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“What do youhier before and she surprised herself at the volume—and the venom “Creb and Iza, animals? My son, half hu hyenas

“Would aniirl as hurt? Would they accept her as one of them? Would they take care of her? Raise her? Where do you think I learned to find food? Or cook it? Where do you think I learned healing? If it were not for those animals, I would not be alive today, and neither would you, Jondalar!

“You say the Clan are animals, and the Others are human? Well, remember this: The Clan saved a child of the Others, and the Others killed one of theirs If I couldhyenas!”

She stormed out of the cave and down the path, then whistled for Whinney

24

Jondalar was due She alloped down the valley Ayla had always been so coer The contrast

He had always thought of hiht they should be left alone, not bothered or baited, and he would not have intentionally killed one But his sensibilities had been grossly offended by the idea of aa flathead female for Pleasures That one of their males should have used a human female the same way had exposed a deeply buried nerve The woman would be defiled

And he had been so eager for her He thought of the vulgar stories told by sniggering boys and young h he were already contarace of the Great Earth Mother, he had been spared

But worse, she had birthed an abonant spirits who couldn’t even be discussed in decent company The very existence of such issue was hotly denied by some, yet talk of them had persisted

Ayla certainly had not denied it She openly admitted it, stood there and defended the child … as vehened She was insulted, angry that he had spoken of any of theatory terms Had she really been raised by a pack of flatheads?

He’d met a few flatheads on his Journey He’d even questioned in his own mind whether they were ani male and the older fester used a knife made on a heavy flake to cut the fish in half, just like the one Ayla used? And his dam wore a hide wrapped around her, as Ayla did Ayla even had the sa; that tendency to look down, to efface herself so she wouldn’t be noticed The furs on her bed, they had the saiven him And her spear! That heavy primitive spear—wasn’t it like the spears carried by that pack of flatheads he and Thonolan had lacier?

It was right there in front of him all the time, if he’d only looked Why had heOne Who Serves the Mother testing herself to perfect her skills? She was as skilled as any healer, perhapsskill from a flathead?

He watched her riding off in the distance She had been e He knew many women who raised their voices at the least provocation Marona could be a shrill, contentious, foul-te about the woth in so woe, and they could hold their own and not be so easily overwhelmed by his own passions on the rare occasions when they were expressed He’d suspected there was a rock-hard core to Ayla in spite of her coht She is a remarkable, beautiful woman

Suddenly, like a splash of icy water, he realized what he had done The blood

drained from his face She had saved his life, and he had draay from her as if she were filth! She had lavished care on hiust He had called her child an abomination, a child she obviously loved He was mortified by his insensitivity

He ran back into the cave and threw hi on the bed of a woed in contempt

“Oh, Doni!” he cried “How could you let me do it? Why didn’t you help me? Why didn’t you stop me?”

He buried his head under the furs He hadn’t felt so wretched since he was young He thought he was over that He’d acted without thinking then, too Would he never learn? Why hadn’t he exercised so was healed Why couldn’t he have controlled himself until he left?