The two writers eventually returned to the world of Windhaven, and the second novella, One-Wing, was originally published in two parts in the January and February 1980 issues of Analog.
Two more books were planned, with Painted Wings as the intended title of the second, but Martin and Tuttle never found the right time for additional collaboration, and as they grew older, their writing styles became more distinct, making cooperation more difficult.
In order to preserve tenuous lines of communication across the vast seas, the stranded population constructed mechanically simple gliding rigs from available spaceship wreckage; the gliders could be kept aloft almost indefinitely in Windhaven's stormy atmosphere by their pilots.
After centuries of using this practice as the principal means of maintaining social contact among the islands, Windhaven's flyers have developed into a caste superior to the landsmen.
Though Maris and her mother survive mostly as scavenging "clam-diggers", they also collect refuse that washes onto the nearby beaches after violent coastal storms.
Lesser Amberly itself is home to three flyers, one of whom, an adult male named Russ, lands on the shore near where Maris has concluded her search.
Maris timidly approaches Russ and, during the chance meeting, he treats her with kindness and she, in turn, reveals to him that her most ardent wish is to become one of Windhaven's flyers.
Since then, Maris has been acting as one of Lesser Amberly's three resident flyers by ferrying messages between Windhaven's far-flung colonies across the oceans.
Coll has just turned 13, and it is traditional that at 13, young flyers "come of age" and replace their parents as the ceremonial owners of the family wings.
Maris, knowing that her desire to keep the wings is unrecognized by the ancient "flyer code", ultimately wants Coll to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer.
On the day Coll is to officially take the wings, he commits a grievous piloting error and lands badly in front of Maris, Russ and many of the important citizens of Lesser Amberly.
But Maris responds to Corm's attacks skillfully, convincing the other flyers that the family-based system of wing inheritance is unfair and archaic.
Maris's loyalties to old friends often make her choices difficult, but she remains determined to push for more change and a fair chance for one-wings in Windhaven's society.
Though Val lost the wings after being beaten by another flyer at the following year's competition, he quickly proves his competence at Woodwings and becomes close friends with one of the most promising students, a southern-born female one-wing named S'Rella.
Assisting the students in the competition amongst her old friends forces Maris to face her previously unnoticed preconceptions, loyalties and double-standards in flyer society.
Maris, who has come to respect Val, and the rights of any flyer to compete with another, flies proxy in his place and wins his wings from Corm.
She successfully gains cooperation between the one-wings and the flyer-born factions to come together as flyers and resolve the conflict peacefully, forcing the harsh and greedy lands-man out of power.