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“Haven’t you ever seen a reflector?” Folara asked She was standing just inside the roo of curiosity to see the gift herto Ayla
“Not like this I’ve looked in a still pool of water on a sunny day,” Ayla said, “but this is right here, in your sleeping room!”
“Don’t the Mamutoi have reflectors? To see how they look when they dress for some important occasion?” Folara asked “How do they know if everything is right?”
Ayla frowned in thought for a moment “They look at each other Nezzie always ht before cereed my hair, everyone made nice comments,” Ayla explained
“Well, let’s see how the necklace looks on you, Ayla,” Marthona said, putting it around her neck and holding the back closed
Ayla ad hoell it lay on her chest, and then she found herself studying the reflection of her face She seldom saw herself, and her own features were more unfamiliar than those of the people around her who surface was reasonably good, the lighting inside the rooe was somewhat dark She appeared rather drab, colorless, and flat-faced to herself
Ayla had grown up aly because, although she was thinner-boned than the women of the Clan, she was taller than the men, and she looked different, both in their eyes and her own She was er features of the Clan, with their long broad faces and sloped-back foreheads, heavy overhanging browridges, sharp proe, richly colored brown eyes Her own blue-gray eyes seemed faded in comparison
After she had lived a the Others for a while, she didn’t feel that she looked so strange anyh Jondalar had told her often enough that she was She kneas considered attractive to the Clan; she didn’t quite kno to define beauty in terms of the Others To her, Jondalar, with his er features and vivid blue eyes was far more beautiful than she
“I think it suits her,” Willamar said He had strolled over to add his opinion Even he hadn’t known Marthona had the necklace It was her dwelling that he had moved into; she had made room for him and his possessions, and she ed things, and he had no desire to poke into every nook and cranny or bother her belongings
Jondalar was standing behind hirandaave that to you when I was born, mother”
“She didn’t give it to me for you It was meant for the woman you would mate The one ho her children—with the blessing of the Mother,” she replied, taking the necklace fro it into her hands
“Well, you’ve given it to the right person,” he said “Are you going to wear it tonight, Ayla?”
She looked at it, frowning slightly “No All I have is that old outfit and this is too beautiful to ith that I think I’ll wait until I have so appropriate to ith it”
Marthona shtly in approval
As they were leaving the sleeping room, Ayla could see another hole cut into the lier and seeo into the wall rather deeply A sht behind it she could urine of an amply endooman It was a donii, Ayla knew, a representation of Doni, the Great Earth Mother, and, when She chose, a receptacle for Her Spirit