The Land of Painted Caves - Jean M. Auel [179]
“Where do you want to meet?” Zelandoni asked.
“Perhaps at Jondecam’s sister’s Cave,” Beladora said. “Camora is also Kimeran’s sister, at least they were raised rogether, along with Jondecam. Camora lives at ther mate’s Cave, which is on the way to the Cave of my people.”
Ayla smiled at the beautiful woman with dark wavy hair and a full rounded figure, who also spoke with an accent, though it was not as unusual as hers. She felt a special bond with her, another foreign woman who had mated a Zelandonii man and returned with him. Ayla knew about the special circumstances of Kimeran and his much older sister, who took care of him along with her own children following the death of their mother. Her mate had also died young. She became a Zelandoni after her children and her brother were grown.
“There is highland between here and Beladora’s people if you try to go directly,” Kimeran was saying. “Good hunting for ibex and chamois, but difficult climbing in places even if you follow rivers. I thought we’d travel south and then east, and go around it. I think it might be easier for Gioneran and Ginadela, and for us when we have to carry them. Their legs are short still.” Kimeran smiled. “Not like mine, or yours, Jondalar.” There was warm feeling between Jondalar and the tall, blond man.
“Are you going to travel alone?” Zelandoni asked. “That may not be wise if you are taking the children.”
“We had thought of asking Jondecam, and Levela and her son, if they would like to come with us, but we wanted to ask you first, Zelandoni,” Beladora said.
“I think they would make good traveling companions,” the First said. “Yes, we could meet up with you along the way.”
Ayla was tapping her fingers on the side of her leg again. That’s sixteen in all, if Jonokol comes, she thought. But Amelana will only be with us on the way there, not the return visit, and we won’t meet up with Kimeran and the others until later.
“Will we be going to the Summer Meeting?” Jondalar asked.
“Only for a few days, I think,” Zelandoni said. “I will ask the Fourteenth and the Fifth to take care of my duties. Between them, I’m sure everything will get done, and I’ll be interested to know how they work together. I’ll send a runner to Jonokol before we go to the Meeting, to see if he wants to come along with us, and if he can. He may have other plans—after all, he is Zelandoni of the Nineteenth Cave now. I can’t just tell him what to do anymore … not that I ever could, even when he was my acolyte.”
The morning dawned sunny and bright the day the Ninth Cave left for the Summer Meeting. It had been raining on and off for several days before, but on this day the clouds were gone, and the sky shimmered with a crystalline brilliance that gave distant highlands an intense clarity. They traveled southwest this year, and the place where the Summer Meeting was being held was farther away than customary, which took them longer than usual to get there.
When they arrived, Ayla noticed that some people from more western Caves were there who were unknown to her. They were the ones who gawked a little longer at her with the three horses and the wolf, not to mention the pole-drags the horses were pulling, one of which carried the First. There was some disappointment when it was learned that the First and her acolyte with the unusual animals would not be staying long. Ayla thought she would have liked to stay and get to know some of the Zelandonii she hadn’t met, but she was also looking forward to the summer Journey the First had planned.
Jonokol did decide to join them. He had never made a very extensive Donier Tour, partly because in