“Don’t run too far into the forest! Stay away from the pond!”

A beautiful woman dressed in layers of skirts and an apron on top, wavy blond hair halfway curled into a messy bun, shouted after two barefoot boys. It was the first day of summer. Sun hanging high on the sky, even if it was afternoon, while the air smelled of freshly cut grass.

Tomorrow every kid would be out on the fields helping their parents to hang the grass to dry, but tomorrow was tomorrow.

Two young men, boys if you asked their mothers, waved their hands and shouted their “will be home for dinner, we promise”, before continuing down the small avenue that lead to a gate and out from the safety of the big farm.  

Chanyeol had spent so much time there that it felt like a second home. It was how it had become over the years. Everything was a little bigger at the Byun-farm, a little brighter and a little wealthier. Chanyeol liked it there, and he felt welcomed. Adults in the village talked, yet he didn’t care about greener grass or shinier cows at age 15 while summer smelled of wild berries and his very best friend was running in front of him.

Chanyeol might had grown longer limbs over the past few years, Baekhyun was still the faster between them, today no exception. Impatiently waiting by the gate, the smaller boy was bouncing on his feet, eyes sparkling with joy. Schools out, the last summer of freedom before their adult life started, they better get started on all the doing nothing they had planned.

The next stop was a crooked three just on the other side of the small stream that symbolised how far into the forest it was okay for kids to go on their own. A tree they had claimed their own years ago, even if it was at the wrong side and they were still kids.

 When Chanyeol dropped down from the lowest branch, hanging by his knees, he could reach the ground with his fingertips. Baekhyun dangled freely from another branch, not even close touch the ground beneath.

Among busy birds and curious squirrels, they talked about summer, about all the things they wanted to do. Like going on picnic with the twins from the farm over at the other side of the lake. The two girls still had one more year at school, but were fun to be around and maybe, just maybe, their long black hair flowing over tanned shoulders, had something to do with it too.

“Have you ever thought about it? The Kim-girls could be hulders?” Chanyeol adjusted his grip and pulled up to sit on the branch instead of hanging down. His head felt a little light from the sudden change of position and he had to grip the trunk tight to avoid falling over.

“No, a hulder have blond hair and fair skin” Baekhyun stated, still hanging upside down.  

‘Says who?’

Chanyeol plucked a pinecone and slowly started to peel off the small dry flakes, one at the time, as if he was a hungry squirrel.

“That’s the obvious part, everyone know they’re like that” Baekhyun countered.

“You know they aren’t wealthy enough, and their voices aren’t anything to shout about and I know they are pretty girls, but have you ever seen their tails?”

Baekhyun swung his body up so that he could grab the trunk and sit upright for a while too and copied his best friend by grabbing a handful of his own pinecones.

Everyone knew that a hulder never let anyone see her tail, but Chanyeol let it pass. Of course they were not hulders, it was just fun to make up stories of their own, to make all the myths adults fed them come alive, for a little while.

“Why do you believe in those stories anyway?” Chanyeol rested his head on the stem and tried to make out how far down the sun had moved, if it was time to head home for dinner. His gaze was dreamy though.

“Because they are true!”

Baekhyun jumped down from the tree, landed elegant in the grass and teasingly poked Chanyeol in his . Then he ran off, smiling and laughing at his bigger friend that dumped onto the ground, doing his best to organise long limbs before he could chase his chuckling friend.

With one of his long legs stretched out, he hooked one of Baekhyun’s and dragged him over. Dragged both of them over. A big rolling lump of limbs and fluffy hair rolled around in the grass before Chanyeol managed to pin his friend under him.

“Hah! I’m catching up on your speed” Chanyeol grinned. The smaller huffed at him and pursed his lips, not ready to admit defeat.

“I will always be a little better, you know that”

Baekhyun was probably right, not that it was a big deal. To give his friend some space, Chanyeol rolled over on his side, rested his head on his left hand and used the other to pluck a couple of blueberries, which he stuffed into Baekhyun’s mouth. It wasn’t until that moment that the boys realized how they had landed in blueberry heather, clothes already stained with purple marks, which would cause them getting scolded by their mothers. The sweetness of berries exploding on their tongue made it worth it though, and so they had some more of the sweet berries.

“You’re blond” Chanyeol teased and brushed his fingers through golden curls on the other.  
“And you come from a wealthy family and your voice is beautiful. Maybe you’re a hulder, I mean huldrekall?”

The blond boy pretended to be offended for a moment, but didn’t manage to keep the annoyed look on his face for very long. In reality, Chanyeol served him a huge compliment. Truth was, Baekhyun was more than pretty enough to be a huldrekall, if judging by the stories told of them. Chanyeol poked his friends blushing cheeks, but his hands were pushed away.

“Then if, where’s my tail?”  Questioned Baekhyun, the pout back on his mouth. The smaller boy rolled over on his stomach, crawled up on hands and knees and wriggled his under Chanyeol’s nose. “See! No tail”

Chanyeol gave the wriggling a proper smack that had his friend flopping down on his stomach in the heap before they both bursted into laughter. This was how it should be. This was how their summer was going to be. Between and after tasks at their farms, life was easy and wonderful. As long as they had each other and enough blueberries to colour their lips purple, life was good.