When she finally went to sleep, she dreamed about babies, and wolves, and earthquakes. She hated earthquakes. They more than frightened her, they were like a personal harbinger of bad news.

"I can't believe some people are still objecting to Joplaya and Echozar getting mated here," Zelandoni said. "It's done. They were mated. They've been through their isolation trial, they're affirmed. It's over with. They've"That would be a shame after coming so far," Jondalar said.

"They have what they came for, Joplaya and Echozar are officially mated, and they have their Zelandoni, or rather, Lanzadoni," Willamar said.

"I was hoping to spend some time with them. I don't think we'll be seeing them again for a while," Jondalar said.

"I was hoping the same," Joharran said. "I've been talking to Dalanar about why he decided to establish the Lanzadonii as a separate group. It's more than the fact that they live a good distance away. He has some inter- esting ideas."

"He always did," Marthona said.

"Echozar and Joplaya don't even like to go to the main camp area be- cause they say people stare at them, and the looks are not especially friendly," Folara said.

"They may be feeling a little sensitive since the objections during the Matrimonial," Proleva said.grudge," Proleva said. "She needs something to do. Maybe if she had a child it would give her something else to think about."

"I wouldn't wish her as a mother on any child," Salova said.

"Doni may agree with you," Ramara said. "She's never been Blessed as far as anyone knows."

"Isn't she related to you, Ramara? You both have the same pale blond hair," Folara said.

"She's a cousin, but not a close one," Ramara said.

"I think Proleva is right," Marthona said. "Marona does need something to do, but it doesn't mean she has to have a baby. She should learn a craft of some kind, something to devote herself to that would be worthwhile, and that would take her thoughts away from making trouble for people just be- cause her life hasn't turned out the way she wanted. I think all people should have some craft or skill, something that they enjoy, are naturally drawn to, and do well. If she doesn't, she will just continue to make trouble to get attention."He pretends to ignore it, but I think he doesn't like being last."

"Then he should do something about it," Proleva said angrily, "like take care of the children of his hearth!"

"Jondalar's hearth is exactly where it should be," Marthona said with a slight smile of satisfaction. "It was an exceptional situation, and it was de- cided by the leaders and the zelandonia, as it should have been. It's not for someone like Laramar to say."

"Perhaps that's the thing to do," the First said. "I think I'll talk to Dalanar about having the zelandonia and the leaders gather and talk about this problem over Joplaya and Echozar, bring it out in the open and perhaps give those people who feel some objections an opportunity to air their feel- ings."

"That might be a time for Jondalar and Ayla to talk about their experi- ences with flatheads... the Clan, as she calls them," Joharran said. "I've been wanting to have a talk with the other leaders about them anyway."thought about it as everyone got up and went in various directions. The people of the Zelandonii made her think of a river. While the surface might appear calm and smooth, there could be many undercurrents at many dif- ferent levels. She thought that probably Marthona and Zelandoni knew more about what was going on under the surface than most, but she guessed that even they didn't know all of it, not even about each other. She had noted certain expressions, postures, tones of voice, that gave her clues about what might be deeper, but as with Zelandoni's problem with someone telling things, even after that problem was resolved, there would be something else. The deep currents would shift and slide, leave little ripples on the surface and eddies around the sides. It would never come to an end as long as there were people.

"I'm going to go see to the horses," she said to Jondalar. "Are you com- ing, or do you have something else to do?"

"I'll come with you, but wait a moment," Jondalar said. "I want to get the spear-thrower and spears I'm making for Lanidar. I'm almost finished with them and I'd like to test them out, but I'm too big. I was hoping you might be able to do it. I know they will be small for you, too, but maybe you can get a sense if they will work for him."fully. When the season warmed, flying insects often tried to lay eggs in the moist, warm corners of the eyes of various ruminants, deer and horses in particular. Iza had taught her about the clear fluid from the bluish-white plant that was like a dead thing and that grew in shaded woods. It drew its nourishment from decaying wood since it lacked the living green chlorophyll of other plants, and its waxy surface turned black when touched, but there was no better treatment for sore or inflamed eyes than the cool liquid that oozed from a broken stem.

She had tried out the small spear-thrower and decided it would work just fine for Lanidar. Jondalar had finished the spears he was working on, but decided to make a few more when he saw a small stand of straight young alders with slender trunks, just the right diameter for small spears. He cut down several. Ayla wasn't sure what it was that made her want to go into the woods beside the creek beyond the horse enclosure.

"Where are you going, Ayla?" Jondalar asked. "We should be heading back. I need to go to the main camp this afternoon."

"I won't be long," she said.crashing through brush and bruising himself banging into a tree. When he reached her, he cried out a denial, too, and dropped to his knees.

In the mud at the edge of the small stream, Jondalar bent over Ayla.

She was lying almost flat beside the large wolf, who was down on his side, holding his head in her hands. A torn bloody ear was staining the back of her hand. He tried to lick her face.

"It's Wolf! He's hurt!" Ayla said. The tears streaming down her face left white streaks through a muddy smudge on her cheek.

"What do you think happened to him?" Jondalar asked.

"I don't know, but we've got to help him," she said, sitting up. "We need to make a stretcher to carry him to camp." Wolf tried to get up when she did, but fell back.

"Stay with him, Ayla. I'll make a stretcher from those spear shafts I just cut," Jondalar said.camp.

"You can find out if Zelandoni has any comfrey left from Matagan's inju- ries, also marigold petals. I think Wolf's been in a fight with other wolves, and wounds from bites can be bad. They need strong medicine, and they have to be well cleaned," Ayla said.

"Will you need to boil some water?" Willamar asked. She nodded. "I'll get a fire going. It's a good thing we just brought in a load of wood."

When Joharran came back from the zelandonia lodge, Folara and Proleva were with him, and Zelandoni had said she would come by shortly.

Before long the entire Summer Meeting knew that Ayla's wolf was hurt, and most people were concerned.

Jondalar stayed with her while she examined the wolf and knew from her expression that his wounds were serious. She was sure he had been attacked by an entire pack, and she was surprised that he was still alive.

She asked Proleva for a piece of aurochs meat, scraped it the way she did for baby food, then mixed it with ground datura and put it down his throat to help him relax and make him sleep.Ayla looked at it. The soft material was not made from hides. It looked more like the finely woven material that the long tunic Marthona had given her was made of. She dipped it in the water of one of the bowls. The fabric absorbed it quickly. "This will do, very well, in fact. Thank you," Ayla said.

Zelandoni arrived about the time that Jondalar and Joharran were help- ing her turn the wolf over so she could work on his other side. The First worked with Ayla to clean a particularly bad wound, then Ayla surprised several people when she threaded a thin piece of sinew through the small hole in her thread-puller and used it to sew the worst of the wounds to- gether with some strategically placed knots. She had shown the ingenious device to several people, but no one had ever seen it used to sew living skin. She even sewed his torn ear, though it would still have a jagged edge.

"So that's what you did to me," Jondalar said with a grim smile.

"It does seem to help to hold the wound together so it can heal prop- erly," Zelandoni said. "Is that something you learned from your Clan medi- cine woman, too? To sew skin together?"seemed to work, but I wasn't sure how soon to take them out. I didn't want the wounds to tear apart, but I didn't want the knots to heal into his skin, either. I might have waited a little too long before I finally cut them.

It probably hurt a little more than it should have when I pulled them out,"

Ayla said.

"You mean that was the first time you sewed someone's wound to- gether?" Jondalar said. "You didn't know if it would work, but you tried it out on me?" He laughed. "I'm glad you did. Except for the scars, you would hardly know I was mauled by that lion."

"So you invented this technique to sew wounds," Zelandoni said. "Only someone very skilled and with a natural aptitude for healing and medicine would think of something like that. Ayla, you belong in the zelandonia."

Ayla looked unhappy. "But I don't want to be in the zelandonia," she said. "I... I appreciate... I mean... please don't misunderstand me, I feel honored, but I just want to be mated to Jondalar and have his baby, and be a good Zelandonii woman." She avoided looking at the donier."Of course you are, that's not the issue," the First said. "But among the Zelandonii only those who belong to the zelandonia are healers. People would not be comfortable with a healer who is not. You would not be called upon when a healer is needed if you are not in the zelandonia. You would not be able to be a medicine woman, as you call it. Why do you resist the zelandonia?"

"You've talked about all that must be learned, and the time that it takes.

How can I be a good mate to Jondalar and take care of my children if I have to spend so much time learning to be a Zelandoni?" Ayla said.

"There are Those Who Serve The Mother who are mated and have chil- dren. You yourself told me about the one across the glacier with a mate and several children, and you have met Zelandoni of the Second Cave,"

the woman said. "There are others."

"But not very many," Ayla said.

The First observed the young woman closely and was convinced there was more to it than Ayla was saying. Her reasons weren't in character. She was an excellent healer, and she was curious, learned quickly, and obvi-helping Lanoga to care for her youngest sister and the other children. And the way she was helping the boy with the deformed arm. Those were the kinds of things that a good Zelandoni did. She had naturally assumed the role. The donier decided that she was going to have to discover her real problem, because one way or another, the First was determined that Ayla was going to be One Who Served The Great Earth Mother. She had to be brought in, it could pose too great a threat to the stability of the zelandonia to have someone with her knowledge and innate skills outside of their influ- ence.

People smiled when they saw the wolf with bandages tied on him, made of Marthona's fiber material and soft hides, as he walked beside Ayla through the main camp. It made Wolf almost seem to be dressed in human clothing, and he seemed to be a caricature of a fierce, wild meat-eater.

Many stopped to ask how he was, or to offer the opinion that he was look- ing good. But he stayed very close to Ayla. He was so unhappy the first time she left him behind that he howled, then broke loose and found her.

Some of the Story-Tellers had already begun to weave tales about the wolf who loved the woman.though, that her control of her animals wasn't magic.

Ayla was beginning to relax, thinking that he was finally getting comfort- able with casual visitors again, until a young man-she heard him intro- duced as Palidar of the Eleventh Cave-came to visit Willamar's apprentice trader, Tivonan. When Wolf got close to him, he began to growl and bare his fangs with real menace. She had to hold him to keep him down, and even then, he growled under his breath. The young man backed away in fear, and she apologized profusely. Willamar, Tivonan, and several others who were standing around watching were surprised.

"I don't know what's wrong with him. I thought he was over being defen- sive about his territory. Wolf doesn't usually behave like this, but he's had some trouble and he is still getting over it," Ayla said.

"I heard he was hurt," the young man said.

Then she noticed that he wore a necklace of wolf teeth and carried a pack decorated with wolf fur. "Can I ask where you got the wolf fur?" she asked.I knew that he'd found a friend, probably the black female. He's still young, and I don't think he was actually mating yet. He cannot yet count two years, but they were getting to know each other. She was either the lowest-ranked female of the local pack or a lone wolf from another pack."

"How do you know that?" Tivonan asked. Several more people were now gathered around them, listening.

"Wolves like wolves to look like wolves. I think they can read each other's expressions better if they have normal wolf coloring. Wolves that are out of the ordinary, all black, or all white, or spotted, are not accepted as well-except I was told by some Mamutoi friends that where there is a lot of snow all year long, white wolves are more normal. But the odd one, like that black wolf, is often the lowest ranked in a pack, so she probably left them and became a lone wolf. Lone wolves usually move on the fringes in between other wolves' territories, looking for a place of their own, and if they find another lone wolf, they may try to establish their own pack. My guess is that the wolves of this region were defending their territory against the two new ones," Ayla said. "And though he's big, Wolf was at a disad- vantage. He only knows people. He was not raised around wolves. He would know some things, just because he is a wolf, but he never hadgrowling and threatening you is that he smells the wolf he fought with, at least one of them, and he likely killed that one. But they also killed his friend and almost killed him. It could be a danger for you to wear it around him. You should never come here with it because I don't know what Wolf would do."

"Why don't I just give it to you," the young man said. "It's only a scrap of fur sewn on my pack loosely. I don't want to go down in songs and stories as the man who was attacked by the wolf who loved the woman. Is it all right if I keep the teeth? They have some value."

"Yes, keep the teeth, but I'd suggest that you soak them in a light- colored strong tea for a few days. And would you show me where you found the wolves?"

After the young man gave Ayla the offending piece of wolf fur, she gave it to Wolf. He attacked it, pounced on it, grabbed it with his teeth, and shook it, trying to tear it apart. It would have been funny if the people watching hadn't been aware of how seriously he had been injured, and that his friend or potential mate had been killed. Instead they sympathized with the wolf,by now, but as hurt as he was, she wondered how far Wolf had traveled to find her. After Palidar left, she thought about the songs and stories he had mentioned about the wolf who loved the woman.

She had visited the camp of the Story-Tellers and Musicians. It was a lively, colorful place, even their clothing seemed to have brighter hues.

They were not all from one place, they had no stones helter of their own, only their traveling tents and lodges. They traveled from place to place, staying for a while with one Cave and then with another, but it was obvious that they all knew one another and felt a kinship. There always seemed to be children at their place. Just as they did during the rest of the year, they visited the various Caves, but at their Summer Meeting camps rather than their shelters. They also gave general performances on the level area where the Matrimonial had been held, while people watched from the slope.

She knew the Story-Tellers had begun to tell stories about the animals at the Ninth Cave. Sometimes they were about how useful the animals could be, such as how the horses could carry heavy loads, or about Wolf helping her hunt by flushing out animals like the bird during the spear- thrower demonstration. There was a new story about how he helped her toThe stories had already been told and retold many times and were on their way to being incorporated into the lore and legends of the people.

Some Story-Tellers invented other stories about animals that were kept by people, or sometimes turned them about so that people were kept by ani- mals. They sometimes became animal spirits, who helped people. They would, in all likelihood, be passed down for generations to come, keeping alive the idea that animals could be trained, or tamed, or kept, and not just hunted.

"Wolf will be fine with Folara," Jondalar said. "He's fine with visitors, and visitors are becoming more careful, making sure someone from the Ninth Cave knows they are coming. He won't suddenly turn on someone, we know why he was so aggressive toward Palidar. He's been through a diffi- cult time, and it's bound to change him, but he's still basically the same Wolf that you have loved and trained since he was a tiny pup. I don't think we should take him to the meeting, though. You know how people get ex- cited, and it could get rancorous. Wolf would not like to see people shouting or carrying on, especially if you are there and he thinks you are being threatened."

"Who will be there?" Ayla asked.Madroman, his acolyte, who is certainly not my best friend, will also be there. And Denanna of the Twenty-ninth Cave, though I'm not sure why she made complaints."

"I don't think she likes the idea of animals living around people. You re- member when we stopped there on the way here, she did not want the animals to come up to her shelter," Ayla said, "though I was just as glad to camp down on the field."

When they arrived at the zelandonia lodge, the drape was opened be- fore they could announce their presence and they were ushered in. In a passing thought, Ayla wondered how they always seemed to know when she was coming, whether she was expected or not.

"Have you met the new member of the Ninth Cave?" Zelandoni said.

She was speaking to the pleasant-looking woman with a conciliatory smile, but whom Ayla sensed had an underlying strength.

"I was at the introduction, of course, and the Matrimonial, but I haven't met her personally," the woman said.She greeted the woman, but it came as a surprise to hear such a short formal introduction. It was, however, all that was necessary. As Zelandoni, she had given up her personal identity and had become the embodiment of the Twenty-ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, although if she had wished, the introduction could have included the person she formerly was, including her original name and all her previous ties. It just seemed unnecessary most of the time, since she was no longer that person.

Ayla thought about her most recent acquisition of names and ties. She liked the way Zelandoni had introduced her. She had become Ayla of the Zelandonii, and Jondalar's mate, and that came first, but she had been Ayla of the Mamutoi, she hadn't lost her connections to them, ties that meant so much to her. And she was still "Chosen by the Spirit of the Cave Lion, and Protected by the Cave Bear." It pleased her that even her totem and her Clan connections were included.

When she first arrived and heard the long recitations of names and ties in the formal Zelandonii introductions, Ayla wondered, very privately and only to herself, why they made such extended, almost interminable intro- ductions, full of unknown names and connections. Why not simplify it andthe people at the meeting. She wished she could include "Mother of Durc of the Clan" in her names and ties, but considering the reason for this meet- ing, and recalling the night of their mating, and the disruptions that Echo- zar's appearance had made, she wasn't sure if she could ever tell the Zelandonii about her son, Durc.

When the First moved to the center of the lodge, it soon became quiet.

"I will begin by saying that this meeting will not change anything. Joplaya and Echozar are mated, and only they can change that. But there seems to be an undercurrent of nasty rumors and general ill will toward them, which I think is shameful. It makes me less than proud to be a Zelandoni of people who could be so heartless to two young people who are just beginning their lives together. Dalanar, the man of Joplaya's hearth, and I decided to bring this matter out in the open. If some people have sincere complaints, this is the time to make them known," the donier said.

There was some shuffling around and avoidance of looking directly at people. It was clear that there was some embarrassment, especially among those who had listened avidly and perhaps passed on some item of mali- cious gossip. Even temporal and spiritual leaders were not above such human failings. No one seemed to want to broach the matter, as though it"He has never denied it," she said.

"That means he's a child of mixed spirits, and a child of mixed spirits is an abomination. That makes him an abomination," Laramar said.

"Who told you that a child of mixed spirits is an abomination?" the Zelandoni Who Was First asked.

Laramar frowned and looked around. "Everybody knows that."

"How do they know that?" the First asked.

"Because people say so," he said.

"What people say so?" she pressed.

"Everybody," he said.

"If everybody said the sun will not rise tomorrow morning, would that make it so?" the donier asked."Well, yes," she said defiantly. "I'm sure I heard it from the zelandonia."

"Marona, did you know that even a beautiful woman can look ugly when she lies?" the First said.

Marona flushed and glared at the First with a malicious look. Several people turned to stare at her to see if what the First said was true, and some of them agreed that the spiteful expression on the young woman's face did detract from her recognized beauty. She looked away, but mum- bled under her breath, "How would you know, you fat old woman!"

Several people nearby heard her and gasped at the insult to the First Among Those Who Served The Great Earth Mother. Ayla, who was on the other side of the large room, caught her breath, too, but her hearing was almost supernaturally acute. A few others had heard Marona, among them the First, whose hearing was rather good as well.

"Look closely at this fat old woman, Marona, and remember that, like you, I was once considered the most beautiful woman at the Summer Meeting. Beauty is at most a fleeting Gift. Use it wisely while you have it,all the Histories and Elder Legends, and all the lore that is known only to the zelandonia, to try to find out where this idea came from, because Lara- mar is right in one respect. It is something that 'everybody' thinks they know." She paused and looked around the gathering. "That idea has never been a teaching of the zelandonia."

The zelandonia had been very quiet when they saw her meditating in solitude with her chest plaque turned around so that the carvings and deco- rations were hidden and only the plain side showed, meaning she did not want to be interrupted. Now they knew why. There was an undercurrent of conversation. "But they're animals."

"They aren't even human."

"They are related to bears."

The Zelandoni of the Fourteenth Cave spoke out. "The Mother is ap- palled by such a mixture."

"They are an abomination," Denanna, the leader of the Twenty-ninth Cave, said. "We've always known that."even that the flatheads are animals. I am not talking about innuendos or suggestions, but specific references," she said.

She let them think for a while, then continued. "In fact, if you think about it clearly, you would know that the Mother would never be appalled, or want us to think of them as abominations. They are children of the Mother, just as we are. After all, who is it that selects a man's spirit to blend with the spirit of a woman? It doesn't happen often, we don't associate much with flatheads, but if the Mother sometimes decides to create a new life by blending the elan of a flathead with the elan of a Zelandonii, that is Her choice. It is not for Her children to disparage those offspring. The Great Earth Mother decided to create them, perhaps for a special reason. Echo- zar is not an abomination. Echozar is born of woman, as we all are. The fact that his mother was a woman of the Clan doesn't make him less a child of the Great Mother. If he and Joplaya have chosen each other, then Doni is pleased, and we should be, too."

There was another commotion, but the First heard no actual denials and decided to move on. "The other reason for having this gather is that Johar- ran wants to talk about the ones we call flatheads, but first I think you should learn more about them from someone who can speak from experi-"I was a five-year, I think, as close as I can guess, when I lost the family I was born to. I don't remember most of this very well, but I think it was an earthquake that took them. I dream about it sometimes. I guess I wandered alone for a while, I'm sure I didn't know where to go or what to do. I don't know how long I had been alone when I was chased by a cave lion. I think I hid in a small cave, very small, because a cave lion reached in to try to get me and scratched my leg. I still have the scars, four lines from his claws on my leg. My earliest real memory is opening my eyes and seeing Iza, a woman of those you would call flatheads. I remember screaming at the sight of her. Her response was to hold me in her arms until I quieted."

People were immediately caught up in the story of an orphaned girl who could count only five years. She explained that the home of the clan that found her had been destroyed by the same earthquake, and they were looking for a new one when they came across her. She told them that they knew that she was not Clan, but one of the Others, the word they used for people like her, and she talked about being adopted by the medicine woman of Brun's clan, and her brother, Creb, who was a great mog-ur, which was like a Zelandoni. As she continued, she forgot her nervousnesslater, the consequences for doing so. She hesitated only when it came to talking about her son. For all the First's logical and high-minded argument about the Clan being children of the Mother, too, she could tell from the expressions and body language of several people, especially those who had made objections to Echozar mating Joplaya, that their feelings had not changed. They had just decided that it might be best to keep them to them- selves for the time being. Ayla thought it might be best to refrain from men- tioning, too.

She told them about being forced to leave the Clan when Broud became leader, and though she tried to explain what a death curse was, she didn't think they fully understood the real power of its coercive force. It did literally cause the death of individual members of the Clan if they had no place to go and no one, not even their dearest loved ones, would acknowledge that they even existed. She spoke only briefly about her time in the valley, but talked in more detail about Rydag, the mixed child that was adopted by Nezzie, the mate of the headman of the Lion Camp.

"Unlike Echozar, he did not have the strength of the Clan, and he was weak internally, but like the Clan, he could not make certain sounds. I taught him and Nezzie, and then the rest of the Lion Camp, and Jondalar,guage Ayla had taught him.

"If there is one thing I learned on my Journey," Jondalar said, "it is that the ones we have always called flatheads are people, intelligent people.

They are no more animals than you or me. Their ways may be different, their intelligence may even be different, but it is not less. It is just different.