The Mammoth Hunters - Jean M. Auel [326]
Many of them had made a point of walking past Cattail Camp to see the horses and the wolf, and they were surprised and impressed to see the animals, though they did not want to show it. How could anyone control a stallion? Or make a mare stand quietly with so many people—and a wolf—around? Why was the wolf so docile with the people of Lion Camp? He behaved like a normal wolf around everyone else. No one else could get near him, or even within the boundaries of their Camp without an invitation and, it was said, he had attacked Chaleg.
The old man motioned Ayla inside, and they both sat down near a large fireplace, though only a small flame burned within it, off to one side, near the woman who sat across. She was a heavy woman. Ayla had never seen anyone quite so fat and wondered how she could have walked any distance to get there.
“I have brought my daughter to meet you, Lomie,” the old Mamut said.
“I wondered when you were coming,” she replied.
Then, before she said anything else, she moved a red-hot stone from the fire with sticks. She opened up a packet of leaves and dropped a few on the stone and leaned closer to breathe in the smoke that curled up. Ayla smelled sage, and less pronounced, mullein and lobelia. She watched the woman closely, noted a heaviness of breathing, which was soon relieved, and realized she suffered a chronic cough, probably asthma.
“Do you make a cough syrup from the root of mullein, too?” Ayla asked her. “It can help.” She had been reluctant to speak up at first, and wasn’t sure why she did without having been introduced, but she wanted to help, and somehow it felt like the right thing to do.
Lomie’s head jerked up, startled, and she looked at the young blond woman with new interest. The hint of a smile glanced across Mamuts face.
“She is a Healer, too?” Lomie said to Mamut.
“I believe there is none better, not even you, Lomie.”
Lomie knew it was not said lightly. Old Mamut had great respect for her skill. “And here I thought you had only adopted a pretty young woman to ease your last years, Mamut.”
“Ah, but I did, Lomie. She has eased my winter arthritis, and other assorted aches and pains,” he said.
“I’m glad to know there is more to her than can be seen. She is young for it, though.”
“There is more to her than you know, Lomie, in spite of her youth.
Lomie turned then. “You are Ayla.”
“Yes, I am Ayla of the Lion Camp of the Mamutoi, daughter of the Mammoth Hearth … and protected by the Cave Lion,” Ayla finished, as Mamut had instructed her.
“Ayla of the Mamutoi. Hmmm. It has an unusual sound, but then so does your voice. Not unpleasant, though. Stands out. Makes people notice you. I am Lomie, Mamut of the Wolf Camp and Healer of the Mamutoi.”
“First Healer,” Mamut corrected.
“How can I be First Healer, old Mamut, if she is my equal?”
“I did not say Ayla was your equal, Lomie. I said there is none better. Her background is … unusual. She was trained by … someone with a great depth of knowledge in certain Healing ways. Could you have identified the subtle smell of mullein, masked by the heavy aroma of sage, so quickly if you hadn’t known it was there? And then known what you were treating yourself for?”
Lomie started to speak, then hesitated, and did not respond. Mamut continued, “I think she would have known just by looking at you. She has a rare gift for knowing, and an amazing knowledge of remedies and treatments, but she lacks skill in just those ways that you are most proficient, finding and relieving the problem that creates the illness, and helping someone want to get well. She could learn much from you, and I hope you will consent to train her, but I think there is much you could learn from her as well.”
Lomie turned to Ayla. “And is that what you want?”
“It is what I want.”
“If you know so much already, what do you think you can learn from me?”
“I am a medicine woman. It is … who I am