The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel Page B

up. “Are you back already?” he said, then turned to the others. “Since she’s such a fast runner, I sent Galeya to the Third Cave earlier this morning to find out when Manvelar plans to leave.”
    “When I got there, he was just going to send a runner to you,” Galeya said. She was a little out of breath, and her hair was wet from the sweat of her effort. “Manvelar said the Third Cave is ready to leave. He wants to start tomorrow morning. If the Ninth Cave is ready to go, he would like to travel with us.”
    “That’s a little sooner than I had planned, I was thinking of leaving in the next day or so,” Joharran said, his frown lines showing. He looked at the others. “Do you think we can be ready to go by tomorrow morning?”
    “I can,” Proleva said, without hesitation.
    “We probably can,” Rushemar said. “Salova has finished the last of the baskets she wanted to take with her. We haven’t packed, but I have everything ready.”
    “I’m still sorting through my handles,” Solaban said. “Marsheval came by yesterday to talk about what he should bring. He seems to have a talent for working with ivory, too, and is gaining skill,” he added with a smile. Solaban’s craft was making handles, mostly for knives, chisels, and other tools. Though he could make handles out of antler and wood, he particularly liked working with mammoth tusk ivory and had begun making other objects from it, like beads and carvings, especially since Marsheval had become his apprentice.
    “Can you be ready to leave by tomorrow morning?” Joharran asked. He knew Solaban often agonized to the last moment over the decision of which handles to bring with him to the Summer Meeting, for gifts and for trading.
    “I suppose I can,” Solaban said, then coming to a decision, “Yes, I’ll be ready, and I’m sure Ramara can be, too.”
    “Good, but we need to find out about the rest of the Cave so I can send a runner back to Manvelar. Rushemar, Solaban, we need to tell everyone that I’d like to have a short meeting, as soon as possible. You can say what it’s about if anyone asks and tell them that whoever comes to represent each hearth should be able to decide for the rest,” he said. He dumped the last remnants left in his personal eating bowl into the fire, then wiped it and his eating knife with a damp piece of buckskin before putting them into a carrying pouch attached to his belt. He’d run them under water when he had a chance. As he got up he said to Galeya, “I don’t think you need to run back there again. I’ll send another runner.”
    She looked rather relieved, then smiled. “Palidar runs fast. We were racing with each other yesterday, and he almost beat me.”
    Joharran had to stop and think a moment; the name wasn’t immediately familiar to him. Then he remembered the lion hunt. Galeya had hunted with a young man from the Third Cave, but Palidar had also been with them on the hunt. “Isn’t he a friend of Tivonan, the young man Willamar has been taking with him on trading missions?”
    “Yes. He came back with Willamar and Tivonan last time, and decided he might as well go with us to the Summer Meeting and meet his Cave there.” Galeya said.
    Joharran nodded. It was acknowledgment enough. He didn’t know if he would send the visitor, or someone else who was a member of the Ninth Cave, but he was aware that Palidar seemed to be of interest to Folara’s friend Galeya, and obviously the young man had found a reason for staying. If there was a possibility that he might someday become a member of the Ninth Cave, Joharran wanted to know more about him, and tucked the thought away in his memory. He had more pressing issues to think about at the moment.
    Joharran knew that at least one person from each dwelling would be present at his meeting, but as people started coming out, he saw that nearly everyone wanted to find out why the leader was calling a sudden meeting. When they had gathered in the work area,