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Many people looked at her an to notice hoell the gar the for the past year, walking or riding a horse, and her arment emphasized her lean, muscular, well-forether in front across her fire, so than the s showed off her long, shapely legs and rounded buttocks, and the cinched belt, in spite of what its design syhtly thickened with the early stages of pregnancy

On Ayla the outfit took on new h many women did wear facial ornaht her natural beauty Her long hair, tulets that caught the last rays of the setting sun, was an appealing and sensuous contrast to the well-groo and re to the Great Earth Mother’s Gift of Pleasure It ain and that Ayla was their donii-woman

The outlandishness of Ayla’s clothing was quickly forgotten, accepted as soer with the low-pitched voice and exotic accent It was certainly no e than her control over horses and Wolf

Jondalar noticed people watching Ayla and heard her name mentioned in the undercurrent of conversation Then he overheard a man say, “That’s a reht home with him”

“You’d expect hi a beautiful woe, too, and a strong will I’d like to get to know her better”

The coain, and suddenly he saw the way she looked, not the incongruity of the costume Feomen could claie, who usually had had a child or two to slacken youthfuloutfit even if it had been appropriate Most would prefer looser, , and for them more comfortable clothes And he did love her hair worn loose like that She is a beautiful woeous He relaxed and s their afternoon ride and the stop on the high field, thinking how lucky he was

Marona and her three confederates had returned, still laughing, to her rooe to their face paint They had planned to make their appearance later, dressed in their best and rand entrance

Marona had exchanged the loincloth skirt for a long graceful one of very soft pliable leather with a long fringed overskirt, which she wrapped around her waist and hips and tied, but she wore the sa her favorite skirt and top Lorava had only the short tunic dress with her, but the other woed overskirt and several extra necklaces and bracelets, and fixed her hair and painted her face much more elaborately than she had ever worn it before Wylopa, laughing as she removed the decorated shirt and trousers hly decorated trousers, dyed an orangy shade of red, and e

When they were ready, they left the dwelling and walked together to the open front terrace, but when people noticed Marona and her friends, they pointedly turned their backs on thenored thehed at the stranger only because they were startled by the idea of a groo a boy’s winter underwear and puberty belt But most of them were not pleased about the crude prank It had reflected badly on all of them, made theuest and would very likely soon be one of their own And besides, she had carried it off so well, it showed her mettle, made them proud of her

The four woroup crowded around someone, and when several people left, they could see Ayla at the center, still wearing the clothes they had given her She hadn’t even changed! Marona was shocked She had been sure one of Jondalar’s kin would have given the newco more appropriate to wear—that is, if she dared to show her face again But her plans to show up the strange wo her in the lurch with nothing but an empty promise, had instead shohat a spiteful and mean-spirited person she was

Marona’s cruel joke had turned back on her, and she was fu her, pro them howabout Jondalar’s wohed out loud, and Wylopa had had difficulty understanding, was called exotic and char

Ayla was the one getting all the attention, and Marona’s three friends were sorry they had allowed themselves to be persuaded Portula, in particular, had been reluctant She had agreed only because Marona had promised to paint her face, and Marona was known for her intricate facial designs Ayla had not seemed so bad She was friendly, and now she definitely wasfriends … with everyone else

Why hadn’t they seen how the boy’s outfit showed off the newcomer’s beauty when she put it on? But the women had seen what they expected to see, the syined wearing such garments in public, but they didn’t matter to Ayla She had no emotional or cultural sensitivity toward theht about them at all, it was only to notice how cohter had subsided, she forgot about it And because she did, everyone else did, too

A large block of limestone

with a fairly flat top surface occupied a space on the terrace in front of the great abri It had broken off the end of the overhanging shelf so long before, no one remembered a time when it wasn’t there It was often used when soathered in the area, because when a person stood on it, it raised them a few feet above the level of the crowd