Submission (#724) Approved

+4 shards for entry
+4 shards (400 words)
: 8 shards total
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Having started to figure out how to control his shifting had been hard. Arduous even, but each day, he felt himself slip less and less, and he had to put less and less conscious effort to control himself. Akiko had grinned up at him and said something along the lines of practice being key, and that this happened with musical instruments too. When one starts, they have to put conscious effort on where their fingers go, but slowly, it just becomes second nature to one. Perhaps she was right, and shifting was a bit like that.

Either way, the fact that the shifting was more or less under control meant Alorus felt more confident with trying out tasks that involved other wool in the vicinity, rather than avoiding them all entirely while he trained. When he'd spotted a pamphlet that asked for help defending a nearby town from Quelliit raids, he'd signed himself up. He'd seen the creatures once or twice and he felt confident he could take one or two in battle on his own without being overwhelmed. More than that was likely an iffy situation, and he hoped it did not come to that but still.

He'd split up from two other wool and he'd taken a path around the perimeter of the town. It had suffered a couple of attacks in the past dew days, and though they had all been repelled, the creatures attacking must have sensed some sort of weakness, because they seemed to systematically test out the defenses around the town, often not attacking the same way or direction twice.

The town had been forced to call for help, and now... well, Alorus was likely not the only shifter padding around on all four feet, looking around for anything that might seem out of place.

The attack, when it came, was shift and much more savage than the Aymin wool had expected. The creatures blind-sighted him, and attacked in a coordinated effort. Just two of them, mind, not more, but where at the start Alorus had been confident he could easily take them with little issue... he was no longer quite so sure. The creatures got a couple of good hits on his back and shoulders before they jumped off of him, hissed and sunk back into the darkness of the forest around them. Having managed to just barely hold his own, Alorus opted to join back up with the two wool he'd left behind.

The Quelliits did not manage to breach the defenses that night, but it was obvious that he'd be back in the future and that the town would need more help still.