The Land of Painted Caves (13 page)

“Tremeda has six children, the youngest little more than a one-year. The oldest sister, Lanoga, takes care of them, and she’s barely an eleven-year, herself,” Ayla said, trying to contain herself, but her irritation was obvious. “I think her brother, Bologan, tries to help, but he’s only a thirteen-year. They were trying to put up a tent for themselves last night when we walked past on our way here. But it was wet and falling apart, and they didn’t have any materials for a summer lodge. So we stayed and built one for them.”

“You built a summer lodge by yourselves? With nothing but local materials?” Tishona said, looking at them with awe.

“It was a small one,” Jondalar said, with a smile. “Just enough for their family. No one is sharing with them.”

“I’m not surprised,” Levela said, “but it is a shame. Those youngsters could use someone to help.”

“The Cave helps,” Tishona said, in defense of the Ninth Cave, of which she was now a member. “The other mothers even take turns nursing the baby.”

“I was wondering about that when you said Tremeda didn’t return and the youngest was little more than a one-year,” Levela said.

“Tremeda ran dry a year ago,” Ayla said.

It happens when you don’t nurse enough, she thought, but didn’t say it aloud. There were reasons, sometimes good ones, for a mother’s milk to dry up. She recalled when she had grieved so much after the death of her Clan mother, Iza, that she was oblivious to the needs of her own son. The other nursing mothers of Brun’s clan had been willing to feed Durc, but in her heart she would never quite get over it.

The other women of the Clan understood more than she that it was as much Creb’s fault as anyone’s. When Durc cried to be fed, instead of putting him in his grieving mother’s arms and letting him rouse her, he brought the baby to one of the other women to be fed. They knew he meant well, he hadn’t wanted to disturb Ayla in her sorrow, and they couldn’t refuse him. But the lack of nursing had made her sick with milk fever, and by the time she recovered, she was dry. Ayla held the baby girl in her arms a little closer.

“There you are, Ayla!” Proleva said as she approached. She had four other women with her.

Ayla recognized Beladora and Jayvena, the mates of the leaders of the Second and Seventh Caves, and nodded at them. They acknowledged her as well. She wondered if the other two women were also the mates of leaders. She thought she recognized one of them. The other was drawing back from Wolf.

“Zelandoni has been looking for you,” Proleva continued. “And several young men have been asking about you, Jondalar. I told them if I saw you, I’d tell you to meet them at Manvelar’s lodge in the camp of the Third Cave.”

“Proleva, where is the zelandonia lodge?” Ayla asked.

“Not far from the Third Cave’s camp, right next to the camp of the Twenty-sixth Cave,” Proleva said, pointing in the general direction.

“I didn’t know the Twenty-sixth had set up a camp,” Jondalar said.

“Stevadal likes to be in the middle of things,” Proleva said. “His whole Cave isn’t staying at the Meeting Camp, but there are a couple of lodges for those who happen to stay late and want a place to sleep. I’m sure there will be a lot of coming and going, at least until after the First Matrimonial.”

“When will that be?” Jondalar asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t think they’ve decided yet. Maybe Ayla can ask Zelandoni,” Proleva said, as she and the women with her continued on to wherever they were heading when she stopped to pass on the messages.

Ayla and Jondalar said their farewells and headed toward the camps to which they had been directed. When they neared the camp of the Third Cave, Ayla recognized the large zelandonia lodge with its ancillary lodges close by. Right now, she thought, recalling the Summer Meeting of the year before, the young women who were being prepared for their Rites of First Pleasures were cloistered in one of the special dwellings, while appropriate men were being selected for them. In the other lodge were the women who had decided to wear the red fringe, to be donii-women this season. They had chosen to make themselves available to the young men who were wearing puberty belts, to teach them how to understand a woman’s needs.

Pleasures were a Gift from the Mother, and the zelandonia considered it a sacred duty to make sure the first experience of young adults was appropriate and educational. It was felt that both young women and young men needed to learn how to appreciate the Mother’s Great Gift properly, and that older, more experienced people needed to demonstrate and explain, to share the Gift with them the first time under the discreet but watchful eyes of the zelandonia. It was a Rite of Passage too important to be left to chance encounters.

Both ancillary lodges were very well guarded since most men found them almost irresistible. Some men couldn’t even look in the direction of either lodge without feeling aroused. Men, especially young men who had already had their manhood rites but were not yet mated, tried to peek in, and sometimes sneak into the lodge of the young women, and some older men liked to hover around it in hopes of catching a glimpse. Nearly every available man wanted to be selected for a young woman’s First Rites, though there was also a certain anxiety involved if they were. They knew they would be observed and they feared they might not perform well, but there was also a special sense of satisfaction when they did. Most men also had exciting memories of their own donii-women when they first became men.

But there were restrictions imposed on those who had the important task of sharing and teaching the Mother’s Gift of Pleasure. Neither the selected men nor the donii-women were to have any close ties with the younger ones for a year after the ceremony. They were considered too impressionable, too vulnerable, and not without reason. It wasn’t unusual for a young woman who had had a pleasurable first experience with an older man to want to share it again, even though it was forbidden. After First Rites, she could have any other man she wanted—who also wanted her—but that made her first partner all the more appealing. Jondalar had been chosen often before he went on his Journey, and he had learned to gently evade sometimes persistent young women with whom he’d shared a loving and tender ceremonial experience, who tried to get him alone. But it was, in a sense, easier for the men. Theirs was a single event; one night of special Pleasure.

The donii-women were expected to be available for the entire summer, or more, especially if they were acolytes. Young men had frequent urges, and it took a while for them to learn that the needs of women were different, their satisfactions more varied. But the donii-women were required to make sure that the young men didn’t form a lasting attachment, which was sometimes difficult.

Jondalar’s donii-woman was The First, when she was known as Zolena, and she had taught him well. Later, after he returned to the Ninth Cave after spending several years with Dalanar, he was often chosen. But at the time of his puberty, he became so enamored of Zolena, he would choose none of the other donii-women. More, he wanted her to be his mate, even though there was an age difference. The difficulty was that she also developed strong feelings for the tall, handsome, extremely charismatic young man with the pale blond hair and unusually vivid blue eyes, and that had created problems for both of them.

   When they reached Manvelar’s lodge, they knocked on a wood panel near the entrance, and speaking in a louder voice, said who they were. He called to them to come in.

“Wolf is with us,” Ayla said.

“Bring him in,” Morizan said as he pushed open the door drape.

Ayla hadn’t seen much of Manvelar’s son since the lion hunt, and she smiled cordially at him. After everyone had been greeted, Ayla said, “I need to go to the zelandonia lodge. Could you keep Wolf, Jondalar? Sometimes he creates such a distraction, he disrupts things. I like to ask Zelandoni first, before I bring him there.”

“If no one minds,” Jondalar said, giving Morizan and Manvelar and the others in the lodge a questioning look.

“It’s fine. He can stay,” Manvelar said.

Ayla stooped down and looked at the animal. “Stay with Jondalar,” she said, making the hand signal at the same time. He nosed the baby and made her giggle, then sat down. Whining with concern, he anxiously watched her as she and the baby left, but he didn’t follow her.

When she reached the imposing lodge of the zelandonia, she tapped on the panel, and said, “It’s Ayla.”

“Come in,” she heard the familiar voice of the First Among Those Who Served The Great Earth Mother say. The drape covering the opening was pushed aside by a male acolyte and Ayla stepped in. Though oil lamps were burning, it was dark inside and she stood without moving for a while, waiting for her eyes to adjust. When she could finally see where she was going, she saw a group of people sitting near the large figure of the First. “Come join us, Ayla,” she said. She had waited before speaking, knowing how the darkness inside left people momentarily blinded.

As Ayla headed toward them, Jonayla started fussing. The change in lighting had disconcerted the baby. A couple of acolytes made a space for her, and she sat down between them, but before she could focus her attention on the proceedings inside, she had to settle her child. Thinking that she might be hungry, she exposed her breast and brought the baby to it. Everyone waited. She was the only one there with a child and she wondered if she had interrrupted something important, but she had been given a message that Zelandoni wanted to see her.

When Jonayla settled down, the First said, “I’m glad to see you here, Ayla. We didn’t see you last night.”

“No, we didn’t make it to the Meeting Camp,” she said.

Some of the people who hadn’t met her before were surprised at the way she said certain words. It made them curious. It wasn’t like anything they had heard before. They had no trouble understanding her; she knew the language well, and had a pleasing low-pitched voice, but it was unusual.

“Were you or the baby not feeling well?” the First asked.

“No, we were fine. Jondalar and I went to check on the horses, and on our way back we saw Lanoga and Bologan trying to build a shelter. They didn’t have any materials for a lodge, and were trying to put up the tent poles. We stayed and built a lodge for them.”

The First frowned. “Where were Tremeda and Laramar?”

“Lanoga said they argued, Laramar left saying he was going to stay in a fa’lodge, Tremeda went after him, and neither one returned. Janida just told me that she saw Tremeda last night with some men who were drinking barma and gaming. I guess she got distracted,” Ayla said.

“So it would seem,” the Zelandoni of the Ninth Cave said. Though she was First, she was still responsible for the well-being of her Cave. “The children have a place now?”

“You built them an entire lodge?” said a man who was a stranger to Ayla.

“Not as big as this one,” Ayla said with a smile, waving her hand to indicate the especially large shelter of the zelandonia. Jonayla seemed to have had enough. She let go and Ayla picked her up, put her over her shoulder and started patting her back. “They aren’t sharing with anyone so it just had to be big enough for the family, the children and Tremeda and Laramar, if he decides to come back.”

“How nice of you,” someone said. The tone sounded rather derisive. Ayla looked and saw that it was Zelandoni of the Fourteenth who had spoken, an older, rather skinny woman whose thin hair always seemed to be falling out of her bun.

Ayla noticed that Madroman, who was sitting near the Fourteenth, along with the Zelandoni of the Fifth Cave, turned to look at her with a condescending expression. He was the one whose front teeth Jondalar had knocked out in a fight when they were younger. She knew that Jondalar didn’t like him, and she suspected the feeling was mutual. She didn’t much care for him either. With her ability to interpret nuances of attitude and expression, she always felt a certain deceit in his manner, a falseness in his smiling greetings, a lack of sincerity in his offers of welcome and friendliness, but she had always tried to treat him politely.

“Ayla has taken a special interest in the children of that family,” the First said, careful to keep the exasperation out of her voice. The Zelandoni of the Fourteenth had been an annoyance ever since the Zelandoni of the Ninth Cave had become First, always trying to provoke someone, particularly her. The woman had felt she was next in line and had expected to be made First. She never quite got over the fact that the younger Zelandoni of the Ninth had been chosen instead.

“It seems they need it,” said the same man who had commented earlier.

Jonayla had fallen asleep on her shoulder. Ayla took her carrying blanket and spread it out on the ground, the young acolyte on her right moved over to make room, then she put her infant down on it.

“Yes, they do,” the First was saying, shaking her head; then she realized that Ayla didn’t know the man, and though he had no doubt heard of her, he had not met her. “I don’t think everyone here has met my new acolyte. Perhaps some introductions would be in order.”

“What happened to Jonokol?” Zelandoni of the Fifth Cave asked.

“He moved to the Nineteenth Cave,” the First said. “The White Hollow that was found last year enticed him. He always was more artist than acolyte, but he’s serious about the zelandonia now. He wants to be sure that whatever is done with the new cave is appropriate … no, more than that. He wants it to be right. That white cave has called him now, more than any training could have done.”

“Where are the Nineteenth Cave? Are they coming this year?”

“I believe they are, but they haven’t arrived yet,” the One Who Was First said. “I will be glad to see Jonokol; I miss his skills, but fortunately Ayla arrived with many skills of her own. She is already a fine healer, and brings some very interesting knowledge and techniques. I am pleased she has begun training. Ayla, will you stand so I can introduce you formally?”

Ayla got up and took a few steps to stand beside the First, who waited until everyone was looking at them, then said, “May I present to you Ayla of the Zelandonii, mother of Jonayla, Blessed of Doni, acolyte of the Zelandoni of the Ninth Cave, the One Who Is First Among Those Who Serve The Great Earth Mother. She is mated to Jondalar, son of Marthona, former leader of the Ninth Cave and brother to Joharran, present leader. Formerly she was a Mamutoi of the Lion Camp, the Mammoth Hunters who live far to the east, and an acolyte of Mamut, who adopted her as Daughter of the Mammoth Hearth, which is their zelandonia. She was also chosen and physically marked by the spirit of the Cave Lion, her totem, and is protected by the spirit of the Cave Bear. She is a friend of the horses, Whinney and Racer, and the new filly, Gray, and the four-legged hunter she calls Wolf.”