Fakir wiped some sweat off his brow, careful not to disturb the dainty yellow flower tucked over one ear. The wicker basket he was carrying was quite heavy, and even under the thick canopy of the forest the air was warm. The blanket he carrying over his shoulder wasn't helping matters either, but he kept walking on. Shortly he arrived at his destination: a clearing small enough to still be dappled in sunlight at its brightest and completely shrouded in shadows otherwise, with a deep pool of clear water, several stones, and a long fallen tree overrun with moss and ferns. He scanned the area, quickly spotting a splash of bright color amongst the early summer wild flowers growing in a sun dappled corner. "Ahiru!" He smiled as he waved, the Forest Folk turning to him with an answering smile and wave.

Ahiru hopped up and bounced over to meet him as Fakir ambled towards the patch of wild flowers, "Hi Fakir! Whatcha got there? Does it have to do with why ya wanted to meet out here?"

Fakir nodded and held up the basket, "I thought today would be a good day for a picnic." Ahiru just tilted her head in confusion, Fakir was always saying weird words she didn't understand. "First things first, I need to spread this blanket out. I don't want to crush the flowers, so where should we lay it out?"

Ahiru took a moment to eye the blanket, then look around the clearing, when she seemed to have made a decision she grabbed the blanket and ran into a dark corner near the ferns. The forest spirit struggled with the blanket a moment as she tried to unfold it, Fakir set down the basket and helped her. Soon they both had a corner in each hand and were gently laying the blanket over the moss and bare earth. Once the blanket was down Fakir selected a few nearby rocks to place over the corners before he settled onto the blanket with the basket next to him. "Come join me, I'll show you what's in the basket."

Ahiru sat down as Fakir pulled out a thermos, lots of sandwiches wrapped in paper, cold chicken, several turnovers, a covered bowl of various berries, and a container of fresh cream. Fakir added to his little feast a pair of thin wooden plates, a pair of cups, and some cutlery, though he had a feeling Ahiru wouldn't use the last item. Fakir carefully unwrapped the sandwiches and various containers of foods and laid them out, then handed a plate to Ahiru. "I wasn't sure what Forest Folk eat, so I brought a little of everything." He pointed to different foods as he spoke, telling her what they were and what they were made of, finishing off with the groups of sandwiches: "These are ham cold cuts with cheese, these are lettuce and tomato, these are various jams, these are peanut butter, and these are roast beef. Now, you pick what you want to try and put it on the plate, then you eat it off the plate. Mostly, the plate is so you have someplace to put things down while you're not eating it." Fakir handed over a plate to Ahiru, who was looking at everything with wide, wondering eyes. Fakir picked up the thermos, "I need to add water to this before we can drink it, so I'll be right back, okay?" Ahiru nodded as she held the plate and continued to stare at the spread before her.

Since the spring was so close by, it only took Fakir a few moments to fill the thermos with water and mix it with the rich liquid he had stored in it that morning. By the time he had returned Ahiru had loaded her plate up with one of everything and she was industriously chewing away at a sandwich. "How is it," Fakir asked conversationally as he poured a cup of cold tea for Ahiru and handed it over.

"It's... not like anything I've ever had before." Ahiru mumbled out with her mouth full, still chewing away. "I think I like it."

"So which sandwich is that?" Fakir began loading up his own plate after pouring himself a cup of tea.

"The lettuce and tomato," Ahiru said slowly, making sure she was pronouncing the words correctly.

"Try one of the other ones."

"Okay!" Ahiru dropped the sandwich back on the plate and picked up another one, making a face the moment she bit into it. "Yuck, I don't like that one."

"Here, I'll take it," Fakir held his hand out for the sandwich, Ahiru quickly handed it over. Fakir began eating it himself, roast beef. Perhaps Forest Folk were vegetarian? "Try some of the tea, it'll help wash away the taste."

Ahiru grabbed her cup and gulped the tea, Fakir had learned long ago she had a weakness for his tea that he didn't quite understand. He quickly refilled her cup and encouraged her to try something else. Ahiru picked a different sandwich and took a bite, her face immediately lighting up. Fakir smiled, "You like that one?"

Ahiru nodded enthusiastically, "It's the best thing I've ever eaten!" She quickly jammed the rest of the sandwich in her mouth, which made chewing incredibly difficult. Ahiru didn't mind, she just moved to chewing with her mouth open before trying to swallow the whole thing. That's when it started, it seemed she had gotten some of the sandwich filling on the roof of her mouth because she began licking it while making a constant "Mleh" sound. Fakir couldn't help himself, he burst into laughter as he realized which sandwich had enthralled her.

Ahiru frowned as she continued licking away at the roof of her mouth, Fakir tried to contain his mirth and eventually was able to ask: "So how's the peanut butter?"

Trixystix on Tumblr sent me the following ask: I just thought you should know I had a dream about your Princess Tutu nature spirit AU last night and it was awesome :D Basically writer Fakir was having a picnic with Ahiru and it was super cute because she was SO ENTHRALLED with peanut butter XD

And I absolutely could not resist writing this. Good thing too, I wanted to write something but was having a bit of inspiration trouble. this was just too much fun!