Finding Balance

I knelt beside the gravel border and lined up three flat river pebbles by weight and contour. There was no breach to seal and no drill to run, only a matter of equilibrium. I laid the widest basalt stone flat against the flagstone to serve as an anchor. The second, a rounded piece of quartz, had an uneven ridge that kept tilting off-axis. Rather than forcing the placement, I rotated it millimeter by millimeter until the micro-grooves locked into the base. With both hands steady, I lowered the smallest oval stone atop the apex, easing my grip back one finger at a time. The stack held perfectly still, balanced purely by gravity.