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“You didn’t cause his proble to huht problems on himself instead But now, I think he will blame you,” Zelandoni said
“Why should he want to make trouble for Marthona?”
“Because he is the lowest-ranked hest, and he ht mistake the other day As you iven him a teht he’d try it again,” the donier said
Ayla’s frown deepened as Zelandoni explained “It et the better of,” Ayla said “I think I made a mistake the other day, too”
“What do you mean?”
“The day I went there to show Lanoga how to ive her a bath, and clean herself, Larama
r came home I’m sure he didn’t know the baby had no an’s injuries It ry; I don’t like hiot scared He tried to cover up his fear, and I foundto put a lower-ranked wolf in his place I knew I shouldn’t have done it It just gave his toward me,” Ayla said
“Do leaders of wolf packs really put lower-ranked wolves in their place?” Zelandoni said “How do you know?”
“I learned to hunt meat-eaters before I learned to huntthem That may be why Wolf can live with people Their ways are not so different from ours”
“How aht You created sos, but it wasn’t entirely your fault At the burial, you were ahest ranked of the Ninth Cave, which is where I thought you belonged; Marthona and I agreed He wanted you in the place he thought you belonged, which was behind him Traditionally, he was correct
“At a burial, all theBut you are not exactly a visitor First you ith the zelandonia, because you are a healer, and they always go first Then you ith Jondalar and his fareed today But at the burial, he uard That’s why he thought he’d triu it, you put hiet back at both of you through Marthona, but he seriously underestimated her”
“There you are,” Jondalar said “We were just talking about Laramar”
“So e,” Ayla said, but she doubted that their conversation had brought out the sa, and partly because of circumstances she wasn’t aware of, she had created an enemy Another one, she realized She hadn’t wanted to cause bad feelings in any of Jondalar’s people, but in the short tiry at her Marona hated her, too She realized she hadn’t seen the woman for some time and wondered where she was
21
The people of the Ninth Cave had beenpreparations for their annual trek to the Su of the Zelandonii since they returned from the last one, but as the time of their departure drew near, activities and anticipation became more intense There were final decisions about what to take with the down their dwellings for the su and would not be back until cold winds blew