Her love for her son gave her the reason to use it.

Both things were real.

Both things were hers.

The Arctic had taken four men and given nothing back.

It had tested Ada Blackjack for two years and returned her to her life.

She had paid for the moccasins in hardship and isolation and the daily patient work of keeping herself alive.

They were among the most expensive things ever made on an Arctic island, measured in what they cost.

She brought them home anyway.