Windhaven

Coll sang "Tya's Fall." At his sister's urging, he had composed two versions. He gave Val the sad one.

Val listened politely, with only a hint of restlessness. "Very pretty," he said when Coll was done. "Very sad." He looked sharply at Maris. "Is this why you sent S'Rella to me, and had me fly here at risk of my life, in spite of my pledge never to come to Thayos? For this? To listen to a song?" He frowned. "How badly did that fall injure your head?"

Coll laughed. " Give her half a chance," he said.

"It's all right," Maris said. "Val and I are used to each other, aren't we?"

Val smiled thinly. "You have half a chance," he said. "Tell me what this is all about."

"Tya," Maris said. "In a word. And how to mend what was broken in Council."

Val frowned. "It's too late. Tya is dead. We responded, and now we wait to see what will happen."

"If we wait then it will be too late. We can't afford to wait for the flyers to close the academies, or limit challenges to those who promise to ignore your sanction. You've given a weapon to Corm and his kind by walking out, by acting without the support of the Council."

Val shook his head. "I did what had to be done. And there are more one-wings every year. The Landsman of Thayos may laugh now, but he will not laugh forever."

"You don't have forever," Maris said. She was silent a moment, her thoughts tumbling so fast that she was afraid to speak. She couldn't afford to alienate Val. They did understand each other, as she had told Coll, but Val was still prickly and temperamental, as his actions in Council had proved. And it would be hard for him to admit that he had been wrong.

"I should have come when you sent for me," she said after a moment. "But I was afraid, and selfish.

Perhaps I could have kept this split from taking place."

Val said flatly, "That's useless. What happened, happened."

"That doesn't mean it can't be changed. I understand you felt you had to do something—but what you did may turn out to be a lot worse than doing nothing could have been. What if the flyers decide to strip you of your wings, to ground all the one-wings?"

"Let them try."

"What could you do? Fight them individually, hand to hand? No. If the flyers should decide to take away the wings from all those who participate in your sanction, there would be nothing you could do. Nothing except, perhaps, to kill a few flyers and see a lot more one-wings die like Tya. The Landsmen would support the flyers with all the power of the landsguard."

"If that happens…" Val stared at Maris, his face dangerously still. "If that happens, you'll live to see your dream die. Does that mean so much to you? Still? When you know that you can never fly again yourself?"

"This is more important than my dream or my life," Maris said. "It's gone beyond that. You know that.

You care too, Val."

The silence in the little cabin seemed to close around them. Even Coll's fingers were motionless upon the strings of his guitar.

"Yes," said Val, the word like a sigh. "But what… what can I do?"

"Revoke this sanction," Maris said promptly. "Before your enemies use it against you."

"Will the Landsman revoke Tya's hanging? No, Maris, this sanction is the only power we have. The other flyers must join us in it, or we must stay split."

"It's a useless gesture, you know that," Maris said. "Thayos will not miss the one-wings. The flyer-born will come and go as always, and the Landsman will have plenty of wings to bear his words. It means nothing."

"It means we will keep our word; that we do not make idle threats. Besides, the sanction was voted by all of us. I could not revoke it alone if I wanted to. You are wasting your breath."

Maris smiled scornfully, but inside she felt hopeful. Val was beginning to back down. "Don't play games with me, Val. You are the one-wings. That's why I called you here. We both know they will do whatever you suggest."

"Are you really asking me to forget what the Landsman did? To forget Tya?"

"No one will forget Tya."

A soft chord sounded. "My song will assure that," Coll said. "I'll sing it in Port Thayos in a few days.

Other singers will steal it. Soon it will be heard everywhere."

Val stared at him in disbelief. "You mean to sing that song in Port Thayos? Are you mad? Don't you know that the very name of Tya raises curses and fights in Port Thayos? Sing that song there, in any tavern, and I'll wager you'll be left in a gutter with your throat slit open."

"Singers are given a certain license," Coll said. "Especially if they are good. The first mention of Tya's name may bring jeers, but after they've heard my song they'll feel differently. Before long, Tya will have become a hero, a tragic victim. That will be because of my song, although few will admit or realize it."

"I've never heard such arrogance," Val said, sounding bemused. He looked at Maris. "Did you put him up to this?"

"We discussed it."