The Mammoth Hunters - Jean M. Auel [317]
“Tarneg!” Talut boomed.
“Talut, you old bear!” Tarneg returned in a voice as powerful as the two men hugged. There was a strong family resemblance—he was nearly as much a bear as his uncle—but Tarneg had his mother’s darker coloring. He bent down to rub Nezzie’s cheek with his, then with a mischievous grin, he put his arms around the rotund woman and picked her up.
“Tarneg! What are you doing? Put me down,” she scolded.
He set her lightly down on her feet, then winked at her. “Now I know I’m as good a man as you, Talut,” Tarneg said, and laughed out loud. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do that? Just to prove I could?”
“It is not necessary to …” Nezzie began.
Talut threw back his head and roared with laughter. “It takes more than that, young man. When you can match me in the furs, you’ll be as good a man as I am.”
Nezzie gave up trying to scold her dignity back, and just looked at her great bear of a man, shaking her head with exasperated fondness. “What is it about Summer Meeting that makes old men want to prove they are young again?” she said. “Well, at least it gives me a rest.” She caught Ayla’s interested look.
“I wouldn’t put a wager on that!” Talut said. “I’m not so old that I can’t still clear the way to the lioness of my hearth just because I’m shoveling other drifts.”
“Hmmmf,” Nezzie shrugged, turning away, disdaining to reply.
Ayla was standing near both horses, and keeping the wolf close by so he wouldn’t growl and frighten people, but she had been watching the entire scene with intense interest, including the reactions of the people around. Danug and Druwez looked slightly embarrassed. Though they’d had no experience, yet, they did know what subject was being discussed, and it had been very much on their minds. Tarneg and Barzec were grinning from ear to ear. Latie was blushing and trying to hide behind Tulie, who looked on as though all this foolishness was beneath her. Most people were smiling benignly, even Jondalar, Ayla noticed, which surprised her. She had wondered if the reasons for his actions toward her had something to do with customs that were very different. Perhaps, unlike the Mamutoi, the Zelandonii did not believe people had the right to choose their own partners, but he did not seem disapproving.
As Nezzie passed her on the way into the tent, Ayla noticed a knowing little smile playing across her mouth, too. “Happens every year,” she said in a half-whisper. “He’s got to make a big scene, tell everyone what a man he is, and the first few days, even find another ‘drift’ or two—although she always looks like me, blond and plump. Then, when he thinks no one is noticing any more, he’s happy enough to spend most of his nights at Cattail Camp—and not so happy if I’m not there.”
“Where do you go?”
“Who can tell? With a Meeting this size, even though you know everyone, or at least every Camp, you don’t know everyone well. Each year there is someone to get to know better. Though I admit, often enough it’s another woman with growing children and a new way to season mammoth. Sometimes a man catches my eye, or I catch his, but I don’t need to make a big scene about it. It’s all right for Talut to brag, but if the truth were known, I don’t think he would like it if I bragged.”
“So you don’t,” Ayla said.
“It’s a small enough thing to do to preserve harmony and good will at the hearth … and, well, to please him.”
“You really love him, don’t you?”
“That old bear!” Nezzie started to object, then smiled and the softness crept into her eyes. “We had our times, in the beginning—you know how loud he can be—but I never did let him get the best of me, or shout me down. I think that’s what he likes about me. Talut could break a man in half, if