Above the niche, she noticed on the stone wall above the sleeping place, another of those mats, similar to the one on the table, made with fine fibers woven into an intricate pattern. She wished she could examine it closely, find out how it was made. Then she realized that she probably could. They weren’t traveling anymore. This was going to be her home.
Folara rushed out of the dwelling after Ayla and Jondalar left and hurried to another one nearby. She had almost asked if she could go with them, then she caught her mother’s eye and the bare shake of her head, and it made her realize that they might want to be alone. Besides, she knew her friends would be full of questions for her. She scratched on the panel of the next structure. “Ramila? It’s me, Folara.”
A moment later a plump, attractive, brown-haired young woman pulled back the drape. “Folara! We were waiting for you, but then Galeya had to go. She said to meet her by the stump.”
They both walked out from under the overhang, talking animatedly together. As they approached the tall stump of a lightning-struck juniper tree they saw a thin, wiry young woman with red hair hurrying toward it from another direction, struggling to carry two wet and bulging, fairly large waterbags.
“Galeya, did you just get here?” Ramila asked.
“Yes; have you been waiting long?” Galeya said.
“No, Folara came for me only a few moments ago. We were just walking here when we saw you,” Ramila said, taking one of the bags as they started back.
“Let me carry your waterbag the rest of the way, Galeya,” Folara said, relieving her of the other bag. “Is this for the feast tonight?”
“What else? I feel like I’ve done nothing but carry things all day, but it will be fun to have an unplanned gather. I think it’s going to be bigger than they thought, though. We may end up in the Gather Field. I’ve heard that several of the nearby Caves have sent runners offering food for the feast. You know that means most of their Cave want to come,” Galeya said. Then, stopping and turning to look at Folara, she said, “Well, aren’t you going to tell us about her?”
“I don’t know much yet. We’re just starting to get acquainted. She is going to live with us. She and Jondalar are promised, they’re going to tie the knot at the Summer Matrimonial. She’s kind of like a zelandoni. Not exactly, she doesn’t have a mark or anything, but she knows spirits, and she’s a healer. She saved Jondalar’s life. Thonolan was already traveling the next world when she found them. They had been attacked by a cave
lion! You won’t believe the stories they have to tell,” Folara chattered on excitedly as they walked back along the stone front porch of the community.
Many people were busy with various activities related to the feast, but several stopped to watch the young women, especially Folara, knowing she had spent some time with the stranger and the returned Zelandonii man. And some were listening to her, in particular an attractive woman with very light blond hair and dark gray eyes. She was carrying a bone tray of fresh meat and affecting not to notice the young women, but she was walking in the same direction and staying close enough to hear. She had originally intended to go another way entirely, until she heard Folara talking.
“What’s she like?” Ramila asked.
“I think she’s nice. She talks a little funny, but she comes from very far away. Even her clothes are different … what little she has. She only has one extra outfit. It’s very plain, but she has nothing for dressing up, so she’s going to wear it tonight. She said she wants some Zelandonii clothes, but she doesn’t know what’s appropriate, and she wants to dress right. Mother and I are going to help her make some. She’s going to take me down to meet the horses tomorrow. I might even ride one. She and Jondalar just went down there, to go swimming and bathing in The River.”
“Are you really going to get on the back of a horse, Folara?” Ramila asked.
The woman who had been listening didn’t wait to hear the answer. She had stopped for a moment, then, with a malicious smile, hurried away.
Wolf ran ahead, stopping now and then to make sure the woman and man were still following him. The sloping path down from the northeast end of the front terrace led to a meadow on the right bank of a small river that was nearing its confluence with the main stream. The level grassy lea was surrounded by open, mixed woodland that grew more dense farther upstream.
When they reached the meadow, Whinney whickered a greeting and some people who were watching from a distance shook their heads in amazement when the wolf ran straight to the mare and they touched noses. Then the canine struck a playful pose with his tail and back end up and his front end down, and yipped a puppy bark at the young stallion. Racer lifted his head in a neigh and pawed the ground, returning the playful gesture.
The horses seemed particularly happy to see them. The mare approached and put her head across Ayla’s shoulder, while the woman hugged the sturdy neck. They leaned against each other in a familiar posture of comfort and reassurance. Jondalar patted and stroked the young stallion, rubbing and scratching the itchy places Racer presented. The dark brown horse took a few paces forward, then nuzzled Ayla, wanting contact with her, too. Then they all crowded close together, including the wolf, welcoming each other’s familiar presence in this place of so many strangers.
“I feel like going for a ride,” Ayla said. She looked up at the position of the sun in the afternoon sky. “We have time for a short one, don’t we?”
“We should have. No one will gather for the feast until it’s almost dark. “Jondalar smiled. “Let’s go! We can swim afterward,” he said. “I feel as though someone is watching me all the time.”
“Someone is,” Ayla said. “I know it’s just natural curiosity, but it would be nice to get away for a while.”
Several more people had gathered to watch from some distance. They saw the woman leap with ease onto the back of the dun-yellow mare, and the tall man seem to do little more than step up to mount the brown stallion. They left at a fast pace, the wolf following along with ease.
Jondalar led the way, first upstream a short distance to a shallow crossing of the tributary, then continuing upstream along the opposite bank of the small river a little farther until they saw a gorgelike narrow valley on their right. They rode north away from the stream and up the length of the confined vale along a rocky dry streambed that became a runoff creek in wet weather. At the end of the gorge was a steep but climbable trail that eventually opened out onto a high windy plateau that overlooked the waterways and countryside below. They stopped to take in the commanding view.
At an elevation of some six hundred fifty feet, the plateau was one of the highest in the immediate area and afforded a breathtaking panorama, not only of the rivers and valley floodplains, but across to the landscape of rolling hills of the highlands on the other side. The limestone Causses above the river valleys were not level plateaus.
Limestone is soluble in water, given enough time and the right acidic content. Over the long ages rivers and accumulated groundwater had cut down through the limestone base of the region, carving the once fiat floor of the ancient sea into hills and valleys. The existing rivers created the deepest valleys and the steepest cliffs, but though the stone walls that reared up and constrained the valleys often had a uniformity of height in any one section, they varied in elevation from place to place, following the pattern of hills above.
At a cursory glance, the vegetation of the dry, windy, high Causses on both sides of the primary river all seemed the same, similar to the open plains of the continental steppes to the east. Grass was most prevalent, with stunted junipers, pines, and spruces clinging to exposed areas near streams and ponds, and brush and small trees growing in the dips and dells.
But depending on where it grew, the plant life could be surprisingly different. The sparse tops and north-facing sides of the hills favored a more arctic herbage that flourished where it was cold and dry, while the south-facing slopes were greener and richer in lower-latitude boreal and temperate-climate plants.
The broad valley of the main river below was more lush, with deciduous trees and evergreens lining the banks. Showing a paler shade of green than they would later in the season, the freshly leafed-out trees were mostly the small-leaved varieties like silver birches and willows, but even conifers such as spruces and pines showed light-colored needles of new growth at the tips. The junipers, and occasional evergreen oaks, were more mottled with their spring color appearing at the ends of branches and twigs.
At times along its course, the waterway meandered through the middle of verdant meadows in the level flood-plains, with the tall grass of early summer turning to gold. In other places the curves and loops of The River’s course narrowed the stream and forced it to flow against the stone walls, closer to the cliffs on first one side and then the other.