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Knowing how Talut had appreciated her headache remedy the last time he drank his brew, Ayla made enough for several people. After she drank hers, she went out to look for Jondalar. The new annex leading out directly from the Mammoth Hearth was proving TO be quite a convenience, and for some reason she was glad she didn’t have to go through the Fox Hearth. The horses were outside, but as she walked through, she noticed Jondalar’s traveling sleeping fur rolled up next to the wall and wondered, in passing, how it got there.
As she pushed aside the drape and stepped through the second arch, she saw Talut, Wymez, and Mamut talking with Jondalar, whose back was to her.
“How is head, Talut?” she asked as she approached.
“Are you offering me some of your magic morning-after medicine?”
“I have headache, and make tea. There is more, inside,” she said, then turned to Jondalar with a full, happy smile now that she had found him.
For an instant her smile brought a like response, but just for an instant. Then his face clouded into a dark frown and his eyes filled with a look she had never seen there before. Her smile left her.
“You want tea, too, Jondalar?” she asked, confused and distraught.
“Why do you think I need it? I didn’t drink too much last night, but I don’t suppose you noticed,” he replied in a voice so cold and distant she hardly recognized it.
“Where you go? I look for you early, but not in bed.”
“Neither were you,” he said. “I hardly think it mattered to you where I was.” He turned and walked away from her. She looked at the other three men. She saw embarrassment on Talut’s face. Wymez looked uncomfortable, but not entirely unhappy. Mamut had a look she couldn’t decipher.
“Ah … I think I’ll go get some of that tea you offered,” Talut said, quickly ducking into the lodge.
“Perhaps I’ll try a cup, too,” Wymez said, and followed him.
What did I do wrong? Ayla thought, and the uneasiness she had been feeling grew into a hard knot of distress in the pit of her stomach.
Mamut studied her, then said, “I think you should come and talk to me, Ayla. Later, when we can have a moment alone. Your tea may bring several visitors to the hearth now. Why don’t you get something to eat?”
“I am not hungry,” Ayla said, her stomach churning. She did not want to start out with her new people doing something wrong, and she wondered why Jondalar was so angry.
Mamut smiled reassuringly. “You should try to eat something. There is mammoth meat left over from your feast, and I think Nezzie saved one of those steamed loaves for you.”
Ayla nodded. As she walked toward the main entrance of the longhouse, upset and worried, she looked for the horses with the part of her mind that was always concerned for them. When she saw them she noticed Jondalar was with them, and felt a small sense of relief. She had often drawn comfort from the animals when she was troubled, and while not a completely formed thought, she hoped that turning to them would eventually make Jondalar feel better.
She passed through the foyer and into the cooking hearth. Nezzie was sitting with Rydag and Rugie, eating. She smiled when she saw Ayla and got up. For all that she was amply proportioned, Nezzie was active and graceful in her movements and, Ayla suspected, probably quite strong.
“Get yourself some meat. I’ll get the loaf I put aside for you. It’s the last one,” Nezzie said. “And get a cup of hot tea, if you want. It’s fireweed and mint.”
Ayla broke off pieces of the firm, moist loaf for Rydag and Rugie when she sat down with them and Nezzie, but only picked at her own food.
“Is something wrong, Ayla?” the woman asked. She knew there was, and had some idea of the cause.
Ayla looked at her with troubled eyes. “Nezzie, I know Clan ways, not Mamutoi ways. Want to learn, want to be good Mamutoi woman, but not know when I do wrong. I think last night I do something wrong.”
“What makes you think so?”
“When I go out, Jondalar angry. I think Talut not happy. Wymez, too. They leave, quick. Tell me what I did wrong, Nezzie.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Ayla, unless being loved by two men is wrong. Some men feel possessive when they have strong feelings for a woman. They don’t want her to be with other men. Jondalar feels he has a claim on you and is angry because you shared Ranec’s bed. But it is not just Jondalar. I think Ranec feels the same way, and would be just as possessive if he could. I raised him since he was a boy, and I have never seen him so taken with a woman. I think Jondalar is trying not to show how he feels, but he can’t help it, and if he showed his anger, it probably embarrassed Talut and Wymez. That might be why they left in a hurry.
“Sometimes, we yell a lot, or tease each other. We take pride in hospitality and like to be friendly, but the Mamutoi do not show their deepest feelings too much. It can cause trouble, and we try to avoid disputes and discourage fighting. The Council of Sisters even frowns on the raids the young men like to make on other people, like the Sungaea, and are trying to ban them. The Sisters say it just invites raids in return, and people have been killed. They say it’s better to trade than raid. The Council of Brothers is more lenient. Most of them did a bit of raiding in their youth, and say it’s just a way to use young muscles and make a little excitement for themselves.”
Ayla was no longer listening. Rather than clarifying anything, Nezzie’s explanation only made her more confused. Was Jondalar angry because she had responded to another man’s signal? Was that a reason to get angry? No man of the Clan would indulge in such an emotional response. Broud was the only man who had ever shown the least interest in her, and then only because he knew she hated it. But many people wondered why he was bothering with such an ugly woman and he would have welcomed interest by another man. When she thought about it, she realized that Jondalar had been bothered by Ranec’s interest from the beginning.
Mamut came in from the entrance foyer walking with discernible difficulty.
“Nezzie, I promised to fill Mamut’s medicine bowl with help for arthritis,” Ayla said.
She got up to help him, but he waved her away. “You go ahead. I’ll be there. It will just take me a little longer.”
