THE SHELTERS OF STONE

Folara has a lot of important names and ties, Mardena thought as her mother began her recitation. She's not yet mated, I wonder what her kinship sign is? Then, as though her mother knew what she was thinking, as she finished her names and ties, the woman asked, "Wasn't Willamar, the man of your hearth, once of the Nineteenth Cave? I think we share a kinship sign. I am the Bison."

"Yes, Willamar is the Bison. Mother is the Horse, I am, too, of course."

Several people had gathered around in the course of the formal introduction. Ayla stepped forward and greeted Mardena and Lanidar, and then Willamar greeted Denoda in the name of the entire Ninth Cave. Names and ties could take all day if someone didn't cut it short. He finished by saying, "I remember you, Denoda. You were a friend of my older sister, weren't you."

"Yes," she said, smiling. "Do you ever see her? Since she moved so far away, I haven't seen her in years."

"Sometimes I visit her Cave when I go to the coast of the Great Waters of the West to trade for salt. She is a grandma. Her daughter has three children, and a grandam as well. Her son's mate has a boy."

A movement around Ayla's legs caught Mardena's attention.

"That's the wolf!" she almost screamed in her fear.

"He won't hurt you, mother," Lanidar said, trying to calm her. He didn't want her to leave suddenly.

Ayla bent down and put her arm around him. "No, he won't hurt you. I promise," she said. She could see the fear in the woman's eyes. Marthona stepped forward and greeted Denoda, much more informally, then said, "The wolf lives in our lodge with us, and he likes to be greeted, too. Would you like to meet a wolf, Denoda?" She had noticed that the older woman showed more interest than fear. She took her by the hand and led her toward Ayla and Wolf. "Ayla, why don't you introduce him to our guests."

"Wolves have good eyes, but they learn to recognize people with their noses. If you give him a chance to smell your hand, he will remember you later. That is his formal introduction," Ayla explained. The woman held out her hand and allowed the wolf to smell it. "If you'd like to greet him, he likes to be stroked on the head."

Wolf looked up at Denoda as she lightly stroked his head, with his mouth open and his tongue lolling out the side. She smiled at him. "He is a warm, living animal," she said. She turned to her daughter. "Come, Mardena. You should meet him, too. Very few people ever get to meet a wolf, and walk away to tell about it."

"Do I have to?" Mardena said.

It was obvious that Mardena was uncommonly frightened, and Ayla knew Wolf would smell it. She held him firmly. He didn't always respond well to such evident fear.

"Since they offered, it's the polite thing to do, Mardena. And you'll never be able to visit again if you don't. You will be too afraid. You don't need to fear this wolf. You can see that no one else does, not even me. So why should you?" Denoda said.

Mardena looked around and saw the large crowd watching her. She thought it was probably the whole Ninth Cave, and none of them seemed to be afraid. She felt as though she were on trial and was sure she'd be too humiliated to face any of them again if she didn't go close to that wolf. She looked at her son, the boy for whom she'd always felt mixed emotions. She loved him more than anything in her life, and she was embarrassed by him, by the fact that she gave birth to him.

"Go ahead, mother," he said. "I met him."

Finally, Mardena put one foot toward the woman and the wolf, and then another. When she reached them, Ayla took her hand and, holding it in hers, brought it to the wolf's nose. She could almost smell her fear, but the woman did overcome it and face the animal. Ayla thought Wolf probably smelled her own hand more than Mardena's. Then she took the hand and led her to touch the fur on his head.

"Wolf fur can be a little rough, but you'll notice how smooth it is on his head," Ayla said, letting go of her hand. Mardena kept it there a moment longer before pulling it away.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Denoda said. "Sometimes you make more of things than you need to, Mardena."

"Come and have some hot tea, it's a mixture that Ayla makes," and it's quite good," Marthona said. "We decided to make an occasion of your visit, and cooked everything in a roasting pit. We're almost ready to take it out."

Ayla was walking with Mardena and Lanidar. "That's a lot of work to go to for a morning meal," Mardena said. She wasn't used to being treated so generously.