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“Maybe that’s because Losaduna can’t sing like Zelandoni,” Jondalar said

“Not all of us sing it,” Jonokol said “Many just say the words I don’t sing, and if you ever heard me, you’d knohy”

“Some of the other Caves have different music, and sothe Losadunai version some time, especially if you can translate it for me, Ayla”

“I’d be glad to Their language is very close to Zelandonii You ht be able to understand it, even without a translation,” Ayla said

For some reason, all three acolytes suddenly noticed her unfaht of the Zelandonii—the language and those who used it—as special; they were the People, they were Earth’s Children It was hard to grasp the idea that this woman could think that people who lived all the way across the plateau glacier on the highland to the east could have a language that seen woes of people who lived far away that were very much different from Zelandonii to think so

It struck then woman was from theirs, and how much she knew about other people that they didn’t Jondalar, too, had learned much on his Journey In the few days since he had been back, he had already shown thes Perhaps that was the reason for Journeys, to learn new things

Everyone knew about Journeys Al one, but few actually did, and even fewer of those went very far, at least not that caone five years He’d traveled far, had e that could benefit his people He also brought ideas that could change things, and change wasn’t always so desirable

“I don’t know if I should show you the painted walls as we pass by It ht spoil the special ceremony for you, but you are bound to see at least part of theht and let you see them a little

better,” the woman in front said

“I would like to see them,” Ayla said

The acolyte in front held the torch up high so the wos on the walls The first one, thea side view, the way most portrayals of animals that she had seen were h on the withers, but slightly lower down the sloping back uration was the distinctive feature of the great woolly beast, eventrunk It was painted in red but shaded in reddish brown and black to show the contours and precise anato the entrance and was so perfectly made that Ayla half expected the mammoth to walk out of the cave

Ayla didn’t quite understand why the painted animals looked so lifelike, or fully appreciate what it had required, but she couldn’t resist looking closer to see hoas done It was an elegant and accomplished technique A flint tool had been used to cut a fine, distinct outline of the ani detail into the limestone wall of the cave, paralleled by a painted black line Just outside of the engraved line, the wall had been scraped to show the light ivory-tan natural color of the stone It highlighted the outline and the colors hich the mammoth had been painted, and contributed to the three-dimensional quality of the work

But it was the paint within the outline that was so re fro ani it on a two-dimensional surface, the artists who had painted the walls of the cave had gained a surprising and innovative knowledge of perspective The techniques had been passed down, and though some artists wereto convey the sense of lifelike fullness

As Ayla moved past the mammoth, she had the eerie sensation that the mammoth had also moved She felt impelled to reach for the painted animal and touched the stone, then closed her eyes It was cold, slightly damp, with the texture and feel of any limestone cave, but when she opened her eyes, she noticed that the artist had used the stone wall itself to advantage in the incredibly realistic creation The mammoth had been placed on the wall in such a way that a rounded shape of the stone became the fullness of the belly, and a concretion of stalactite adhering to the wall that suggested a leg was painted as the back of a leg

In the flickering light of the oil lamps, she noticed that when she le, which changed the way the natural relief of the stone appeared and threw shadows to a slightly different position Even standing still, watching the reflections of the fire move on the stone, she had the i She understood then the reason that the mammoth had seemed to shift when she moved, and knew that if she hadn’t examined it carefully, she could easily be convinced that it had