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“You are welcoht you ht want to continue,” the woman said

“Who is here?” Joharran asked

“Two oldsters who can’t et out of bed—and a wo birth Zelandoni didn’t think it was safe for her to travel, she’s had trouble before And, of course, these two hunters They will stay until the moon is new”

“You are First Acolyte of Zelandoni of the Fifth, I believe,” the One Who Was First said

“Yes, I am I stayed to help with the birth”

“I thought I recognized you Is there anything we can do to help?”

“I don’t think so She’s not ready yet It will be several days, and her mother and aunt stayed, too She should be fine”

Joharran called for a consultation with people from the Ninth Cave as well as from the Caves who had joined them “The best places to set up caoing rather than stop over here” The others quickly agreed, and it was decided to push ahead

The River’s course straightened out so S curve as it veered toward the northeast There were several shelters that were ho the next stretch of river All but one had already left for the Su in behind the party of travelers Joharran beca a desirable location for his large Cave to settle for the summer

It surprised Ayla that there were so ether Like the Zelandonii, the people she greith foraged for all their needs They gathered, hunted, and fished for their food and clothing, used natural shelters they found, orwith their tools

and hunting weapons, out of the materials at hand She understood at a deep intuitive level that if ion than its resources could support, there would not be enough for all Some would either have to move or do without She realized that the land of the Zelandonii had to be extremely rich to provide for so many, but in an analytical corner of her mind, she could not help but wonder ould happen to people if things changed

It was the reason the Su was held at a different place every year Such a large concentration of people depleted the resources of the immediate area, and it would need several years to recover Thethis year was not far from the shelter of the Ninth Cave, perhaps twenty miles upstream if they followed The River closely, but they had saved so more directly crosscountry from the Twenty-ninth Cave to the Fifth Cave

The place they were heading was a little more than ten miles from Old Valley, and Joharran decided to try toa e thees and abilities, and their pace was inevitably going to be as fast as the slowest of the would just slow theht he would try to push the If people started to co then They did take a break for a ain, people fell in behind him

It was not dark yet, but the sun was definitely going dohen The River angled right, close to a sloping hillside on the left bank—their right They turned inland, away fro a well-used path As they cli countryside opened out, showing a wide panorama for some distance

But when they reached the crest, Ayla caught her breath at the sight of a different view: an enormous horde of people in the valley below She knew there were already more Zelandonii here than the total nu, and not everyone had arrived yet Even if she counted every person she had ever met, she was sure she had never seen so h there were not as ht that came close were the treated in the thousands every year, but this was a tee herd of humanity