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“Thank you! This is so beautiful!” Ayla said, holding it up and looking at it again, then in front of her to see how the loose gar time to make”

“Yes, but I enjoy it I’ve worked out the process over many years Willamar helped me to make the frame I use, and Thonolan, before he left Most people have a special craft of soifts I’ else now, but I don’t see as well as I once did, especially the close work”

“I was going to show you the thread-puller today!” Ayla said, ju up “I think it would make it easier for soet it” She went to her travel packs to get her sewing kit and saw one of the special packages she had brought with her S to herself, she took it back to the table, too “Would you like to see my Matrimonial outfit, Marthona?”

“Yes, I would, but I didn’t want to ask Some people like to keep it a secret and surprise everyone,” Marthona commented

“I have a different surprise,” Ayla said as she unpacked her Matriun insideJondalar’s baby”

10

Ayla! Are you sure?” Marthona asked with a s that the Mother had Blessed her—carrying Jondalar’s baby—even if it probably was the child of his spirit

“As sure as anyone can be I have s, and I’nancy,” Ayla said

“Hoonderful!” Jondalar’s“If you are already Blessed, it brings luck to your , or so people claim”

Sitting at the low table, the young woe and tried to shake the wrinkles out of the tunic and leggings that had been carried across a continent through every season for the past year Marthona examined the outfit and quickly saw past the creases as she realized what arments they were Ayla wouldthis

First of all, the style was utterly unique Both men and women of the Zelandonii, with soender, usually wore rather loosely bloused pullover tunics, belted at the hips, with various ees of leather or cordage Wo, particularly the clothes they wore for special occasions, often had long hanging fringes that swayed as they walked, and a young wo decoration accentuate her movements

Aht, but fringes were considered very provocative It wasn’t that wo clothes to wash or change or for whatever reason in their close-knit society with relatively little privacy was hardly given a thought On the other hand, a fringe, especially a red fringe, could give a wo, it could drive men to extremes, on rare occasions even violence because of a particular association

When wo the men about the Great Earth Mother’s Gift of Pleasure—they wore a long red fringe dangling around their hips to denote their important ritual status On hot days of sue

While donii-women were protected by custom and convention from inappropriate advances and, in any case, they tended to stay in certain areas when they wore the red fringe, it was believed dangerous for a woe at any other tih woe invariably had some erotic implications

As a result, the word “fringe,” in subtle innuendo or crude jokes, often carried the doubleof pubic hair When a man was so captivated by a wo at her, it was said that he was “snared by her fringe”