The Land of Painted Caves - Jean M. Auel [54]
She thought most people would think that he was handsome. She did, though she didn’t fully trust her sense of who was attractive to her own kind of people, the “Others” to the Clan. Her perception of who looked good was strongly influenced by the standards of the people who raised her. She thought people of the Clan were handsome, but most of the Others did not, though many had never seen any, and most of those who had, had only seen them from a distance. She watched some of the young women acolytes and decided that they were attracted to the man who was speaking. Some of the older women seemed to be, too. In any case, he was very good at communicating the lore. The First seemed to agree. She asked him to continue.
“The Fourth Primary color is Clear,” he said. “Clear is the color of the wind, the color of water. Clear can show all colors, as when you look in a still pond and see a reflection, or when drops of rain sparkle in all colors when the sun comes out. Both Blue and White are aspects of Clear. When you look at wind, it is clear, but when you look into the sky, you see blue. Water in a lake, or in the Great Waters of the West, is often blue, and the water seen on glaciers is a deep, vivid blue.”
Like Jondalar’s eyes, Ayla thought. She remembered when they were crossing the glacier that it was the only time she saw a blue color that matched his eyes. She wondered if the Zelandoni of the Twenty-sixth Cave had ever been on a glacier.
“Some fruit is blue,” he was saying. “especially berries, and some flowers, although blue flowers are more rare. Many people have blue eyes, or blue mixed with gray, which is also an aspect of Clear. Snow is white, as are clouds in the sky, or gray when they are mixed with dark to make rain, but their true color is Clear. Ice is clear though it may appear white, but you know the true color of snow and ice as soon as they melt, and clouds when they rain. There are many white flowers, and one can find white earth in certain places. There is a location not far from the Ninth Cave where white earth, kaolin, can be found,” he said, looking directly at Ayla, “but it is still an aspect of Clear.”
The Zelandoni Who Was First picked up the lecture. “The Fifth Sacred Color is Dark, sometimes called black. It is the color of night, the color of charcoal after fire has burned the life out of the wood. It is the color that overcomes the color of life, Red, especially as it ages. Some have said that black is the darkest shade of old red, but it is not. Dark is the absence of light, and the absence of life. It is the color of death. It does not even have an ephemeral life; there are no black flowers. Deep caves show the primary color of Dark in its truest form.”
When she finished, she stopped and looked at the assembled acolytes. “Are there any questions?” she said. There was a diffident silence, some shifting and shuffling, but no one spoke out. She knew there probably were questions, but no one wanted to be first, or appear not to understand if everyone else did, or seemed to. It was all right—questions could come later, and would. Since so many of the acolytes were there, and she had their attention, the First wondered if she should continue with the instruction. Too much at one time was hard to retain, and people’s minds could wander. “Would you like to hear more?”
Ayla glanced at her baby and noticed that she was still asleep. “I would,” she said softly. There were other murmurs and sounds from the group, most of them positive.
“Would someone like to talk about another way that we know five is a powerful symbol?” the One Who Was First asked.
“One can see five wandering stars in the sky,