The Plains of Passage - Jean M. Auel [363]
Ayla had signaled Wolf to stay down, but he couldn’t hide his eager anticipation in seeing the children. Solandia eyed the carnivore warily. She couldn’t tell if he was showing eagerness out of happiness or hunger, but she was also curious about the visitors. One of the best parts of being the mate of Losaduna was that she had the advantage of being the first to talk with the infrequent visitors, and she could spend more time with them because they usually stayed at the Ceremonial Hearth.
“Well, I did say he could stay,” she said.
Ayla walked Wolf inside, led him to an out-of-the-way corner, and signaled him to stay. She stayed with him for a while, knowing it would be particularly difficult for him, but just having children to watch seemed to satisfy him for the moment.
His behavior calmed Solandia, and after serving her guests a warming hot tea, she introduced her children, then went back to preparing the meal she had started. The presence of the animal slipped to the back of her mind, but the children were fascinated. Ayla studied them, trying to be unobtrusive. The oldest of the four youngsters, Larogi, was a boy of about ten years, she guessed. There was a girl of perhaps seven years, Dosalia, and another of four or so, Neladia. Though the baby was not yet walking, that did not limit his mobility. He was at the crawling stage and was fast and efficient on all fours.
The older children were wary of Wolf, and the elder of the girls picked up the baby and held him while they watched the animal, but after a while when nothing happened, she put him down. While Jondalar spoke with Losaduna, Ayla began to set out their things. There was spare bedding for guests and she hoped she would have time to clean their sleeping furs while they were here.
Suddenly there was a peal of babyish laughter. Ayla caught her breath and looked in the corner where she had left Wolf. There was absolute silence in the rest of the dwelling space as everyone stared in wonder and awe at the baby, who had crawled to the corner and was sitting beside the large wolf, pulling on his far. Ayla glanced at Solandia and saw her staring transfixed as her precious baby boy proceeded to poke and prod and pull at the wolf, who simply wagged his tail and looked pleased.
Finally Ayla walked over, picked up the child, and brought him to his mother.
“You’re right,” Solandia said with amazement, “that wolf loves children! If I hadn’t seen it myself, I would never have believed it.”
It wasn’t long before the rest of Solandia’s children approached the wolf who liked to play. After a small problem with some teasing by the oldest boy, which Wolf responded to by taking the child’s hand in his teeth and growling, but not biting down, Ayla explained that they had to treat him with respect. Wolf’s reaction frightened the boy just enough to make him pay attention. When they went outside, all the children of the community watched Solandia’s four and the wolf with fascination. Solandia’s children were envied for their special privilege of living with the animal.
Before it got dark, Ayla went out to check on the horses. When she stepped outside the cave, she heard Whinney nicker in greeting, and she felt that her friend had been a little worried. When she nickered back, causing several heads to turn in her direction and stare in surprise, Racer responded with a somewhat louder neigh. She walked across the field, heavy with snow nearer the cave, to give the horses some attention and make sure they were both all right. Whinney watched her coming with her tail raised, looking alert and responsive. As the woman neared, she dropped her head, then flipped it high and described a circle in the air with her nose. Racer, just as happy to see her, pranced and reared up on his hind legs.
It was a new situation for them to be around so many people again, and the familiar woman brought reassurance. Racer arched his neck and pricked his ears forward when Jondalar appeared at the mouth of the cave, and he met the man halfway