page204 (1/2)

e birds to cook

She decided to stop off and see if she could do anything for Zelandoni The donier said she was in need of soet some for her She went back down to Wood River Valley, whistled for Wolf, who newup the red-colored iron ore and found a nice river-rounded stone that she could use as a pestle to grind the ochre with Then she whistled for Wolf again as she headed up the slope, not really paying much attention to who else was on the path

It came as a shock when she almost bumped into Brukeval He had actively avoided her since the e about Echozar and the Clan, though he constantly watched her fronancy with pleasure, knowing she would soon be a ined that the child she carried was of his spirit Anythe child of his spirit, and ht be, but Brukeval’s dreaht envisioning an entire life with Ayla,with Jondalar, but when confronted by her on the path, he didn’t knohat to say There was no way to avoid her now

“Brukeval,” she said, atte to talk to you”

“Well, here we are,” he said

She hurried ahead “I just wanted you to know that I didn’tJondalar told me that you were teased before about flatheads, until you made people stop I admire the fact that you stood up for yourself andyou that You are not a flat-head … one of the Clan No one should ever have called you that You couldn’t begin to live with them You are one of the Others just like all the Zelandonii That’s how they would see you”

His expression seenize that,” he said

“But you must realize, to me, they are people,” she hurried on “They couldn’t be aniht of them any other way They found me alone and injured, and they took me in and cared for me, raised me I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for them I find them to be admirable people I didn’t realize you would consider it an insult to suggest that your grandone for so long, that they ht have taken care of her, too”

“Well, I guess you couldn’t know,” he said, s

She s relieved, and tried to make her explanation more clear “It’s just that you remind me of some people that I care about That’s why I was drawn to you fro There was a little boy I kneho I loved, and you remind me of him …”

“Wait! Are you still saying that you think they are a part of ht you said that I was not a flathead,” Brukeval said

“You aren’t Not even Echozar is Just because his mother was Clan doesn’t mean that he is He wasn’t raised by them, and you weren’t, either…”

“But you still think my mother was an aborand to do with the to do withand his face had turned an angry red “I am not a flathead! Just because you were raised by those ani me down”

Wolf was growling at the excitedto Ayla’s defense The ht want to hurt her “Wolf! No!” she coain Why couldn’t she have stopped when he was s? But he didn’t have to call her Clan “dirty animals,” because they weren’t

“I suppose you think that wolf is human, too,” Brukeval sneered “You don’t even know the difference between people and animals It’s unnatural for a wolf to act the way he does around people” He was unaware just how close he was to Wolf’s fangs with his shouting, but it probably wouldn’t have mattered Brukeval was beside hi, if it hadn’t been for those anihtened that she gave birth to a oman, and my mother would have lived to take care of randmother and my mother, too As far as I’m concerned, they are no use to anyone They should all be dead, liketo do with me If it were up to me, I’d kill them all myself”