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“No choice!” the Fourteenth sputtered

“Under the circuence on the part of the woman, as her name, Iza?” the First said quickly, before the Fourteenth could butt in and ask another question “Do all the women of the Clan know about these plants?”

“No, only medicine women, and I think this preparation was known only to woave the preparation to soht they needed it I don’t know if she told theh If any of the ry, but no one would ask Iza A e is not for hters, ould become medicine woht of hter,” Ayla said

“I am very surprised at the sophistication of theirfor many of the others

“Mamut of the Lion Camp understood how effective their , and broke his arm, quite badly He stumbled into the cave of a clan, and the medicine woman there set his arm and nursed him back to health We both believed it was the same clan as the one I lived with The worandmother”

There was total silence in the tent when Ayla finished What she said was very difficult to believe The zelandonia of the nearby Caves had heard Joharran and Jondalar talk to people about the flatheads, whom Ayla said called themselves the Clan, and were people, not animals There had been much discussion about it the next few days, but ht be a little ht, perhaps, but hardly hu that they had healed a an She even iht be more advanced than those of the Zelandonii

The zelandonia started discussing these issues again, and the commotion inside the tent could be heard outside Thewere dying of curiosity to find out as causing the uproar, but aiting to be invited back in They knew there were still a feo to become so heated

The First had heard Ayla speak in depth of the Clan before and was quicker to grasp the implications and to extend them She was now persuaded that they were people, and believed it was important for the Zelandonii to understand the possible consequences, but even she had not realized how advanced they were Zelandoni had presumed a simpler, more primitive way of life and believed that their ained soood basic instruction that she could develop This called for a reevaluation

Their own Histories harked back to a time when the Zelandonii lived a sietable foods and e She suspected that awareness of plants was older, went back further If the Clan was as ancient as Ayla seemed to think, it was not beyond the reale could be quite developed Especially if it was true, as Ayla had indicated, that they had some kind of special memory they could draw on Zelandoni wished that she had spoken with Ayla before it was brought up to the zelandonia, but perhaps it was best this way It ht take just such a shock to make the zelandonia realize the full impact that the people Ayla knew as the Clan could have on them

“Let’s be quiet, please,” Zelandoni said, trying to settle theain When order was finally restored, she ht us some information that may be very useful The Mamutoi were very perceptive when they adopted her to the hearth of the Ma adopted by the zelandonia We will speak with her in soe If she does in truth know of

ways to prevent the start of life, this could be a great benefit, and we should be grateful to have it”

“I should tell you that it doesn’t alork,” Ayla interjected “Iza’s mate died when an earthquake collapsed their cave, but she was pregnant when she foundafter But Iza could count twenty years by then, very old for a woirls becoht or nine years But the medicine worked for her for many years, and it worked for me for most of my Journey”

“Very little of the knowledge ofis absolutely certain,” Zelandoni said “In the end, it is still the Great Mother who decides”

Jondalar was glad to see the wo for Ayla He had stayed at their camp with Wolf when Dalanar went to the main camp with Joharran and had promised that he would meet them as soon as Ayla returned Marthona had told Folara to have some hot tea and a little food ready for thee Marthona and Jerika talked aboutJoplaya about so

Ayla joined the to the o off by herself Saying that she wanted to check on the horses, she picked up her haversack and left with Wolf She walked upstrea the creek, visited with the horses for a while, then continued on until she cao for a swi a newly developing path, and when she found herself near the new cave, she realized that she had gone the way that Jondalar and the others had come before