Windhaven

The Landsman's mouth twitched spasmodically. He looked at Evan, making an elaborate charade of ignoring Maris. "It occurred to me that the flyers might wish to send someone to represent their viewpoint. To formally condemn Tya's actions, to plead for mercy, to present any mitigating factors. But the crime was committed against me — against Thayos — and only the Landsman of Thayos can hold trial and mete out punishment in such a case. You agree?"

"I know nothing of the law, nor of what Landsmen must do," Evan said quietly. "The ways of healing are what I know."

Maris felt the warning pressure of Evan's hand on her arm, and said nothing. It was a hard silence. For years, she had always said what she thought.

The Landsman smiled at Evan. It was a gloating, unpleasant expression. "Perhaps you would like to learn? You and your assistant are welcome to stay and sup with me, and afterward I can promise you a most edifying entertainment. A traitor, Reni the healer, is to be hanged at sunset."

"For what crime?"

"Treason, as I said. This Reni had family on Thrane. And he was often seen in the company of the traitorous flyer — was known, in fact, to cohabit with her. He was her accomplice. Won't you stay and observe the fate of those who betray me?"

Maris felt sick.

"I think not," said Evan. "Now, if you will excuse us, we must be on our way."

Evan and Maris did not speak again until the lands-guard had left them at the mouth of the valley and they were on the road toward home, presumably safely away from unfriendly ears.

"Poor Reni," Evan said then.

"Poor Tya," said Maris. "He means to hang her, too. Oh, what she did was wrong, no doubt, but what a fate! I don't know what the flyers will do, but they can't tolerate this. A flyer can't be tried and executed by a Landsman!"

"It may not happen," Evan said. "Poor Reni will die, no doubt, but that may be enough to appease the Landsman. He's a man who must have blood, but he is not totally mad. He surely realizes that he will have to give Tya over to the flyers, eventually; that her punishment must come from them."

"Whatever happens to Tya is none of my business anyway," Maris said with a sigh. "It's a hard habit to break, after more than forty years of thinking of myself as a flyer. But I'm a land-bound now, like any other, and what happens to Tya shouldn't mean anything to me."

Evan put his arm around her and hugged her close as they walked. "Maris, no one expects you to forget your life as a flyer, or to stop feeling those ties."

"I know," said Maris. "No one except me. But it's no good, Evan. I have to. I don't know how else to go on. When I was younger I thought the story of Woodwings was romantic. I thought that dreams were the most important things of all, and that if you wanted something strongly and surely enough, you would eventually have it, even if it meant dying to attain it. It never occurred to me to wonder what might have happened to Woodwings if he had been rescued from the ocean, if his legendary fall had not killed him. If he'd been picked up floating on those ridiculous wooden wings of his, and given back to his land-bound friends. How he would have lived with the failure, with his dreams shattered. What compromises he would have made." She sighed and rested her head on Evan's shoulder. "I've had a long life as a flyer — longer than many. I should be content. I wish I could be. In some ways I'm still a child, Evan. I never learned how to deal with disappointment — I thought there was always a way to get what I wanted, without giving up or compromising. It's hard, Evan."

"Growth can be painful," Evan said. "And healing takes time. Give it time, Maris."

Coll and Bari were gone. They planned to tour Thayos one last time before taking ship to other Eastern islands. They would come back before very long, Coll assured Maris and Evan, but Maris suspected that one thing would lead to another, and that it would be a matter of years, rather than months, before she saw either Coll or his daughter again.

In fact, it was only a matter of days.

Coll was raging. "Permission of the Landsman is required to leave this godforsaken rock," he said in response to Maris' surprised greeting. He was almost shouting. "A time of crisis, when singers might be spies!"

Bari peeked shyly around her father's bulk, then rushed forward to hug first Maris and then Evan.

"I'm glad we came back," she murmured.

"Has war with Thrane been declared, then?" asked Evan. Despite the quick flash of a smile for Bari, his face was grim.