The Land of Painted Caves - Jean M. Auel [74]
“I’m familiar with that one. It grows so thick, it sometimes forms a mat on the ground, and birds like the berries. Some people call it birdberry,” the First said. “Alfalfa tea might help restore strength, also a decoction of the roots and bark of spikenard …” She stopped when she saw the puzzled expression on Ayla’s face. “It’s a tall bush with big leaves and purple berries … the flowers are small, greenish white … I’ll show you sometime. It can help if the sac that holds the baby inside a woman drops down, slips out of place. That’s why I’d like to examine her, so I know what to give her. Zelandoni of the Twenty-sixth is a good general healer, but he may not be as knowledgeable about women’s ailments. I’ll have to talk to him before we leave today.”
After a polite length of time, the men who came to help build the pole-drag and then went to visit the home shelter of the Twenty-sixth Cave finished their tea and got up to leave. The First stopped Joharran. Jondalar was with him.
“Will you go to the zelandonia camp and see if you can find Zelandoni of the Twenty-sixth?” the Donier said quietly. “Stevadal’s mate has not been well and I’d like to see if there is anything we can do. He’s a good healer, and he may have done everything that can be done, but I need to talk to him. I think it’s a woman’s problem, and we are women …” She left the rest unsaid. “Ask him to come here; we’ll wait awhile.”
“Should I wait here with you?” Jondalar asked the two women.
“Weren’t you planning on going to the practice field?” Joharran said.
“Yes, but I don’t have to.”
“Why don’t you go, Jondalar. We’ll be along later,” Ayla said, brushing his cheek with hers.
The two women joined Danella and the two mothers, and a few others. When he saw that the First and her acolyte were not leaving, Stevadal stayed behind as well. The head Zelandoni was adept at finding out what was wrong with people, and soon discovered that Danella had been pregnant, and the baby was stillborn as they suspected, but she sensed that the two older women were holding something back, especially around Danella and Stevadal. There was more to the story than they were willing to say. The Donier would have to wait for the Twenty-sixth. In the meantime, the women chatted. Jonayla was passed around to the women. Although at first Danella seemed reluctant to take her, once she did, she held her for quite a while. Wolf seemed happy to stay with both of them.
Ayla took the pole-drag off Whinney and let her graze, and when she returned, they asked some tentative questions about the horse and how Ayla came to have her. The First encouraged Ayla to tell them. She was developing into quite a good storyteller and enthralled her listeners, especially when she added the sound effects of horse-neighs and lion-roars. Just as she was finishing, the Zelandoni of the Twenty-sixth Cave appeared.
“I thought I heard a familiar lion-roar,” he said, greeting them with a big smile.
“Ayla has been telling us how she adopted Whinney,” Danella said. “Just as I guessed, she has some captivating stories to tell. And now that I’ve heard one, I want to hear more.”
The First was getting anxious to leave, though she didn’t want to show it. It was entirely appropriate for the First Among Those Who Served The Great Earth Mother to visit with the leader of the Cave that was hosting the Summer Meeting and his mate, but she had many things to do. The ceremony of the Rites of First Pleasures would be the day after next, and then the first Matrimonial of the season. Though there would be another mating ceremony near the end of the summer for those who wanted to finalize their decisions before they returned to their winter shelters, the first one was invariably the largest