"But she's there…"

"Mother, I already fed them once. They know me, and you can see they know Folara," Lanidar said.

"They won't hurt him," Ayla said, "and I'm only going over there." She pointed to an arrangement of stones near the gate. It was a traveler's cairn that Kareja had made for her. Ayla only had to remove a few rocks to reach the space inside where she could keep a few things, like a leather riding blanket. The rocks were overlapped in such a way that rainwater would flow over the top and not seep inside. The leader of the Eleventh Cave showed her how to put them back to keep the inside dry. Similar cairns were placed along several well-used routes with emergency fire-making materials and often a warm cloak inside. Other cairns had dried food inside. Occasionally both would be in one cairn, but the food cairns were broken into more often, and bears, wolverines, or badgers, the most frequent offenders, usually vandalized and scattered everything.

Ayla left them with the horses. When she reached the cairn, she glanced back, making it very inconspicuous. Folara and Lanidar were letting the large herbivores eat out of their hands, while Mardena stayed back, acting nervous and looking concerned, and Denoda watched. Ayla walked back and casually tied the riding blanket on Whinney's back. Then she led the mare to a stone.

"Get up on the stone, Folara, then put your leg over her back and try to find a comfortable seat. You can hang on to her mane. I'll hold Whinney so she won't move," Ayla said.

Folara felt a little clumsy, especially when she recalled how smoothly Ayla mounted the horse, but she managed to get on, then sat there, grinning. "I'm sitting on a horse's back!" she said, feeling rather proud of herself.

Ayla noticed that Lanidar was watching her with a yearning look. Later, Ayla thought. Let's not press your mother too hard, yet. "Are you ready?" she said.

"Yes, I think so," Folara said.

"Just relax, you can hold her mane for support if you want, but you don't have to," Ayla said, then started off at a walk, leading the horse by the halter, though she knew Whinney would follow her without it.

At first Folara held the mane and sat up stiffly, bouncing with each step the horse made, but after a while she settled down, began to anticipate the gait and relax into it. Then she let go of the mane.

"Do you want to try it alone? I'll give you the lead rope."

"Do you think I can?"

"You can try it, and if you want to get off, just tell me. When you want Whinney to go faster, lean forward," Ayla explained, "hug her neck if you want. When you want her to slow down, start to sit up."

"All right. I think I will try," Folara said.

Mardena looked absolutely petrified when Ayla put the lead rope in Folara's hand. "Go ahead, Whinney," she said, signaling her to go slow.

The horse started walking across the meadow. She had given rides to several people and knew to go easy, especially the first time. When Folara leaned forward a little, Whinney increased her pace, but not by much. She leaned down a little farther, and Whinney shifted into a trot. She was an amazingly smooth-riding horse, but the trot jogged Folara a little more than she expected. She quickly sat back up, and Whinney slowed down. After they had gone out a ways, Ayla whistled to call her back. Folara got braver and leaned forward again, and this time she stayed with the trot until they returned and stopped. Ayla led the mare to the rock and held her until Folara got down.

"That was wonderful!" Folara said, her face flushed with excitement. Lanidar was smiling at her just because she looked so pleased.

"See, mother," the boy said. "You can ride on the back of these horses."

"Ayla, why don't you give Mardena and Denoda a demonstration of what they can really do," Folara said.

Ayla nodded, then quickly and smoothly leaped on the horse, guided her out toward the middle of the meadow at a fast trot, with Racer and Wolf at her heels. She signaled a gallop, and the horse raced at top speed across the field. She made a large circle, then headed back, slowing the horse as they got close, pulled to a stop, threw her leg over the horse, and jumped down. Both women and the boy were wide-eyed.

"Well, now I know why someone would want to ride on the back of a horse," Denoda said. "If I were younger, I'd like to try it."

"How do you have so much control over this animal?" Mardena said. "Is it some kind of magic?"

"No, not at all, Mardena. Anyone could do it, with practice."

"What made you decide to ride on a horse? How did you start?" Denoda asked.

"I killed Whinney's dam, for food, and only later discovered she was nursing a young filly," Ayla began. "When hyenas came after the foal, I couldn't stand to let them take her-I hate those filthy animals-so I chased them away, and then realized I would have to take care of her." She told them about saving the baby horse from hyenas and then raising her, and that because she had, they grew to know each other well. "One day I got up on her back, and when she started running, I held on. It was all I could do. When she finally slowed down and I got off, I could hardly believe what I had done. It was like flying with the wind in my face. I couldn't help doing it again, and though at first I had no control, after a while I learned how to direct her. She goes where I want because she wants to. She's my friend, and I think it pleases her to let me ride."

"Still, it was an unusual thing to do. Didn't anyone object?" Mardena said.

"There was no one to object. I was alone then," Ayla said.

"I would have been afraid to live alone, with no other people," Mardena said. She was full of curiosity and wanted to ask more questions, but before she had the chance, they heard a call and turned to see Jondalar coming.

"They're here!" he said. "Dalanar and the Lanzadonii have arrived!"

"Wonderful!" Folara said. "I can hardly wait to see them."

Ayla smiled with delight. "I am also anxious to see them." She turned back to her visitors. "We have to go back to camp. The man of Jondalar's hearth has arrived, in time for our Matrimonial."

"Of course," Mardena said. "We'll go right away."

"Well, I wouldn't mind greeting Dalanar before we leave, Mardena," Denoda said. "I used to know him."

"You should," Jondalar said. "I'm sure he'd be glad to see you."

"And before you go, I need to ask you if you will allow Lanidar to come and check on the horses for me when I'm busy, Mardena," Ayla said. "He doesn't have to do anything except make sure they are all right, and come and get me if he notices anything wrong. I would appreciate it very much. It would be such a relief if I didn't have to worry about them."

When they turned to look, the boy was petting the young stallion and feeding him pieces of wild carrot.

"I think you can see they won't hurt him," Ayla said. "Well, I suppose he could," Mardena said.

"Oh, mother, thank you!" Lanidar said, grinning. Mardena had never seen such a pleased and happy expression on his face.