Ayla didn't have an answer, but she knew she had to do something.large wolf jumped up on his hind legs and landed with his paws in front of her shoulders. But she had seen him coming and managed to brace her- self. She allowed him to give her the canine greeting to the leader of the pack, licking her neck and taking her jaw gently in his teeth. Then she held his head between both her hands by the thick fur of his ruff and gently bit his jaw. She looked into his adoring eyes and buried her face in his fur. She was glad to see him, too.

"It startles me when he does that to you, Ayla," Willamar said as he got up from a cushion on the floor.

"It used to scare me, too," Jondalar said. "I trust him now, I'm not afraid for Ayla anymore. I know he won't hurt her, and I've seen what he can do to someone else who might try, but I admit, that special greeting of his does surprise me sometimes."

When Willamar approached, they greeted each other with a quick touching of right cheeks. By now Ayla had learned that it was a customary informal greeting between family members or very close friends.cerned about Wolf. I'm glad he returned here. It means he feels that this is his home, even if I'm not here."

"How is Bologan?" Marthona asked.

"He is awake and able to talk, finally. I just came to tell Joharran." Ayla wondered if she should mention her concerns about Tremeda's baby. She was a stranger still, and maybe it wasn't appropriate for her to bring it up. It could be construed as criticism of the Ninth Cave, but nobody else seemed to know about the situation, and if she didn't say something, who would? "I talked to Proleva about another thing that bothers me," she said.

There were looks of interest from Jondalar's family. "What?" Marthona asked.

"Did you know that Tremeda's milk has dried up? She hasn't been home since Shevonar's burial, and she left the baby and the rest of her children for Lanoga to care for and feed. That girl can count only ten years, she can't nurse. All that baby is eating is mashed-up roots. She needs milk.

How can a baby grow right without milk? And where is Laramar? Doesn't he care at all?" Ayla said in a rush, blurting it all out at once."Proleva said she didn't know that Tremeda's milk was gone," Ayla con- tinued. "She's going to get the women together who can help, and we're going to talk to them, explain what the baby needs, and ask them to share some of their milk. She thought the new mothers, and the ones who are almost ready to give birth, would be the ones to ask. This is such a big cave, there must be many women who could help feed that baby."

Jondalar knew they could, but he wondered if they would, and he speculated about whose idea it was; he thought he knew. He was aware that women sometimes nursed children other than their own, but usually it was a sister or a close friend whose infant they were willing to share their milk with.

"That sounds like an admirable idea," Willamar said.

"If they're willing," Marthona said.

"Why wouldn't they be?" Ayla said. "Zelandonii women wouldn't let a baby die for lack of a little milk, would they? I did tell Lanoga I would gohas been ground very fine and cooked, are good for them. Any vegetable can be cooked until it's soft, and some fruit just needs to be mashed, though the seeds have to be strained out. I always poured fruit juice through bunched-up fresh cleavers. They're full of prickles and stick to- gether easily and catch the seeds. Babies can eat almost anything their mothers can eat, if it's smooth and fine enough."

"How do you know so much about food that babies can eat?" Folara asked.

Ayla stopped and flushed with dismay. She hadn't expected the ques- tion. She knew babies were not limited to nursing because Iza had taught her how to make food for Uba when the woman got sick and lost her milk.

But Ayla's knowledge had expanded manifold when Iza died, and Ayla was so devastated by the loss of the only mother she knew, her milk dried up.

Though the other women in Brun's small clan who were nursing all fed Durc, she'd had to supplement with regular food to keep him satisfied and healthy.

But she wasn't ready to tell Jondalar's family about her son just yet.

They had recently said they wanted to accept her into the Zelandonii, makethe Clan since then, and he did not feel that way anymore, but what about his people, his family?

Her mind raced. What would his mother say if she knew that her son wanted to mate with a woman who was an abomination? Or Willamar, or Folara, or the rest of his family? Ayla looked at Jondalar, and though usu- ally she could discern his feelings and know what he was thinking by inter- preting his expression or his demeanor, this time she could not. She didn't know what he would wish her to say.

She had been raised with the understanding that she had to answer a direct question with a truthful answer. Ayla had since learned that unlike the Clan, the Others, her kind of people, could say things that were not true.

They even had a word for it. It was called a lie. For a moment, she actually thought about saying a lie, but what could she say? She was sure they would know it if she tried; she didn't know how to lie. At most, she could refrain from mentioning, but it was hard not to reply when she was asked a direct question.

Ayla had always supposed that his people were bound to find out about Durc sometime. He was often in her thoughts, and she knew there wouldrefrained from mentioning her son.

"You do it like this, Lanoga," Ayla said. "You pull the scraper across the meat. It gets the essence out and leaves the fibrous part behind. See? Now you try it."

"What are you doing here?"

Ayla jumped with a start at the voice, then turned to face Laramar. "I'm showing Lanoga how to prepare some food that this baby can eat, since her mother has no more milk for her," she said. She was sure she detected a look of surprise flit across his face. So he didn't know, she thought.

"Why should you bother? I doubt that anyone else cares," Laramar said.

Not even you, she thought, but held her tongue. "People care. They just didn't know," she said. "We only found out when Lanoga came and got Zelandoni because Bologan was hurt."'

"Bologan is hurt? What happened?"someone hit him hard, or he fell and hit his head on a rock. He was brought back home and left. Lanoga found him unconscious and went to find Zelandoni. That's where he is now. He was badly hurt and lost a lot of blood, but with rest and care, he should be fine. But he won't tell Joharran who hit him."

"I'll take care of it, I know how to get it out of him," Laramar said.

"I haven't lived with this Cave very long, and it's not my place to say, but I think you should talk to Joharran first. He's very angry and wants to know who did it, and why. Bologan was lucky. It could have been much worse,"

Ayla said.

"You're right. It's not your place to say," Laramar said. "I'd rather take care of it myself."

Ayla said nothing. There was nothing she could do about it, except tell Joharran. She turned to the girl. "Come on, Lanoga. Get Lorala and we'll go," she said, picking up her Mamutoi haversack.

"Where are you going?" Laramar said."No. She left the children with Lanoga, and hasn't returned since she went to Shevonar's burial," Ayla said. "In case you're interested, the rest of the children are with Ramara, Salova, and Proleva right now." It was Proleva who had suggested that she get Lanoga and the baby cleaned up a little. Women with infants might not want to hold such a grimy baby for fear she might soil their own child.

As Lanoga picked up the baby, Ayla signaled Wolf, who had been lying down watching the activities, partly hidden by a log. Laramar hadn't seen the animal, and when Wolf stood up, his eyes widened with surprise as he became aware of what a large, powerful carnivore he actually was. The man backed off a few steps, then gave the foreign woman an insincere smile.

"That's a big animal. Are you sure it's safe to bring him around people, especially children?" he asked.

He doesn't care about children, Ayla thought, reading his subtle body language. He's talking about children and implying that I am doing some- thing that might harm people to hide his own fear. Other people had voiced a similar concern without offending her, but she disapproved of Laramar"Wolf killed the woman," she added. Laramar took another step back, grin- ning nervously.

That was not a smart thing to say, Ayla thought as she walked toward the front terrace with Lanoga, the baby, and Wolf. Why did I say it? She looked down at the animal trotting confidently beside her. I was acting al- most like a wolf leader, making a lower-ranked pack member back down.

But this is not a wolf pack, and I am not a leader. He's already talking against me, I might be making trouble for myself.

When they started down the path at the lower end of the terrace, Ayla offered to carry the baby for a while, but Lanoga said no and shifted Lorala on her hip. Wolf sniffed at the ground, and Ayla noticed hoofprints. The horses had come this way before. She was going to point them out to the girl, but changed her mind. Lanoga didn't talk much, and Ayla didn't want to pressure her into uncomfortable conversation.

They reached the edge of The River, and as they continued along the bank of waterway, Ayla stopped now and then to examine a plant. With a digging stick she carried pushed through her waist thong, she removed several plants with the roots. The girl watched her, and Ayla was going tolarge stones had broken loose from the limestone wall and created a kind of dam with a small pond behind it. One of the stones had a natural basin with mosslike water plants lining it.

The water that filled it came primarily from rain and the back-splashing spray of the waterfall. In the summer, when there was less rain, the water level of the basin was lower and she thought the sun might have warmed it.

She dipped her hand in. As she expected, it was tepid, a little cool, but warmer than the water in the pool, and the water plants made the bottom of the basin soft.

Ayla put down her carrying sack. "I brought some food, do you want to feed Lorala now or later?" she asked.

"Now," Lanoga said.

"All right, let's eat now," Ayla said. "I have some cooked grain, and that meat that we scraped for Lorala. I brought enough food for all of us. Even some meaty bones for Wolf. What do you use to feed the baby?""My hand,"

she said.them. Then she looked for a round hard stone and a level place on one of the fallen boulders near the basin. "Next, you need to crush the roots. They will work if you just crush them, but soaking draws out more of the slippery juice." The girl watched closely, but said nothing.

Ayla got a small watertight woven basket out of the pack she carried over one shoulder and moved to the stone basin. "Water by itself doesn't always get dirt off very well. Soaproot makes it easier. The water in this basin is a little warmer than the water in the stream. Would you like to feel it?" Ayla said.

"I don't know," the girl said, looking at her as if she didn't quite under- stand.

"Lanoga, come here and put your hand in this water," Ayla said.

She came closer and put the hand that was not holding the baby in the water.

"It's warmer isn't it? Do you like how it feels?" Ayla said.The girl watched her, lifted the baby off her hip, put her down in the dirt near her feet, then slowly reached for the soaproot. She dipped it in the water and rubbed her hands together. A little foam started to form, and a brief expression of interest crossed Lanoga's face. The saponin-filled roots did not create an abundance of soapy lather, but it was enough to clean her hands.

"Good soaproot should be slippery and make some foam," Ayla said.

"Now rinse it off, like this. See how much cleaner your hands are?" The girl dipped her hands in the water and then looked at them. Again an expres- sion of interest crossed her face. "Let's eat now."

Ayla went back to where her haversack was and took out some pack- ages. One was a carved wooden bowl with a lid, tied on with cordage wrapped around it. She untied the cords, removed the lid, and lightly touched the top of the contents. "It is still slightly warm."s he said, showing her the congealed mass of finely ground cooked grains of different varie- ties. "I collected this grain last fall when Jondalar and I were on our Jour- ney. There are some rye seeds and wheat seeds, and some oats. I added a little salt while it was cooking. The little black seeds come from a plant I call goosefoot, but it has a different Zelandonii name. The leaves are goodaround in her mouth, examining the taste and texture, and when she finally swallowed it, she opened her mouth for more. She reminded Ayla of a little bird.

Lanoga smiled, and Ayla realized it was the first time she had seen the girl smile. Lanoga fed her sister the rest of the meat, then started on the cereal. She took a taste herself first, then put some in the baby's mouth.

They both watched her reaction to the new taste. With an expression of intense concentration, she examined it with her mouth, even chewing the somewhat gummy concoction. She seemed to think about it for a moment, then swallowed and opened her mouth for more. Ayla was amazed at how much the baby was able to eat, but only when she finally stopped opening her mouth did Lanoga put another taste in her own mouth.

"If you give her something to hold, does Lorala put it in her mouth?" Ayla asked.

"Yes," the girl said.

"I brought a little piece of marrow bone. I knew a boy who used to love them when he was a baby," Ayla said with a smile of fond remembranceAyla had motioned him to stay. Making little yearning whines, he crept slowly toward the infant as she was sitting on a patch of grass. Lanoga watched him a moment, than turned toward Ayla with a look of concern.

She hadn't even acknowledged the presence of the animal before.

"Wolf loves children," Ayla said. "He wants to play with her, but I think that marrow bone might distract him a little. If she drops it, he might think she is giving it to him and take it. I brought a bone with some meat on it for him. I'll give it to him over there by The River while we have our meal."

Ayla pulled a rather large, leather-wrapped package out of her haver- sack and opened it to reveal some pieces of cooked bison and one good- size raw bone with some hard, dry pieces of brownish meat clinging to it.

She got up, signaled Wolf to follow her, and walked toward the large stream, then gave him the bone. He seemed content to settle down with it.

When she returned, she started taking several more things out of her carrying pack. She had brought a variety of foods. Besides the meat and cereal, she had several things left over from her Journey. There were some dried pieces of a starchy root; some roasted pine nuts from stone pines;meat so she can eat it, even though she doesn't have teeth yet. But what she needs most is milk, at least some milk." The girl watched her while she ate, but did not say anything.

"Where I grew up, women always fed each other's babies, and if the milk of one of the mothers dried up, the other women would take turns feeding her baby. Proleva told me that Zelandonii women feed other ba- bies, too, but usually only family or close kin. Your mother doesn't have any siblings or cousins who are nursing mothers, so I'm going to ask the women who are nursing, or will be soon, if they will help. But mothers get very protective of their own babies. They may not want to hold a baby who isn't clean and doesn't smell nice, and afterward hold their own.

"We need to clean Lorala so she will be fresh and appealing to the other mothers. We are going to use that soaproot we used on our hands. I will show you how to bathe her, because you will have to keep her clean, and since you will probably be the one who will have to bring her to the women to nurse her, you need to bathe, too. I brought something for you to wear.

Proleva got it for me. It's been worn before, but it is clean. The girl who wore it got too big for it." Lanoga did not respond, and Ayla wondered why she said so little. "Do you understand?" she asked.The girl noticed it, too. "She messed," Lanoga said.

"There's some moss by the little stream. Let's clean her off before we give her a bath," Ayla said. The girl just looked at her. The woman picked the baby up. She seemed surprised, but did not object. Ayla carried her to the runoff creek, knelt down near the edge, plucked a handful of moss growing on nearby stones, dipped it in the water, and, holding the baby over her arm, used it to wipe her bottom. With a second handful, she did it again. As she was examining her to make sure she was clean, the baby produced a warm stream. Ayla held her over the ground until she was done, washed her with moss again, then handed her to Lanoga.

"Bring the baby to the basin, Lanoga. It's time to get her cleaned up.

Why don't you put Lorala in here," Ayla said, indicating the water-filled stone depression.

The girl gave her a puzzled look, but didn't move. Her brow wrinkled in thought, Ayla studied her. She didn't think the girl lacked intelligence, though she hardly spoke, but more that she didn't seem to understand what to do. Suddenly Ayla remembered a time, when she first lived with thepicked Lorala up from the back, holding her under the arms so that she faced Lanoga, let her feet dangle, and slowly lowered her into a sitting po- sition in the middle of the water in the stone depression.

The lukewarm water was a new sensation to the child and coaxed her to explore her surroundings. She reached into the water, then pulled her hand out and looked at it. She tested it again, this time accidentally splashing it a little, which caused her to look again, then she pulled her hand out and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

Well, she didn't cry, Ayla thought. It's a good start.

"Put your hand in this basket, Lanoga, and feel how slippery the water is because of the soaproot." The girl did as she was told. "Now, hold some in your hand and let's rub it on Lorala."

As both pairs of hands rubbed the slippery liquid with bits of root on the baby, she sat still, but with a little frown on her face. It was a new but not totally unpleasant sensation. "Now we need to wash her hair," Ayla said, thinking this might be more difficult. "We'll start by rubbing some soaproot on the back of her head. You can wash her ears and neck, too.""Next, lay her on her back, support her with one hand, don't let her face get in the water, and wash the top of her hair with your other hand," Ayla told her. She helped Lanoga ease the baby back. Lorala resisted some- what, but the girl's hands were sure now, and the child didn't object to the warmish water once she was in it, secure in her sister's arms. Ayla helped wash her hair, and then with her hands still soapy, she washed the baby's legs and bottom. They had been soaking in the water, which in itself was getting a bit slick.

"Now wash her face, very carefully, just using your hands and the water.

Don't let anything get in her eyes. It won't hurt, but it may make her un- comfortable," Ayla said.

When they were through, they sat the baby up again. The woman pulled a very soft, pliable yellowish hide out of her pack, laid it out, lifted the baby out of the water, and wrapped her in it. She gave the baby to Lanoga.

"Here she is, all clean and fresh." She noticed the girl rubbing the soft suede-leather of the drying blanket. "It is nice and soft, isn't it?"

"Yes," Lanoga said, looking up at the woman.seem to know how to engage in conversation. She didn't know how to talk to people. Ayla kept smiling, waiting. Lanoga frowned, then finally said, "Some hunters brought one."

She can talk! She volunteered a statement, Ayla thought, feeling pleased. She just needed some encouragement. "You can keep that hide, if you want," she said.

Lanoga's face showed a range of expressions the woman didn't expect.

First her eyes lit up, then showed doubt, and then fear. Then she frowned and shook her head. "No. Can't."

"Do you want the hide?"

The girl looked down. "Yes."

"Then why can't you keep it?"

"Can't keep it," the girl said, then hesitated. "Won't let me. Someone will take it.""Someone will get mad."

Ayla nodded. "I understand. I will keep it, then, but remember, any time you want to use it, for Lorala or for you, you can come and borrow it. If someone wants to take it, tell them it belongs to me."

Lanoga took the soft hide off the baby and put her down on a patch of grass. She gave the hide to the woman. "She'll mess it," she said.

"That wouldn't be so bad. We'd just have to wash it. Let's put her on it.

It's softer than the grass," Ayla said. She spread it out and laid the baby on it, noticing that it still retained a slight, but pleasant, smoky odor.

After a hide was cleaned and scraped, it was processed often with the brains of the animal, then worked and stretched while it dried to a beautiful soft, napped finish. The nearly white hide was then tanned over a smoky fire. The wood and other fuel that was burned determined the color of the hide, usually tan with a brownish or yellowish hue, and, to a slight degree, the texture of the finished piece. The tanning wasn't done primarily for the color, however, it was done to maintain elasticity. While a hide might be soft before tanning, if it got wet and wasn't worked and stretched again, it"It's our turn to bathe," Ayla said. She looked at the animal. "Wolf, watch Lorala, watch the baby." Her hand signals told him the same thing. It wasn't the first time the wolf had been left to guard a sleeping child. Lanoga had a slight frown of concern. "He'll stay right here and make sure nothing harms her, and he'll let us know if she wakes up. We will be right over there in that pond behind the stone dam. You will be able to see them. We're going to wash ourselves the same way we washed Lorala, but our water will be colder," Ayla added with a smile.

The woman picked up her haversack and the basket of soaking soap- root on their way to the pond. She took off her clothes and stepped in first.

She demonstrated how to clean herself and helped Lanoga wash her hair, then took out two more pieces of the hide toweling and a long-toothed comb she had gotten from Marthona. After they dried, she worked the snarls and tangles out of Lanoga's hair and, with a second comb, did her own.

Then, from the bottom of the carrying pack, she took out a tunic. Though it had been used, it was not worn. It looked new and had a simple decora-the living section and Proleva's dwelling. Wolf fell back, and as Ayla turned to find him, she noticed he was looking back the way they had come. She followed his gaze and saw a woman and a man some distance behind. The woman weaved and stumbled as she walked. The man stayed beside her, but not very close, though one time he caught her when she almost fell down. When the woman turned toward Laramar's living space, Ayla real- ized she was Lanoga and Lorala's mother, Tremeda.

For a moment, Ayla wondered if she should try to bring her to the meeting with the women, but she decided against it. The women were likely to be much more sympathetic toward a pretty girl carrying a clean baby than they would be if a woman who had probably drunk too much barma was with them. Ayla started to go on, but her eye was caught by the man.

He did not turn in with the woman, but kept on coming.

There was something about his shape and the way he moved that seemed familiar. He saw her and kept looking at her while he approached.