Apologies to JM Barrie for borrowing from Peter Pan.

—-

Minseok sighed quietly as he surveyed the forest outside his home; his hunting lately had been sparse and the summer harvest had been weak. He had hopes for the autumn harvest but his hopes of feeding his entire family for the winter were rapidly fading as many of the animals had relocated after a fire. He went to bed that night with a heavy heart.

The next morning Minseok woke up to his mother yelling for him to come see. He scrambled out of bed, fearing the worst, but instead when he stumbled to the window, his jaw dropped in shock. The field outside their home had matured over night, all their fall crops ready to be harvested. It was beyond belief. Minseok’s mother hugged him tightly, sobbing that it was a miracle and that they would have time to plant a second harvest before fall.

A little while later Minseok found himself stumbling through the field, touching the plants in awe, their wheat was thicker and more full than it had ever been, their little field able to provide them nearly double the amount of grain as it had in the past.

Minseok found himself overwhelmed by emotions. He had no idea the magic that had occured to allow for this but he was so grateful. He sat down hard on the ground and buried his face in his hands.

“Boy, why are you crying?” said a soft voice above him.

Startled, Minseok jerked his head up and squinted into the sun. The figure moved towards him and blocked out the sun for him. The boy above him was beautiful, face soft and eyes round.

“Who are you?” asked Minseok.

“I’m Lu Han,” said the boy and he held his hand out to Minseok to pull him up off the ground, “and I’m here to help you.”

“Help…me?” questioned Minseok as he tried to brush the tears off his face.

Lu Han lifted a hand and brushed his thumb under Minseok’s eye, rubbing away the tears and dirt from his face.

“You saved my life once, so I thought I’d return the favor.”

Minseok blinked his eyes quickly, seeing a flash of a fawn in his vision before it faded. He startled and Lu Han grinned as he cupped Minseok’s face.

“Yeah, that was me.”