The Shelters of Stone (Earth's Children 5)

Suddenly she perceived that he did not appraise her the way most of the Zelandonii men did, whether overtly or with more subtlety, and she understood that this man did not look to women to satisfy his personal needs. When she was living with the Lion Camp, she recalled listening with much interest to a discussion about people who carried the essence of both male and female within them. Then she remembered Jondalar saying that such Zelandoni often made excellent healers, and she couldn’t help but smile. Perhaps he would be another person with whom she could discuss practices and techniques of healing and medicine.

His smile in return was friendly. “Welcome to River Place, the home of the Eleventh Cave of the Zelandonii,” he said. Another man, who was standing to the side and slightly behind him, was smiling at the Zelandoni in a warm and loving way. He was rather tall and had nice regular features that Ayla thought would be considered handsome, but he moved in a way that struck her as womanly.

The Zelandoni turned to look at the tall man and signaled him forward. “I’d like to introduce my friend, Marolan of the Eleventh Cave of the Zelandonii,” he said, then continued the rest of the formal introduction, which seemed somewhat longer than usual, Ayla thought.

While he was speaking, Jondalar moved up beside her, which made her feel better when she was in a new situation, and she had been in many since they had returned to the land of his people. She turned to smile at him, then turned back to take both hands of the man. He was not as tall as Jondalar, she noted, but somewhat taller than her.

“In the name of the Mut, the Great Mother of All, also known as Doni, I greet you, Marolan of the Eleventh Cave of the Zelandonii,” she concluded. His smile was cordial and he seemed interested in talking, but they had to step aside to make room for others that the leader and the Zelandoni of the Eleventh Cave were welcoming, and some people moved between them before they could exchange any conversational pleasantries. There would be time to talk later, she thought.

She glanced around to examine her surroundings. Although the location was higher than the bank, and somewhat back from the edge of the water, it was still rather close to The River. She commented on it to Marthona.

“Yes, they are close to The River,” the woman said. “Some people think they could be subject

to flooding. Zelandoni says there are some hints about it in the Elder Legends, but no one living now, not even the oldest, has any memory of floods here. They do take advantage of their location, though.”

Willamar explained that because of their immediate access, the people of the Eleventh Cave made good use of The River’s resources. Fishing was a principal activity, but more important, the Eleventh Cave was known for water transport. “River rafts are used to carry substantial amounts of whatever needs to be transported—food, goods, or people,” he said. “The people of the Eleventh Cave are not only the most skilled at poling the rafts up and down The River, for themselves, and for neighboring Caves, but they make most of them.”

“That’s their skill,” Jondalar added. “The Eleventh Cave specializes in making and using river rafts. Their home is known as River Place.”

“Isn’t that what those logs are?” she asked, pointing to several constructions made of wood and logs near the edge of the water. They weren’t unfamiliar. She had seen something like them before and tried to remember where. Then it came to her. The S’Armunai women had used a raft. When she was trying to find Jondalar and following the only trail that led away from the site of his disappearance, she had come to a river and seen a small raft nearby.

“Not all of them. The one that looks like a big raft is their dock. The smaller platforms tied to it are rafts. Most Caves have a place near the water to secure rafts, some not much more than a simple piling, others have more elaborate docks, but none are quite like theirs. When somebody wants to travel or transport something, either up- or downriver, they go to the Eleventh Cave to make arrangements. They make fairly regular runs,” Jondalar said. Tm glad we’re stopping here. “I’ve been wanting to tell them about the Sharamudoi and their wonderfully maneuverable river craft that are shaped out of logs.”

Joharran had overheard. “I don’t think you’ll have time to get into much of a discussion about river craft right now, unless you want to stay behind. I’d like to get back to the Ninth Cave before dark,” he said. “I told Kareja I’d stop because she wanted to show you around, Ayla, and I’d like to make a trip upriver by raft after the hunt to meet with some of the other leaders about the Summer Meeting.”

“If we had one of those small Ramudoi dugout boats, a couple of people could paddle upriver and wouldn’t have to worry about poling a heavy raft,” Jondalar said.

“How long would it take to make one?” Joharran asked.

“It takes a lot of work,” Jondalar acknowledged. “But once it’s made, it could last a while.”

“That won’t help me now, will it?”

“No. I was thinking of what a help it might be later.”

“Perhaps, but I need to get upriver in the next few days,” Joharran said, “and back again. If the Eleventh Cave is planning a trip, it would be easier, and much faster coming back, but I can walk if I have to.”

“You could use the horses,” Ayla said.

“You could use the horses, Ayla.” Joharran gave her a wry grin. “I don’t know how to make them go where I want.”

“A horse can carry two people. You could ride behind me,” she said.

“Or me,” Jondalar said.

“Well, maybe sometime, but right now I think I’ll find out if the Eleventh Cave is planning a trip upriver soon,” Joharran said.

They hadn’t noticed Kareja approach. “In fact, I have been thinking about making a run upriver,” she said. They all looked up. Tm going to the meeting, too, Joharran, and if the hunt is successful … even if it was considered likely, no one ever presumed that any hunt would be successful; it would be bad luck, “ … it might be a good idea to take some meat to the site of the Summer Meeting and cache it nearby beforehand. I think you are right that the Meeting will be particularly well attended this year.” She turned to Ayla. “I know you can’t stay long, but I wanted to show you our place and introduce you to some people.” She didn’t exactly ignore Jondalar, but she directed her comments to Ayla.

Jondalar looked more closely at the leader of the Eleventh Cave. She had been one of the most derisive of those who had teased him about his hunting suggestions and claims about their new hunting weapons, though now she seemed quite impressed with Ayla … after she had shown her skill. Maybe he should wait before bringing up the new kind of boats, and maybe Kareja wasn’t the one he should talk to about them, he thought, wondering who their foremost raft-maker was now.

He tried to remember what he knew about Kareja. She’d never had many men interested in her, he recalled. Not because she wasn’t attractive, but she hadn’t seemed particularly interested in men and didn’t encourage them. But he didn’t recall her being interested in women, either. She had always lived with her mother, Dorova. Jondalar wondered if she still did.

Her mother had never chosen to live with a man, he knew. He couldn’t remember who the man of her hearth was, or if anyone ever knew which man’s spirit the Great Mother had chosen to make Dorova pregnant. People had wondered about the name she had chosen for her daughter, mostly because it resembled the sound of the word courageous. Did she think Kareja would need courage? It did take courage to be the leader of a Cave.

Ayla knew the wolf would draw attention and bent down to reassure him with strokes and words of comfort. She drew comfort from him as well. It was hard to be the focus of so much constant scrutiny, and it was not likely to diminish soon. She was not exactly looking forward to the Summer Meeting for just that reason, even though she was anticipating the Matrimonial that would make her Jondalar’s mate. She took a deep breath and let out a surreptitious sigh, then straightened up. Giving Wolf a signal to stay close, she joined Kareja and walked toward the first of the living shelters.

It was similar to all the other shelters of stone in the region. Relative differences in the hardness of the limestone had caused the cliffs to erode at dissimilar rates, creating spaces in between terraces and overhanging ledges that were protected from precipitation above yet open to daylight. With the addition of structures built to block wind and fire to provide warmth, the spaces in the limestone cliffs provided very advantageous living conditions even during Ice Age winters in periglacial regions.