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“You don’t fall in love at all, Jondalar”
Jondalar started walking faster “What do you mean? I’ve loved a lot of women”
“Loved the”
“Hoould you know? Have you ever been in love?”
“A few times Maybe it hasn’t lasted, but I know the difference Look, Brother, I don’t want to pry, but I worry about you, especially when you get moody And you don’t have to run I’ll shut up if you want me to”
Jondalar slowed down “So, ht Maybe I’ve never fallen in love Maybe it’s not in me to fall in love”
“What’s ? What don’t the women you know have?”
“If I knew, don’t you think …” he began angrily Then he paused “I don’t know, Thonolan I guess I want it all I want a woman like she is at First Rites—I think I fall in love with every woirl I want her honestly eager and willing without any pretenses, but I don’t want to have to be so careful with her I want her to have spirit, to know her ownand old, naïve and wise, all at the same time”
“That’s a lot to want, Brother”
“Well, you asked” They walked in silence for a while
“How old would you say Zelandoni is?” Thonolan asked “A little younger than Mother, maybe?”
Jondalar stiffened “Why?”
“They say she was really beautiful when she was younger, even just a few years ago Some of the older men say no one could compare to her, not even co to be First a Brother What they say about you and Zelandoni, is it true?”
Jondalar stopped and slowly turned to face his brother “Tell h gritted teeth
“Sorry I just went too far Forget I asked”
5
Ayla walked out of the cave and onto the stone ledge in front of it, rubbing her eyes and stretching The sun was still low in the east and she shaded her eyes as she looked to see where the horses were Checking the horses when she awoke in the h she had been there only a few days It made her solitary existence a littlethe valley with other living creatures
She was beco aware of their patterns of , the shade trees they favored in the afternoon, and she was noticing individuals There was the yearling colt whose gray coat was so light that it was al the characteristic stripe down the spine and the dark gray lower legs and stiff standing mane And there was the dun mare with her hay-colored foal, whose coat matched the stallion’s And then the proud leader himself, whose place would sos he barely tolerated, or perhaps one of next year’s brood, or the next The light yellow stallion, with the deep brown feral stripe,showed it
“Good esture coht nuance which shaded it to aYou’ve already had your et mine”
She ran lightly down to the streah with the steep path to be sure-footed on it She took a drink, then doffed her wrap for herswim It was the same wrap, but she had washed it and worked it with her scrapers to soften the leather again Her own natural preference for order and cleanliness had been reinforced by Iza, whose large pharmacopoeia of medicinal herbs required order to avoid ers of dirt and filth and infections It was one thing to accept a certain a, when it couldn’t be avoided But not with a sparkling stream nearby
She ran her hands through thick blond hair that fell in waves well below her shoulders “I’,” she motioned to no one in particular Just around the bend she had found soaproot growing, and went to pull so over the strea out of the shalloith smooth saucer-shaped depressions in it She picked up a round stone and waded out to the rock She rinsed the roots, scooped water into a depression, and pounded the soaproot to release the rich sudsy saponin When she had worked up the foam, she wetted her hair, rubbed it in, then washed the rest of her body and dove into the water to rinse
A large section of the jutting wall had broken off at some time in the past Ayla climbed out on the portion that was underwater and walked across the surface that rose above the water to a place war in the sun A waist-deep channel on the shoreward sidehose exposed roots clutched at the strea off a small bush whose roots had found purchase in a crack, peeled it with her teeth, and used it to pull snarls out of her hair while it dried in the sun
She was staring drea under her breath, when a flicker of ht her eye Suddenly alert, she looked into the water at the silvery shape of a large trout resting beneath the roots I haven’t had fish since I left the cave, she thought, recalling she hadn’t had breakfast either
Slipping silently into the water off the far side of the rock, she swam downstream a ways, then waded toward the shallows She put her hand in the water, letting her fingers dangle, and sloith infinite patience, she moved back upstream As she approached the tree, she saw the trout with its head into the current, undulating slightly to maintain itself in its place under the root
Ayla’s eyes glistened with excite each foot securely as she neared the fish She moved her hand up from behind until it was just below the trout, then touched it lightly, feeling for the open gill-covers Suddenly, she grasped the fish and, in one sure movement, lifted it out of the water and threw it on the bank The trout flopped and struggled for a few moments, then lay still
She s how to tickle a fish out of the water when she was a child, and she still felt almost as proud as she had the first ti it would be used by a succession of tenants This one was big enough for ht, as she retrieved her catch—anticipating the taste of fresh trout baked on hot stones
As her breakfast cooked, Ayla busied herself rass she had picked the day before It was a simple, utilitarian basket, but with se in texture to please herself, giving it a subtle design She worked quickly, but with such skill that the basket would be watertight By adding hot rocks, it could be used for a cooking utensil, but that was not the purpose she had inabout everything she had to do to make herself secure for the cold season ahead
The currants I picked yesterday will be dry in a few days, she estirass mats on her front porch By then, more will be ripe There will be a lot of blueberries, but I won’t get much out of that scrawny little apple tree The cherry tree is full, but they’re alet soood, if the birds don’t get them all first I think those were hazelnut bushes by the apple tree, but they’re so much smaller than the ones by the little cave, I’ nuts in the cones, though I’ll check them later Wish that fish would cook!
I should start drying greens And lichen And mushrooms And roots I won’t have to dry all the roots, so tiweed seeds? They’re so small, it never seems like much Grain is worth the e