Windhaven

Tya looked back at her, unmoved. 'I'd do it again,' she said.

The trip through the tunnels seemed shorter on their return. The Landsman was again waiting for them in the drafty outer hall, and he looked at them both sharply, as if seeking signs of anger or fear. 'A most unfortunate accident,' he said.

Evan said, 'She suffered only a fractured collarbone and a few bruises. She should recover quickly if she is given good food and allowed to rest.'

'She will have the best of care during her detention here,' said the Landsman. He looked at Maris, although he directed his words to Evan. 'I've sent Jem to spread word of her arrest. A thankless task — the flyers have no leaders, no rational organization — that would make things too easy. Instead word must be spread among as many of them as possible, and that takes time. But it will be done. Jem has flown for me for many years, and his mother flew for my father. He at least I can count on.'

'Then you intend to hand Tya over to the flyers for trial?' said Maris.

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.

Coll threw himself into the large chair near the fireplace. 'I don't know if it is called war yet or not,' he said. 'But the story abroad in the streets was that the Landsman had just sent three warships crammed with landsguard to wrest control of that iron mine.' He fiddled with his guitar as he spoke, his restless fingers striking soft discords. 'And while we wait for the outcome of this little venture, no one is to land on or leave Thayos without the Landsman's express, personal permission. The traders are furious, but afraid to protest.' Coll scowled. 'Wait until I'm decently away from here! I'll make a lyric that will blister the Landsman's ears when it gets back to him. And it will, it will.'

Maris laughed. 'Now you sound like Barrion. He always said you singers were the ones who really ruled.'

That finally drew a smile from Coll, but Evan remained grim. 'No song will heal the wounded, or bring the dead back to life,' he said. 'If war is at hand, we must leave the forest for Port Thayos. That is where they will bring the wounded, those that survive the crossing. I'll be needed there.'

'The streets are mad just now,' said Coll. 'Rumors and wild stories of all sorts. The town has an ugly feel to it. The Landsman has hanged his healer, and people are afraid to go to the keep. There will be trouble soon, and not just with Thrane.' His eyes found Maris. 'Something is going on with the flyers as well. I must have counted a dozen pair of wings coming and going over the Strait. War messages, I assumed, but I drank with a tanner in the Scylla's Head who said more. She has a sister in the landsguard, she told me, and she said her sister bragged of arresting a flyer not long ago. The Landsman has taken it upon himself to try a flyer for treason! Can you believe that?'

'Yes,' Maris said. 'It's true.'

'Ah,' said Coll. He looked surprised, and distracted from his speech. 'Well. Could I have some tea?'

'I'll get it,' said Evan.

'Go on,' said Maris. 'What other rumors?'

'You may know more than I. What of this arrest? I hardly believed it. How much do you know?'

Maris hesitated. 'We were warned not to speak of it.'

Coll made an impatient thrumming noise with his guitar. 'I'm your brother, damn it. Singer or no, I can keep silent. Out with it!'

So Maris told him about their summons to the keep, and what they had learned there. 'That would explain a lot,' he said when she had finished. 'Oh, I'd heard of it anyway — people talk, even landsguard, and the Landsman's secrets aren't as well kept as he imagines. But I never dreamed it was true. No wonder so many flyers have been about. Let the Landsman try to keep flyers in or out!' He grinned.

'The other rumors,' Maris prompted.

'Yes,' Coll said. 'Well, did you know that Val One-Wing has been on Thayos?'