Submission (#737) Approved

+5 shards (prompt)
+4 shards (421 words)

: +9 shards

Having come to rely on his shifting skills almost as if they were simply another limb had become second nature to Alorus. To the point that he didn't really think about it anymore. It was simply another extension of himself; it was some he did without much thought put into it, like one doesn't think about their own breathing, even though they can control the velocity of it. It's just... there.

As such, the day that his shifter stone vanished, he was left entirely unsure of how to deal with the situation. It was like a very fundamental part of himself had been taken away from him without his consent. He felt almost like a limb had been cut off, and was no longer accessible for him, making even the most mundane chores hard to complete. How on earth did he use to reach the higher shelves at home before shifting? How did he manage to move the lumber for the fire in any sort of actually efficient manner, and how did he procure food in hunts before he had been able to shift?

Even the more basic things were somehow inaccessible to him; he'd come to rely on his ice breath, and the actual height in day to day situations, and the fact he couldn't just use it anymore was driving him, slowly, but surely, up and around a bend.

He could have sworn he'd gone to bed with the stone firmly attached, and it had taken him a good few minutes of unconsciously shifting to do things to wake up his mind fully and realize... the stone was not there, and thus, the reason he was not changing in size. Confused, he'd returned to his bed, searched the floor, the immediate vicinity and gone half insane trying to figure out what had gone on when he noticed an Eitraven.

The creature had perched and made a nest on a tree near his window, and the woolyne squinted at it, narrowing his eyes, because no, of course not... it couldn't have... could it?

Out of options, and too distressed not to give it a shot, he'd had extreme difficulty climbing the tree, but had eventually managed to perch on a nearby branch. His stone was found comfortably within the nest of the creature, and though he'd initially thought of trying to shoo away the animal, he'd eventually decided to adopt it. He figured that if he kept a closer eye on the thing, then perhaps his stone would remain secure.