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Cold wind caressed your sleepy cheeks as you forced yourself awake for the third time that hour.
"Mary! Shock it!"
A loud <span class="mu-i">BZZT</span> cut through the clearing, your sheepy friend setting fire to a bush with her signature bolt of lightning. You rushed to put it out (and patted yourself on the back for doing this so closely to a pond) before giving Mary a scratch underneath the chin. "Good job, girl." She gave a contented bleat and sat herself down so that you could scratch that one bit before her wool began a little more easily.
Steele's disapproval briefly returned to your thoughts as you stared into Mary's delighted eyes. <span class="mu-i">"You need your rest."</span>
Giving up that rest for this was worth it. Mary's training had been progressing smoothly, even if you were only barely staying awake for a lot of it...
While you scratched her, you caught some movement out of the corner of your eye.
A small nutberry... rolling itself?
Recognition struck you. Your hand abandoned Mary's chin, much to the sheep's dismay, and joined the rest of you in creeping closer to the mysterious occurrence. The grass beneath you gave way to a small dirt trail being blazed by...
...none other than the small budding creature you'd seen earlier in the day.
Alone.
Or so you thought!
It wasn't long before a loud <span class="mu-i">SWOOSH</span> from above you disproved that notion, forcing your hair into disarray and your sheep to jump forward and prep for defensive maneuvers. The small creature from before fell upon the nutberry, rolling it next to Mary's hoof... and catching the attention of a large bird, somewhat reminiscent of the flocks you'd seen flying above you on your way here.
A large curly crest adorned its black-and-white forehead, with the strange bird letting out a long trill and focusing its sight on that nutberry while you took in its appearance. It conveniently ignored the fact that the sprite's child had run over to protect its treasure, standing... <span class="mu-i">in the way</span> of the feathered stranger, very much determined to protect the nutberry before itself.
The bird's wings were spread wide. Its head was lowered, its legs sliding into a crouch.
Mary's tail was already being raised.
The point of this training session was to keep her impulses under control. Wouldn't prompting her to fight undermine that?
Did you have a choice when something was in danger?
>Yes. Scoop up the nutberry and the little plant like you did before and run.
>No. Command Mary to fight, but make sure that she only does so on your word. If you let her fight without her being commanded to, she might keep starting fights.