Windhaven

The gibbets had been torn down, the scaffolding altered to make a stage where jugglers, magicians, clowns, and singers performed for the passing crowds.

Within, doors were open and halls filled with merrymakers. Prisoners from the dungeons had been set free, and even the lowest riff-raff from the alleys of Port Thayos had been admitted to the party. In the great hall tables had been set up and covered with huge wheels of cheese, baskets of bread, and smoked, pickled, and fried fish of all kinds. The hearths still smelled of roasting pig and seacat, and puddles of beer and wine glistened on the flagstones.

Music and laughter were in the air; it was a celebration of a richness and size unknown on Thayos in living memory. And among the crowds of the people of Thayos moved figures dressed in black — not, by their faces, mourners: the flyers. These flyers, one-wing and flyer-born alike, along with the previously exiled singers, were the guests of honor, feted and toasted by all.

Maris wandered through the boisterous crowds, ready to cringe at any more recognition. The party had gone on too long. She was tired and feeling a little sick from too much food and drink, all tributes forced on her by admirers. She wanted only to find Evan and go home.

Someone spoke her name and, reluctantly, Maris turned. She saw the new Landsman of Thayos, dressed in a long, embroidered gown that did not suit her. She looked uncomfortable out of uniform.

Maris summoned a smile. 'Yes, Landsman?'

The former landsguard officer grimaced. 'I suppose I will get used to that title, but it still brings to mind someone very different. I haven't seen much of you today— could I have a few minutes with you?'

'Yes, of course. As many as you wish. You saved my life.'

'That wasn't so noble. Your actions took more courage than mine, and they weren't self-serving. The story they will tell about me is that I carefully plotted and planned to depose the Landsman and take his job. That is not the truth, but what do singers care for truth?' Her voice was bitter. Maris looked at her in surprise.

They walked together through rooms filled with gamblers, drunks, and lovers until they found an empty chamber where they could sit and talk together.

Because the Landsman still was silent, Maris said, 'Surely no one misses the old Landsman? I don't think he was well-loved.'

The new Landsman frowned. 'No, he will not be missed, and neither will I, when I am gone. But he was a good leader for many years until he became too frightened and began to think foolishly. I was sorry to have to do what I did, but I saw no other choice. This party, here, is my attempt to make the transition joyful, instead of fearful. To go into debt to make my people feel prosperous.'

'I think they appreciate the gesture,' Maris said. 'Everyone seems very happy.'

'Yes, now, but their memories are short.' The Landsman moved slightly in her seat, as if to shake off the thought. The line between her eyes smoothed out, and her features took on a kindlier cast. 'I didn't mean to bore you with my personal worries. I drew you aside to tell you how respected you are in Thayos, and to tell you that I honor your attempts to keep peace between the flyers and the people of Thayos.'

Maris wondered if she was blushing. 'Please,' she said. 'Don't. I… had the flyers in mind, and not the people of Thayos, to be honest.'

'That doesn't matter. What you accomplished is what matters. You risked your life for it.'

'I did what I could,' Maris said. 'But I didn't achieve very much, after all. A truce, a temporary peace.

The real problem, the conflicts between the flyer-born and the one-wings, and between the Landsmen and the flyers who work with them, is still there, and it will flare up again—' She broke off, realizing that the Landsman didn't care, and didn't want to know, that this happy ending was no true ending at all.

'There will be no more trouble for the flyers on Thayos,' the Landsman said. Maris realized that the woman had the useful ability to make a simple sentence sound like a proclamation of law. 'We respect flyers here — and singers, too.'

'A wise choice,' Maris said. She grinned. 'It never hurts to have the singers on your side.'

The Landsman went on as if she had not been interrupted. 'And you, Maris, will always be welcome on Thayos, if ever you choose to return to visit us.'

'Visit?' Maris frowned, puzzled.

'I realize that, since you no longer fly, the journey by ship may be…'

'What are you talking about?'

The Landsman looked annoyed at all the interruptions. 'I know that you are leaving Thayos for Seatooth soon, to make your home at the Woodwings Academy.'

'Who told you that?'

'The singer, Coll, I believe. Was it a secret?'

'Not a secret. Not a fact, either.' Maris sighed. 'I was offered the job at Woodwings, but I have not accepted it.'

'If you stay on Thayos, of course we would all be pleased, and the hospitality of this… my… keep will always be extended to you.' The Landsman rose, obviously concluding her formal recognition of Maris, and Maris, too, stood, and they spoke a few moments longer of inconsequential things. Maris hardly paid attention. Her thoughts were in turmoil again about a subject she had determined was resolved. Did Coll think he could make something come true by speaking of it as fact? She would have to talk to him.

But when she found him a few minutes later in the outer yard, near the gate, he was not alone. Bari was with him, and S'Rella — and S'Rella was carrying her wings.

Maris hurried to join them. 'S'Rella — you're not leaving?'

S'Rella grasped her hands. 'I must. The Landsman wants a message flown to Deeth. I offered to take it — I have to get home, and I would have to fly south in another day or two anyway. There was no need for Jem or Sahn to go so far when I can take it just as well. I just sent Evan to look for you, to tell you I was leaving. But it needn't be a sad farewell, you know — we'll see each other soon at Woodwings.'

Maris glared at Coll, but he looked oblivious. She said to S'Rella, 'I told you I would live out my life on Thayos.'

S'Rella looked puzzled. 'But surely you've changed your mind? After all that has happened? And you know they still want you at Woodwings — now more than ever. You've become a hero all over again!'

Maris scowled. 'I wish everyone would stop saying that! Why am I a hero? What have I done? Just patched things over for a bit longer. Nothing has been settled. You, at least, should realize that, S'Rella!'

S'Rella shook her head impatiently. 'Don't change the subject. What about that fine speech you gave us about needing a purpose in life — how can you turn your back now on the work you're meant to do?

You've admitted you're no good as a healer — what will you do on Thayos? What will you do with your life?'

Maris had asked herself that same question, and had lain awake most of the night arguing it with herself.

Now she said quietly, 'I will find something I can do here. The Landsman may have something for me.'

'But that's such a waste! Maris, you're needed at Woodwings. You belong there. Even without your wings you're a flyer — you always were, and you always will be. I thought you recognized that!'

There were tears in S'Rella's eyes. Maris felt resentful and trapped — she didn't want to be having this argument. She said, trying to keep her voice level and calm, 'I belong with Evan. I can't leave him.'

'And they say eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves.'

Maris turned to see Evan, and there was such tenderness in his eyes that she forgot her lingering doubts.

She had made the right decision. She couldn't leave him.

'But no one is asking you to leave me, you know,' he said. 'I've just been talking with a young healer who is eager to move into my house and take over my patients. I can be ready to leave within a week.'

Maris stared at him. 'Leave? Leave your house? But why?'

He smiled. 'To go with you to Seatooth. It may not be a pleasant voyage, but at least we can comfort each other in our sickness.'

'But… I don't understand. Evan, you can't mean it — this is your home!'

'I mean to go with you, wherever you go,' he said, 'I can't ask you to stay on Thayos, just to keep you beside