"Wingless" was originally published as "Wingless on Avalon" and surely should have retained that title? It and "Rescue on Avalon" are companion stories. Indeed, in both, a young human being rescues an Ythrian on Avalon. In the company of Ythrians, Nat Falkayn is all too aware that he is wingless. However, he can swim and therefore is able to rescue a shipwrecked Ythrian whose wing has become entangled in atlantis weed. Jack Birnam has no problem with being wingless but has big problems with Ythrians. Personally, he resents them. Physically, he is allergic to their feathers. Nevertheless, at the cost of great physical discomfort to himself, he tends to an injured Ythrian who would have died without his help. We see an inner change in both Nat and Jack. These are two minor incidents of great significance during the colonization of Avalon.
Prosaically, both "The Problem of Pain," also set on Avalon, and "Rescue on Avalon" present information about how Ythrians sleep:
"The Ythrian female locked hands and wing-claws around the net-covered framework wherein she had slept..."
"The Ythrians were quickly asleep, squatted on their locked wing joints like idols of a forgotten people."
-op. cit., p. 40.
"Ayan lay in one of the frames designed for his race."
The Ythrians become real in every mental and physical detail.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And there was some discussion of whether Jack Birnam's problem of being physically allergic to Yhtrians was not caused by a fluke of biochemistry, but by his resentment of the Ythrians. Even if that was not so, the powerful Ythrian he rescued promised his choth would pay the costs of the treatment needed to correct the allergy.
Ad astra! Sean
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