The Mammoth Hunters (Earth's Children 3)

“Talut,” she sobbed, hugging the big, red-haired headman. “Did I ever tell you it was your laughter that made me decide to visit? I was so scared of the Others, I was ready to ride right back to the valley, until I saw you laughing.”

“You are going to have me crying in a moment, Ayla. I don’t want you to go.”

“I already am crying,” Latie said. “I don’t want you to go, either. Remember the first time you let me touch Racer?”

“I remember when she let Rydag ride Whinney,” Nezzie said. “I think that was the happiest day of his life.”

“I’m going to miss the horses, too,” Latie wailed, as she clung to Ayla.

“Maybe you can get a little horse of your own someday, Latie,” Ayla said.

“I will miss the horses, too,” Rugie said.

Ayla picked her up and gave her a squeeze. “Then maybe you’ll have to get a little horse, too.

“Oh, Nezzie,” Ayla cried. “How can I thank you? For everything? You know, I lost my mother when I was little, but I’m very lucky. I’ve had two mothers to replace her. Iza took care of me when I was a little girl, but you are the mother I needed to become a woman.”

“Here,” Nezzie said, handing her a package, and trying not to give way to tears entirely. “It’s your Matrimonial tunic. I want you to have it for your joining with Jondalar. He is like a son to me, too. And you are my daughter.”

Ayla hugged Nezzie again, then looked up at her big, strapping son. When she hugged Danug, he hugged her back with no reservations. She felt the maleness of his strength, and the warmth of his body, and a momentary spark of his attraction to her as he whispered in her ear, “I wish you had been my red-foot.”

She backed off, and smiled. “Danug! You are going to be such a man! I wish I were staying to see you grow into another Talut.”

“Maybe, when I’m older, I’ll make a long Journey and come to visit you!”

She hugged Wymez next, and she looked for Ranec, but he was not around. “I’m sorry, Wymez,” she said.

“I am sorry, too. I wanted you to stay with us. I would have liked to have seen the children you would have brought to his hearth. But Jondalar is a good man. May the Mother smile on your Journey.”

Ayla took Hartal from Tronie’s arms, and was delighted at his giggle. Then Manuv picked up Nuvie, for Ayla to kiss.

“She is here only because of you. I will not forget it, and neither will she,” Manuv said. Ayla embraced him, then Tronie and Tornec, too.

Frebec held Bectie, while Ayla made her last farewells to Fralie and the two boys. Then she embraced Crozie. She held back stiffly at first, though Ayla felt her shaking. Then the old woman clutched her, tight, and there was a tear glistening in her eye.

“Don’t forget how to make white leather,” she commanded.

“I wo

n’t, and I have the tunic with me,” Ayla said, then with a sly smile, she added, “But, Crozie, from now on you should remember. Never play Knucklebones with a member of the Mammoth Hearth.”

Crozie looked at her in surprise, and then cackled a laugh, as Ayla turned to Frebec. Wolf had joined them, and Frebec rubbed behind his ears.

“I’m going to miss this animal,” he said.

“And this animal,” Ayla said as she gave him a hug, “is going to miss you!”

“I will miss you, too, Ayla,” he said.

Ayla found herself in the middle of a crush of people from the Aurochs Hearth, as all the children and Barzec crowded around her. Tarneg was there, too, with his woman. Deegie waited with Branag, and then the two young women collapsed in each other’s arms in a new freshet of wet eyes.

“In some ways, it’s harder to say goodbye to you than anyone, Deegie,” Ayla said. “I never had a friend like you, who was my age, and could understand me.”

“I know, Ayla. I can’t believe you’re leaving. Now, how are we going to know who has a baby first?”

Ayla backed away and looked at Deegie, critically, then smiled. “You will. You already have one started.”

“I wondered about it! Do you really think so?”