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Ayla understood grief She had not been spared its ravages, and she ached for hi how it happened, she found herself holding the uish He didn’t know this woman, but she was human, and compassionate She saw his need and responded to it

As he clung to her, he felt an overpowering force well up inside him, and, like the forces contained within a volcano, once released, there was no holding back He heaved a powerful sob and his body shook with convulsive spased breath cost hiony of effort

Not since he was a child had he let go so completely It was not his nature to reveal his inner, and he had learned early to keep theht on by Thonolan’s death exposed the raw edges of memories buried deep

Serenio had been right, his love was too er, let loose, could not be contained until it had run its course either Growing up, he had once wreaked such havoc with righteous anger that he had caused someone serious injury All his emotions were too powerful Even his mother had felt forced to put a distance between them, and she had watched with silent sy too fiercely, loved too hard, demanded too much of them She had seen similar traits in the man to whom she had once been er brother seemed able to handle his love, to accept with ease and deflect with laughter the tensions it caused

When he became too much for her to handle, and the whole Cave was in an uproar, his mother had sent him to live with Dalanar It had been a wise move By the time Jondalar returned, he had not only learned his craft, he had learned to keep his erown into a tall, muscular, remarkably handsome man, with extraordinary eyes and an unconscious charisma that was a reflection of his depth Women, in particular, sensed there wasto show He becae, but no one could win hio, they could not touch his deepest feelings; as ive He learned quickly how far to go with each, but to him the relationships were superficial and unsatisfactory The one woman in his life able to meet hi They would have been a mismatch in any case

His grief was as intense as the rest of his nature, but the young woreat She had lost everything—more than once; she had felt the cold breath of the spirit world—more than once; yet she persevered She sensed that his passionate outpouring wasof ordinary sorrow, and, froave him surcease

When his racking sobs slackened, she discovered she was crooning under her breath as she held hihter, to sleep with her crooning; she had watched her son close his eyes to the sound; and she had nursed her own grief and loneliness with the sa tone It was appropriate Finally, drained and exhausted, he released his hold He lay back with his head to the side, staring at the stone walls of the cave When she turned his face to wipe away the tears with cool water, he closed his eyes He would not—or could not—look at her Soon, his body relaxed and she knew he slept

She went to see how Whinney was doing with her new foal, then walked outside She felt drained as well, yet relieved At the far end of the ledge, she looked down the valley and remembered her anxious ride with the man on the travois, her fervent hope that he would not die The thought made her nervous; more than ever she felt the man must live She hurried back into the cave and reassured herself that he still breathed She brought the cold soup back to the fire—he had needed other sustenance more—made sure the medicinal preparations were ready for him when he woke, and then sat quietly beside him on the fur

She could not get enough of looking at hi to satisfy all at one tiht of another hu off, she saw his face as more of a whole, not just as the individual features She wanted to touch it, to run her finger along his jaw and chin, to feel his light smooth eyebrows Then it struck her

His eyes had watered! She had wiped wetness from his face; her shoulder was still daht Creb could never understand why ht rieved The eyes of all the Others must water

Ayla’s all-night vigil and intense eht up with her She fell asleep on the fur beside hih it was still afternoon Jondalar woke up toward dusk He was thirsty and looked for so to wake the woman He heard the sounds of the horse and her newborn, but could onlydown near the wall on the other side of the cave entrance

He looked at the wo the other way He could see only the line of her neck and jaw, and the shape of her nose He remembered his emotional outbreak and felt a little embarrassed, then remes He could feel his eyes filling and closed thehtly He tried not to think about Thonolan; he tried not to think about anything Soon, he succeeded, and didn’t wake again until the ht, and then his moans woke Ayla as well

It was dark; the fire was out Ayla felt her way to the fireplace, got tinder and kindling from the place she kept her supply, then the firestone and flint

Jondalar’s fever was up again, but he ake He thought he h He couldn’t believe the wolow of coals when he awakened

She brought the man cold bark tea she had made earlier He raised hih it was bitter, he drank for his thirst He recognized the taste—everyone seemed to know the use of bark—but he wished for a drink of plain water He was feeling an urge to urinate as well, but he didn’t kno to communicate either need He picked up the cup which had held the bark tea, turned it over to shoas eht it to his lips

She understood i, filled his cup, and then left it beside hied his thirst, but it added to his other problean to squir woman aware of his need She picked a stick of wood out of the fire for a torch and went to the storage section of the cave She wanted a container of some sort, but once there found some other useful items

She hada shalloell into a stone that would hold h she hadn’t used theht She picked up a laealed fat When she saw the empty bladder beside them, she took that, too

She put the full one near the fire to soften and took the empty one to Jondalar—but she could not explain what it was for She unfolded the pouring end, showed hi He looked puzzled There was no other way She pulled back the cover, but when she reached between his legs with the open waterbag, he quickly got the idea and took it from her

He felt ridiculous lying flat on his back rather than standing up to let his stream flow Ayla could see his disco to herself He’s not been hurt before, she thought, at least not so badly that he couldn’t walk He s and went out to empty it She returned it to hi oil in the lamp and lit the moss wick She carried it to the bed and pulled the cover back fro

He tried to sit up to see, though it hurt She propped him up When he saw the lacerations on his chest and arms, he u

nderstood why it hurt ht side, but it was the deep pain in his leg that concerned him more He wondered how skilled the woman was Willowbark tea did not make a healer

When she removed the bloody root-poultice, he worried even ht did, but it left no doubt as to the seriousness of his injury His leg ollen, bruised, and raw He looked closer and thought he saw knots holding his flesh together He wasn’t versed in the healing arts Until recently, he hadn’t been anyether?

He watched carefully while she prepared a new poultice, this time of leaves He wanted to ask her what the leaves were, talk to her, try to get a es he knew In fact, now that he thought of it, he hadn’t heard her talk at all How could she be a healer if she didn’t talk? But she did see, and whatever it was she put on his leg, it did ease the pain

He let hie a soothing wash onto his chest and arms It wasn’t until she untied the strip of soft leather holding the compress that he knew his head had been injured He reached up and felt a swelling and a sore spot before she bound on a fresh compress

She returned to the fireplace to heat the soup He watched her, still trying to fathoood,” he said, when the meaty aroma wafted toward him

The sound of his voice seehe would not be understood When he had first met the Sharamudoi, neither he nor they understood a word of each other’s language, yet there had been speech—ie words that would begin the process of coin a e of words, and she responded to his efforts with only puzzled looks She seees he knew, but to have no desire to communicate

No, he thought That wasn’t quite true They had coiven hiiven hih he wasn’t sure how she knew he needed one He didn’t forht for the corief—the pain was still too fresh—but he had felt it and included it in his wonderings about her

“I know you can’t understand me,” he said, rather tentatively He didn’t know quite what to say to her, but he felt a need to say so Once he started, words came easier “Who are you? Where are the rest of your people?” He could not see ht shed by the fire and the lamp, but he had not seen any other people, nor any evidence of them “Why don’t you want to talk?” She looked at hi