Windhaven by George R. R. Martin;Lisa Tuttle Page B

Amberly, then . . .”
    “He can't defy Corm. This is a matter of flyers' law, and he has no control over that. Besides . . .” he hesitated.
    “What?”
    “There is news. It's all over the docks. They've found a new flyer, or an old one, actually. Devin of Gavora is en route here by boat to take up residence and wear your wings.” He watched her carefully, concern written across his face.
    “Devin!” She slammed down her fork, and stood. “Have their laws blinded them to common sense?” She paced back and forth across the room. “Devin is a worse flyer than Coll ever was. He lost his own wings when he swooped too low and grazed water. If it hadn't been for a ship passing by, he would be dead. So Corm wants to give him another pair?”
    Barrion grinned bitterly. “He's a flyer, and he keeps the old traditions.”
    “How long ago did he leave?”
    “A few days, the word says.”
    “It's a two-week voyage, easily,” Maris said. “If I'm going to act, it must be before he gets here. Once he has worn the wings, they'll be his, and lost to me.”
    “But Maris,” Coll said, “what can you do?”
    “Nothing,” Barrion said. “Oh, we could steal the wings, of course. Corm has had them repaired, good as new. But where would you go? You'd never find a welcome. Give it up, girl. You can't change flyers' law.”
    “No?” she said. Suddenly her voice was animated. She stopped pacing and leaned against the table. “Are you sure? Have the traditions never been changed? Where did they come from?”
    Barrion looked puzzled. “Well, there was the Council, just after the Old Captain was killed, when the Landsman-Captain of Big Shotan passed out the new-forged wings. That was when it was decided that no flyer would ever bear a weapon in the sky. They remembered the battle, and the way the old star sailors used the last two sky sleds to rain fire from above.”
    “Yes,” said Maris, “and remember, there were two other Councils as well. Generations after that, when another Landsman-Captain wanted to bend the other Landsmen to his will and bring all of Windhaven under his control, he sent the flyers of Big Shotan into the sky with swords to strike at Little Shotan. And the flyers of the other islands met in Council and condemned him, after his ghost flyers had vanished. So he was the last Landsman-Captain, and now Big Shotan is just another island.”
    “Yes,” Coll said, “and the third Council was when all the flyers voted not to land on Kennehut, after the Mad Landsman killed the Flyer-Who-Brought-Bad-News.”
    Barrion was nodding. “All right. But no Council has been called since then. Are you sure they would assemble?”
    “Of course,” said Maris. “It is one of Corm's precious traditions. Any flyer can call a Council. And I could present my case there, to all the flyers of Windhaven, and . . .”
    She stopped. Barrion looked at her and she looked back, the same thought on both minds.
    “Any flyer,” he said, the emphasis unvoiced.
    “But I am not a flyer,” Maris said. She slumped into her chair. “And Coll has renounced his wings, and Russ—even if he would see us—has passed them on. Corm would not honor our request. The word would not go out.”
    “You could ask Shalli,” Coll suggested. “Or wait up on the flyers' cliff, or . . .”
    “Shalli is too much junior to Corm, and too frightened,” Barrion said. “I hear the stories. She's sad for you, like the Landsman, but she won't break tradition. Corm might try to take her wings as well. And the others—whom could you count on? And how long could you wait? Helmer visits most often, but he's as hidebound as Corm. Jamis is too young, and so on. You'd be asking them to take quite a risk.” He shook his head doubtfully. “It will not work. No flyer will speak for you, not in time. In two weeks Devin will wear your wings.”
    All three of them were silent. Maris stared down at her plate of cold stew, and thought. No way, she asked, is there