"This is very good tea, Ayla," Zelandoni said. "You sweetened it with licorice root, didn't you?"
Ayla smiled. "Yes. It's calming for the stomach. Everyone is so excited about leaving, I thought I should make something calming."
"And it tastes good." Zelandoni paused, considering her words. "It occurs to me, since we are all here, that perhaps you should show Joharran and Proleva your way of making fire. I know I asked everyone not to tell anyone else about it yet, but we are all going to be traveling together and they will see it anyway."
Jondalar's brother and his mate glanced at the others with questioning looks, and then at each other.
Folara smiled. "Should I put the fire out?"
"Yes, why don't you," the donier said. "It is more impressive to see it that way the first time."
"I don't understand. What's this about fire?" Joharran said.
"Ayla discovered a new way to start a fire," Jondalar said, "but it's easier to show you."
"Why don't you show them, Jondalar?" Ayla said.
Jondalar asked his brother and Proleva to come to the cooking hearth, and after Folara smothered the fire, and other people put out the lamps that were near them, Jondalar used the firestone and flint and soon had a small fire started.
"How did you do that?" the leader asked. "I've never seen anything like it."
Jondalar held up the firestone. "Ayla discovered the magic in these stones," he said. "I've been meaning to tell you about them, but there's been so much going on, I haven't had time yet. We just showed Zelandoni, and not long ago Marthona, Willamar, and Folara."
"Are you saying anyone can do that?" Proleva said.
"Yes, with practice, anyone can do it," Marthona said.
"Yes, let me show you how the stones work," Jondalar said. He went through the process, and Joharran and Proleva were amazed.
"One of those stones is flint, what is the other one? And where does it come from?" Proleva said.
"Ayla calls it a firestone," Jondalar said, and explained how she happened to discover its properties. "We looked, but didn't see any on the way back. I was beginning to think they could be found only in the east, then Ayla found some not far from here. If there are some nearby, there should be more. We'll keep looking. We have enough for all of us, but they could be significant gifts, and Willamar thinks they would be good to trade."
"Jondalar, I think we're going to have to have some long talks. I wonder just what else you haven't told me. You go off on a Journey, and return with horses that carry you on their backs, a wolf that lets children pull his fur, powerful new throwing weapons, magic stones that make instant fire, stories about intelligent flatheads, and a beautiful woman who knows their language and learned healing from them. Are you sure there isn't something else you've forgotten to tell me?" Joharran said.
Jondalar smiled wryly. "Not that I can think of right now," he said. "When you put it all together like that, I guess it does sound rather unbelievable."
"'Rather unbelievable'? Listen to him!" Joharran said. "Jondalar, I have a feeling your 'rather unbelievable' Journey is going to be talked about for many years."
"He does have interesting stories to tell," Willamar admitted.
"It's all your fault, Willamar," Jondalar said with a grin, then looked at his brother. "Don't you remember staying up late listening to him telling stories about his travels and adventures, Joharran? I always thought he was better than many of the traveling Story-Tellers. Did you ever show Joharran the gift he just brought you, mother?"
"No, Joharran and Proleva haven't seen it yet," Marthona said. "I'll go get it." She went into her sleeping room and returned with a flat section of palmate antler and gave it to Joharran. It was carved with two streamlined animals apparently swimming. They were fishlike, but not fish. "What did you say these were, Willamar?"
"They're called seals," he said. "They live in the water, but they breathe air, and come to shore to give birth."
"This is remarkable," Proleva said.
"Yes, it is, isn't it?" Marthona said.
"We saw some animals like those on our Journey. They live in an inland sea far to the east," Jondalar said.
"Some people think they are spirits of the water," Ayla added.
"I saw another creature that lives in the Great Waters of the West that is thought of as a special spirit helper of the Mother by the people who live nearby," Willamar said. "They are even more fishlike than seals. They give birth in the sea, but it is said they breathe air and nurse their young. They can stand on top of the water on their tails-I saw one do it-and it's said they speak their own language. The people who live there call them dolphins, and some of them claim they can speak dolphin language. They made high squeaking sounds to show me.
"They tell many stories and legends about them," Willamar continued. "It's said they help people to fish by driving them into nets, and they have saved the lives of people whose boats have capsized far from shore, who would otherwise have drowned. Their Elder Legends say that all people once lived in the sea. Some of them returned to the land, but the ones who stayed behind became dolphins. Some call them cousins, and their Zelandoni says they are related to people. She's the one who gave this plaque to me. They venerate the dolphin almost as much as the Mother. Every family has a donii, but everyone also has some dolphin object, a carving like that, or a part of the animal, a bone or tooth. It is considered very lucky."
"And you said I had interesting stories to tell, Willamar," Jondalar said. "Fish that breathe air and stand on their tails on top of the water. It almost makes me want to go with you."
"Maybe next year when I go to trade for salt, you can come. It's not such a long Journey, especially compared to the one you made," Willamar said.
"I thought you said you didn't want to travel again, Jondalar," Marthona said, "and here you are, home only a short time and planning another trip. Have you developed a traveling urge? Like Willamar?"
"Well, trading missions aren't exactly Journeys," Jondalar said, "and I'm not ready to make a trip now, except to the Summer Meeting, but a year is a long way off."
Folara and Jaradal, curled up with Wolf on Folara's bed, tried to stay awake. They didn't want to miss anything, but with the wolf between them, listening to the stories and the soft buzz of conversation, they both fell asleep.
The next day dawned with a gray drizzle, but the summer shower didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the Cave for the impending trek. Despite staying up late the night before, the members of Marthona's household were up early. They made a morning meal of the food they had set out the night before and then finished packing. The rain eased up, and the sun tried to burn off the clouds, but moisture from the night's accumulation on leaves and in puddles made the air foggy, cool, and damp.
When everyone who was going had gathered on the front terrace, they started out. With Joharran leading the way, they headed north, walking down from the stone front porch to Wood River Valley. It was a large party, much larger, Ayla observed, than the group from the Lion Camp when they went to the Mamutoi Summer Meeting. There were still many people Ayla did not know very well, but by now she at least knew almost everyone's name.
Ayla was curious which way Joharran would go. From the ride they took on the horses, she knew that when they started, the floodplain valley on the right bank of The River-the Ninth Cave side-was broad. If they headed upstream along The River in its meandering but generally northeast direction, trees would be close to the water, and a wide expanse of grassy field separated The River from the highlands on both sides, and climbed up to the highlands in a gradual slope. However, after a short distance, water hugged steep cliffs on the other side, the left bank, which was on the right-hand side as one traveled toward the source. "Left bank" and "right bank" were terms that always referred to the sides of rivers when going downstream in the direction of the flowing current. They were traveling upstream.