Solar Storms

The day before Angel, Bush, Agnes, and Dora-Rouge begin their journey, they spend the day packing and making final arrangements. Bush sells several animal pelts in exchange for provisions. Dora-Rouge seems the most optimistic—she’s ready to return to her homeland to die—while Agnes is visibly upset at having to accompany her mother on her “death journey.” By now, all four women understand their trip will be grueling, and Angel is afraid of what lies ahead. Bush estimates it will take 13 days to reach the land of the Fat-Eaters, but Agnes thinks that’s too hopeful.

Though she’s still grieving Helene, Frenchie throws a going-away party for Dora-Rouge, whom the community knows will not return with the other three. Angel watches as a local man, Justin LeBlanc, puts his arms around Frenchie, and she asks Dora-Rouge when the pair got together. Dora-Rouge says it happened the night Angel broke the bathroom mirror. When Tommy arrives, Angel is relieved to see him, but being around him makes her realize how much she’ll miss him while she’s gone. She doesn’t actually want to go. She has a bad feeling about the trip.

As the night wears on, the men begin offering unsolicited advice about the women’s journey and casting doubt on their capabilities. Angel is irritated by their condescension, but Bush uses the opportunity to question them about the northern waterways—asking which currents to follow and which portages to avoid. At 10 o’clock, the evening news comes on. A segment airs on recent developments within the American Indian Movement, and everyone listens with reverence—except Justin, who scoffs that the young men “act just like Reds.” His remark infuriates Frenchie, who screams at him to leave her house.

Justin later apologizes to Frenchie, admitting that, having served in the U.S. Army, he’s still shaped by conditioning he doesn’t fully understand. Eventually, she forgives him, and the party slowly dies down. That night, Angel lies awake, too anxious to sleep. When there’s a knock at the door, she finds Tommy there and invites him in. They fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms on the cot. In the morning, Tommy and Husk help the women load their supplies, helping them through the first portage by carrying Dora-Rouge and the heavy pelts Bush plans to trade along the way.

After emotional goodbyes to Husk and Tommy, the four women set off in their canoes. On this first day of travel, Angel is already sore and exhausted, and she quietly cries as she paddles. By late afternoon, Agnes suddenly realizes she’s forgotten her bear coat. Though Dora-Rouge suggests they turn back, Agnes decides to keep going, knowing how much effort it would take to retrace their steps. The second day of travel proves easier, with the current working in their favor and only two short portages to cross.

As they move north toward Dora-Rouge’s homeland, Dora-Rouge reflects on her youth. She remembers being 12 when White men came to take the local children to a boarding school. She escaped them once, but the next year, they returned and tore her away from her little sister—who, she later learned, froze to death in the snow. Angel begins to understand that she and all of her grandmothers have entered a space outside of time on this journey, living moment by moment and merging with the land.

When Angel starts dreaming vividly about strange and unfamiliar plants, Dora-Rouge tells her she must be a “plant dreamer,” like her own mother, Ek. Eventually, the women reach swampy, mosquito-ridden territory. Bush brews swamp tea, intended to ward away the insects when consumed. As the days pass, Angel feels the group becoming more and more in sync. They fall into patterns and rhythms, moving like one single animal.

One evening, the women spot a White couple paddling toward them with a white dog. They invite them to camp nearby, and the couple—Bob and Jean—agrees. Angel is especially glad for the company, as she’d almost forgotten a world existed beyond her grandmothers. The strangers remind her of lipstick and other modern comforts, and for the first time on the journey, she begins to miss that life. Bob and Jean inform the women that the route they’d planned to take through the Se Nay River is now inaccessible due to dangerous rapids. Thus, they’ll have to find another way north.

Agnes is certain Bob and Jean are cannibals, based on an old legend about cannibals who often appeared with a white wolf in a canoe. She makes no effort to hide her suspicions. That night, Angel overhears the couple calling her grandmothers “plumb crazy,” and by morning, they’ve packed up and disappeared. The next day, Dora-Rouge asks Angel whether she thinks Agnes is sick. Looking at her, Angel realizes how pale and worn Agnes has become. Later that night, Agnes quietly asks Angel to leave her body to the wolves and birds if she dies. Angel hesitates, but she agrees.

That same night, Angel dreams of a plant and describes it to Dora-Rouge the next morning. Dora-Rouge takes the dream as a sign—they must find this plant because it can help Agnes. When the women happen to encounter Bob and Jean again, who’ve somehow gotten turned around in their canoe, Dora-Rouge has Angel sketch the plant and shows it to them, asking if they’ve seen it nearby. Bob says he has and draws a rough map to help them find it.

Though the women had planned to avoid the Se Nay River, by the time they arrive, it’s clear that they have no choice: the river is the only path forward. The recent diversions up north have doubled the water’s force. Bush, Angel, and Agnes hesitate, seriously considering turning back, but Dora-Rouge convinces them to go on. She kneels at the riverbank, speaks to the water, prays, and then tells the others the river will let them pass. Still afraid, they step into their canoes and let the current take them. The ride is violent and fast, and Angel thinks they might not survive—but somehow, they do. When they reach land, they collapse onto the ground in gratitude.