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The weather was turning cool as autumn set in. As the leaves began to change on the few trees around Niki's home, she knew it was time to go gathering. The walnuts she used to dye yarn and wool a deep brown would be ready for collection. Plus, various berries for some of the more vibrant colors would be ripe as well not to mention the fruit trees were ready for picking.

The thought of a nice warm fruit pie made the choice for Niki. She'd set off for gathering today. It was still early morning and Whi Forest wasn't too far of a bike ride away.

Her mind made up, Niki dressed in layers for the day. The morning was cool but by midday, working and gathering, she could become too warm. A hat and scarf topped off her outfit, snagged from one of the various piles around the cottage. She had enough to make a trip into town and set up a booth to sell them next market day.

But that was later. Now, she had to shift piles of stuff around to find those tote bags she'd made up for gathering. They were the perfect size to fit in her bicycle's rear baskets. Aha, there they were, under a pair of half-finished socks that she was making for herself. She rarely got to knit anything for herself these days. The fishermen loved her gloves and hats, the wool warm even when soaked out on the boats, and she was constantly knitting them when she was not working on the loom.

As she walked out the back door to get her bicycle, her arms full of the tote bags and a few hats, scarves, and gloves to sell to the fruit pickers, she could hear the sheep starting up their bleating. Duke ran up, his tail wagging excitedly. Normally, Niki allowed the sheep free grazing during the day with Duke running watchdog on them, but at night and whenever she was not at home, she kept them penned for safety.

"Sorry guys," she called out to the eager sheep as she set the items from her arms into the baskets of her bike. "Stay, Duke," she told the golden, who continued to wag his tail in excitement. He was always excited and a very happy dog in general. "Stay," Niki repeated as she pushed off and started pedaling. Duke happily chased after her for a few steps, but stopped and sat, watching as she rode out of sight.

Soon, Niki settled into a nice quiet, peaceful ride through the countryside on her way to Whi Forest. She passed many farms, the workers out in the field working to bring in the harvest before frost claimed it. She passed several horse-drawn carts taking produce to market or port to be shipped elsewhere.

The bike ride was not very long and soon Whi Forest came into view. Niki could already see the locals gathering to collect the fruits and berries of the forest. Most stayed to the edges, not wanting to venture too deeply into the forest, but there were always those who felt the warnings and myths were just stories and pushed deeper into the wooded area.

Niki herself preferred greatly to stick to the edges, thank you very much. She'd rather not be eaten alive by a wild animal or get lost in the woods. She waved to some of the workers as she pedaled past, looking for a spot that wasn't so busy already. Plus, she needed to find some walnut trees clustered together for ease in picking up the nuts. The berries and fruit she would most likely trade her knits for, which would allow her more time to focus on gathering the nuts instead of hunting down berry bushes and fighting for fruit trees. Plus, the locals tended not to like people who came to pick their own fruit during this busy harvesting time.

From her past trips to the forest for walnuts, Niki knew a cluster of walnut trees grew not too far into the woods. Now, if she could just remember exactly where they were... The surroundings didn't change much in the past year and so Niki was soon able to find the spot where she'd entered on previous trips for her nuts.

The woman leaned her bike against a tree on the edge of the forest and picked up her tote bags. Time for some collecting! She wove her way a short distance into the forest before the first fallen walnuts could be found. Niki was soon busy inspecting the nuts to make sure their green husks, the part she needed for dyeing, were not rotting yet and that no bugs had tried to get into them. Luckily, it seemed that most of the fallen nuts were quite recent and she was able to fill a bag quickly.

Niki set the full bag against a tree trunk near the path back to her bicycle and took a moment to stretch and walk a bit before starting to fill the second. She took a drink of water from the canteen she'd brought along, debating an early lunch. Gathering was hard work!

As she turned, a glint from some nearby bushes caught her attention. Brow furrowing, the woman paused to stare. What could be causing that...? "Hello?" She called out tentatively, wondering if perhaps another gatherer was nearby.

The only answer was the usual forest noises. Niki frowned, her curiosity getting the better of her. She took one last drink from the canteen and capped it, setting it down beside her bags. "Hello?" She tried again as she made her way towards the bushes.

Still no answer. Niki drew close enough to part the branches of the bush and saw what was catching the light. A small bottle. The glare from the sun on the bottle prevented her from seeing any details. And, as her eyes adjusted to this glare, a small breeze picked up from behind her and caught the lightweight glass bottle, sending it rolling away.

"Hey!" The woman released the branches and peered around the bush. The bottle was tumbling down a slight decline, deeper into the woods. "Hey now!" She took off after the small bottle, worried it would break upon hitting a rock. It probably belonged to someone, left here on a previous gathering trip or something.

Nikiana pushed her way through the bushes and after the small bottle, which was still rolling along. Finally, it came to rest after splashing into a stream. Niki half slid down the path after it, reaching the stream's banks just as the current gathered the bottle up and started carrying it off.

The woman huffed and followed along the bank, having to push her way through brush and climb over rocks in the way. She was barely keeping up with the floating bottle and finally sat on a large rock and took off her sandals and rolled the legs of her pants up. She was going to get that bottle!

Wading in with her shoes in one hand, Niki gave a yelp at the water's temperature. That was cold! She moved quickly, trying to keep her feet from going completely numb as she waded after the bottle. At a bend in the stream, the bottle slowed as it left the current and Niki was able to splash her way towards it and snag it before it was carried off once more. "Got ya!"

Niki quickly made her way out of the cold water, finding a spot along the shore that allowed her to step from rock to rock and keep her feet from getting muddy or sandy. She sat on a rock in a bit of sun, hoping her feet would dry fairly quickly despite the cool air.

"Now, what have we here?" The woman muttered as she lifted the bottle to inspect it properly for the first time. The bottle was mostly empty, with only an antler within. The antler seemed too small to have come from an animal and Niki wondered who had put it in the bottle and why. Perhaps one of the fruit harvesters would know and she could return it to its proper owner.

Her shoes once more on her mostly dried feet, Niki stood and frowned. "Where are we...?" She asked the bottle, which remained silent and unhelpful. Clearly, she was going to have to find her way back on her own. Well, at least she knew to head upstream and could only hope that she'd find her way after that...

Summary here later~

Summary here later~

The sound of barking made Niki groan and roll over in bed. She'd once again stayed up too late knitting and it was way too early for anything to be happening right now. The barking continued and Niki woke up enough to realize that something had to be wrong. That was Duke! And he rarely barked for no reason! Was someone trying to steal her sheep? Or break into the house?! Not that she had much worth anything inside, but the sheep were the basis of her livelihood!! She needed those sheep... well, their wool, mostly.

The weaver flung the blankets off her body and quickly hopped across the cold floor to the window. She pulled the curtain aside and peered out into the early morning light. The first thing she noticed was that there were no strangers around the fenced area and that the sheep were indeed inside it. She peered sideways, trying to see if someone was breaking in through the backdoor or something. However, she couldn't see the door and so let the curtain fall.

Not bothering to get dressed but instead throwing a coat and some socks and shoes on, Niki grabbed a knitting needle from a chair as she made her way to the backdoor and held it before her, ready to stab any intruder. She quietly crept to the door, then flung it open, needle already moving to stab whoever was there. Which... was no one. Frowning, Niki stepped outside, drawing her coat around her closer as she glanced over to Duke, who was still barking up a storm.

Blue eyes followed Duke's gaze out into the herd of sheep and Niki blinked. She could've sworn... no, surely not! She blinked a few more times and even rubbed her eyes, but that creepy skeletal stag was still there! She stood and stared for a moment, her dog still barking away at the intruder amongst the sheep.

"Hush, Duke," Niki finally hissed, turning to look at the dog. The golden barked another time, then whined, clearly not happy that his sheep had been invaded and by something very creepy, nonetheless! "Down, Duke," Niki commanded, giving a hand signal to accompany the verbal command. The dog obeyed, still whining softly, but quite happy to let his master take over and drive the strange thing away!

Nikiana, however, had no idea how on earth she was going to do just that. She chewed on her lower lip as she studied the scene. The sheep were rather oblivious to the stag in their midst. Not that she was terribly surprised. Sheep could be quite stupid at times and too smart for their own good at others.

As she stared at the herd, the sun continued to rise in the sky and Niki could see a glint of light coming from the stag's head. A closer look revealed the bottle. Ah, why had she ever picked that thing up? It was causing nothing but trouble!! She started off towards the fence, fully intent on snagging that bottle and sticking it somewhere where it wouldn't cause problems again!

But as she started to get near the herd, the sheep raised their heads from grazing and, as one, turned to follow the stag to the other end of the pen. "Great," the woman muttered, stopping and backing up a few steps. As she backed away, the sheep returned to their browsing. "Now what?" The woman asked her dog, who whined again.

"You think so...?" Niki mused, thinking. The stag did not seem to like being approached and appeared quite eager to lead her sheep off. She wouldn't put it past the herd to knock part of the pen down if they were determined enough and she preferred to not put the fencing to the test.

She needed to get close to that stag without causing it to startle the sheep into stampeding off. As she thought over how to do that, Niki walked around the pen. She discovered that as long as she kept her distance, the stag and sheep did not try to flee again, but if she got too close they would start up until she backed away again.

The stag kept its creepy, empty eye sockets upon her as she walked, so there was no way the weaver could sneak up on the spectral form and grab the bottle. No, this was not going to work. Niki sighed, then an idea struck her. She quickly headed to the backdoor, picking up the dropped knitting needle as she reentered the cottage. She set the needle on the table, where it was sure to get lost when she needed it, but her mind was elsewhere at the moment.

"Aha!" She spotted what she was looking for and grabbed an apple from the basket of fruit she'd brought back along with the bottle from Whi Forest. Perhaps this would work. If not, well she was fresh out of ideas and could only hope that going back to sleep might solve the problem.

Niki walked back towards the pen, making sure to keep the apple in plain sight as she drew closer. She could see the stag gazing upon the fruit and it didn't turn to run again as she made it closer than she had previously. Once at the fence, the woman stopped, the apple on her palm and held out in offering.

The stag stomped a hoof, clearly torn between running and taking the bribe. Niki held herself still as she waited and was rewarded by the skeletal stag slowly drawing closer. As it got closer, it stretched its neck out, trying to get the apple without getting too close to the woman. Niki slowly drew her hand toward her, making the stag get closer, while muttering reassurances.

Stomping a hoof once more, the stag took a few more steps, close enough to take the apple and also close enough for Niki to reach up and grab the bottle, which she did as the spectral form took the very physical apple from her hand and began to eat it.

The bottle released from the stag with no resistance, causing Niki to stumble backwards a few steps as she'd tugged it harder than necessary. She watched as the spectral form slowly faded now that the bottle was separated from it, the apple disappearing as well.

"Well," Niki wondered aloud, glancing at the bottle. "I guess you're not just a bottle, huh...?" She carried it carefully into the house, placing it in the basket of apples. "Here, then. If you were hungry, you just had to ask. Stay put, okay?"

Niki went back outside to start the day now that things were back to normal... or so she hoped!

Reserved for OHGODTHEBOTTLEISAKIDNOW