should have been a Zelandoni by now. But what could he expect with the Fat One in control? I'll think of a way, he thought.
Laramar turned his back on the whole thing and walked away, thinking his own thoughts. He'd seen enough of those horses and that wolf, especially that wolf. As far as he was concerned, they lived too close to his dwelling in the Ninth Cave, and they had spread out so far, the horses were on the other side of him. Before they came he could cut across the space they occupied. Now every time he went home, he had to make a wide circle around their lodge to avoid the wolf. The few times he got too close, the animal got his hackles up, wrinkled his nose, and showed his teeth, as though the whole place belonged to him.
Besides, she interfered, coming over and bringing food or blankets as though she was being nice, but she was really checking up on him. Now he didn't even have a lodge to go to. Not one where he felt he belonged. The children acted as though it was theirs. But it was still his hearth, and what he did at his own hearth wasn't any of her business.
Well, there were still the fa'lodges. He actually liked staying there. He wasn't bothered by children crying in the night, or his drunken mate coming in and starting an argument. At the fa'lodge where he was staying, the other men were mostly older and didn't bother each other. It wasn't boisterous and loud like the fa'lodges of the younger men, though if he offered one of his lodge-mates a drink of his barma, they were more than happy to drink with him. Too bad there were no fa'lodges at the Ninth Cave.
Ayla rode Whinney slowly around the outside of the large zelandonia lodge pulling the pole-drag, then started out of the Summer Meeting Camp back the way she had come. Jondalar followed leading Racer and Grey. The area where the Summer Meeting had been set up, called Sun View after the name of the nearby Cave, was often used as a campground for large gatherings. When it rained, stones were brought from the river and the nearby cliffs to pave the ground, especially when it was unusually muddy. Each year more were added until the campsite was now defined by the large area paved by the stones.
When they were somewhat outside the boundary of the Camp, beyond the paving stones and in the middle of a grassy field on the floodplain of the river, Ayla stopped. 'Let's take off Whinney's pole-drag and leave the horses here for a while,' she said, 'where they can graze. I don't think they will wander far, and we can whistle them back, if we have to.'
'Good idea,' Jondalar said. 'Most people know not to bother them if one of us isn't around and we can check on them. I'll take their halters off, too.'
As they were tending to the horses, they saw Lanidar approaching, still wearing his specially made spear- thrower holder. He waved, then whistled a greeting, and received a welcoming neigh from Whinney and Racer in return.
'I wanted to see the horses,' he said. 'I liked watching out for them last year and getting to know them, but I haven't spent any time with them this summer, and I don't know Whinney's baby at all. Do you think they will remember me?'
'Yes. They answered your whistle, didn't they?' Ayla said.
He had brought some dried wild apple slices with him in a fold of his tunic and fed the young stallion and then his dam from his hand, then the young man squatted down and held out a hand with a piece of the fruit to the little filly. She stayed near Whinney's back legs at first. Though Grey was still nursing, she had started mouthing grass in imitation of her dam, and it was obvious that she was curious. Lanidar was patient, and after a while, the filly started edging toward him.
The mare watched, but neither encouraged nor restricted her foal. Eventually, Grey's curiosity won out and she nosed Lanidar's open hand to see what it held. She got a piece of apple in her mouth, then dropped it. Lanidar picked it up and tried again. Though she wasn't as experienced as her dam, she managed to use her incisors and flexible lips and tongue to get it in her mouth and bite. It was a new experience for her, and a new taste, but she was more interested in Lanidar. When he began to stroke her and scratch her favourite places, she was won over. When he stood up, he had a big smile.
'We were going to leave the horses here in this field for a while, and check on them every so often,' Jondalar said.
'I'd be happy to watch them, like I did last year,' Lanidar said. 'If there are any problems, I'll look for you, or whistle.'
Ayla and Jondalar looked at each other, then smiled. 'I would be grateful for that,' Ayla said. 'I wanted to leave them here so people would get more used to seeing them, and they'd get more comfortable around people, especially Grey. If you get tired or have to go, whistle loud or come and find one of us and let us know.'
'I will,' he said.
They left the field feeling much more relaxed about the horses. When they returned in the evening to invite Lanidar to share a meal with their Cave, they found that several young men, and a few young women, including Lanoga carrying her youngest, sister Lorala, were visiting with him. When Lanidar had watched the animals the year before, it was at the enclosure and nearby field that was close to the camp of the Ninth Cave, which was some distance from the main camp. Not many people went there and he had few friends then, anyway, but since he had developed his skill with the spear-thrower and was hunting regularly, he had gained more status. He had also gained several friends and, it seemed, a few admirers.
The young people were involved with each other and didn't notice Ayla and Jondalar coming. Jondalar was pleased to see that Lanidar was acting very responsibly, not allowing the group of youngsters to crowd in around the horses, especially Grey. He had obviously allowed the visitors to stroke and scratch them, but only let one or two at a time get close. He seemed to sense when the horses were tired of all the attention and just wanted to graze, and quite firmly told one of the youngsters to leave them alone. The couple didn't know that he had banished some young men earlier who had become too rambunctious by threatening to tell Ayla, who, he reminded them, was the Acolyte of the First Among Those Who Served The Great Earth Mother.
The zelandonia were the ones that people went to for help and assistance, and though they were respected, often revered, and many of them were loved, the feeling for them was always tempered with a little fear. The zelandonia were intimate with the next world, the world of spirits, the fearsome place where one went when the elan — the life force — left their body. They had other powers that went beyond the ordinary, too. Youngsters often spread rumours, and boys in particular liked to scare each other by telling stories about what a zelandoni might do, especially to their male parts, if one of them made one angry.
They all knew that Ayla seemed to be a normal woman with a mate and a baby, but she was still an acolyte, a member of the zelandonia, and a foreigner. Just listening to her speak emphasised her strangeness and made them aware that she was from some other place, a distant place, farther away than anyone had ever travelled, except for Jondalar. But Ayla also exhibited extraordinary abilities, like having control over horses and a wolf. Who knew of what she might be capable? Some people even looked askance at Jondalar, though he was born to the Zelandonii, because of the strange ways he had learned while he was gone.
'Greetings, Ayla and Jondalar, and Wolf,' Lanidar said, which caused some of his young visitors who had not noticed their arrival to turn around sharply. They seemed to appear so suddenly. But Lanidar knew they were coming. He had noticed a change in the behaviour of the horses. Even in the darkening twilight, the animals were aware of their approach and were edging toward them.
'Greetings, Lanidar,' Ayla said. 'Your mother and grandmother are at the camp of the Seventh Cave, along with most of the Ninth Cave. You have been invited to share a meal with them.'
'Who will watch the horses?' he said, leaning down to pet Wolf, who had come to him.
'We have already eaten. We'll take them back to our camp,' Jondalar said.
'Thank you for looking out for them, Lanidar,' Ayla said. 'I appreciate your help.'
'I liked doing it. I'll watch them anytime,' Lanidar said. He meant it. Not only did he enjoy the animals, he liked the attention it brought him. Being responsible for them had brought several curious young men, and young women, to visit.
With the arrival of the First Among Those Who Served, the Summer Meeting camp was soon caught up in the usual hectic activity of the season. The Rites of First Pleasures had the usual complications, but none that had been as difficult as the one Janida had posed the year before when she turned up pregnant before she'd had her First Rites. Especially when Peridal's mother had objected to the mating of her son with the young woman. The mother's opposition was not entirely unreasonable, since her son could count only thirteen years and a half, and Janida could count only thirteen.
