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Then she heard the distinctive grunting voice of another cave lion not far away Baby stopped his contented growl and stiffened into a posture she had not seen in him before Over his shoulder a lioness approached cautiously She stopped at a sound from Baby

“You’ve found a mate! I knew you would—I knew you’d have your own pride someday” Ayla looked for more lionesses “Only one, so far, probably a noinning You’re going to have a wonderful big pride someday, Baby”

The cave lion relaxed a bit and ca her with his head She scratched his forehead and gave hi Whinney was very nervous, she noticed Baby’s scent e lioness Ayla naled “Stop” He stayed for a a, turned away Followed by his mate, Baby left

He’s gone now, living with his own kind, she thought on the way back He ht come for a visit, but he’ll never come back to me like Whinney did The wolad you’re back, she thought

Seeing Baby with his lioness re woman of her own uncertain future Baby has a mate now You had one, too, Whinney I wonder, will I ever have one?

17

Jondalar stepped out fro and looked down the snow-covered terrace that ended abruptly with a sheer drop The high side walls framed the white rounded contours of the eroded hills on the other side of the river Darvo, who had been waiting for hi beside a stuth of the field, in the place Jondalar had chosen to work his flint It was out in the open where the light was good, and out of the way so there would be less chance of so on a sharp chip He started toward the boy

“Jondalar, wait a moment”

“Thonolan,” he said, s, and waited for his brother to catch up They strolled together across the packed snow “I pro How’s Shamio?”

“She’s fine; getting over her cold She had us worried—her coughing was even keeping Jeta more room before next winter”

Jondalar gave Thonolan an appraising look, wondering if the responsibilities of aheavily on his carefree younger brother But Thonolan had a settled, contented look about hirin

“Big Brother, I have so a bit of flesh on her bones? I thought she was just getting a healthy settled look I rong She’s been blessed again”

“That’s wonderful! I kno much she wants a baby”

“She’s known for a long time, but she didn’t want to tellit this ti, but if everything continues to go well, shell give birth in spring She says she’s sure it is a child of my spirit”

“She ht Just think, my foot-loose little brother—aa child”

Thonolan’s grin broadened His happiness was so transparent that Jondalar had to smile, too He looks so pleased with hiht

“There, to the left,” Dolando said softly, pointing to a rocky pro up before the the entire view

Jondalar looked, but he was too overwhel less than the full expanse They were at tih which they had ascended It had begun with oak at the lower elevations; then beech predominated Farther up were the conifers that were more familiar to him, mountain pine, fir, and spruce He had seen, from a distance, the hardened crust of the earth upthrust in far grander peaks, but, as they left the trees behind, his breath caught at the unexpected grandeur As many times as he had seen the view, it still affected him the same way

The closeness of the h he could reach out and touch it In silent awe it spoke of ele to birth naked rock Unclothed by forest, the primordial bone of the Great Mother lay exposed in the tilted landscape Beyond it the sky was unearthly blue—flat and deep—a featureless backdrop to the blinding reflections of sunlight fracturing off crystals of glacial ice that clung to spines and cracks above ept alpine meadows

“I see it!” Thonolan cried “A little ht, Jondalar See? On that outcrop”

The tall raceful chamois poised on the precipice Its thick black winter coat still clung in patches on the flanks, but the beige-gray suht up fro back only at the tips

“I see him now,” Jondalar said

“That may not be a ‘him’ Females have horns, too,” Dolando corrected