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Ayla bent over the wo liquid She dipped her little finger into it to check the te herself to the ground in a cross-legged position, sat quietly for a moment

Her thoughts were drawn back to her life with the Clan, and particularly to the training she had received froeable medicine woman who had raised her Iza had taken care of most ordinary illnesses and minor injuries with practical dispatch, but when she had to treat a serious proble illness—she asked Creb, in his capacity as Mog-ur, to call upon higher powers for their assistance Iza was a ician, the holy man, who had access to the world of the spirits

A the Ma his people as well, the functions of -ur were not necessarily separated Those who healed often interceded with the spirit world, though not all of Those Who Served the Mother were equally well versed in every capacity that was open to them The Mamut of the Lion Cas of the spirit and the e of certain re abilities were relatively undeveloped, and it often fell to Talut's mate, Nezzie, to deal with the minor injuries and illnesses of the Ca, however, Ayla had ed knowledge with them

But Ayla's training had been of the practical kind Like Iza, she was a eable in the ways of the spirit world, and she wished at that moment she had someone like Creb to call on She wanted, and felt she needed, the assistance of any powers greater than herself that would be willing to help Though Ma of the spiritual realm of the Great Mother, she was still reith, particularly her own totem, the spirit of the Great Cave Lion

Though it was a Clan spirit, she kneas powerful, and Mamut had said that the spirits of all animals, indeed all spirits, were part of the Great Earth Mother He had even included her protective Cave Lion totem in the ceremony when she was adopted, and she kne to ask for help froht, perhaps the spirit of her Cave Lion would help Roshario

Ayla closed her eyes and began toe of the Clan, the one known by all the clans, used to address the world of the spirits

"Great Cave Lion, this worateful to have been chosen This worateful for the Gifts inside, for the lessons learned and the knowledge gained

"Great Powerful Protector, who is known to choose reat protection, but who chose this woirl, this worateful This woman knows not why the spirit of the Great Cave Lion of the Clan chose a girlchild, and one of the Others, but this worateful for the protection of the great totem

"Great Toteuidance, would now ask for assistance The Great Cave Lion guided this woman to learn the ways of aThis woman knows remedies for illness and injury, knows teas and washes and poultices and other medicines from plants, this worateful for the knowledge, and grateful for the unknown knowledge of uide to this woman But this woman knows not the ways of the spirit world

"Great Spirit of the Cave Lion, ells with the stars in the world of the spirits, the wo here is not Clan; the woman is one of the Others, as is this woman you chose, but help is asked for the woreat pain, but the pain that is inside is worse The woman would suffer the pain, but the woman fears that without both arood woman, would be a useful woman This medicine woerous This woman would ask the assistance of the spirit of the Great Cave Lion, and any spirits the Great Toteuide this wo here"

Roshario, Dolando, and Jondalar were as silent as Ayla, as she performed her unusual actions Of the three, Jondalar was the only one who knehat she was doing, and he found hih his knowledge of the Clan language was rudiined— he did understand that she was asking for help from the spirit world

Jondalar simply did not see so that had been developed upon an entirely different basis than any verbal language It was impossible to fully translate anyway At best, any translation to words seeraceful motions were beautiful He recalled that there was a tiht have been embarrassed over her actions, and he smiled to himself now at his foolishness, but he was curious about how Roshario and Dolando would interpret Ayla's behavior

Dolando was perplexed and a little disturbed, since her actions were completely unfae, even if itWhen Ayla was through, Dolando looked at Jondalar with a questioning expression, but the younger man only smiled

The injury had debilitated Roshario, leaving her weak and feverish, not enough to make her delirious, but drained and disoriented, andon the unknooely moved She didn't have the least idea what Ayla's racefulness It was as though the wo with her hands, indeed with more than her hands She evoked a subtle beauty with her ral parts of her dancing hands, responding to soh she didn't understand it any more than she understood how Ayla had known she needed her help, Roshario was certain it was i She was Shae beyond the ken of ordinary people, and anything that seemed mysterious only added to her credibility