The valley of horses_ a novel - Jean M. Auel [264]
She flushed and put her head down. It was nice to know he thought so, but strange that he should take notice of something that ought to be expected.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“Iza used to say compliments make the spirits jealous. Doing a task well should be enough.”
“I think Marthona would have liked your Iza. She’s impatient with compliments, too. She used to say, ‘The best compliment is a job well done.’ All mothers must be alike.”
“Marthona is your mother?”
“Yes, didn’t I tell you?”
“I thought she was, but I wasn’t sure. Do you have siblings? Other than the one you lost?”
“I have an older brother, Joharran. He’s the leader of the Ninth Cave now. He was born to Joconan’s hearth. After he died, my mother mated Dalanar. I was born to his hearth. Then Marthona and Dalanar severed the knot, and she mated Willomar. Thonolan was born to his hearth, and so was my young sister, Folara.”
“You lived with Dalanar, didn’t you?”
“Yes, for three years. He taught me my craft—I learned from the best. I was twelve years when I went to live with him, and already a man for over a year. My manhood came to me young, and I was big for my age, too.” A strange, unreadable expression crossed his face. “It was best that I left.”
He smiled then. “That was when I got to know my cousin, Joplaya. She is Jerika’s daughter, born to Dalanar’s hearth after they were mated. She’s two years younger. Dalanar taught both of us to work the flint at the same time. It was always a competition—that’s why I would never tell her how good she is. She knows it, though. She has a fine eye and a steady hand—she’ll match Dalanar someday.”
Ayla was silent for a while. “I don’t quite understand something, Jondalar. Folara has the same mother as you, so she is your sister, right?”
“Yes.”
“You were born to Dalanar’s hearth, and Joplaya was born to Dalanar’s hearth, and she is your cousin. What is the difference between sister and cousin?”
“Sisters and brothers come from the same woman. Cousins are not as close. I was born to Dalanar’s hearth—I am probably of his spirit. People say we look alike. I think Joplaya is of his spirit, too. Her mother is short, but she is tall, like Dalanar. Not quite as tall, but a little taller than you, I think.
“No one knows for sure whose spirit the Great Mother will choose to mix with a woman’s, so Joplaya and I may be of Dalanar’s spirit, but who knows? That’s why we are cousins.”
Ayla nodded. “Perhaps Uba would be a cousin, but to me she was a sister.”
“Sister?”
“We were not true siblings. Uba was Iza’s daughter, born after I was found. Iza said we were both her daughters.” Ayla’s thoughts turned inward. “Uba was mated, but not to the man she would have chosen. But the other man would have only his sibling to mate, and in the Clan, siblings may not mate.”
“We don’t mate our brothers or sisters,” Jondalar said. “We don’t usually mate our cousins, either, though it is not absolutely forbidden. It is frowned on. Some kinds of cousins are more acceptable than others.”
“What kind of cousins are there?”
“Many kinds, some closer than others. The children of your mother’s sisters are your cousins; the children of the mate of your mother’s brother; the children of …”
Ayla was shaking her head. “It’s too confusing! How do you know who is a cousin and who isn’t? Almost everyone could be a cousin.… Who is left in your Cave to mate with?”
“Most people don’t mate with people from their own Cave. Usually it’s someone met at a Summer Meeting. I think mating with cousins is allowed sometimes because you may not know the person you want to mate is a cousin until you name your ties … your relationships. People usually know their closest cousins, though, even if they live at another Cave.”
“Like Joplaya?”
Jondalar nodded assent, his month full of raspberries.
“Jondalar, what if it isn’t spirits that make children? What if it’s a man? Wouldn’t that mean children are just as much from the man as from the woman?”
“The baby grows inside a woman, Ayla. It comes from her.”
“Then why do men