The crack in the egg widened while the returning emperor was still calling.
A pale chip lifted from the shell beneath the male's brood fold. He bent over it so quickly that his beak struck his own breast. The fold closed. Only the new white edge remained visible between his feet.
A new call came through the hair-thin slit from the returning adult.
From somewhere low in his throat, the male answered. Hunger had scraped his voice rough, but the other bird turned through the press of the colony as though no one else had made a sound.
Then Gredudande repeated both calls.
His answer came from the Antarctic bar. The returning adult's first reply spilled from a blind joint near Kedra's boot. Perfect sounds arrived from bodies that were not there.
Across the slit, the far adult stopped.
Jiang held his breath.
A dark head moved along the slit. One eye appeared in the narrow light, fixed first on the male and then on the covered egg. The adult called once, shorter than before.
