Timekeepers' Symphony
ShortStory 6,540 words Recommended by 5 award/anthology sources
"In the cloud forests of Paek Sigma II, the inhabitants do not keep time, but stretch and slice it. The first humans who arrived on the planet were amazed by the fauna. There’s the stone-armored petradrakon, draped in twenty thousand scales each a meter across, who lays a clutch of eggs only once every one thousand and nine times Paek Sigma II has revolved around its prime sun."
Content warnings 2
violencewar
Quasar links out; the story lives on Clarkesworld, where the author gets the click.