Livir had been to Nakir’s dwelling only once before, but with as anxious as Alcatraz appeared to be – eyes wide, hands constantly looking for something to hold or fiddle with, and short murmurs under his breath – he only had the option to lead the way. How did Herne think they were going to find a Fawn? Poor Alcatraz seemed too scared of even walking through town and then to its edge, much less going into the forest.

When they arrived, Nakir sat on the ground with his legs crossed, back to them. In front of him stood Kalli, who seemed like he was asking for something. The stag simply shrugged before he pushed himself to his hooves to see Kalli off. He turned as his visitor walked away and nodded to the new pair.

“I’m thinking of having mushrooms tonight,” he said as he turned toward his garden. He took a few steps, stopped, and then turned to look at them. “You two look like you can do it. What do you say? Two handfuls of mushrooms, fresh from the forest? Good, good, thank you.” Before either of them could get a word in, he walked around them and into his home.

The pair looked at each other, jaws slack. Mushrooms? For dinner? Wasn’t Nakir supposed to be guiding them toward a Fawn? The potion had been made correctly, hasn’t it? Before Al could let his anxious thoughts out of his mouth, Livir sighed and signaled for him to follow.

As far as Livir could tell, Nakir wasn’t worried. Last time, he knew exactly what he was doing. Dozens of Fawns had found their way home, why would this be any different? Then again, very little was known about the strange stag. Did they live in a world where he would be bored with being an aid?

Al followed Livir silently, his eyes tracing over everything as they walked. Trees there, taller grasses over there, a few bugs that darted in and out of shadows. Every few moments, he’d look up to make sure he was behind Livir.

When did it get so dark? He looked up again, an hour into their journey, and found the light gone from the sky. To boot, he nearly tripped on himself as he stopped, doing his best not to collide into Livir. For some reason, he had stopped without letting Al know.

Livir shook his head and laughed. Two handfuls of mushroom, hm? He stepped to the side to help Al see around him. Dotted on the trunks of trees were small, glowing mushrooms. Picking them was a dark colored Fawn, accented by almost the same color as the fungi.

With a deep sigh, Livir walked forward and set to collecting mushrooms. He started away from the Fawn, with each new tree he moved to bringing him closer. Al watched, frozen where he stood. The Fawn stopped, at a tree directly in his line of sight, and turned around. They simply watched for a moment.

They perked up their ears, rearranged the mushrooms in their hands, and then hurried to Al. Not minding his surprise, they encouraged him to step forward and help with the mushroom picking.

Nakir had asked for two handfuls, after all.

@ Tlenix

How did Midas end up with Sands following him up to Nakir’s dwelling? Honestly, he couldn’t quite remember, but hearing him go on and on about surfing, “totally tubular waves,” and whatever “radical” meant was beginning to get old. Thankfully the trip wasn’t as long as Midas remembered, and they were soon face-to-face with the odd stag’s home.

Only that he was nowhere to be found.

While Midas decided to search for him, silently, Sands stood tall and kept calling out “bro” every few seconds. As far as Midas knew, Nakir didn’t have any siblings, so why was Sands using such a familiarity? No matter; he needed to find Nakir, and soon. The sooner he and Sands could go out and find their Fawn, the better.

Any longer and he was sure he’d lose his understanding of language.

The pair regrouped at the door to the stag’s home, reporting that neither of them had been successful in finding him. Sands said something about it being “bogus,” whatever that meant, but stopped talking when they heard a noise at the edge of the property. It sounded oddly familiar and yet off.

“Thank you for waiting.” Nakir’s voice found them as they knew it, but the creature standing in front of them didn’t match what they knew him to look like. Normally, he would stand on his hind legs, hands in the place of front hooves. But this Nakir, or this lookalike, stood on all four of his hooves, just like they did. “Your Fawn is waiting for you beneath a colony that produces natural gold. Find them before they get too curious.”

Nakir shooed them away, and the pair was left stunned. Why had he not said anything about walking on four hooves? Was that something he could do at will? Had he never stood on two hooves before? The mystery stunned them in silence as they moved into the forest.

As the shock subsided, they broke the silence to talk about Nakir’s instructions. Natural gold? Were the rocks that humans coveted not natural gold? Or did he mean natural in the sense of living nature? What creatures could make gold? Didn’t Eden say there were tales of humans trying to do such a thing?

Sands was the poor soul to solve the riddle. Caught up in conversation, he didn’t see the tree in front of him, and walked straight into it. The force of his collision shot up the truck of the tree into the branches and shook the beehive above him. The small hive, still under construction, fell from the tree and cracked over his antlers.

Thankfully the bees didn’t seem angry by the disturbance. They swarmed around Sand’s antlers for a few moments, picked up what queen cells they could salvage, and left without a single sting. Once the colony was out of sight, Sands and Midas realized the sticky situation they had gotten themselves in to.

Midas busied himself with trying to pick the chunks of honeycomb and hive off of his companion. Neither of them noticed when a small Fawn approached them until they reached out and snatched a piece of honeycomb. They took a small step away before beginning to snack on it.

About halfway through picking the comb and hive mess off of Sands, the pair realized exactly what Nakir had meant: honey. They spent the afternoon with the Fawn, enjoying the unexpected treat before Sands took a quick dip in the nearest body of water to wash off, and then they finally went back to the village.

@ Bear

Gentle giants was the only appropriate way to describe the pair that arrived at Nakir’s dwelling just after noon. Bus, dark and burly, lead Ruben, in all aspects large but personality, to the odd stag’s home with a smile on his face. They passed the time talking idly about their hobbies, and were pleasantly surprised to find that fishing and personal time were common favorites.

“Erebus, back again?” Nakir sat in front of his door, legs crossed, and his left elbow on his knee. He rested his chin in his hand and barely made any effort to look over at them. “How many Fawns have you brought back now? And Ruben, nice to see you again as well. I suppose that’s what you’re after, isn’t it? I can’t image what sort of a Fawn you’ll bring back. Large, just like you two, no doubt.”

Bus stopped short, eyes wide. As much as he was sure he knew what Nakir would throw at him, his full name wasn’t on that list. Very few Fauns used it to address him, and most of the time it meant he was in trouble. Was he becoming a bother? Did the stag want him to leave? But what then of Ruben, and their Fawn?

“Don’t look so down.” Nakir pushed himself to his hooves and walked over, tipping his head this way and that as he did. “Follow Ruben.” With that, he turned to look at the moose. “Follow your instincts. Don’t go looking for a Fawn. Go looking for something for yourself. Relax, get in touch with yourself. The more you know about yourself, the more you can learn about others.”

They left as Nakir waved them away, no doubt going to find more things for his collection, whatever it was that he collected. Just as they were told, Ruben took the lead, Bus silently following. While neither of them were nervous about their marching order, something about it seemed off. After all, Ruben let Bus lead them up to Nakir’s, and spent most of their walk nodding his head as the elk carried the conversation.

Now what was he supposed to do? According to Nakir, he was meant to just do something for himself. Didn’t that seem rather rude, considering he was traveling with someone else? Or did that just mean he shared more with Bus than they thought? He let out a small huff as he thought on it, not frustrated by the situation, but, hm. Bothered wasn’t the right question either.

Something about it just made him feel, well, uneasy. No, that wasn’t quite the right answer for it either. He certainly wasn’t nervous. What was he even doing, fretting about the details? If Nakir said to do something he wanted to, then that’s what he was going to do. It was hot out, and he was tired.

A nap in the shade by the river.

Ruben continued forward without a word to his companion. His task was to know himself, so he was sure Bus wouldn’t mind the silent treatment. When they found the river, he walked along the bank for half an hour until they found a wonderful tree, casting a shadow big enough for both of them to lay under comfortably.

Bus followed Ruben to the shade, but instead of laying down, he sat at the bank and stuck his legs in. Maybe it was because of his dark color, but he was absolutely dying from the sun. The water was a welcome relief, helping to cool him off more than the shade would have, he was sure. He raised a hand to Ruben when the moose looked at him curiously, not wanting to worry him.

As the hour wore on, Bus pushed himself into the water. By the time Ruben sat up to watch, he was neck-deep and soaking with his eyes closed. He was barely paying attention, and nearly threw himself forward too quickly when Ruben shouted for his attention.

Floating down the river on their back, eyes closed, was a Fawn. A perfect blend of Bus’s dark colors and Ruben’s light ones. Ruben called out again, and they opened their eyes. When they saw the Fauns, they moved to stand in the river, reaching out for Bus. He was quick to grab the Fawn’s hands and pulled him to the shore, off of the slippery rocks at the center of the river.

Ruben got up and helped the Fawn get to dry land. Once they were sure the Fawn was safe, Bus hauled himself out of the water. Per the Fawn’s request, the trio gathered in the shade to dry off and relax. When the sun began to set, Ruben stood and roused the other two. They needed to get back before dark.

@ MoiraMonster