The Land of Painted Caves - Jean M. Auel [342]
The question brought an uproar. “Tell them!” “We can’t tell them!” “It would be too much for them.” “Think how much it would upset everything.”
The First waited until the disturbance settled down; then she looked at the assembled zelandonia with a fierce glare. “Do you think Doni made this known so you could withhold it from Her Children? Do you think Ayla suffered those agonies, or that she was required to sacrifice her baby just so the zelandonia would have something to argue about? The zelandonia are Those Who Serve The Mother. It is not for us to say whether or not Her children may know. It is our task to decide how to tell them.”
There was contrite silence; then the Zelandoni of the Fourteenth said, “It will take time to plan an appropriate ceremony. Perhaps we should wait until next year. This season is almost over. Everyone will be going back soon.”
“Yes,” the Zelandoni of the Third quickly agreed. “Perhaps the best way would be to let each zelandoni tell his own Cave, in his own way, after he’s had some time to think about it.”
“The ceremony will be held three days from now and Ayla will tell them,” the First announced unequivocally. “It was Ayla who was given the Gift. It is her place, her duty to tell the rest. She was called this season, and sent to this Summer Meeting for that reason.” The First glared at her fellow Doniers; then her expression softened, and her tone became cajoling. “Wouldn’t it be better to get it over with now? With the season so close to the end, there won’t be time for too many difficulties to arise before we leave—and you can be sure there will be difficulties—but this way we will have all winter to get our own Caves used to the idea. By next season there shouldn’t be any reason for problems.”
The First wished she really believed that. Unlike the rest of the zelandonia, the First had thought about a man’s contribution to creating new life for many years, even before her first conversation with Ayla. The fact that Ayla had come to her own similar conclusions was one of the reasons the woman had wanted her to become Zelandoni. Her observations were too perceptive, and she wasn’t restricted by Zelandonii beliefs fed to her with mother’s milk.
That was why Zelandoni had decided as soon as she heard Ayla tell about her experience in the cave, that the idea must be made known immediately, when everyone was still together. And while the zelandonia were still bewildered by it. She would have set the ceremony for the next day if she had thought it was possible to arrange it.
As she often did under the guise of resting or meditating, and seeming to ignore her surroundings, the woman waited and watched for a while as the zelandonia began to make plans. At first they were tentative.
She heard the Eleventh say, “Maybe a good approach might be to try to duplicate Ayla’s own experience.”
“We don’t have to show her entire experience, just the essence of it,” said the Twenty-third.
“If we had a cave large enough to hold everyone, it would help,” the Zelandoni of the Second Cave said.
“We’ll have to let the darkness of night act as the walls of a cave,” the Fifth said. “If we have just one fire in the middle, it will help to concentrate everyone’s attention.”
Good, the First thought, listening to the Doniers speaking among themselves. They are starting to think of how to plan the ceremony rather than thinking of objections to it.
“We should have drums for the Mother’s Song.”
“And singing.”
“The Ninth doesn’t sing.”
“Her voice is so distinctive, it doesn’t matter.”
“We can have singing in the background. Without words, just the sound.”
“If we slow the cadence of the drums, the Mother’s Song will have a greater impact, especially at the end when she speaks the last verse.”
Ayla seemed at a loss with all the attention as more suggestions were made for her part, but after a while even she seemed to be getting involved with the arrangements. “The visitors from the Mamutoi, the two young men, Danug and Druwez, they know how to play drums so that they actually