The shelters of stone - Jean M. Auel [312]
When she first met him, Jerika had fallen completely and irrevocably in love with the handsome giant of a man who was so charmed by the exquisitely dainty yet fiercely independent young woman. He was a gentle man and consummate lover in spite of his size, and she reveled in their Pleasures. When he asked her to be his mate, she accepted without hesitation, and when she discovered that she was pregnant, she was delighted. But the baby she carried was too big for her tiny frame, and the delivery nearly killed her and her daughter. It damaged her internally, and she never became pregnant again, much to her regret, and relief.
Now her daughter had chosen a man who was, though not as tall, if anything more robust, with powerful muscles and huge bones. Though Joplaya was tall, she was thin and rather delicate with, Jerika had carefully noticed, narrow hips. From the time she realized who her daughter would probably end up choosing, and therefore be the one whose spirit would most likely be chosen by the Mother to start any children she might have, she worried that Joplaya would suffer her fate, or worse. She suspected that Joplaya was already pregnant, since she had started having violent bouts of morning sickness on the trip, but she refused her mother’s suggestion to end the pregnancy.
Jerika knew there was nothing she could do about it. It was the Great Mother’s decision. Joplaya would be Blessed or not, when She wished, and live or the at Her discretion, but Jerika suspected that with the man Joplaya had chosen, the chances were that her daughter would the young and painfully in childbirth, if not with the first, then later, with another one. Her only hope was that her daughter would live through this first one and, like herself, as painful as it was, be damaged so badly that she would never be able to get pregnant again … until she heard Ayla say that she knew how to prevent life from starting. She immediately decided that if her daughter had as much trouble as she did and managed to live through the birth of her first, to save her life, she would make sure Joplaya would not get pregnant again.
“Quiet, please,” the One Who Was First said. The noise finally settled down. “Ayla, I want to make sure I understand you. Are you saying you know how to stop a pregnancy before it starts? That you know how to prevent life from beginning?” she asked.
“Yes. I thought you would know, too. I was using certain plants on my Journey from the east with Jondalar. Ï did not want to have a baby while we were traveling, I had no one to help me,” she said.
“You told me that you were already Blessed by Doni. You said it has been three moons since your last bleeding. You were still traveling then,” the donier said.
“I’m almost certain this baby was started after we crossed the glacier,” Ayla said. “We brought only enough of the Losadunai burning stones to melt ice for water to drink for the horses and Wolf and the two of us. I did not even try to boil water for tea and did not prepare my usual morning drink. It was a very difficult crossing, and we almost didn’t make it. When we reached this side and got down off the ice, we stayed and rested for a while, and I didn’t bother to make the preparation. By that time, it didn’t matter if life started. We were almost here. I was happy when I realized I was pregnant.”
“Where did you learn about this medicine?” Zelandoni asked.
“From Iza, the medicine woman who raised me.”
“How did she say it worked?” Zelandoni of the Fourteenth asked.
The First looked at her, trying to contain her annoyance. She was asking questions in a logical sequence. She didn’t need help or interference, but Ayla answered anyway.
“The Clan