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He picked up a s into a piece of bone, or wood, or antler like this, the knife will have a handle It’s easier to use with a handle If you boil antler for a while, it will swell and soften, and then you can force the tang into the middle where it’s softer When the antler dries, it shrinks and tightens around the tang Often it will hold without binding or glue for a long time”

Ayla was excited about the new method, and wanted to practice it as she had always done after watching Droog, but she wasn’t sure if it would violate Jondalar’s customs or traditions The more she learned about the ways of his people, the less sense they ht not want her to make his kind of tools

“I would like to try… Is there … objection to wo tools?”

Her question pleased him It took skill to make her kind of tools He was sure even the best toolh the worst could probably turn out so a flint boulder by accident usually produced a few pieces that were usable But he would have understood if she had tried to justify her nize his technique for what it was—a vast improvement—and wanted to try it He wondered hoould feel if someone showed him as radical an improvement

I’d want to learn it, he said to hirin

“Woood flint knappers Joplaya, my cousin, is one of the best But she’s a terrible tease—so I would never tell her that She’d never let et it” He smiled at the memory

“In the Clan, women can make tools, but not weapons”

“Women make weapons After they have children, Zelandonii wo, they understand hoeapons are used Many tools and weapons are lost or broken on a hunt A man whose mate kno to make new ones always has a fresh supply And women are closer to the Mother Some men think women-made weapons are luckier But if a man has bad luck—or lacks skill—he’ll always blame the toolmaker, especially if it’s a woman”

“Could I learn?”

“Anyone who can make tools the way you did can certainly learn to make them this way”

He answered her question in a slightly different sense than she —she had been trying to assure herself that it was allowable But his answer made her stop and think

“No … I don’t think so”

“Of course you can learn”

“I know I can learn, Jondalar, but not anyone who makes tools the Clan way can learn tocould, but anything new is difficult for them They learn from their memories”

He thought at first she was joking, but she was serious Could she be right? Given the opportunity, would fla … Clan tool, but unable to learn?

Then it occurred to hi tools at all not so long ago They e orphan child He had learned more about flatheads in the past few days than anyone knew, except Ayla It could be useful to know more about them, perhaps There seemed to be more to them than anyone realized

Thinking about flatheads suddenly made him recall the day before, and an unexpected flush of embarrass, he had forgotten He had been looking at the wo in the sunlight, offering ray and clear, like the translucent color of fine flint