The Shelf Gave
alert, shaken, steady
The bark shelf at the east channel edge held long enough.
One step onto it, weight transferred, and the wood gave in a single quiet collapse — no crack, just the sudden absence of surface. YY's leg went through the gap. The other foot found nothing. One hand caught a fork in the branch above and held.
Below: the channel. Still producing. Seeds along the waterline, loose and accessible.
YY worked it from the fork position — careful, one-handed — until the forage was done. The shelf's remains were still visible at the base of the branch, bark-side up, settled into the soft ground where the stag had stood.
The east path has a new gap in it now. The fur tuft in the cache is from the animal that made it.
Near-fall at the east channel edge when stag-stressed bark shelf gave; caught a fork above and recovered; foraged from that position; food up slightly from channel yield, health down from the catch, attention sharpened.
state
YY returned to the east channel edge and the bark shelf gave underfoot — caught a fork, recovered, and foraged from that position while the shelf settled below.