble Ojibwa stood elsewhere, dressed in their buckskins with their sharp square patterns woven into the layered deer skins with reed and nettle fibers. They peered out thoughtfully and knowingly with a prideful demeanor as they leaned on their long muskets in the gathering snow. Other pelts hung slung over their shoulders to provide warmth in this bitter cold weather, beaver, muskrat, coyote.

The Lenape loitered in the distance. Their former tribe-lands having been so far to the east they had adopted much of the clothes of the western men and they wore woolen and cotton shirts and buck skin pants. Their hair was cut short or combed across their heads if it were long. Some wore small metal crosses about their necks if they had readily converted to the ways of the Puritans, though they held to that tentatively and with half-hearts.

The Ottawa, almost defiant of the weather stood by their fires dressed only in their heavy fibrous cloaks, naked of all else under neath. Their muskets strapped to their backs and their hands wrapped about tomahawks they held out in front of them. Their women in rabbit skin cloaks and tending to morsels of meat they cooked on the fires that warmed them.

The Pottowami had their buffalo robes, and while not summer some had chosen to wear blue as if to identify themselves from the other tribes. Heavy padded leggings helped to keep them warm on this cold snowing afternoon.

And of these tribes there were more. From the Mississauga of Canada to the Menominee from across the great Mishigami. And tribes had drifted in from elsewhere, wary but hopeful that the summons to this location would be of benefit to them as much as the other tribes here. They came in lost, huddled under heavy furs and bright anxious eyes.

All the people gathered below a small hill. A gathering of great men had already begun, and from the spectators below men and women both craned their heads to see who was up there. And more twisted and stretched to see not just who was there, but the two greater names: Pontiac and Guyasuta.

Pontiac stood tall out of the crowd, an imposing figure with a large build. He looked imposing, yet graceful as he spoke with baited breath with the other elders and high-ranking chiefs of the gathered tribes. He looked at each of the men with brown sullen eyes and a wizened face. Heading on into his fifties the fine lines of bearing the weight of so many winters was wearing into his face and his shallow face accentuated his strong, forward pronounced chin. His complexion was like that of tarnishing bronze, dark and earthy. His long oil-black hair hung down to his shoulders, and longer.

Guyasuta was himself too a wizened man with the lines of winter and scars of war. His dark eyes brooding from a strong brow and a head of long black hair. He stood with his arms cross and wrapped about his barrel chest. Occasionally he would reach up to his round chin and scratch thoughtfully at it. His complexion was paler, but very much indian.

Finally, the chiefs stood aside and Pontiac stepped forward with his arms outstretched motioning for silence. He stepped carefully through the building snow. As soon as the tribes had saw his motions for silence, the tense murmurings of the gathering crowd fell silent and all looked up to him expectantly as Pontiac readied himself for his sermon on the mount.

“My fellow brothers and sisters of the great land.” Pontiac called out in an unwavering stern voice, “It is not my duty to call to your attention the great hardships that had befallen our people here in our homes. For it is through all of us that we have come to be burdened by the tremendous onslaught of some foul misfortune. A terror from across the great endless seas to the east, and one which has closed winter tight about us in every passing year. And we as a people have been slinking back, meek and afraid of these changes and too afraid of our own brothers and our own neighbors to not make adequate resistance!”

Pontiac spoke almost accusingly, like a scolding parent. But beneath the venom there was an unwavering love and commitment to the people here. He dared not call them his people, for they were all their own, and they were all their own tribe. They had came to this field, to this hill because each in their own way, and in their own tribes had elected by common recognition the value in his and his peer's words and proposals. So they came to seek him out, and to listen.

“Every passing month we slink away into the forests in hopes of living just a little bit longer on our sacred lands as from beyond the Alleghenay in the east. And even so beyond those mountains the tumultuous great ocean across. While we may have feared these strange men, white as the winter's snow which now blankets our home we did not fight them as we could have; and now these very men our stealing our homes from us! These British men! And we let them!

“From some home beyond the world they came as invaders and thieves of common land. Land owned by no man except for by all! They lack the understanding of the natural laws that have for generations and eons ruled the conduct of man in accordance to nature. And now they burn, chop, and destroy the land for themselves and pretend to work upon it like Gods. They enslave the land, and misuse it. And they force those of us who had been the land's children from the land without remorse. They seek to hammer out the thousands of years of wisdom passed down to us from our elders, as we will our children. But if we fail to let up then there will be no land for us to pass onto our children; it will be all eaten away.”

“People of the land, we do not need to live like meek animals avoiding the ravenous wolves of the invader. Together we can come together and to be strong; we can go to the invader and tear down their longhouses. We can go to the invader and we can kill their men, and take their women. We can go to the invader and force them from the land that we all own as common brothers!” Pontiac roared.

He let his words hang a little on the cold air, lowering his hands. “They will try to fight us.” he said, his tone dropping but holding to a noble yell. His words echoed in the snowy din of the winter afternoon, “Many of us will die. But we will go and fight them, as we have as men and as our fathers and grandfathers have gone forth to fight as men. Our enemies will not be noble in battle. They will not be honorable. They do not fight one-to-one as brave warriors and they fall to tricks. They sick upon us wolves. They sell to us whiskey. They have great curses and thunderous guns. They are many.

“But the enemy is not wise! They do not know the land! They came so stubbornly to rape it that they do not know how to live off of it. The people that come to steal the land can not seek to live from it for they know naught how to live except by forcing others to do it for them! They stupidity is an immense folly! And us who have lived through as many winters as cold and terrible as these that have come lately know how to live! They know the plants in the field that still grow in the snow, what food might be found when the snow piles as high as the wigwam! But these men, stupid and fat in the ways of the world when the snow is as high as their wetu they are besieged until the snow clears again and they crawl out into the world again like stupid, lazy old bear!

“It is important for us, my brothers, that we exterminate from our lands this nation which seeks only to destroy us. You see as well as I that we can no longer supply our needs, as we have done for so many generations. Therefore, my brothers, we must all swear their destruction and wait no longer. Nothing prevents us; they are few in numbers, and we can accomplish it.”

There was a thunderous roar of applause from many of the tribes. If not all of them present. Turning to face all the people Pontiac collected the applause of roars and war-cries of approval that rained from all directions. Somewhere distant muskets were fired in celebration and honor and their deep guttural cracks ripped into the still, snowy air cutting the stillness of the falling snow in thunderous pop.

“Break them!” Pontiac shouted out, to a hail of additional applause, “Send them to their distant homes where they earned their place as destroyers of the natural order! We do not seek our extinction!”

The general volley of approval surged into that of high approval and somewhere a tribe began singing a song to their ancestors and there was praise in the air.

Guyasuta stepped up alongside Pontiac and patted him approvingly on the shoulders. The two exchanged glowing smiles and Pontiac retreated, giving Guyasuta the crown of the hill. Guyasuta rose a hand, asking for silence from the tribes and their rapturous cries of ecstasy ebbed away.

“The task set before us is arduous.” Guyasuta stated plainly. He spoke firm but stiffly. “And while many of us have among us our rivalries I beseech upon you those who are noble to set them aside. Our enemy is numerous and uniform. And we must be like them. Uniform and steady, as one as the trees in the forest are one with themselves.

“As we go forth, to affirm our nation do not surrender to petty squabbles. Set aside your anger for one another where it is now, and where it may go in the future. Direct this  anger and this pain for the future and the enemy before us. Do not seek out new enemies, for we only need the one great one before us.

“And plainly we see around us men and women who are not of this land, but are like us in having lost the land and being brothers and sisters of their land. We are gracious hosts to them, and I extend my hand as a Seneca and of the Haudenosaunee as a friend and as a willing participant in battles to come with them at my side. Our cause is common, our needs the same. Come together as one brave voice, and as a wind we will topple the ambitions of our foes and blunt their spears with our strength.

“We are not just men of a single tribe, we are a nation our own. As our enemy is. Let us define our nation and plunge the enemy into the cold ocean. The law of nature will be our creed, and the will of God will see it through!”

There was loud applause, and pleasant cheering from the assembly. Though not as excited as they were for Pontiac, Guyasuta had stirred them one and all. And before even the cheering could come to an end Pontiac stepped forward to give one final address.

“The enemy has a fort, not far to the east. They call this fort Detroit, and we will take Detroit from them and use it as our own! Their guns will be our guns and with them we will break the resistance of the enemy and turn back their encroachment on the land. I offer myself to this task, and request from any man here today to come join me in war to take this fort. Those rest among you: return to your warchiefs, and begin planning your own campaigns. Let us never be defeated, lest we die!”