and/or her purported child on their return Journey. Serenio Jondalar's lover among the Sharamudoi, Serenio was an unmated woman with a young son, Darvo; Jondalar found her pleasant and companionable, but could not bring himself to love her. The brief description of their liaison seems to be highly symbolic, used by Auel as a device to illustrate Jondalar's emotional state of mind before meeting Ayla. When Jondalar and Ayla return from the valley and stop at the Sharamudoi camp where he and Thonolan had stayed previously, Serenio had left the camp to mate with a cousin of Thonolan's female cross-mate; Darvo stayed with the Shamudoi. Ayla As described above, Ayla is the second and true love of Jondalar's life. Having saved his life and healed him so well that no one would expect that he had been mauled by a cave lion, Ayla won Jondalar's heart with a potent mix of experience and innocence, strength and vulnerability. She is a mature woman who had lived a lifetime before they met, yet approached life with the innocent qualities of a young woman at First Rites. Mamut, Ayla's adoptive father and the most powerful holy man among the Mamutoi, hinted more than once that Jondalar is a necessary part of whatever fate the Great Mother has in store for Ayla. Jondalar has fathered a daughter with Ayla named Jonayla. They become the first true happily monogamous couple. Ayla loves Jondalar. In the third book of Earths Children, they have some conflict. Jondalar thinks Ayla doesn't love him because she is talking with Ranec. And Ayla thinks that Jondalar doesn't love her because he is acting jealous and mad. Notes and references "The Valley of Horses" Second book of the series "The Mammoth Hunters" Third book tying into archeological digs in the Ukraine and Poland along the margins of the ice sheet. "The Plains of Passage" A travel book detailing Ayla and Jondalar's adventures traveling up the Danube basin and recrossing the Alps. "The Shelters of Stone" Similar to "The Mammoth Hunters", the focus of this cultural exploration is the interactions of the paleolithic society of Jondalar's Zelan Earth's Children Fictional European people Fictional fishers Fictional hunters Fictional prehistoric characters