Zelandoni had followed the child back, at a slower pace, but smiled warmly at Ayla as she approached. After they had embraced in greeting she asked, “You finished your watching?”
“Yes, and glad of it, but it was exciting to see the sun stop and turn back, and mark it myself. The only problem was not having anyone there to share it with who really understood. I kept thinking of you,” Ayla said.
Zelandoni observed the young woman closely. There was a different air about her; Ayla had changed. The woman tried to find it. Ayla has lost weight—has she been sick? She should be starting to show, but her waistline is thinner and her breasts are smaller. O, Doni, she thought. She isn’t pregnant anymore! She must have miscarried.
But there was something else, a new assurance in her manner, an acceptance of the tragedy, a self-confident poise. She knew who she was—and who she was, was Zelandoni! She has been “called”! She must have lost the baby, then.
“We’re going to have to talk, aren’t we, Ayla?” Zelandoni Who Was First said, stressing her name. She could be called Ayla, but she wasn’t Ayla anymore.
“Yes,” the young woman said. She didn’t have to say more. She knew that the One Who Was First Among Those Who Served The Mother understood.
“We should do it soon.”
“Yes, we should.”
“And, Ayla, I am sorry. I know you wanted the baby,” she said quietly. Before Ayla could respond, more people crowded around.
Nearly all her close friends and kin came to the camp to greet her. Everyone seemed to be there except Jondalar, and no one seemed to know where he was. Usually when a person was leaving the Meeting Camp to go off by themselves or with just one or two others, someone was told where they were going. Ayla might have begun to worry, but no one else seemed to. Most people stayed to have a meal or a snack. They recounted events that had taken place, talked about people, who was getting mated, who’d had another child or was expecting one, who had decided to sever the knot, or take a second mate—friendly gossip.
In the afternoon, people started wandering off to other activities. Ayla arranged her sleeping roll and the rest of the belongings that she had brought with her. She was glad she had taken the horses to the meadow in the woods earlier, and the corral that had been fenced for the horses, not so much to keep them in as to keep people out. Horses in a meadow were fair game under normal circumstances. Though everyone knew about the horses the Ninth Cave brought with them, just to leave no doubt that these were in fact those special horses, the area was conspicuously fenced. Jondalar and Jonayla often took them to the grassy steppes, to ride, or just to let them graze, but whenever they were not in the enclosure, she knew someone was with them.
Jonayla left with Zelandoni and Wolf to go back to the area of the zelandonia to finish working out the details of the special evening that was planned. Ayla decided to give Whinney a good grooming after the hot, dusty ride, and went to the horse meadow with soft p
ieces of leather and teasel brushes. She brushed Racer and Gray a bit, too, just to give them a scratching and some attention.
She looked at the small stream that flowed along the edge of the grassy glen before emptying into The River, and remembered the last time the Meeting was in this location. There was a swimming hole some distance upstream, she recalled. Not many people knew about it because it was far enough away from the Meeting Camp to make it inconvenient for general use. She hadn’t known her adopted people as well then, and she and Jondalar used to go there when they wanted to get away from the crowds and spend some time alone together.
A swim would feel good right now, she thought, and the river is muddy from so much use. She started walking upstream toward the bend in the small stream that cut a deeper hole near the outside edge and left a grassy strand with a beach of small pebbles on the inside curve. She smiled thinking about Jondalar and what they used to do beside that stream. She’d been thinking about him so much, thinking about how he could make her feel. She felt herself warming to his imagined touch, and even noticed a wetness between her legs. Wouldn’t it be fun to try to make another baby? she thought.
As she approached the swimming hole, she heard splashing, and then voices, and almost turned back. Sounds like someone else has found this place, she thought. I’d hate to disturb another couple looking for a place to be alone. But it might not be a couple. It might just be some people going for a swim. As she approached, she heard a woman’s voice, and then a man’s. She couldn’t make out the words, but something about that voice bothered her.
She moved as silently as she ever had when stalking an animal with her sling. She heard more talking, then a deep laugh of sheer abandon. She knew that laugh, though she hadn’t heard it much recently, and it was rare enough in any case. Then she heard the woman’s voice, and recognized it. She had a peculiar sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she looked through the bushes that skirted the small beach.
32
Jondalar and Marona were just coming out of the water as Ayla looked through the bushes. With a stab of anguish, she watched Marona turn to face Jondalar, put her arms around him and press her naked body close to his, then reach up to kiss him. Jondalar bent down to meet her lips. With fascinated horror, she watched his hands begin to caress her body. How many times had she felt his knowing hands?
Ayla wanted to run, but she couldn’t move. They moved a few steps closer, toward a soft leather hide spread out on the grass just in front of her. She could see that he wasn’t really aroused. But no one had seen him since she arrived, he’d been gone all day, and it was obvious to her that they had already used the leather blanket, at least once. Marona pressed against him again, kissed him deeply, as though with great hunger, then slowly dropped down in front of him. With a languid, knowing laugh, Marona enclosed her mouth around his flaccid manhood while Jondalar stood looking down at her.
Ayla could see his mounting excitement in his expression of intense pleasure. She had never seen his face when she did that to him—was that how he looked? As Marona moved rhythmically back and forth, his tumescent organ pushed her farther away from him as it began to extend.
It was an agony for Ayla to see him with her. She could hardly breathe, her stomach knotted in pain, her head pounded. She had never experienced this kind of feeling before. Was this anguish jealousy? Was this how Jondalar felt when I went to Ranec’s bed? she thought. Why didn’t he tell me? I didn’t know then, I never felt jealousy before, and he never told me. He only said it was my right to choose who I wanted.
That means it’s his right to be there with Marona!
Her eyes filled with tears, she couldn’t stand it, she had to get away. She turned and started to run blindly through the small woods, but she tripped on an exposed root and crashed to the ground.
“Who’s there? What’s going on?” Ayla heard Jondalar’s voice call out. She scrambled to her feet and started off again as Jondalar pushed the brush aside. “Ayla? Ayla!” he said in shocked surprise. “What are you doing here?”
She turned to face the man who was coming after her. “I didn’t mean to interfere,” she said, trying to compose herself. “You have the right to couple with whoever you want, Jondalar. Even Marona.”
Marona pushed through the screen of bushes and stood close to Jondalar, pressing her body against him. “That’s right, Ayla,” she said with an exultant laugh. “He can couple with whoever he wants. What do you expect a man to do when his mate is too busy for him? We have coupled often, and not only this summer. Why do you think I moved back to the Ninth Cave? He didn’t want me to tell you, but now that you’ve found out, you might as well know the whole story.” She laughed again; then with a vicious sneer she said, “You may have stolen him from me, Ayla, but you haven’t been able to keep him to yourself.”
“I didn’t steal him from you, Marona. I didn’t even know you until I arrived here. Jondalar chose me of his own free will. Now he can choose you, if he wants, but tell me, do you really love him? Or are you just trying to cause trouble?” Ayla said. Then she turned and with as much dignity as she could gather, she hurried away.
Jondalar shrugged off the woman hanging on him and caught up with Ayla in a few strides. “Ayla, please wait! Let me explain!” he said.
“What is there to explain? Marona is right. How could I expect anything else? You were in the middle of something, Jondalar. Why don’t you go back and finish it,” she said, starting away again. “I’m sure Marona will be able to arouse you once more. She had you well on your way.”