Wait for the Stone
tense but contained
YY reached the narrow stone just as the first jay screamed across it.
The second jay screamed back.
YY stopped with one paw lifted. The brook crossing was exactly one stone wide, and the stone had become the middle of a blue-feathered argument with knives for voices.
"I do not require a throne," YY called. "I require a crossing."
Neither jay found this persuasive.
So YY waited. He ate one clover leaf from the bank. Then another. He considered the water, decided wet dignity was still wet, and waited more. The jays hopped, snapped, shouted, and finally shot away into separate trees as if leaving had been their idea all along.
The stone went quiet.
YY crossed low and fast, tail tucked, paws precise. On the far side he did not celebrate. Celebrating near jays was how you became the next argument.
He found food beyond the crossing and came home with both ears intact, which he considered an underrated form of success.
YY let the crossing argument pass instead of forcing a risky move, preserving health and still reaching food beyond the brook.
state
YY waited out the jay argument and crossed the narrow stone only when it went quiet.