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Jondalar looked relieved

“I suppose we should start with ‘elan’ You do know that word?”

“I heard you use it today,” Ayla said “Itlike spirit or life-force, I think”

“But you didn’t learn this word before?” Zelandoni asked, scowling at Jondalar

“Jondalar always said ‘spirit’ Is that wrong?” Ayla said

“No, it’s not wrong And I suppose we do tend to use ‘elan’ more when there is a death, or a birth, because death is the absence or end of elan, and birth is the beginning,” the donier said

“When a child is born, when a new life comes into this world, it is filled with elan, the vital force of life,” the One Who Was First said “When the child is named, a Zelandoni creates a mark that is a symbol for that spirit, that new person, and paints it or carves it on some object—a rock, a bone, a piece of wood That mark is called an abelan Each abelan is different and is used to designate a particular individual It n made of lines or shapes or dots, or a simplified form of an animal Whatever comes to mind when the Zelandoni meditates about the infant”

“That’s what Creb—The Mog-ur—used to do, meditate, to decide what a new baby’s totem was!” Ayla said, surprised She wasn’t alone

“You are talking about the Clan man as the … Zelandoni of your clan?” the donier asked

“Yes!” Ayla said, and nodded

“I’ll have to think on that,” the large woman said, more astounded than she wanted to let on “To continue, the Zelandoni meditates, then decides on the mark The object with the ives it to the baby’s rown When they pass into adulthood, the ives her children their elandons as part of their coe ceremony

“But the sy, the elandon, is raved on it It can hold the elan, the life-force, the spirit, the essence of each member of the Cave, much the way a donii can hold the Mother’s spirit The elandon has more power than any other personal iteainst a person to create terrible afflictions and adversity Therefore, a mother keeps her children’s elandons in a place known only to her, and perhaps her mother, or her mate” Suddenly Ayla realized that she would be responsible for the elandon of the child she was carrying

Zelandoni explained that when the elandon was given to a child who had reached adulthood, that person would hide it in a place known only to the new adult, often quite far away But an innocuous object, like a stone, would be picked up froiven to a Zelandoni, who customarily put it in a crack in a stone wall of a sacred place, perhaps a cave, as an offering to the Great Mother While the thing that was offered seereater It was understood that Doni could trace the surrogate back to the original syed, without anyone, not even a Zelandoni, knohere the elandon was hidden

Willahly respected and considered trustworthy and beneficial “But they are very powerful,” he said “For many people a touch of apprehension is part of the respect they command, and any individual Zelandoni is only hue and abilities, and soht be teainst someone they disliked, or to teach a person a lesson if they felt they had been wronged I have never known it to happen, but people do like to embellish stories”

“If anyone disturbs a person’s sy, it could end,” Marthona said “In the past, it is said, soether, in the same place Sometimes even entire Caves put them all in one place