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“Nor have I,” Ayla said, watching Marthona with the wolf “Maybe he’s just happy to meet someone who’s not afraid of him”

As they walked into the shade of the overhanging stone, Ayla felt an i of temperature For a heartbeat, she shivered with a chill of fear, and glanced up at the huge shelf of stone jutting out of the cliff wall, wondering if it could collapse But when her eyes grew accustoht, she was astonished by more than the physical formation of Jondalar’s hoer than she had iined

She had seen si this river on their way here, soh none seeion knew of the ireat nuest of all the communities that called themselves Zelandonii

Clustered together at the eastern end of the protected space, along the back wall and freestanding in the e, made partly of stone and partly of wooden frames covered with hides The hides were decorated with beautifully rendered pictures of animals and various abstract symbols painted in black and many vivid shades of red, yellow, and brown The structures were arranged in a west-facing curve around an open space near the center of the area covered by the overhanging stone shelf, which was filled with a confusion of objects and people

As Ayla looked more closely, what at first had struck her all at once as aitself into areas dedicated to different tasks, often near to related tasks It only see on

She saw hides being cured in fra shafts of spears, apparently in the process of being straightened, leaning against a crosspiece supported by two posts Baskets in different stages of co stretched between pairs of bone posts Long skeins of cordage hung fros pounded into crossbeams above unfinished nets stretched across a fraround Skins, so many shades of red, were cut into pieces and nearby, partially asse

She recognizedwas an activity that was entirely unfamiliar A fran partially formed froo over and look closer, and promised herself she would, later Pieces of wood, stone, bone, antler, and mammoth ivory were in other places, carved into is, weapons—most of them with carved and sometimes painted decorations There were also ss that were not implements or tools They seemed to be made for themselves or some purpose of which she wasn’t aware

She saw vegetables and herbs hanging high froround,on racks Somewhat away from other activities was an area scattered with sharp stone chips; for people like Jondalar she thought, flint-knappers who made tools, knives, and spear points

And everywhere she looked, she saw people The community that lived under the spacious rock shelter was of a size to rown up in a clan of less than thirty people; at the Clan Gathering, which occurred once every seven years, two hundred people cae asse drew a reater number, the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, alone, coether at this one place, was larger than the entire Clan Gathering!

Ayla didn’t knothem, but she was reminded of the tiation of clans and felt all of the at her They had tried to be unobtrusive, but the people ere staring as Marthona led Jondalar, Ayla, and a wolf to her living place weren’t even polite about it They didn’t try to look down or glance away She wondered if she would ever get used to living with soclose by all the time; she wondered if she wanted to

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The huge wolanced up at the movement of the leather drape stretched across the entrance, then quickly looked down as the young blond stranger e in her accustomed place, a seat carved out of a solid block of lih to support her massive bulk The leather-padded stone seat had been made especially for her, and was located exactly where she wanted it: toward the back of the large open area under the enor cliff that protected the settle space

The wo, but it wasn’t the first time she had used the place to quietly observe some person or activity The people had learned not to intrude upon her ency, especially when she wore her ivory chest plaque with the plain, undecorated side facing out When the side that was carved with sy, anyone was free to approach her, but when she reversed the plaque to the blank side, it became a symbol of silence and meant that she did not wish to speak and did not want to be disturbed

The Cave had grown so accusto there, they al presence She had cultivated that effect carefully and had no compunctions about it As spiritual leader of the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, she considered the welfare of the people her responsibility and used every means her fertile brain could devise to carry out her duty

She watched the younger woman leave the rock shelter and head toward the path that led to the valley, and noticed the unn look of her leather tunic The old donier was also aware that she th, and a confidence that belied her youth and the fact that she was a place