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Just as Brun had thought, the return trip was difficult for Creb No longer buoyed by anticipation, and further depressed by brooding over the knowledge he kept secret, the old ain Brun’s concern deepened; he had never known the great ed behind Many times Brun had to send a hunter back to find hi it would make it easier for hi cere-ur seeh his heart wasn’t in it Brun noticed that Creb and Ayla kept their distance, and though she had no trouble keeping up, Ayla’s step had lost its spring There’s soht

They had been traveling through tall, sere grass since ht He started to signal one of the ed his mind and walked back to Ayla instead

“Go back and find Mog-ur,” he motioned

She looked surprised, then nodded Giving Durc to Uba, she hurried back along the trail of bent, stepped-on grass She found hi heavily on his staff He seemed to be in pain Ayla had been so stunned by his response to her loving remorse she hadn’t knohat to say to hi, arthritic joints, but he had refused to let her give hi for the pain After the first few rebuffs, she didn’t offer again, though her heart ached for him He stopped when he saw her

“What are you doing here?” he gestured

“Brun sent me back for you”

Creb grunted and started walking again Ayla fell in behind him She watched his slow, painful movements until she couldn’t stand it anyround at his feet, forcing hi time before he tapped her shoulder

“This wory”

“I’ry, Ayla”

“Then on’t you let me help you?” she pleaded “You never refused before” Ayla struggled to compose herself “This woman is a medicine woman She is trained to help those in pain It is her place, her function It hurts this wo-ur suffer, she cannot help it” Ayla couldn’t maintain the formal posture “Oh, Creb, let me help you Don’t you know I love you? To me, you are like the mate of my mother You have provided for me, spoken foryou” Tears streamed down her face in hopeless desperation

Why does water always come to her eyes when she thinks I don’t love her? And why should her weak eyes alwaysfor her? Do all the Others have that probleht, I never minded her help before, why should it matter now? She is not a woman of the Clan No matter what the rest think, she was born to the Others and she will always be one of them She doesn’t even know it She thinks she’s a Clan woman, she thinks she’s a medicine woman She is a medicine woman She may not be of Iza’s line, but she is a medicine woman, and she has tried to become a Clan woman, as hard as it was for her sometimes I wonder, how hard is it for her? This is not the first tiht to hold it back? It’s when she thinks I don’t love her that she can’t hold it Can it hurt her so ht she didn’t love me? More than I’d like to think If she loves the saer, as a woman of the Others But she was still Ayla, still the child of the mate he never had

“We’d better hurry, Ayla Brun is waiting Wipe your eyes, and e stop, you can make me some -bark tea, medicine woman”

A sh her tears She scraain After a few paces, she moved up to his weak side He halted a moment, then nodded and leaned on her for support

Brun noticed an iain, though they still weren’t traveling as fast as he would have liked There was an air ofharder I knew there was a probleht, but they seelad he had the idea to send her back for him

Creb did let Ayla help hireat for hiet the difference in their destinies and it created a strain that dampened the easy warmth of earlier days

Though the days were hot as Brun’s clan trekked back to their cave, the nights were growing cool The first sight of snowcapped mountains far to the west heartened the clan, but as the distance hardly die at the southern tip of the peninsula became just a part of the scenery The distance did dih, however imperceptibly As they continued day after weary day in their ard direction, the blue depths of crevasses gave character to the glaciers and the indistinct purple below the icy crown took on shapes of outcrops and ridges

They pushed on until dark before they ht on the steppes, and everyone ake at first light The plains ed into a parkland of open , te of fa to notice them The pace quickened when they came to a path that wound up the foothills Then they rounded a fae and saw their cave, and every heart beat faster They were home

Aba and Zoug were rushing to ed the older children, then took Groob in her ar nodded at Ayla as he ran toward Grod and Uka, then Ovra and Goov

“Where is Dorv?” Ika motioned