Danug offered him a choice of wraps. He chose to assume the garb of the Others. He needed no more than the breechclout yet, it was warm outside and even warmer in the lodge. After they bathed, Danug showed him his sleeping place, at the hearth of their mog-ur, whom these people called "mamut". Durc had then caused himself--and Frebec--some embarrassment by calling the man "mamut". However, Frebec explained that he was only a guest at the place-of-the-aurochs, and then made a lot of ha-ha. Durc found the man's whooping and facial contortions so amusing that he had to do it too.
"Frebec, this man wishes to know... what is the sound-word for 'ha-ha-ha'?"
"Laugh," Frebec said. "I laugh. You laugh."
"Hlaughh," Durc said. Frebec tried to correct his pronunciation, and they both wound up laughing again.
"A-ee laugh," Durc said.
Frebec slapped his shoulder, a gesture of friendship among these people, and signed "'Laugh' is good, food of spirit.'" His eyes also spoke, of both happiness and sorrow. They held an unusual amount of moisture. Chac looked up for a moment from his resting place on the floor.
The absent members of Aurochs Camp returned late in the afternoon laden with baskets of roots, greens, unripe seeds, fruit, and bunches of herbs. They set down their burdens in front of the lodge and paused to let the wind cool them. Tarneg greeted his mate, Bernie, who immediately asked him how Deegie was.
"She's fine," he said. "No sign of the baby coming yet. I'm glad you're back, though--we have a visitor to fuss over." His eyes teased her with news yet unrevealed.
"Anyone I know?"
"Nope. You remember Ayla, of course?"
"Doesn't everyone?" She gave him a quizzical, demanding look.
"Our visitor is one Durc, a man of mixed spirits from the Clan... apparently the son that Ayla was forced to leave behind when she left them."
"Oh, dear Mut! And nothing but leftover stew and vegetables for dinner!"
Tarneg laughed heartily, one arm around his mate and the other clinging to his crutch. "It's all right, we have fresh meat. Tomorrow we'll feast properly. Branag cleaned out the pit. We can fire it up first thing in the morning. And Danug says he'll let us at the bouza." He rubbed her cheek tenderly with his.
Durc's first impression that the Others in general had very little self-discipline had been reinforced by later observations. They let their emotions take over their lives. Grown men with plenty of hair covering their funny-looking chins behaved like weanlings. Their faces fairly shouted their thoughts. And the noise! In the midst of a whole clan of them, he could hardly think for all the ba-ba-la-la.
The whole of Tarneg's noisy clan gathered in the lodge that evening to gape at him and eat the stew that Tha-la-rie (he was determined to get that name right!) had prepared. She used cooked meat from a storage pit sheltered by an annex built onto the elongated dwelling.
Durc found the whole structure fascinating. Danug had shown him around it before leaving him at the hearth-of-the-mammoth with Frebec. The tall man had gone out to do women's work--Durc saw that when he needed to be shown where to eliminate waste. His offer to help them move the firewood was politely refused. He spent some time simply sitting and thinking. Frebec seemed to understand that he needed time to integrate his new experiences. Durc appreciated the man's quiet companionship.
Much talk went on during and after the simple meal of stewed meat and boiled fresh greens. Undisciplined as they were, the Others did observe some decorum. If Tarneg made a request, his clan responded. Several times Durc saw him raise his hands and speak, and the other men and women quieted. The children were surprisingly mannerly too. The smallest, a girl and boy that belonged to Deegie, the very pregnant "headwoman", were sweet little things despite their odd build. Durc thought for a moment of the son of his mate, but quickly pushed that aside.
He learned a few more words, but more went over his head than into it. One thing that he learned would have been enough in any case.
Danug's skill with Clan speech had improved noticeably as he spoke off and on with Durc. Now, as Branag and Bernie filled cups for all with a liquid called "bouza" that smelled like rotten fruit, Danug asked again about the clan that Durc had left. He answered in greater detail than before, and repeated some of the names. Danug grew excited, bobbing his head a lot and speaking aside to the others.
"Durc, this man ask for know, for know..." Danug rapped his head with his knuckles. "Mother you name Uba, yes?" Durc nodded. "Uba mother, Uba not mother, you small boy mother go, you stay, yes?"
"Yes." Had he mentioned that? No, certainly not. Durc frowned and cocked his head, watching Danug intently.
"Mother not Uba, mother name 'Ayla'?"
Danug had to repeat the name. Durc had to repeat "How do you know that?" several different ways.
"Mother of Durc, name Ayla?"
"yes." Durc nodded, his eyes widening a little.
"Ayla come to our clan, come to 'Mamutoi' two hands year gone."
Durc let that sink in until it made sense. But it didn't make sense. How could his mamma-mother have come here? She had always lived with the clan, until she was cursed with death. He was not in the land of the spirits, close as he had come a few times on his way. Durc shook his head. "No, Ayla is dead. She was cursed with death." He couldn't avoid showing his bitterness.
"No, Durc. Look this man speak. Ayla curse one time, she live, yes?"
Durc nodded.
"Ayla not die. Ayla (something). Ayla come here, with man. They go together his clan."
Durc blinked slowly a few times. He lifted his hands but could not speak. "Mamma" was not dead? She lived on with the Others? Danug's eyes showed him two tiny reflections of his own face, mouth open. Then Danug's arms encircled him; the big man's hands thumped his back. Durc wrapped his arms around Danug--it seemed like the thing to do at the moment.
"He didn't know?" Branag said as he handed Danug and Durc their cups of bouza.
"No. It makes it all the more... marvelous, doesn't it?" Danug cradled his cup delicately in his big hands and sniffed the yeasty aroma.
"Mut works many greater wonders," said Kylie. "But each life is a miracle in itself. Having known Ayla, even for a short time, I am not all that surprised that her son should be led on the same path."
Branag lifted his own cup. "Well said, Mamut. Ah, Danug, I think you will surpass Talut in the brewing some day."
"All that and he can knap flint too," Thalarie said, smiling at her mate. She caught herself and glanced at Durc. He gave a little shrug and sniffed his bouza.
"Well, here's to Ayla," said Tarneg, raising his bouza cup. Deegie and Bernie, on either side of him, lifted theirs so close that they nearly caused a spill.
"Ayla!" chorused all the voices of the Aurochs Camp, though the youngest ones had no cups to raise. They drank down the bouza.
Durc drank his bouza with the rest, but the look on his face caused some laughter. "Ach, bouza," he said, and signed something that Danug interpreted as "Interesting."
They all retired to bed then. It had been a very full day.