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Ayla followed the One Who Was First back to the group of Those Who Served The Mother She noticed that most of the local zelandonia were there In addition to the First, as the Zelandoni of the Ninth Cave, and of course the Zelandonia of the Second and Seventh Caves, there were also the Zelandonia of the Third and Eleventh Caves The Zelandoni of the Fourteenth had not come, but she had sent her first acolyte There were several other acolytes Ayla recognized the two younger wo man, from the Second and Seventh Caves She sreeted the elderly man as the Zelandoni of the Seventh, and then the wohter of his hearth, the Zelandoni of the Second, as also the et to know the Second better Not many of the Zelandoni had children, but she was a woman who had been mated and had raised two children—and her brother Kimeran after their mother died—and noas a Zelandoni

“Ayla has hadbones, Zelandoni of the Seventh You should ask her your question,” the First said, settling back down and indicating a mat next to her for Ayla

“I know if a fresh break is set straight, it will heal straight—I’ve done itcould be done if a break was not set straight and it healed crooked,” the o

lder man asked immediately He was not only interested in her response, he had heard so much about her skill from the One Who Was First, he wanted to see if she would be flustered by a direct question froe and experience

Ayla had just dropped down to theherself that was particularly fluid and graceful, he noticed, and a way of looking at him that was direct yet not quite, that soh she had expected to be formally introduced to the other acolytes, and was surprised to be questioned so quickly, she responded without hesitation

“It depends on the break and how long it has been healing,” Ayla said “If it’s an old break, it’s hard to do er than bone that was not injured If you try to rebreak it to set it right, the uninjured bone is likely to break instead But if the break has just started to ht”

“Have you ever done it?” the Seventh asked, a bit put off by the way she spoke; it was odd, not like the way Kimeran’s pretty mate spoke, with a rather pleasant shift in certain sounds When Jondalar’s foreign woh she sed certain sounds

“Yes,” Ayla said She had the feeling she was being tested, so like the way Iza used to ask her questions about healing practices and plant uses “On our Journey here, we stopped to visit some people that Jondalar had met earlier, the Sharamudoi Nearly a moon before we arrived, a woman he knew had taken a bad fall and had broken her ar, bent in such a way that she couldn’t use it, and it was very painful Their healer had died earlier that winter, and they did not have a new one yet, and no one else kne to set an ared to rebreak her arm and reset it It was not perfect, but it was better She would not have full use, but she would be able to use it, and by the ti her pain anymore,” Ayla explained

“Didn’t breaking her ar man asked

“I don’t think she felt the pain I gave her so to make her sleep and relax her muscles I know it as datura …”

“Datura?” the old man interrupted Her accent was particularly heavy when she said the word

“In Maht e it bears a fruit that could be described that way It’s a strong-s white flowers that flare out from the stem,” Ayla said

“Yes, I believe I know the one,” the old Zelandoni of the Seventh Cave said

“How did you knohat to do?” asked the young wo beside the old man, in a tone that sounded full of wonder that someone as just an acolyte could have known so much

“Yes, that is a good question,” the Seventh said “How did you knohat to do? Where did you get your experience? You see”