Water And Wind

"Wingless."

Nat goes sailing with friendly Thuriak and contemptuous Keshchyi. He has learned Planha although they have not properly learned Anglic. While learning the language, he has come to understand some of the signs and symbols expressed by rippling plumage although, of course, he is not able to communicate in that way just as, centuries later, Dominic Flandry speaks Eriau but cannot touch tails with a Merseian.

Because they have neither keel nor centerboard, Nat wonders how they will tack. However, Thuriak shows him complexly curved boards that interact with the wind without water drag. Nat is impressed. I was surprised to read that his pleasure soared when Keshchyi commented but I had misread:

"His pleasure soured when Keshchyi said in a patronizing tone: 'Well, of course, knowledge of the ways of air comes natural to us.'" (p. 303)

Sf writers can imagine endless details of human-alien interactions. Some of this even gets into Star Trek. Vulcans can be considerably more than just a simplistic logic-emotion dichotomy. But Anderson's intelligent winged carnivores are at the top of the list - and Anderson wrote all of their stories in little more than a year.