Happy Endings, Neat Resolutions

Poul Anderson's "Wingless," originally "Wingless on Avalon," exactly twelve pages in length, was written for a boys' magazine. The companion piece, "Rescue on Avalon," exactly fourteen pages in length, was written for a juvenile anthology. Word count and economy of writing were clearly central issues. Neither story features any characters in common with the rest of Anderson's Technic History.

Each covers a major early stage in the colonization of Avalon:

settlement of the islands and preparation for the move to the continent;
early days on the continent - allocation of territories and learning to cope with the violent weather.

Each tells a personal story that encapsulates what the joint colony is about:

Nathaniel Falkayn cannot fly without a gravbelt but can swim and therefore can rescue an Ythrian whose wing is caught in atlantis weed when his boat has been wrecked on a reef - Nat no longer feels inferior;

Jack Birnam, allergic to Ythrians and also resentful that they have been allocated his beloved Andromeda Mountains, must approach and handle Ayan to save his life - but now Ayan welcomes Jack and his guests to roam the Andromedas at any time and Ayan's choth will pay to cure Jack's allergy.

Livewell And Tempests

A few posts ago, I highlighted a fictitious place, Livewell Street, in Poul Anderson's The People Of The Wind. Now, rereading "Rescue on Avalon," I am reminded of what "livewell" is:

"After the wind-howl, this stillness felt almost holy. The air was chill but carried odors of plant life, sharp trefoil, sweet livewell, and janie."
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 312.

Every detail of an Andersonian environment connects with some other detail, here the name of a street in a novel with the scent of a plant in a short story. "The wind-howl..." is another aspect of the Avalonian environment:

"...sudden tempests. The rapidly spinning globe was always breeding them." (p. 310)

The colonists have settled some of the Hesperian Islands and, from there, have moved to the Coronan continent and even begun to divide it between their two species. However, their ability to cope with or even to forecast the violent weather is as yet grossly inadequate. Thus, here is another story premise: how does a man who is allergic to Ythrians cope when he alone is close enough to rescue the Wyvan of Stormgate who has been injured in a storm?

An Ythrian On The Wing

"The Ythrian passed overhead in splendor."
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 309.

"He went high above them, hovering, soaring, wheeling in splendor..."
-Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 139.

Poul Anderson has earned the right to write thus about Ythrians in flight. If we have read his History of Technic Civilization in chronological order of fictitious events, then we have learned what it means to see a flying Ythrian. The flapping wings pump oxygen directly into the blood, supercharging the metabolism, generating the energy necessary to lift an intelligent being's heavy body against gravity. Ythrians are and feel more alive while they fly and express this feeling in how they fly.

"He rode the wind like its conqueror." (Rise.... ibid.)

After first contact on Ythri, a human being watching the farewell dance:

"...cried through tears, 'To fly like that! To fly like that!'"
-Poul Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (New York, 2009), p. 102.