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Ayla felt a chill of recognition as the First began and joined in with the rest when they spoke or sang the last line in unison with the One Who Was First

“From the dust of Her birth She created the other,

A pale shining friend, a companion, a brother

They grew up together, learned to love and to care,

And when She was ready they decided to pair”

“Around Her he’d hover Her pale shining lover”

Ayla remembered the last line of the second verse, too, and said it with the others, but then she listened through severalwhat she remembered under her breath She wanted to memorize it exactly because she loved this story, and she loved the way the First sang it Just the sound of her voice alh she knew she would never learn to sing it, she wanted to learn the words She had learned the Losadunai version on their Journey, but the language, the meter, and some of the story were different She wanted to learn the story in Zelandonii and listened carefully

“The dark empty void and the vast barren Earth,

With anticipation, awaited the birth

Life drank from Her blood, it breathed from Her bones

It split Her skin open and sundered Her stones”

“The Mother was giving Another was living”

Jondalar had repeated a few lines to her while they were traveling, but she had never heard anything like the resonance and full dra Those Who Served The Mother brought to it His words had not been exactly the same, either

“Her gushing birth waters filled rivers and seas,

And flooded the land, giving rise to the trees