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She brought her sibling his food, and tea for both of theether, a comfortable, affectionate warmth between them When Creb finished, they were the only ones still awake

“The hunters will go out in the ood kill, the ceremony will be the next day You will be prepared?”

“I checked the bag, there are enough roots I will be ready,” Izaup a small pouch It was different from the others The leather had been dyed a deep brownish red, with fine-powdered red ochre mixed into the bear fat that had been used to cure the cave bear skin it wascolored the sacred red, although everyone in the clan carried a piece of red ochre in their amulets It was the holiest relic Iza possessed “I will purify ”

Again Creb grunted It was the usual nonco to a wo to indicate the wonificance in what she said They remained quiet for a while, then Creb put his s

“Mog-ur will provide for you and the girl, and your child if it is a girl You will share my fire in the new cave, Iza,” he said, then reached for his staff to help hi place

Iza had started to get up but sat back down, thunderstruck by his announceone, she knew some other hts of her fate out of her mind—it made no difference how she felt, Brun would not consult her—but she couldn’t help thinking about it sometimes Of the possible options, soht were unlikely

There was Droog; since Goov’s mother had been killed in the earthquake, he was alone now Iza respected Droog He was the best maker of tools in the clan Any of theh hand-axe or scraper, but Droog had a real talent for it He could preshape the stone so that the flakes he knapped off would have the size and shape he wanted His knives, scrapers, all his tools, were highly prized If the choice were hers, of all the ood to the acolyte’s enuine fondness in their relationship

It was iven to hier, and already the mother of two children Her son, Vorn, would soon need a hunter to be responsible for his training, and the baby, Ona, needed a rew up andto take her mother, Aba, too The old wo on all those responsibilities would e in the life of the quiet, orderly toola could be a little difficult at ti Goov’sup his own hearth soon, and Droog needed a woman

Goov as a mate for her was entirely out of the question He was too young, just barely a man, and hadn’t even ive him an old woman, and Iza would feel more like his mother than his mate

Iza had thought about living with Grod and Uka, and theGrod was a stiff, laconic man, but never cruel, and his loyalty to Brun was beyond question She wouldn’t have h she’d be second woiven Iza her status that had usurped her sibling’s place And since the death of her son—when he had not yet evenand withdrawn Not even Ovra, her daughter, was able to soften the woman’s pain There is too ht

She had hardly considered Crug’s fire Ika, hiswo, and Iza had never gotten along very ith Dorv, the old man who had been the mate of Ika’s mother, who shared their fire

That left Brun, and she could not even be second wo Not that it mattered, she had her own status At least she wasn’t like the poor old woman who had finally found her way to the world of the spirits during the earthquake She had co before, she never had any children, and had been traded off from fire to fire, always a burden; a woman with no status, no value

But the possibility of sharing a hearth with Creb, of his providing for her hadn’t even entered her mind There was no one in the clan of whoht, I’ement—unless I have a boy A boy needs to live with a man who can train him to be a hunter, and Creb can’t hunt

I could take the ht for a moment Then I could be sure I wouldn’t have a boy She patted her stomach and shook her head No, it’s too late, there could be problee, her pregnancy had progressed without difficulty The chances were good that the child would be norhtly I will ask irl He knows I’ve wanted a girl all along I promised I’d take care of myself so the baby he allowed to start would be healthy, if only he’d irl

Iza kneomen of her years could have problenant woh never a nancy, delivery, and nursing than sters in the clan and she dispensed her knowledge with her ic, passed down frohter, that was so secret, Iza would have died before revealing it, especially to a man Any man who found out about it would never permit its use

The secret had been kept only because no one, ic The custo, it had becoe if someone indicated an interest, but Iza never discussed her special ht to ask, she could not have refused to answer—no woman could refuse to answer a man—and it was impossible for people of the Clan to lie Their form of communication, dependent for subtle nuance on barely perceptible changes in expressions, gestures, and postures, made any attempt immediately detectable They didn’t even have a concept for it; the closest they could co, and that was usually discerned, though often allowed

Iza never ic she had learned froic prevented conception, prevented the spirit of aher mouth to start a child It never occurred to the man who had been her mate to ask her why she had not conceived a child He assu for a woman He often told her so and bemoaned the fact to the other men as the reason his totem’s essence was not able to overcome hers Iza used the plants to prevent conception because she wanted to shanating element of his toteh he beat her

The beatings were given, supposedly, to force her totem into submission, but Iza knew he enjoyed it At first, she hoped her ive her to some other art even before she was given to him, and when she found out who herto her mother in desperation Her mother could offer only consolation; she had no hter But her hest-ranked wo of th of his totem, and his manhood, was in question because his , the physical power he had over her compensated for