The child woke before Hajin finished picking grit out of his split lower lip.
One fist snagged his collar while the other went to war with its fastening, tugging like it owed him money. Hajin sat on the ledge beneath the passage and shifted the little weight off his chest, which still throbbed badly.
"Hey, hands off, that's my only clean collar," he hissed, prying at one fist.
Aria hovered beside the face peeking out of his coat, her diagnostic reading already open beside it.
"Guardian progeny," she said, "an infant body with an avian fledgling aspect, and the parental imprint remains independent of your summon authority."
"A bird? Did you actually watch him turn into one?"
"An aspect, Master, not a transformation I observed," Aria answered, keeping the image apart from anything the child actually did, "let him choose a shape before we promise what he can do."
Hajin pried the nearest fist off the fastening before the whole thing could tear loose.
