Silver tore free from the nearest moon groove like a hooked blade.
It cut through the cloth over Aylin's palm and pulled toward the mother. Aylin's arm followed until her shoulder struck the stone lip.
Across the road, Kedra's fingers bent backward.
"Let go," Valea said as the silver bit deeper.
Neither woman moved until the next pull bent them inward.
The last moon had shrunk to a white line behind the mother's tail. Far-rookery calls still passed through it, thin now, but alive. The leading adult called for her from the other side.
Mother, father, and chick answered from Ninebell.
Silver tightened around Aylin's bleeding hand.
Kedra tried to peel one finger from her own edge. The line jumped deeper into Aylin's cloth, and Aylin shoved the hand down again before it could cut across her wrist.
"It wants both edges until it closes," Aylin said.
"Then both edges stop wanting it," Kedra answered.
They looked at each other across the light.
