The Plains of Passage (Earth's Children 4)

"What about this?" he asked, pointing to another package.

"These are gifts from the Lion Camp," she said, opening it up to show him. He spied the beautiful spear point Wymez had given her, and he picked it up to show Laduni.

"Look at this," he said.

It was a large blade, longer than his hand, and as wide as his palm, but less than the size of the tip of his small finger in thickness, tapering to a fine sharpness at the edges.

"It's bifacially worked," Laduni said, turning it over. "But how did he get it so thin? I thought working both sides of a stone was a crude technique used for simple axes and such, but this is not crude. This is as fine a piece of workmanship as I've ever seen."

"Wymez made it," Jondalar said. "I told you he was good. He heats the flint before he works it. It changes the quality of the stone, makes it easier to detach fine flakes, that's how he gets it so thin. I can hardly wait to show this to Dalanar."

"I'm sure he will appreciate it," Laduni said.

Jondalar gave it back to Ayla, and she rewrapped it carefully. "I think we'll just take a single tent, more as a windbreak," he remarked.

"What about a ground cloth?" Ayla said.

"We have such a heavy load of rocks and stones, I hate to take any more than we need to."

"A glacier is ice. We might be glad for a ground cover."

"I suppose you're right," he said.

"What about these ropes?"

"Do you really think we need them?"

"I'd suggest you take them," Laduni said. "Ropes can be very useful on a glacier."

"If you think so, I'll take your advice," Jondalar said.

They had packed as much as possible the night before and spent the evening saying their farewells to the people they had come to care for so much in the short time they were there. Verdegia made a point of coming to talk to Ayla.

"I want to thank you, Ayla."

"It's not necessary to thank me. We need to thank everyone here."

"I mean for what you did for Madenia. To be honest, I'm not sure what you did, or what you said to her, but I know that you made the difference. Before you came, she was hiding in a dark corner, wishing she were dead. She wouldn't even talk to me, and she wanted nothing to do with becoming a woman. I thought all was lost. Now, she's almost like her old self, and looking forward to her First Rites. I just hope nothing happens to make her change her mind again before summer."

"I think she will be all right, as long as everyone continues to support her," Ayla said. "That has been the biggest help, you know."

"I still want to see Charoli punished," Verdegia said.

"I think everyone does. Now that everyone has agreed to go after him, I think he will be. Madenia will be vindicated, and she will have her First Rites and become a woman. You will have grandchildren yet, Verdegia."

In the morning they got up early, did their final packing, and came back into the cave for a last morning meal with the Losadunai. Everyone was there to bid them farewell. Losaduna had Ayla memorize a few more verses of lore, and then almost became emotional when she hugged him goodbye. Then he quickly went to talk to Jondalar. Solandia made no qualms about how she felt, and she told them how sorry she was to see them go. Even Wolf seemed to know he would not see the children again, and so did they. He licked the baby's face and for the first time Micheri cried.

But as they walked out of the cave, it was Madenia who surprised them. She had put on the magnificent outfit Ayla had given her, and she clung to Ayla and tried not to cry. Jondalar told her how beautiful she was, and he meant it. The clothes lent her an air of uncommon beauty and maturity and hinted at the real woman she would someday become.

As they mounted the horses, rested now and eager to go, they looked back at the people standing around the mouth of the cave, and it was Madenia who stood out. But she was still young and, as they waved, tears streamed down her face.

"I will never forget you, either of you," she called out, then ran into the cave.

As they rode away, back toward the Great Mother River, which was hardly more than a stream, Ayla thought she would never forget Madenia, or her people either. Jondalar was sorry to say goodbye, too, but his thoughts were on the difficulties they had yet to face. He knew the toughest part of their Journey still lay ahead.

39

Jondalar and Ayla headed north, back toward Donau, the Great Mother River that had guided their steps for so much of their Journey. When they reached her, they turned west again and continued to follow the stream back toward her beginnings, but the great waterway had changed character. She was no longer a huge meandering surge rolling with ponderous dignity across the flat plains, taking in countless tributaries and volumes of silt, then breaking into channels and forming oxbow lakes.