The Plains of Passage - Jean M. Auel [241]
Jondalar felt a flush of excitement. Maybe it meant that Noria did have a baby with his blue eyes. But then he wondered if it was just that the hunter had heard of the man with the blue eyes who had celebrated First Rites with her? He couldn’t be sure. The other men were pointing at their eyes and smiling. Were they smiling about a baby with blue eyes? Or grinning about Pleasures with a blue-eyed man?
He thought about saying Noria’s name and rocking his arms as though he were holding a baby, but then he glanced at Ayla and held back. He hadn’t said anything to her about Noria, or about the announcement Haduma had made the next day that the Mother had blessed the ceremony and that the young woman would have a child, a boy named Jondal, who would have eyes like his. He knew that Ayla wanted a child of his … or of his spirit. How would she feel about it if she knew Noria already had one? If he were Ayla, he would probably be jealous.
Ayla was making motions indicating that the hunters should sleep near the fire. Several nodded and got up to get their sleeping rolls. They had stashed them downriver before they approached the fire they had smelled, hoping it was a friendly fire, but not sure. But when Ayla saw them heading around the tent, toward the place where she had staked the horses, she ran in front of the men and held up her hand to stop them. They looked at each other with questioning glances when she disappeared into the dark. When they started to leave again, Jondalar made a motion to wait. They smiled and nodded acquiescence.
Their expression changed to one of fear when Ayla reappeared leading two horses. She stood between the two animals and tried to explain with motions and even the expressive Clan gestures that these were special horses that should not be hunted, but neither she nor Jondalar was sure they understood. Jondalar was even concerned that they might think she had some unique powers to Call horses and had brought these expressly for them to hunt. He told Ayla that he thought a demonstration might help.
He got a spear from inside the tent and made motions with it as though he were going to stab Racer, but Ayla stood barring the way with her arms held up and crossed in front of her, shaking her head emphatically. Jeren scratched his head and the other men looked puzzled. Finally Jeren nodded, took one of his own spears out of the holder on his back, aimed it toward Racer, and then stabbed it into the ground. Jondalar didn’t know if the man thought Ayla was telling them not to hunt those two horses, or not to hunt horses at all, but some point had been understood.
The men slept near their fire that night but were up just after first light. Jeren said some words to Ayla that Jondalar vaguely remembered referred to appreciation for food. The visitor smiled at the woman when Wolf sniffed at him and allowed himself to be petted again. She tried to invite them to share their morning meal, but they left quickly.
“I wish I had known some of their language,” Ayla said. “It was nice to visit, but we couldn’t talk.”
“Yes, I wish we could have, too,” Jondalar said, sincerely wishing that he had found out whether Noria ever did have a baby, and if it had his blue eyes.
“In the Clan, different clans used some words in their everyday language that weren’t always understood by everyone, but everyone knew the silent language of gestures. You could always communicate,” Ayla said. “Too bad the Others don’t have a language everyone can understand.”
“It would be helpful, especially when you are on a Journey, but it’s hard for me to imagine a language that everyone would understand. Do you really think that people of the Clan everywhere can understand the same sign language?” Jondalar asked.
“It’s not like a language they have to learn. They are born with it, Jondalar. It