The three women left together to have a morning meal. They planned that the meeting should start when the sun was highest in the sky, but people started gathering on the slope earlier to find seating and standing places with enough elevation so they could see and hear better. Everyone knew this was a serious meeting, but there was still
a feeling of celebration and festivity in the air, mostly because of the sociability of being together, especially since it was unplanned. And because people were glad that the vicious troublemaker had been caught.
By the time the sun was high, the meeting area was filled to overflowing. Zelandoni First started the meeting and began by welcoming the First Among Those Who Serve The Great Earth Mother, and the rest of the visitors. She explained that the First was accompanying her acolyte, and her former acolyte, who was now a Zelandoni, on their Donier Tour, and had come to see the Most Ancient Sacred Site. She also mentioned that the First’s acolyte and her mate had captured Balderan and three of his men, when they tried to attack her. That information brought an undercurrent of voices from the audience.
“That is the main reason we called this gathering. Balderan has caused pain and suffering to many of you for many years. But now that we have him, we have to decide what to do with him. Whatever punishment we mete out to him should be something we all feel is appropriate,” Zelandoni First said.
Someone in the audience said, “Kill him,” in a loud whisper that everyone heard, including the zelandonia.
The One Who Was First responded, “That may well be the appropriate punishment, but who will do it, and how, is the question. It could be very unlucky if it is not handled properly,” the large woman said, “for all of us. The Mother has declared strong prohibitions against people killing other people, except in extraordinary circumstances. In an effort to find a solution for coping with Balderan, we don’t want to become what he is.”
“How did she catch him?” someone asked.
“You should ask her,” the First said, turning to Ayla.
This kind of situation always made her nervous, but she took a deep breath and tried to answer the question. “I have been a hunter since I was very young, and the weapon I first learned to use was a stone hurled with a sling,” she began. For those who had not heard her speak before, her accent was a surprise. It was rare for a foreigner to become part of the zelandonia and she had to wait until people quieted down before she could continue. “Now you know, I was not born a Zelandonii,” she said with a smile. Her comment brought a small chuckle from the audience.
“I was raised far to the east of here, and I met Jondalar when he was on his Journey.” People were settling down, getting ready to listen to what could be a very good story.
“When Balderan and his men first saw me, I had gone behind the trees for some privacy, and when I stood up to pull my leggings back on, they were staring at me. It made me angry that they were so impolite, and I told them so. Not that it did any good.” That brought a few chuckles from the group. “I usually keep my sling wrapped around my head; it is an easy way to carry it. When he came after me, I don’t think Balderan understood that it was a weapon as I began to unwind it.”
She unwound her sling as she was talking, then reached into her pouch and took out two of the stones she had collected from the dry streambed near their former camp earlier. She put the two ends of the sling together and placed a stone in the middle of a leather strap in a pocket that had formed from use. She had already selected a target: a varying hare in its brown summer coat sitting off to the side on a rock next to its hole. At the last minute, she also spied a pair of mallards, which had taken off from their nests near the river. With swift sure movements, she flung the first stone, and then the second.
People spoke out their surprise. “Did you see that!” “She killed that duck right out of the sky!” “She killed a rabbit, too!” The demonstration gave them a sense of her skill.
“I didn’t want to kill Balderan,” Ayla said.
“But she could have,” Jonokol interjected, which brought another murmur of voices.
“I only wanted to stop him, so I aimed for his thigh. I think he may have a good bruise to show for it. I hit the other man on the arm.” She whistled for Wolf, who came immediately at her call. That also brought a flurry of comments from the assembled group. “Balderan and the others didn’t notice Wolf at first. This wolf is my friend and he will do what I ask him to. When a third man tried to run away, I told Wolf to stop him. He didn’t attack him or try to kill him; he bit at the man’s ankle and tripped him. Then Jondalar came around the trees with his spear-thrower.
“As we were bringing those men here, Balderan tried to run away. Jondalar used his spear-thrower to cast a spear. It just missed Balderan’s ear. So he stopped,” Ayla said. “Jondalar is very accurate with a spear-thrower.” Again there were chuckles.
“I told you they didn’t stand a chance,” Willamar said to Demoryn, who was standing next to him. They were taking a turn at guarding Balderan and the others, who also heard everything that was said.
“When I saw how these men behaved toward me, I thought they were probably troublemakers. That’s why we brought them with us, though they did not want to come. It was only after we arrived at the Third Cave of Watchers that we understood how much trouble they had caused over the years,” Ayla said. She paused, looking down. It seemed obvious that she had more to say.
“I am a healer, a medicine woman. I have helped many women give birth. Fortunately, most babies are perfectly healthy when they are born, but some children of the Mother are not born right. I have seen some that are not. Usually, if the problem is serious, they don’t survive. The Mother takes them back because only She can fix them, but some have a strong will to live. Even with serious problems, they live and often give much to their people,” Ayla said.
“I was raised by a man who was a great Mog-ur, that is the word the people of the Clan use for Zelandoni. He had only one usable arm and walked with a limp, a problem from birth, and he had only one eye and his weak arm was further damaged when a cave bear chose him and became his totem. He was a very wise man who served his people, and was very well respected. There is also a boy who lives not far from our Cave, who was born with a deformed arm. His mother was afraid that he would never be able to hunt, and perhaps never become a real man, but he learned to use the spear-thrower with his good arm, became a good hunter and gained respect, and now has a fine young woman as his mate.
“When a child is born dead, or leaves this world and walks the next soon after birth, it is because the only way a person who is not born right can be fixed is to return to the Mother, so She takes them back. Although it is much easier to say than to do, one should not grieve for such children; the Mother has taken them back so they can be made right.”
Ayla reached into a haversack she wore over one shoulder and took out a small bowl with a lid. She opened it and held up the two-headed snake. There were startled ooohs. “Some things are not right when they are born, and it is obvious.” The tongues flicked out of the mouths of both heads as she showed the little creature. “The only way this snake can be fixed is to return it to the Mother. Sometimes that is what should be done.
“But sometimes someone is born wrong, and it is not obvious. When you look at them they seem normal, but they are not right inside. Just like this little snake, the only way they can be fixed is to return them to the Mother. Only She can fix them.”
Balderan and his men were also listening to Ayla’s story. “We’re going to have to watch for our chance soon, if we’re going to get away from here,” Balderan said, under his breath. He had no desire to be returned to the Mother. For the first time in his life he began to feel the fear he had so often caused others to feel.
“I think that was a very appropriate way to talk about what needs to be done,” Zelandoni First said as she was walking back to the zelandonia pavilion, along with the First, Ayla, and Jonokol. Wolf was sedately following Ayla, as she had signaled. She wanted people to know that while he was an efficient four-legged hunter, unlike Balderan, he was not an indiscriminate killer. “It will help people accept it if they can think about sending Balderan back to the Mother to be made right. What made you think of it?”
“I don’t know,” Ayla said, “but when I saw the dwarfed young man who came with Beladora’s people, I knew that there was no medicine that could help him to grow into a normal size, at least none that I knew of. Then that little snake made me understand that there are some things only the Mother could fix, if not in this world, then perhaps in the next.”
“Have you met the young man?” Zelandoni First asked.
“No, not yet.”
“Nor have I,” the First said.