The foil knocked a third time and buckled under Jiang's beak.
He jerked his head clear before the thin bronze could slice the cracked tip. Beneath him, the low breast rest answered with a tremor that ran toward the feather-width rookery slit.
The unnamed male felt it too.
He turned sideways over the egg, putting his own body between the brood fold and the broken plate. One bleeding foot remained planted. The other shifted across the stable cup until the egg sat level again.
Pava moved the loose windbreak near his flank without touching him. "The floor is lifting beneath his outer foot."
"Not the floor," Valea said. "A line under it."
Three more knocks came through the foil.
Kedra raised her sound hand. Her fingers folded, opened, then tapped the board handle in the same pattern.
"Do you know who is knocking?" Aylin asked.
"No. My hand knows they are waiting for an answer. That is all I will lend it."
