The clan of the cave bear_ a novel - Jean M. Auel [65]
When Vorn saw Aba go over and sit beside her daughter, he wanted to know why all the women were at Mog-ur’s fire. He wandered over and crawled on Aga’s lap beside his sibling to see what was going on, but Ona was still nursing, so the old woman picked up the boy and held him on her lap. He couldn’t see anything of great interest, just the medicine woman resting, so he wandered off again.
The women started leaving not long afterward, to begin preparing evening meals. Uka stayed with Iza, though Ebra and Oga kept glancing over inconspicuously while they cooked. Ebra served Creb as well as Brun, then brought food for Uka, Iza, and Ayla. Ovra cooked for her mother’s mate, but she and Oga returned quickly when Grod went over to Brun’s hearth to join the leader and Creb. They didn’t want to miss anything and sat down beside Ayla who hadn’t stirred from her place.
Iza only sipped a little tea and Ayla wasn’t very hungry either. She picked at her food, unable to eat with the tight knot constricting her stomach. What’s wrong with Iza? Why isn’t she getting up to make Creb’s evening meal? Why isn’t Creb here asking the spirits to make her well? Why is he staying with all the rest of the men at Brun’s hearth?
Iza was straining harder. Every few moments she took several quick breaths, then pushed hard holding the hands of the two women. Every member of the clan kept vigil as the night wore on. The men were clustered around the leader’s fire, apparently involved in some deep discussion. But the occasional surreptitious glances betrayed their real interest. The women visited periodically, checking on Iza’s progress, sometimes staying for a while. They all waited, united in their encouragement and anticipation while their medicine woman labored to give birth.
It was well after dark. Suddenly there was a flurry of activity. Ebra spread out a hide while Uka helped Iza up into a squatting position. She was breathing hard, straining hard, crying out in pain. Ayla was trembling, sitting between Ovra and Oga who groaned and strained in sympathy with Iza. The woman took a deep breath, and with a long, teeth-gritting, muscle-straining push, the round crown of the baby’s head appeared in a gush of water. Another tremendous effort eased out the baby’s head. The rest was easier as Iza delivered the wet, squirming body of a tiny infant.
A final push brought forth a mass of bloody tissue. Iza lay down again, exhausted from her labor, while Ebra picked up the baby, extracted a gob of mucus from its mouth with her finger, and laid the newborn on Iza’s stomach. As she thumped the baby’s feet, the infant’s mouth opened and a loud squall announced the first breath of life of Iza’s first child. Ebra tied a piece of red-dyed sinew around the umbilical cord and bit off the part still attached to the placental mass, then lifted the baby for Iza to see. She got up and went back to her own hearth to report the medicine woman’s successful delivery and the gender of the child to her mate. She sat in front of Brun, bowed her head, and looked up at a tap on her shoulder.
8
“I am grieved to report,” Ebra said, making the customary gesture of sorrow, “Iza’s baby is a girl.”
But the news was not received with sorrow. Brun was relieved, though he would never admit it. The arrangement of the magician providing for his sibling, especially with the addition of Ayla to the clan, was working out well and the leader was reluctant to change it. Mog-ur was doing a creditable job of training the newcomer, much better than he expected. Ayla was learning to communicate and to behave within Clan customs. Creb was not only relieved, he was overjoyed. In his old age, for the first time in his life, he had come to know the pleasures of a warm and loving family,