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She hurried to the entrance, then stopped cold when she looked out She rubbed her eyes and looked again Lines ofout from one end to the other of the stone porch, with several small fires spaced in the ? Had all the women of the clan suddenly appeared to help her?
“There is some ry,” Jondalar said, with assu smile
“You? You did that?”
“Yes I did it” His grin was even wider Her reaction to his little surprise was better than he’d hoped Maybe he wasn’t quite up to hunting yet, but at least he could skin the ani, especially since he had just made new knives
“But … you’re a man!” she said, stunned
Jondalar’s little surprise wason their e and skills to survive For them, instinct had evolved so that they could remember the skills of their forebears and pass theeny, stored in the backs of their brains The tasks that enerations that Clan members had sex-differentiated memories One sex was unable to perform the functions of the other; they did not have the memories for it
A ht theh soht have hacked out so up the , and, even if he had, he wouldn’t have kno to begin He could certainly not have produced the neat, properly shaped pieces that would dry uniformly that Ayla saw in front of her eyes
“Isn’t a man allowed to cut up a little meat?” Jondalar asked He knew so woman’s work and man’s work, but he had only meant to help her He didn’t think she would be offended
“In the Clan, woman cannot hunt, and men cannot … make food,” she tried to explain
“But you hunt”
His stateotten she shared with him the differences between the Clan and the Others
“I … I am not a Clan woman,” she said, disconcerted “I …” She didn’t kno to explain “I’m like you, Jondalar One of the Others”
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Ayla pulled up, slid off Whinney, and gave the dripping waterbag to Jondalar He took it and drank in large thirsty gulps They were far down the valley, almost on the steppes, and quite a distance from the stream
The golden grass rippled in the wind around therains of broomcorn millet and wild rye fro seed heads of unripe t barley, and both einkorn and e each stalk to strip off the small hard seeds was hot work The small roundfrom a cord around the neck to free the hands, broke off easily, but it would need additional ing The rye, which went into the other side of the basket, threshed free
Ayla put the cord of her basket around her neck and went to work Jondalar joined her shortly afterward They plucked the grains side by side for a while, then he turned to her “What is it like to ride a horse, Ayla?” he asked
“It’s hard to explain,” she said, pausing to think “When you go fast it’s exciting But so is riding slow It ood to ride Whinney” She turned back to her task again, then stopped “Would you like to try?”
“Try what?”
“Riding Whinney”
He looked at her, trying to deter the horse for some time, but she seemed to have such a personal relationship with the animal that he didn’t kno to ask tactfully “Yes I would But will Whinney let me?”
“I don’t know” She glanced toward the sun to see how late it was, then swung the basket to her back “We can see”
“Now?” he asked She nodded, already starting back “I thought you went to get the water so we could pick rain”