THE SHELTERS OF STONE

"And Laramar is often drunk and just as irresponsible. He doesn't even care about the children of his hearth," Folara said with disgust. "Ayla found out that Tremeda had lost her milk, and Lanoga was trying to feed Lorala on nothing but mashed-up roots because that's all she knew how to make. Ayla got several of the new mothers to agree to nurse the baby, but Lanoga is still the one who takes care of her, and all the rest of Tremeda's children. Ayla showed her how to make other food that babies can eat, and she's the one who takes Lorala to the other mothers to nurse. She's really an amazing girl, and will be a wonderful mate and mother someday, but who knows if she'll ever find a mate? Laramar and Tremeda have the last-ranked hearth in our Cave. Who would be willing to mate the daughter of that hearth?"

Mardena and Denoda stared at the talkative young woman. Most people liked to gossip, but they were not usually so open about the ones who were an embarrassment to their own Cave. Denoda's rank had slipped since her daughter gave birth to Lanidar, and her mate had severed the knot. They weren't the lowest, but not far from it. Their Cave was much smaller, however. To be the last of such a large Cave was a low rank. But even if we were the first ranked, Lanidar will have trouble finding a mate, because of his affliction, Denoda thought.

"Would you like to go see some horses, Lanidar?" Ayla asked as they approached. "You can come, too, Lanoga."

"No, I can't. It's Stelona's turn to feed Lorala, and she's getting hungry. I didn't want to give her too much food until after she nurses."

"Maybe another time," Ayla said, smiling affectionately. "Are you ready, Lanidar?"

"Yes," he said, then he turned to the girl. "I have to go, Lanoga." She smiled shyly at him, and he smiled back.

As they passed by her lodge, Ayla said, "Lanidar, will you get that bowl over there? It has some horse food in it, pieces of wild carrot and some grains." He ran to get it.

Ayla noticed that he carried the bowl on his right side, supported against his body with his crippled arm, and she had an unexpected memory of Creb holding a bowl of red ochre paste against his body with the arm that had been amputated at the elbow, just before he named her son and accepted him into the clan. It brought a smile of joy and pain. Mardena was watching her and wondered. Denoda had noticed her expression, too, and wasn't as shy about mentioning it.

"You looked at Lanidar with such a strange smile," she said.

"He reminds me of someone I used to know," Ayla said. "A man who was missing the lower part of his arm. He had been attacked by a cave bear when he was a child. His grandmother was a healer, and she had to cut it off because it was poisoning his body. He would have died if she hadn't."

"What a terrible thing!" Denoda said.

"Yes, it was. He was blinded in one eye, too, by that attack, and his leg was hurt. He had to walk with a stick from then on."

"The poor boy. He had to be taken care of the rest of his life, I suppose," Mardena said.

"No," Ayla said. "He made a valuable contribution to his people."

"How did he manage? What did he do?"

"He became a great man, a mog-ur-that's like a Zelandoni-and he was recognized as the First. He and his sister were the ones who took care of me after my own family died. He was the man of my hearth, and I loved him very much," Ayla said.

Mardena was looking at her with jaw agape and her eyes open wide. She could hardly believe the woman, but why would someone lie about something like that?

As Ayla talked, Denoda became particularly conscious of her unusual accent, but the story made her understand why she seemed to have taken a liking to Lanidar. When she mates, she is going to be related to some very powerful people, and if she likes him, she could help him a lot. This woman might be the best thing that ever happened to the boy, she thought.

Lanidar had been listening, too. Maybe I could learn to hunt, he thought, even if I only have one good arm. Maybe I could learn to do something besides picking berries.

They were approaching a construction that was like a surround, except that it didn't seem particularly sturdy. It was made of long, thin, straight alder and willow poles lashed together in horizontal Xs with other poles across the top, attached to shorter, somewhat sturdier poles sunk into the ground. Bushes and tree branches, already drying out, loosely filled in the spaces between. If a herd of bison, for example, or even a large male-six feet six inches at the top of the hump on his shoulders, with long black horns-tried to break out, the enclosure would not have held. Even the horses could likely break it down, if they were determined.

"Do you remember how to whistle to call Racer, Lanidar?" Ayla asked.

"Yes, I think so," he said.

"Why don't you call him and see if he'll come?" she said.