Zia

During the fiesta, Zia observes that Stone Hands is interested in her, but she does not like him. Stone Hands knows Zia is waiting for her aunt and does not expect her to go with him and his followers. He promises to send her a message and suggests she and her aunt join them. He also asks Zia about her family and origin. Zia explains that her mother was from the Island of the Blue Dolphins and was Karana’s sister. Zia’s people did not like living in the Santa Barbara Mission and left. Her mother remarried, and the family moved to Pala. Stone Hands knows the village and remembers a story about the Cupeño land. The tribe owned a beautiful and fertile land of streams with cattle and horses. A white man named Warner married the governor’s stepdaughter and convinced the governor to grant him the land. The Cupeño were removed to a barren land. Zia remembers the story and is infuriated. She says it is the place where she was born. Her mother died there from a disease brought by the white people.