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“You haveout her arster Ayla lifted off the horse

“It is little,” Ayla said

The woman nodded “My name is Nezzie,” she said

“I am named Ayla”

The tomen looked at each other, considered each other carefully, not with hostility, but testing the ground for a future relationship

Questions she wanted to ask about Rydag spun through Ayla’s mind, but she hesitated, not sure if it was proper to ask Was Nezzie the boy’s ive birth to a child of ain about a question that had bothered her since Durc was born How did life begin? A wore did it get inside a woman?

Creb and Iza had believed that a new life began oht the Great Earth Mother ether and put thenant But Ayla had formed her own opinion When she noticed that her son had some of her characteristics, and sorow inside her until after Broud forced his penetration into her

She shuddered at the et it, and she had coan inside the place where babies were born froht it was a strange idea when she told him, and tried to convince her it was the Mother who created life She didn’t quite believe hirown up with the Clan, she was one of theh she had hated it when he did it, Broud was only exercising his rights But how could a man of the Clan have forced Nezzie?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the co As one man approached, he pulled back his hood, and both Ayla and Jondalar gaped with surprise The man was brown! The color of his skin was a rich deep brown He was nearly the color of Racer, which was rare enough for a horse Neither of them had ever seen a person with brown skin before

His hair was black, tight wiry curls that formed a woolly cap like the fur of a black mouflon His eyes were black, too, and they sparkled with delight as he sue in contrast to his dark skin He knew the stir he created when strangers first saw him, and rather enjoyed it

He was a perfectly ordinary ht, hardly more than an inch or so taller than Ayla, and medium build But a compact vitality, an economy of movement, and an easy self-confidence created an impression of sooing after it His eyes took on an added gleam when he saw Ayla

Jondalar recognized the look as attraction His brow furrowed into a frown, but neither the blond woman nor the brown-skinned man noticed She was captivated by the novelty of the , and stared with the unabashed wonder of a child He was attracted as much by the aura of naïve innocence her response projected as by her beauty

Suddenly Ayla realized she had been staring, and blushed criround From Jondalar she had learned that it was perfectly proper for men and women to look directly at each other, but to the people of the Clan it was not only discourteous, it was offensive to stare, particularly for a wo, the custoain by Creb and Iza so she would be more acceptable, that caused her such embarrassment

But her obvious distress only fired the interest of the dark man He was often the object of unusual attention by women The initial surprise of his appearance seeht have He sos had to find out for herself that he was, indeed, a man like every other uing to hily beautiful adult woirl

“Ranec, have youtoward them

“Not yet, but I’erly”

At the tone in his voice Ayla looked up into deep black eyes full of desire—and subtle humor They reached inside her and touched a spot only Jondalar had touched before Her body responded with an unexpected tingle that brought a faint gasp to her lips, and widened her gray-blue eyes Theto take her hands, but before custoer stepped between them, and with a deep scowl on his face, thrust both hands forward

“I am Jondalar of the Zelandonii,” he said “The wo with is Ayla”

So about the darkfro Jondalar closely for cues upon which to base her own behavior But the body language of people who depended on words was so estures to communicate, that she didn’t trust her perceptions yet These people seemed to be both easier and more difficult to read, as with this sudden shift in Jondalar’s attitude She kneas angry, but she didn’t knohy