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“It wasn’t your fault, Creb It was mine I never blamed you”
“I bla or the rief”
“How could you know? None of the men know much about babies They like to hold them and play with the and all the ive them back to theirhis weaning year, and he’s big and healthy even though he’s been weaned for a long time”
“But it hurt you, Ayla”
“Mama, you hurt?” Durc interrupted, still worried about her scream
“No, Durc, Mama’s not hurt, not anymore”
“Where did he learn to call you that word, Ayla?”
She flushed slightly “Durc and I play a ga sounds sometimes He just decided to call me by that one”
Creb nodded “He calls all the wo to call you It probably means mother to him”
“It does to me, too”
“You made a lot of sounds and words when you first came I think your people must talk with sounds”
“My people are Clan people I am a woman of the Clan”
“No, Ayla,” Creb gestured slowly “You are not Clan, you are a woman of the Others”
“That’s what Iza told ht she died She said I wasn’t Clan; she said I was a woman of the Others”
Creb looked surprised “I didn’t think she knew Iza was a oht you followed us into the cave”
“I didn’t ot there I don’t knohat hurt you some because I went into that cave”
“No, Ayla, I didn’t stop loving you, I loved you too much”
“Durc hungry,” the child interrupted He was still disturbed by his mother’s scream, and the intense conversation between her and Creb bothered him
“You’re hungry? I’ll see if I can find so for you”
Creb watched her as she got up and went to the fireplace I wonder why she was brought to live with us, Creb thought She was born to the Others, and the Cave Lion has always protected her; ould he bring her here? Why not back to them? And ould he let himself be defeated, let her have a baby, then allow her to lose her milk? Everyone thinks it’s because he’s unlucky, but look at him He’s healthy, he’s happy, everyone loves hiht, maybe the spirit of every ht about that, he’s not deformed, he’s a mixture He can even make sounds like she can He’s part Ayla and part Clan