Windhaven

One day as they stepped outside Evan's house, Maris stopped him from turning deeper into the forest.

"All those trees make me feel like I'm still inside," she complained. "I need to see the sky, to smell clean, open air. How far away is the sea?"

Evan gestured to the north. "About two miles that way. You can see where the trees begin to thin."

Maris grinned at him. "You sound reluctant. Do you feel sad when there aren't any trees around? You don't have to come if you can't bear it — but I don't understand how you can breathe in that forest. It's too dim and close. Nothing to smell but dirt and rot and leaf-mold."

"Wonderful smells," Evan said, smiling back. They began to walk toward the north. "The sea is too cold and empty and big for my tastes. I feel comfortable and at home in my forest."

"Ah, Evan, we're so different, you and I!" She touched his arm and grinned at him, somehow pleased by the contrast. She threw her head back and sniffed the air. "Yes, I can smell the sea already!"

"You could smell it on my doorstep — you can smell the sea all over Thayos," Evan pointed out.

"The forest disguised it." Maris felt her heart lightening with the thinning of the forest. All her life had been spent beside the sea, or over it. She had felt the lack every morning waking in Evan's house, missing the pounding of the waves and the sharp salt smell, but most of all missing the sight of that vast, gray immensity, beneath an equally immense and turbulent sky.

The tree line ended abruptly, and the rocky cliffs began. Maris broke into a run. She stopped on the cliff's edge, breathing hard, and gazed out over the sea and the sky.

The sky was indigo, filled with rapidly scudding gray clouds. The wind was relatively gentle at this height, but Maris could tell from the patient circling of a pair of scavenger kites that up higher the flying was still good. Not a day for rushing urgent messages, perhaps, but a good day for playing, for swooping and diving and laughing in the cool air.

She heard Evan approaching. "You can't tell me that's not beautiful," she said, without turning. She took an-other step closer to the edge of the cliff and looked down… and felt the world drop beneath her.

She gasped for breath and her arms flailed, seeking some solidity, and she was falling, falling, falling, and even Evan's arms wrapped tight around her could not draw her back to safety.

It stormed all the next day. Maris spent the day inside, lost in depression, thinking of what had happened on the cliffs. She did not exercise. She ate listlessly, and had to force herself to tend to her wings. Evan watched her in silence, frowning often.

The rain continued the following day, but the worst of the storm was past, and the downpour grew more gentle. Evan announced that he was going out. "There are some things I need from Port Thayos," he said,

"herbs that do not grow here. A trader came in last week, I understand. Perhaps I will be able to replenish my stores."

"Perhaps," Maris said evenly. She was tired, though she had done nothing this morning except eat breakfast. She felt old.

"Would you like to walk with me? You have never seen Port Thayos."

"No," Maris said. "I don't feel up to it just now. I'll spend the day here."

Evan frowned, but reached for his heavy raincloak nonetheless. "Very well," he said. "I will be back before dark."

But it was well after dark when the healer finally returned, carrying a basket full of bottled herbs. The rain had finally stopped. Maris had begun to worry about him when the sun went down. "You're late," she said when he entered, and shook the rain from his cloak. "Are you all right?"

He was smiling; Maris had never seen him quite so happy. "News, good news," he said. "The port is full of it. There will be no war. The Landsmen of Thayos and Thrane have agreed to a personal meeting on that accursed rock, to work out a compromise about mining rights!"

"No war," Maris said, a little dully. "Good, good. Odd, though. How did it happen?"

Evan started a fire and began to make some tea. "Oh, it was all happenstance," he said. "Tya returned from another mission, bearing nothing. Our Landsman was rebuffed on all sides. Without allies, he did not feel strong enough to press his claims. He is furious, I'm told, but what can he do? Nothing. So he sent Jem to Thrane to set up a meeting, to haggle out whatever settlement he can. Anything is better than nothing, I would have thought he'd find support on Cheslin or Thrynel, particularly if he offered them a large enough share of the iron. And certainly there is no love lost between Thrane and the Arrens." Evan laughed. "Ah, what does it matter? The war is off. Port Thayos is giddy with relief, except for a few landsguard who'd hoped to weigh down their pockets with iron. Everyone is celebrating, and we should celebrate too."