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“Thonolan, I know your love of travel and adventure” This tihts to the elan of the man “But the woman with you wants to return to the Mother She has followed you only out of love, but she is ready to go If you love her, you should go and take her and her infant with you It is time, Thonolan The Great Earth Mother wants you”

Ayla discerned confusion, a sense of being lost

“I will show you the way,” the donier said “Follow me”

Ayla perceived herself being drawn along with the rest, speeding rapidly over a landscape that ht have been familiar if the details were not so blurred, and if it were not getting so dark She held tight to the war fervently clutched A brightness appeared before thereat bonfire, but different It grew more intense as they approached

They slowed “You can find your way from here,” Zelandoni said

Ayla sensed relief froulfed theht, a silence, pervasive and complete, surrounded them Then, faintly, in the unearthly quiet, she heard ue of flutes, voices, and dru at a tremendous rate, but this time it see hard, in fear, deter everyone else along in her wake

When they stopped, Ayla felt both hands holding hers They were in the immediate presence of the music, back in the cave Ayla opened her eyes, saw Jondalar, Zelandoni, and Mejera The laone and only one wick burning In the darkness beyond, she saw the sly by itself, and shivered Another laht in the center They were sitting on the leather pad, but now, even in her war, she felt chilled

They let go of each other’s hands, though Ayla and Jondalar held on for a beat or two longer than the rest, and began to shift positions The One Who Was First joined in with the singers and brought the ue to a close More la around Some stood up and stamped their feet

“I want to ask you soe woman said

Ayla looked at her expectantly

“Did you say you saw bison on the walls?”

“Yes, the mammoths had been covered over and made into bison, with the shape of the head and the hue hump on a bison’s withers, and then the walls seemed to disappear and they became real bison There were so each other, but I saw this place as a bison cave,” Ayla said

“I think your vision is because of the recent bison hunt and the tragedy surrounding it You were in the midst of it, and you treated Shevonar,” the First said “But I think there is a reat nu the Zelandonii that there has been tooof them for the rest of the year to atone, to overcome the bad luck”

There were murmurs of assent It made the zelandonia feel better to think they could do so to placate the Bison Spirit and reed They would inforrateful to have athem

The acolytes gathered up the things that were brought into the cave, then the laht their way out The zelandonia left the chae outside the cave, the sun was setting in a brilliant display of fiery reds, golds, and yellows in the west On the way back from Fountain Rocks, no one seemed inclined to talk much about their experiences in the deep cave As the various zelandonia left the group to return to their respective Caves, Ayla wondered what the others had felt and if it was the sa it up Though she had many questions, she wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ask, or if she really wanted to know the answers