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In addition to the meat, hides were extres fro and shelters Fat would be rendered for heat and light and sustenance; hair for fibers and stuffing, and wars for various constructions Horns would be used to es on panels, and even jewelry Teeth were used as often for jewelry as they were for tools Intestines could be s for sausage and fat

Bones had many uses They could be s and weapons, cracked for their nutritiouswould be wasted; Even the hooves and scraps of hides would be boiled for glues and adhesives, which had many uses In combination with sinew, for example, it would help attach points to spears, handles to knives, and join coh soles to softer foot coverings

But first the animals had to be skinned, the parts separated out, and the meat stored, and it had to be done quickly Guards were posted to keep away the thieves, the other carn

ivoresto share in the kill by whatever htered aurochs brought every otherhyenas were the first ones Ayla saw She had her sling out and alo after the pack

She had to diset more stones, but the speed hich she dispatched theuards Al away the carnivores took soht Wolf’s attention He was eager to drive off interlopers from the kill of his pack, but Ayla backed hiressive wolverines orse Two of theether because it was their season, sprayed one coith their lands It sive credit to the hunter, several people hauled it off to let the wolverines fight over it between themselves and any other carnivore that wanted to try for it—no easy task, since wolverines were known to defend their kills against lions

Ayla saw stoats, suh come winter they would become ermines, entirely white weasels except for the black tips of their tails She saw foxes and lynxes, and a spotted snow leopard, and at the periphery, casually observing it all, a pride of cave lions, the first she’d seen since she arrived She paused to observe theht ivory, but these were alht they were all females, but the behavior of one made her look twice It was a male without a mane! When she asked Jondalar, he told her that cave lions in this region did not have manes; he’d been surprised by the eastern lions that did, though they were rather scraggly

The skies above held their share ofchased away and flying off again Vultures and eagles, expending little energy, floated on there outstretched wings Kites and hawks and la with stately ravens and raucous crows It was easier for small rodents and reptiles to scurry or slither in and hide from the humans, but the small predators were often prey themselves Eventually, it would all be cleaned up by the suards, all the et a share before the aurochs could be coh it wasn’t their prih, they ed to secure a few distinctive furs as well

A successful first hunt of the Suood year for the Zelandonii and was considered especially fortunate for the couples ere about to beday would take place as soon as the ht back to camp and stashed so they would not spoil or be stolen by four-legged carnivores

Once the excitement and work of the hunt were over, the attention of the Su nuptials Ayla could hardly wait, but she was also nervous Jondalar felt the sa at each other often, so well

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Zelandoni tried to find a time to speak with Ayla privately about thealways seemed to interfere There were demands on Ayla’s time as well as hers Because this was a community hunt that represented the entire Zelandonii, the First had to hold special ceremonies to make sure that the spirit of the aurochs would be appeased and major rituals to thank the Great Mother for the lives of all the animals who had sacrificed themselves so that the Zelandonii could live

The hunt was aler than usual to acco that needed to be done The meat was cut and the fat rendered and portioned out Hides were either scraped and dried or rolled and stored in the underground ice cellars along withthe wo could wait

The First resigned herself to the delay, but she wished she had taken the time to talk with Ayla in more depth before they left the Ninth Cave, when it would have been easier to study the stranger and learnwoh Ayla seee? She had seeuileless, itto understand that there was far more to Ayla than she realized She knew that it was never wise to underestimate an unknown element, but she had not followed her own counsel

And now the First was busy with another matter The zelandonia decided to conduct First Rites before the Matrienerally it was afterward, for a very specific reason Before their First Rites, all feirls and were not supposed to share the Mother’s Gift of Pleasures The Rites of First Pleasures was the cereirls were physically opened and became able to receive the spirits that would start a new life Not until then were they fully wo the Sus, and usually there was some period of time after their first irls were in a kind of li this ti, probably because they were forbidden

There was always a second cereirls who started their bleeding during the sus was difficult Young , were constantly after the pubescent girls, and festivals to honor the Mother during the year es, especially those who reached hter to start her moon times then, with a whole winter of darkness and reduced outdoor activity ahead of them