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“I didn’t knoas so late,” he said “I wonder why soet me up sooner?”
“Zelandoni suggested that you be allowed to sleep since you ht,” Jonokol said
Jondalar took a deep breath and blew it out of his , by the way?” he said as they walked beside the acolyte along the ledge toward Down River
“To Fountain Rocks,” Jonokol said
Jondalar’s eyes opened ith surprise Fountain Rocks—a cliff that featured two caves and the immediate area around it—was not the home of any particular Cave of Zelandonii; it was much more important than that It was one of the h no one lived there regularly, if any group could call it home, it was the zelandonia, the Ones Who Served, for this was a place blessed and sanctified by the Great Earth Mother Herself
“I a to stop for a drink of water,” Jondalar said ee over the creek of fresh spring water that divided the Ninth Cave fro to let Jonokol talk hi his thirst, even if he had let thecup of mint tea
Near the streae, a post had been pounded into the ground A drinking cup ht was attached to it with a cord; if it wasn’t attached, it was often lost The cup was changed periodically as it beca as Jondalar could reo that the sight of the fresh sparkling water invariably inspired thirst, and while a person could bend over and reach in with hands to get a drink, it was much easier to have a cup handy
They all had a drink, then continued along the well-used trail They forded The River at the Crossing, and at Two Rivers Rock turned into Grass Valley, crossed the second river, then followed the path alongside it People froreeted them as they passed by, but made no atte the acolytes, had already gone to Fountain Rocks, and everyone had a good idea where the two people with Zelandoni’s acolyte were going
They also had sootten out that they had brought back so spirit of Jondalar’s dead brother, Thonolan Though they kneas iuide a newly liberated elan to its proper place in the world of the spirits, the idea of entering the next world before they were called by the Mother was not soh to think about helping Shevonar’s elan, who had just passed on and was probably nearby, but to look for the spirit of so they didn’t even want to contemplate
Not many, except for the zelandonia—and not all of those—would have wanted to trade places with Jondalar or Ayla Most people were happy to let the Ones Who Served The Mother deal with the world of the spirits But no one else could do it; only they knehere Jondalar’s brother had died Even the One Who Was First knew this would be an exhausting day, though she was intrigued and wondered if they would be able to find Thonolan’s roving spirit
As Ayla, Jondalar, and Jonokol continued upstrea outcrop of rock loomed ahead on the left The massive rock stood out with such prominence that it seemed almost a monolith, but a closer look revealed that it was only the first spur of a progression of cliffs that pulled back in a line at right angles to Grass River The stately stone at the head of the cliffs reared up froe in the middle, narrowed toward the top, then abruptly flared out into a flat-topped jaunty cap
Moving around to the front and looking straight on at the rock that extended out ahead, one could, with a little iination, envision in the cracks and rounded shapes, the cap as hair, a high forehead below the cap, a flattened nose, and two nearly closed eyes enig over a slope of scree and brush To those who kne to look, the subtly anthropomorphic front vieas understood to be a hidden face of the Mother, one of the few visages of Herself She ever chose to show, and even that ell disguised No one could ever look directly upon the face of the Mother, not so uised, Her face held unspeakable power
The row of cliffs flanked a smaller valley with a creek down the middle that ran into Grass River The source of the sround with such energy, it created a s it in the len The common na from it was called Fountain Creek, but the zelandonia had other na and pool were the Birth Waters of the Mother, and the creek was the Blessed Water They were known to have great powers to heal and particularly to help women conceive, if used œrrectly
A path over twelve hundred feet long cli spur to a terrace not far fro that sheltered the ion of liht of as hollowed-out spaces in the rock and often referred to as “hollows” as well Conversely, an especially long or deep cave was so to the left on the small terrace penetrated the rock only twenty feet or so, and was used as a living space for those who stayed there froenerally known as Fountain Hollow, but some referred to it as Doni’s Hollow
The cave on the right led to a deep passage that went four hundred feet into the heart of the huge cliff, with cha off the main corridor This was the place that was so sacred that its esoteric name was usually not even voiced The site was so well-known, and so revered, it wasn’t necessary to declare its sanctity and power to thepreferred to understate it, not make an issue of it in ordinary existence That was the reason people referred to the cliffs simply as Fountain Rocks, and why the cave was called the Deep Cave in Fountain Rocks or, sometimes, Doni’s Deep