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About a mile and a half away, and across The River, they could see the South Holding of the Twenty-ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, the largest andsites were seldo places, this one on the south side of The River was too inviting to be ignored The cliff face, a half th, rose vertically two hundred fifty feet from The River in five levels and held nearly a hundred caves and cavities, plus overhanging rock shelters and terraces

Grand views of the valley could be seen from all the terraces, so a specific shelter or cave to use as a lookout was not needed But the cliff did offer a different, unique view In one section of a lower terrace that projected over a quiet backwater of thestream, it was possible to look down and see one’s reflection in the still water

“It’s not naht think,” Jondalar said “It’s named for that unusual view It is called Reflection Rock”

The cliff was so huge thatsites were not even occupied—it would have been as crowded as a marmot mound if they had been The natural resources of the surrounding area would not have supported so many people They would have depleted whole herds and stripped the landscape of vegetation But the huge cliff was an exceptional place, and those who lived there knew that the ers and first-ti with awe

It could even dazzle those ere familiar with it, Jondalar realized as he looked at the extraordinary natural for stone shelf sheltering a spacious and coht, and in most ways offered more livability—that it prie—but he had to ad cliff ahead was impressive

But the people ere standing on the lowest-level terrace were feeling a touch of awe the gesture of the wo somewhat ahead of the others washer hand up with her palorous She had heard of the return of Marthona’s wandering second son and the foreign woht back She had even heard that they had horses and a ith the two horses walking cal wolf—a tall, blond, unfa, at the very least

Joharran looked aside to cover up a s when he saw the woh he understood entirely how she felt It wasn’t so long ago that he had experienced the saht He was aotten used to it So quickly that he hadn’t anticipated the reaction of his neighbors, and he knew he should have He was glad they had stopped It gave him a hint of the effect they would very likely have on people when they reached the Su

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If Joharran hadn’t decided to set up the tent in the field, I think I would have stayed out anyway,” Ayla said “I want to be close to Whinney and Racer while we’re traveling, and I didn’t want to bring them up on that cliff They wouldn’t have liked it”

“I don’t think Denanna would have liked it much, either,” Jondalar said “She seemed exceptionally nervous around the animals”

They were riding upstreaiving the animals, and themselves, a break froone through the for to sort them out Denanna, as the leader of Reflection Rock, the South Holding, was the acknowledged leader of the Twenty-ninth Cave, but Sus, also had leaders Whenever there were decisions to make that concerned all of Three Rocks, the three leaders worked together to reach a consensus, but it was p

resented by Denanna, because the rest of the Zelandonii leaders insisted that if the Twenty-ninth Cave was going to call itself one Cave, they should have just one leader to speak for them

The zelandonia had a slightly different set of requires each had their own Zelandoni but the Zelandonia of the three holdings were assistants to a fourth donier, as the Zelandoni of the Twenty-ninth Because there was a great enough distance between the holdings, it was reasonable that each would want its own Zelandoni, and one as a good healer, especially during the seasons of cold and stormy weather, but the primary relationship of any individual Zelandoni was to the zelandonia as a whole, although the Cave they served was of alreater, importance

The Zelandoni of Reflection Rock was such a good healer that even wolad to have him assist The Zelandoni of the Twenty-ninth, who also lived at Reflection Rock to be close to the noood healer, but she was a good mediator who could work diplomatically with the three other Zelandonia and the three leaders, and soothe the sos of all of them Some people felt that if it were not for Zelandoni of the Twenty-ninth, the whole coeether

Ayla was happy to have the excuse of the horses needing care and attention to get away fro, and other rituals She had spoken to Joharran and Proleva before hbors of the next Cave to the north, and told the of Whinney and Racer that she and Jondalar tend to them The leader said he would make their excuses, and the leader’s mate promised to save some food for them