The wounded wing dragged the guildhall sideways before Jiang could read the first choice.
Black flight scales rolled under him. Aylin caught his coat with one hand and the edge of Valea's bent yoke with the other. Kessa went down on Maelin's severance blade, driving its point between two scales to keep herself from sliding into open road.
Beyond them, the red lantern widened its shutters.
The hall's infected wing answered.
It folded toward that light while the sound wing fought to carry the rest of the body elsewhere. The disagreement ran through the floor as a deep shudder. Released glasskites struck the inner wall. A stormmew tumbled past Kessa, recovered, and bit the nearest red strand as if spite were a form of engineering.
"That one learned from you," Aylin said.
Jiang dug both webbed feet into the scale. "It has better balance."
The three names sat across his sight like menu choices offered to someone who was not currently falling.
He fixed his attention on the first.
