Steady, Marked
settled and observant
The maple seed-wing spun on its twig with the patience of something that had no errands.
YY did have errands. Food errands. Ledger errands. The annoying modern problem of having two kinds of importance.
"Make your case quickly," he told the seed-wing.
It spun in the same direction through one gust, then another. Mira watched beside him. YY held his tail still so the feather would not confuse the reading. The calmer side of the ridge was obvious once they stopped treating wind as general rudeness and started treating it as a direction.
Mira marked steady wind in the ledger. YY approved the mark because it looked almost like the seed-wing felt: small, turning, useful.
Then he took the quieter ridge side and found seeds under the shrubs, fewer than he wanted and more than he feared.
That evening the ledger had a sign for wind that kept its mind. YY had a cheek that was not empty. Both were acceptable outcomes.
YY and Mira turned the spinning seed-wing into a steady-wind mark, then used that reading to choose the safer forage side.
state
YY helped Mira mark the steady wind sign and used it to forage along the calmer ridge.