Stalker with a Crush: Has shades of this towards Ayla, following her around, spying on her with Jondalar and fantasising about her. He is infatuated with her and often wishes he were in Jondalar’s place. Serial Spouse: Downplayed. She's been mated three times; her first mate died, she and her second mate amicably 'severed the knot' and she's been Happily Married to her third mate for many years.

Dude, Where's My Respect?: Laramar is gifted at brewing birch beer, and considers it his primary contribution to the welfare of the Ninth Cave; despite the difficulty of the craft and resulting increases to the Cave's quality of life, he is the lowest-ranked member. That said, he uses it his craft as an excuse to get out of any sort of practical contributions (hunting, gathering, cave maintenance, etc); he's also The Resenter and The Alcoholic, which doesn't precisely help anyone sympathize with him.

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Happily Married: To Proleva; they have a loving relationship and he relies on her to help him run the Ninth Cave.

The Leader: He’s the leader of the Ninth Cave. He inherits his leadership skills from his mother and father, who were both leader before him; it's indicated he learnt from Marthona in particular (seeing as his father died when he was too young to properly remember him) and his leadership style is reminiscent of her's. False Soulmate: To Jondalar. Their relationship was never ideal due to her being several years older and his donii-woman – her role was to introduce an adolescent Jondalar to the 'Gift of Pleasure', but nothing more. Having a serious relationship would be considered quite scandalous and could've gotten Zolena in trouble (Jondalar mentions that as the older woman, she would've received more blame). Despite this, Jondalar deeply loved her and was never interested in being with anyone else, while Zolena herself even considered breaking the taboo and mating him. The incident with Madroman, wherein Jondalar beat the crap out of him for publicly revealing their Secret Relationship, made Zolena realize it would never work out and she broke things off. Years later, Jondalar meets his Second Love Ayla and while they also face many challenges to their relationship, they're ultimately more compatible and end up Happily Married. Zelandoni herself greatly approves of Ayla and thinks it was destiny she and Jondalar didn't end up together, as otherwise, she would probably not have become Zelandoni Who is First.Theme Naming: The Zelandonii often have names with an "a" or "o" as the second letter, and/or ending with "a", "ar" or "an". Ayla observed the leader and the people around him closely, and instinctively moved her hand to shield the warm bundle that she carried in the soft leather blanket tied to her chest. Jonayla had recently nursed and was sleeping, but moved slightly at her mother's touch. Ayla had an uncanny ability to interpret meaning from body language, learned young when she lived with the Clan. She knew Joharran was alarmed and Thefona was frightened.

Joharran's brow wrinkled in a way that was so much like his taller though younger brother's, it made Ayla want to smile, but it usually showed at a time when smiling would be inappropriate. "Perhaps it would be wiser just to avoid them," the dark-haired leader said. Birds of a Feather: With Lanoga. They’re both overlooked or judged for things beyond their control (Lanoga for having crappy parents, Lanidar for his crippled arm).Do Not Call Me "Paul": He gets annoyed when people call him by his old name, Ladroman, not Madroman. This is justified when one considers that referring to a zelandoni, even one in training, by their pre-zelandoni name is considered not only inappropriate, but disrespectful.