Bronze tried the mother's new ending a second time.
Every note was right. Nothing between them was.
Jiang felt the difference through the mother's flank before he understood what he had heard. Two fine tremors crossed inside her breast whenever she called. They met in a quick, steady beat that belonged to the body touching him.
Inside the wall, one tremor changed. Its partner hurried after it.
For an instant, the copied voice shivered between two mothers.
With a snap of her neck, the female drove her beak into the wall.
Bronze dented. A black-green drop welled from the mark and ran toward the broken feeding notch.
Beneath her brood fold, the chick answered.
Then the wall answered her.
Jiang wanted the real family call to remain inside the three bodies he could touch. Fear tightened his empty belly when the stone gave it back.
