Quick recap
Ayla, now the First's acolyte, sets out with Jondalar, their daughter Jonayla, the animals and others on her Donier Tour of the sacred caves painted by the Ancients. There she learns the Clan visits some of them too. Back home she studies the sun and moon and gets pregnant. She stays behind when her people leave for the Summer Meeting, brews a tea from herbs she was given on the trip and receives her Calling: three days in a cave until Wolf wakes her. Inside she finds proof that the acolyte Madroman faked his Calling, and learns she has lost the baby. At the Meeting she finds Jondalar with his old lover Marona, and they drift apart. At her initiation Ayla falls into a coma, and Jondalar calls her back. Her Calling brings a revelation: men help make children too.