The shelters of stone - Jean M. Auel [198]
“I wish he was a provider,” Marthona said with a scornful edge. “Then maybe the children of his hearth wouldn’t have to beg for everything they need. Tell me, Joharran, how often is he too ‘sick’ in the mornings to join a hunting party?”
“I thought food was for everyone, as they need it,” Ayla said.
“Food, yes. They won’t starve, but for everything else, they have to depend on the goodwill and generosity of other people,” the First said.
“But if, as Proleva says, he has the skill to make a very good drink that everyone likes, can’t he exchange that for whatever his family needs?” Ayla said.
“He could, yes, but he doesn’t,” Proleva said.
“What about his mate? Can’t she convince him to contribute to his family?” Ayla said.
“Tremeda? She’s even worse than Laramar. All she does is drink his barma and produce more children that she doesn’t take care of,” Marthona said.
“What does Laramar do with all the drink he makes if he doesn’t trade it for things for his family?” Ayla wanted to know.
“I’m not sure,” Willamar said, “But he would have to trade some of it for ingredients to make more.”
“It’s true, he always manages to trade for what he wants, but he never has enough for his mate and her children,” Proleva said. “It’s a good thing that Tremeda doesn’t seem to mind asking people to give her things for her ‘poor children.’ ”
“And he does drink a lot of it himself,” Joharran said. “Tremeda does, too. I think he gives a good measure away. There is always a bunch around him hoping for drinks. I think he likes to have them around. He probably thinks they’re his friends, but I wonder how long they’d stay if he stopped giving them barma.”
“Not long, I’d guess,” Willamar said. “But I don’t think Laramar and his friends are the ones to decide whether Ayla becomes Zelandonii.”
“You are right, Trade Master. I think there’s no question that we would have no problem accepting Ayla, but maybe we should let Ayla decide,” Zelandoni said. “No one has asked her if she wants to be a woman of the Zelandonii.”
All heads turned to look at her. Now she was the one who felt uncomfortable. It was a while before she said anything, which made Jondalar a bit nervous. Maybe he had misjudged her. Maybe she didn’t want to become Zelandonii. Maybe he should have asked her first before he started this, but with all the talk about Matrimonials, it seemed an appropriate time. Finally Ayla spoke.
“When I decided to leave the Mamutoi and go with Jondalar back to his home, I knew how the Zelandonii felt about the Clan, the people who raised me, and I knew that you might not want me. I admit I was a little afraid to meet his family, his people.” She stopped for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts and find the right words to say what she felt.
“I’m a stranger to you, a foreign woman, with strange ideas and ways. I brought animals that live with me and asked you to accept them. Horses are animals that are usually hunted, and I wanted you to make a place for them. I have just been thinking today that I would like to make a covered shelter for them at the south end of the Ninth Cave, not far from Down River. During the winter, the horses are used to having a refuge that is out of the weather. I also brought a wolf, a meat-eating hunter. Some of his kind have been known to attack people, and I asked you to allow me to bring him inside, to sleep in the same dwelling that I sleep in.” She smiled at Jondalar’s mother.
“You didn’t hesitate, Marthona. You invited me and Wolf to share your home. And Joharran, you allowed the horses to stay nearby, and let me take them right up. on the ledge in front of your dwellings. Brun, the leader of my cfan, would not have. You all listened when I explained about the Clan, and you didn’t turn me away. You were willing to consider that the ones you call flatheads might be people, perhaps a different kind of people, but not animals. I didn’t expect that you would be so thoughtful, but I am grateful.
“It’s true that not everyone