Star-fire touched the air trapped beneath Jiang's feathers.
The ribbon turned toward him.
He kicked away from it, but the coolant seam offered no room to pass. Bronze scraped his back. The clear wall pressed his breast from the other side. Aylin's line ran through the white glow and vanished toward the entrance.
Heat tightened the loop above his ankle.
Jiang twisted his beak toward the release tail. One pull would free him from the rope before it burned into his leg. It would also leave Aylin holding an empty line.
He kept the loop closed.
Another sea-wyvern surge pushed cold water beneath him. Loose breast feathers lifted in the current, each one carrying a bead of trapped air. Star-fire abandoned his body to follow the beads.
Jiang saw the opening his damaged plumage had made.
He rubbed his breast against the rough side groove.
