The Plains of Passage - Jean M. Auel [358]
“I thank you for your welcome,” Ayla said, still in a formal mode. “And if I may, I would like to introduce you to Wolf, so that he will know you are a friend.”
Laduni frowned, not sure if he really wanted to meet a wolf, but under the circumstances he felt he had no choice.
“Wolf, this is Laduni of the Losadunai,” she said, taking the man’s hand and bringing it to the wolf’s nose. “He is a friend.” After he smelled the hand of the strange man, mixed with the smell of Ayla’s hand, Wolf seemed to understand that this was someone to accept. He sniffed the man’s male parts, much to Laduni’s consternation.
“That’s enough, Wolf,” Ayla said, signaling him back. Then to Laduni, she added, “He has now learned that you are a friend, and that you are a man. If you would like to welcome him, he likes to be petted on the head and scratched behind the ears.”
Though still wary, the idea of touching a living wolf intrigued him. Gingerly he reached out and felt the rough fur, and seeing that his touch was accepted, he stroked the animal’s head, then rubbed a little behind his ears, pleased about the whole thing. It wasn’t that he hadn’t touched wolf fur before, just not on a living animal.
“I am sorry I threatened your companion,” he said. “But I have never seen a wolf accompany people of his own free will before, or horses either, for that matter.”
“It is understandable,” Ayla said. “I will take you to meet the horses later. They tend to be shy of strangers, and they need some time to get used to new people.”
“Are all the eastern animals this friendly?” Laduni asked, pressing for an answer to a question that would be of interest to any hunter.
Jondalar smiled. “No, animals are the same everywhere. These are special because of Ayla.”
Laduni nodded, fighting his impulse to ask them further questions, knowing the whole Cave would want to hear their stories. “I have welcomed you, and I invite you to come inside to share warmth and food, and a place to rest, but I think I should go first and explain about you to the rest of the Cave.”
Laduni walked back toward the group gathered in front of a large opening in the side of a rock wall. He explained about meeting Jondalar a few years before, when he was starting on his Journey, and inviting him to visit on his way back. He mentioned that Jondalar was related to Dalanar, and emphasized that they were people, not some kind of threatening spirits, and that they would tell them about the horses and the wolf. “They should have some interesting stories to tell,” he concluded, knowing what an enticement that would be to a group of people who had been essentially cavebound since the beginning of winter and were getting bored.
The language he spoke was not the Zelandonii he had spoken to the travelers, but after listening for a while, Ayla was sure she heard similarities. She realized that although they had a different stress and pronunciation, Losadunai was related to Zelandonii in the same way that S’Armunai, and Sharamudoi for that matter, were related to Mamutoi. This language even had a link with S’Armunai. She had understood some of the words and had picked up the gist of some of his comments. She would be speaking with these people in a few days.
Ayla’s gift for languages did not seem unusual to her. She didn’t consciously try to learn them, but her sharp ear for nuance and inflection and her ability to see the connections made it easy for her. Losing her own language in the trauma of losing her people when she was very young, and having to learn a different way of communicating, but one that utilized the same areas of the brain as spoken language, enhanced her inherent language skills. Her need to learn to communicate again when she discovered that she could not, gave her an unconscious but profound incentive to learn any unfamiliar language. It was the combination of natural ability and circumstances that made her so adept.
“Losaduna says