Suho is not nearly as surprised as he should be when he meets a hyperion.

Summer's heat is just starting to build into the blazing white of First Harvest, when the corn and the wheat and some of the summer vegetables are ready to be picked. Suho wipes the sweat off of his brow after a long day of cutting wheat and pats Lay's flank gently. Lay whinnies and tosses his mane, lipping the hair on top of Suho's head.

"Hey!" Suho says with a laugh, waving Lay away with his left hand. The tight bandaging around his fingers has unravelled and an errant spark spooks the horse and he screams, startling Suho.

"Lay! I'm so sorry," Suho says as he rewraps his fingers desperately. Lay's eyes are wide and look over the boy warily, as though he's not sure what to think of his human anymore. Suho flexes his fingers self-consciously, feeling his scars tingle.

Suddenly the temperature drops dramatically and Suho watches his breath billow out in white clouds as ice creeps up the freshly cut stalks of wheat. The lightest dusting of snow melts immediately on Lay's back and the horse neighs nervously, sensing that something unnatural is about to happen.

In a whirl of freezing wind and fog, a boy materializes in front of Suho. Despite his round face, the boy is intimidating, with piercing blue eyes and a slight frown on his face. His brown hair is blown back and crusted with ice, and his lips are tinged ever so slightly blue. He's wrapped in a cloak of white feathers and he glares at Suho for a few moments before speaking.

"You. You're human."

His voice is like snow, soft and freezing cold. Suho feels a shiver run down his spine.

"I am," Suho replies, rubbing his arms. "And you're…not."

The boy's expression doesn't really change but the corner of his mouth twitches slightly.

"No. I'm what your kind calls a hyperion."

"You don't call yourself a hyperion? What do you call yourself?" Suho can't stop himself from asking through chattering teeth.

"I am snow and wind and the one who freezes all that I touch. But you may call me Xiumin."

"Xiumin. I'm Suho."

Suho holds out a hand for Xiumin to shake, but Xiumin just stares at it for a moment before looking back at Suho's face.

"You are human."

Suho laughs.

"I think we've been over this."

Xiumin shakes his head and his frown grows deeper.

"You are human but you reek of lightning."

Suho blinks at the hyperion.

"Lightning has a smell?" he asks incredulously.

Xiumin rolls his eyes and grabs Suho's left hand. His hands are so cold they feel like they are burning through the bandages. With a deft move, Xiumin strips away the bandages on Suho's arm and reveals the jagged lightning scars. The air grows even colder as Xiumin's round face is distorted by a furious scowl. His eyes flicker between blue and white as he glares up at Suho.

"Who marked you?" His voice is the softest it's been so far, but it is laced with cold fury.

"I don't know what that means," Suho whispers, shivering in the hyperion's glacial presence.

Xiumin doesn't stop glaring as he stabs an enraged finger towards Suho's scars.

"This mark," he says, "is a declaration of ownership. One of the Adar has claimed you. This is forbidden. Who. Marked. You."

Wind is whipping around Xiumin's feet, ruffling his white feather cape and blowing stinging shards of ice into Suho's face. Suho covers his face with his arms and Lay shies away from the hyperion.

"Stop it!" Suho shouts above the wind. Xiumin ignores him.

"Who marked you?" The hyperion screams as the wind whips itself into a frenzy, coating the field in a rime of ice. For the first time Suho hears the bird in Xiumin's voice, a high, keening sound like a songbird. Suho realizes Xiumin is destroying the field and all of Suho's hard work, all of his crops that are supposed to feed his family. Briefly an image of himself standing over a grave while they lower Sehun's starved body into the earth flashes through his mind and a primal anger courses through his body.

"Stop!" Suho screams as his scars burn. A bolt of lightning falls from heaven and strikes the hyperion. Xiumin stumbles forward and falls to his knees, the blizzard ceasing and a bit of warmth seeping back into the late summer air. His cape is charred and Xiumin is breathing heavily, but he looks otherwise unharmed. He looks up at Suho, hatred kindling in his eyes.

"So it was him."

And before Suho can say anything, fog swirls around Xiumin and he's gone. In an instant, the blazing heat rolls over Suho and it nearly the air from his lungs. The ice melts off of the field and Suho frantically checks his crops for signs of damage. Most of them survived, but a few are beyond salvaging, mostly the leafy vegetables who were exposed to the worst of the small blizzard. Suho does some mental calculations and bites his lip, worrying that he may have to sell a horse or two in order to survive the winter.

He feels a nudge at his back and absently he pets Lay, his velvet nose and worrying about protecting his family. A soft hoo catches Suho's attention and he turns to see the bug-eyed owl that he sees from time to time in the barn. He's taken to calling the owl Big Eyes.

"What?" he asks, a bit more rudely than he intended.

Big Eyes looks scandalized, ruffling his feathers and coughing at Suho.

Suho immediately feels chastised.

"I'm sorry. But…why are you here? Aren't owls nocturnal?"

Big Eyes gives Suho the "are you stupid" look that he's come to expect from the owl. The owl looks up at the sky and hoots indignantly before turning his back on Suho.

Suho stares at the owl, puzzled, before looking up himself. He sees nothing, and he sighs. He wonders if perhaps Chen has forgotten him. After all, a human can't be that interesting to a thunderbird.

He's leading Lay back to the stable when the scream of a bird of prey pierces the air.  Something large and dark swoops low over Suho's head and he ducks, yelling something indistinct and mildly profane.

The large dark swooping thing lands on the twisted, lightning struck tree and Suho stares at the huge black hawk preening itself on the burnt tree. The bird finishes preening and turns one predatory silver eye towards Suho.

Suho feels his breath catch and he walks forward in a trance, unsure if he's dreaming or not.

"Chen?" he whispers, expecting any minute for the bird to transform into the laughing, sharp-featured boy.

The hawk blinks at Suho for a few moments and then goes back to preening, showing no sign that the name meant anything to it. Suho's heart falls and he starts leading Lay toward the stable. As soon as he turns away, he hears the hawk squawk, followed by a flurry of feathers and suddenly a weight presses into his shoulder.

Suho nearly yells again but he manages to keep calm and instead turns his head to the left where all he can see is a mass of black, glossy feathers and sharp talons digging into his collarbone.

The bird chirps happily and sets its claws a bit more securely into Suho's shirt. Suho is not sure how to react and just stands there, motionless, afraid that one wrong move will provoke the bird into tearing his face off.

Finally, Lay, exhausted from the stress of dealing with a hyperion, bumps Suho's with his nose and snorts impatiently. Suho starts and remembers his horse, managing to settle Lay in his stall and take care of the rest of the horses while still carrying the black hawk on his shoulder.

The hawk remains on Suho's shoulder as he finishes the day's chores, finally leaving Suho's left shoulder only to switch to the other shoulder. Suho grumbles and tries to shoo the infernal bird away but it's useless since the hawk always comes back.

Finally, just as Suho has finished his tasks and accepted that the bird isn't leaving anytime soon, it spreads its wings, smacking him in the face, and takes off, flying high off into the clouds. Suho stares after it for a moment before yelling at it's retreating form.

"What was the point of that?"

For a moment, he swears he hears Chen's laughter.

---------------------------------

A/N: A bit longer this time! Oh look it's Xiumin. Some notes: Hyperions don't actually exist in any mythology (pretty sure), I made them up myself and their name actually comes from the Titan God of the Sun in Greek Mythology. For some reason I thought the name was suitable for an ice bird. "Adar" is bird in Welsh. Why Welsh? It was the language on Google Translate when I opened it and I just rolled with it. It looks cool though. Yay the owl has a name! Suho is not creative. He named the horse Lay because it likes to lie down. Well that's two weather birds introduced. All that's left are the drought-makers and the wind-chasers. (They have better names than that I just don't want to reveal them yet) Thank you so much for reading and subscribing and commenting! I really love to read your comments it honestly makes my day when someone takes the time to read my stories.