'You don't have a clue, do you?' Greywolf sighed. 'The Pacheedaht-'

'I know who they are,' said Anawak, impatiently. A small Xootka band, resident in the south of the island, just north of Victoria. 'It's the mask that interests me. It looks old, not like the junk on sale round here.'

'It's a replica.' Greywolf stood beside him. He was wearing jeans and a faded shirt. The coloured checks were barely visible. His fingertips stroked the contours of the cedar face. 'An ancestral mask. The original's in the Queestos' huupaKwan'um. Do you need me to tell you what a huupaKwan'um is?'

'No.' Although Anawak knew the word, he couldn't he sure of its meaning. Something to do with a ceremony. 'Was it a present-'

'I made it,' said Greywolf. He went over to the chairs. 'Would you like a drink?'

Anawak stared at the mask. 'You made it yourself-'

'I've been doing a lot of carving recently. The Queestos don't mind me copying their masks. So, do you want a drink or not?'

'No.'

'Why are you here?'

'I wanted to thank you.'

Greywolf perched on the arm of the sofa, like an animal ready to pounce. 'What for?'

'For saving my life.'

'Oh, that. I thought you hadn't noticed.' Greywolf shrugged. 'You're welcome. Anything else I can do for you?'

Anawak stood there helplessly. He'd spent weeks avoiding this moment, and now it was over. He'd done what he was supposed to. 'What've you got to drink, then?' he asked.

'Cold beer and Coke.'

'Coke, please.'

Greywolf pointed to the little fridge next to the hotplates. 'Help yourself. I'll have a beer.'

Anawak opened the fridge and pulled out two cans. He sat down stiffly on one of the painted raffia chairs.

'So, Leon-'

'I…' Anawak twisted the can in his hand. He put it on the table. 'Look, Jack, I should have come ages ago. You pulled me out of the water, and… well, you know what I think about your protests and all your Indian nonsense. I won't say I wasn't mad at you. But that's not the point. The fact is, if it weren't for you, some of us wouldn't be alive, and that's far more important than the other stuff, so I – I came to tell you that. They're calling you the hero of Tofino, and I guess they're right.'

'Do you mean that?'

'Yes.'

There was another long silence.

'What you call "Indian nonsense" is something I believe in, Leon. Do you want to hear why?'

Under normal circumstances the conversation would have ended there. Anawak would have walked out and Greywolf would have hurled insults at his back. No, that wasn't true: Anawak would have begun the barrage before he left the room. 'All right.'

Greywolf gave him a hard look. 'I've got my own people that I belong to. I chose them.'

'Did they choose you too?'

'I don't know.'

'Jack, if you don't mind me saying, the way you look is like a fancy-dress version of your people. Like an Indian from a corny old western. What do your people think of that? Are you helping their cause?'

'I don't have to help anyone's cause.'

'Oh, yes, you do. If you want to belong somewhere, you have to take responsibility. That's the way it is.'

'They accept me. That's all I ask.'

'They're laughing at you, Jack!' Anawak leaned forwards. 'Don't you see that? You've got a pack of losers clustered around you. Sure, some of them are Indians, but not the sort that their own people want hanging around. You're twenty-five per cent Indian, and the rest is white, mostly Irish. Why didn't you choose to be Irish? At least the name would fit.'

'I didn't want to,' said Greywolf calmly.

'And why call yourself "Greywolf"? – Indians don't use names like that any more.'

'Well, I do.'

Go easy, Anawak thought. You're here to say thanks and you've said it. The rest is redundant. You should go.

But he didn't.

'OK, explain one thing to me. If you're so set on being accepted by your people, why don't you try to be authentic?'

'Like you, do you mean?'

Anawak recoiled. 'Let's leave me out of this.'

'Why should we?' Greywolf shouted. 'It's your damn problem. Why should I get the lecture?'

'Because I'm the one giving it.' Suddenly he was angry again. But this time he wasn't going to ignore it and let it gnaw away inside him.

It was too late for that now. He'd have to look himself in the eve, and he knew what that would mean. Every victory over Greywolf would be a defeat for himself.

Greywolf was watching him through half-closed eyes. 'You didn't come here to say thank you.'

'I did.'

'Do you really think so? Oh, God, you do. But it's not why you're here.' His lips curled in a sneer. 'Go on, then. What is it you're dying to tell me?'

'It's like this, Jack. You can call yourself Greywolf till you're blue in the face, but it won't change who you are. There were rules for the giving of names, and in your case not one of them applies. You've got a beautiful mask hanging on the wall, but it's a fake, like your name. And your protest group, that's fake too.' Suddenly it was all pouring out, everything he hadn't meant to say. Not today. He hadn't come here to insult Greywolf, but now he couldn't stop himself. 'Those people you hang out with are layabouts, wasters. They're only in it for the ride. Don't you get it? You're not achieving anything. Your notion of whale conservation is childish. Choosing your own people – that's crap. Your chosen people will never understand your loony ideas.'

'If you say so.'

'Get real, Jack. You know they want to hunt whales, and you want to stop them. That's very honourable, but you haven't been listening. You're turning against the people whom apparently you-'

'There are plenty of people among the Makah who think the same as me.'

'Sure, but-'

'Tribal elders, Leon. Not all Indians think ethnic groups should express their culture through ritualistic killings. In their view, the Makah are as much a part of twenty-first-century society as the rest of Washington State.'

'I've heard that argument before,' said Anawak, scornfully.' And it didn't come from you or any of your tribal elders. I read it in a press release from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. You can't even come up with your own arguments, Jack. It's unbelievable. Even your reasoning is fake.'

'No, it isn't. I-'

'And, anyway,' Anawak interrupted, 'singling out Davie's is pathetic.'

'Aha. So that's why you're here.'

'Come off it, Jack, you used to be one of us. Didn't you learn anything? It was only because of whale-watching that people realised live whales and dolphins are more precious than dead ones. Whale-watching focuses the world on a problem that wouldn't get that kind of attention by any other means. It's a form of conservation. Ten million people a year go whale-watching to experience the wonder of whales. That's ten million people who'd otherwise only see whales on TV or maybe not at all. Our research means we can protect whales in their natural habitat. If it weren't for whale-watching, it wouldn't be possible.'

'Yeah, right.'

'So why pick on us? Because we kicked you out?'

'You didn't kick me out. I left.'

'We kicked you out.' Anawak was yelling now. 'You were fired. You messed up and Davie got rid of you. Your pathetic ego couldn't handle that, just like O'Bannon couldn't cope without his hair and his outfit and his crappy name. Your whole ideology is a mistake, Jack. It's all a sham. You know what? You're a fake. You're nothing. All you do is screw things up. You're no use to the conservationists and no use to the Nootka. You don't belong anywhere. You're not Irish, you're not Indian, and that's your problem and it makes me sick, having to grapple with your problems when there's other stuff that-'

'Leon,' said Greywolf, thin-lipped.

'It makes me sick, seeing you like that.'