This story shall begging with a once upon a time, as do all great love stories. You will read about boy meets girl and all the other trials and triumphs in fairy tales, except for evil. There is no evil in this tale except for their own foolish mistakes, but who can really help but be foolish while in love, or falling out of it? Well on to the story before I spoil it all for you.

So once upon a time, in a not so far away land, a land like where I live, or you, or you, and yes maybe even quite similar place to where you live. Well any ways there lived a boy named Skip and a girl named Dorothea. One loved the sea, and the other the sky.  Skip loves water and all the creatures within it. The boy even has a turtle. A turtle named Bobby. They were buddies Skip and the Turtle. Now Dorothea, she had always loved her birds, except for finches, gold ones to be exact. Dorothea loathes goldfinches. The two shy ones met one day when they were both very young. Skip was covered in woven wool, and Dorothea clad in fitted fleece. It was love at first sight. Although neither one really knew what the feeling truly was just yet. Although the feeling did somehow resemble the way a butterfly may plant a kiss upon your cheek; but instead of flying around on the outside, they were fluttering on the inside.

Dorothea, just wanting to talk to the boy, and in return just wanting him talk back, asked “Why so shy little knit boy?” S

kip wasn't sure how to respond to this. He had never thought of himself as shy, but now that it had been stated out loud, he couldn't deny it. For some reason he wanted to make the girl happy, and give her some sort of clever answer, but with all of his might he couldn't make his lips move. Maybe he really was terrible shy, or maybe it was that dimple in her cheek when she smiled that tied his tongue. After countless attempts to move his jaw, all his body could manage was to give the girl a little wiggle of the fingers and a slight tilt upwards of his mouth. And although Dorothea didn't get to hear the boys’ voice, the little twinkle in his eyes was enough.

Ever since that small encounter, the two became inseparable. They didn't talk much, but that didn't matter at all. What did was that they had each other. The pair liked to build snow forts with each other, read silently beside each other, finger painted alongside one and other, or when it got warm; to take walks through the garden together. Yes those were their favorite things. And when the two did decided to talk it was on topics like 'where do snails go to buy their shells' and such things.

One day Dorothea muttered out loud “I do have bird envy” and that became their topic for the day.

At first Skip didn't know if he should respond, but he did eventually ask “Why spend your time envying the birds when you can join them in song?”

Dorothea had to ponder this, and then replied, “I don't want to sing with them. I would love to be able to join them in flight.” Upon Skip hearing the word love escape from her lips, his heart did some sort of flip-flop. Now once the heart has done this flip, there is no going back. This sort of flop in the heart can make a boy do some silly things. The first silly thing that he did was that he dressed himself in feathers in hopes to impress Dorothea. In hopes that she would love him just as much as she did the birds. The second silly thing he did was, that he tested out his new look on his mother. This was silly because his mother is a realist, and when her son came up to her and said “I'm an owl now mum”, she simply replied “Don't be foolish now Skip. You are a human, and humans can't be owls. It would ludicrous to think otherwise.” Luckily Skip is the opposite of his mother, and once he heard the word 'can't' he vowed to himself that one day he would become a bird. 

Now you remember when I mentioned that the two were inseparable? Well there came a time when the glue that bonded them together started to fade away. Skip started to slowly drift too far away from Dorothea, and she started to fly too high from him. And then one day , gradually, over time, without either one of them really noticing, when they turned to look back to look for the other, they found that they had parted so far away from each other that they had lost one another. Now this isn't to say that they forgot about each other entirely. Oh no. In fact as their time apart stretched from days to years, they started to appear more and more on each other minds; dancing through day dreams, fulfilling a fantasy, and of course still occupying each other’s hearts.

Then came a day, years after they became detached from one another, where they couldn't take being without each other any longer. Each had decided to go on a hunt to find their almost lover. Skip, knew that he would have to do something that would impress Dorothea after all this time. There was only one thing he could think of that would do the trick. He decided to grow himself a pair of wings. He became the wing man. So the he took to the sky, knowing it’s be the best place to find her, knowing that's where she would always end up.

Simultaneously Dorothea ventured back to where she and Skip first met, to see what man had become of the boy she once knew. Although upon returning to her childhood, she couldn't find a trace of him. She ventured to the water side to see if any of his sea friends knew where he was. She found an old friend, Bobby, who is now old and grey, and asked the creature 'Where has your human companion?' A look of sadness crossed the turtles face and answered “Gone, gone to the heavens and beyond.”  Once these words from the turtle settled in Dorothea’s mind, and she could only will her body to run. She ran, not sure why, but she couldn't be there any longer. So she ran and ran until her feet could no longer run. It could have been hours, days, weeks, months, maybe even years, but eventually her feet did tire and she collapsed. She collapsed on to the soft damp forest floor. All she wanted to do at this point was to cry, cry out of anger, or fear, or of a broken heart (but who is really to say why?), but the tears never came. So she just laid there.

A rabbit was wondering through the woods, and stumbled upon a girl lying in the leaves. Being the man that he was, he helped the girl, and the girl subconsciously took the help not really knowing what to do with herself any more.

As the years passed Dorothea and Reginald the Rabbit become close, like friends. Then one day Reginald decided he no longer wanted to be friends with her, but become something a little bit more. He proposed to her. Now Dorothea had no reason to accept, but she also had no reason to deny him either. So she agreed to marry the rabbit (although upon saying this, something with in her body turned numb).

The day came where the two were to be wed. It also happened to be the day when a winged man was flying over the very same woods. As he was flying, he spotted smoothing, not really sure what it was, but he was drawn to it, so he decided to check out the forest floor. It just so happened to be wedding party. He stayed afar and observed the merry festivities. But once his eyes laid upon the bride, something squeezed his heart.

It was her, the one whom he had been searching the ends of the earth for. With his heart broken once again, Skip left the forest. If she was happy with Reginald, who was he to ruin that for her? So he decided to leave her for good. He decided to take his transformation a little further so that he could never truly be with her. He became a swan.

This marriage didn’t make Dorothea happy like she thought it may. She was the unhappy Bride. So unhappy that she took to the drink. Drink to forget. Drink to remember. Lilac wine did it every time. For when she drank the wine, she tried to let go of her former love she always dreamed of. 

On day, a few years after her meaningless marriage started, Dorothea was walking through the wood gathering food when she heard a deer and a racoon talking about a winged man. Now Dorothea, with her love of birds and all, couldn't help but ease drop on a conversation about a man with wings. They discussed his foolishness, his bravery, and his mysteriousness. And for some reason this wing man reminded her of Skip, and she had an urge to find him just for some closure. She stayed hidden behind a tree until the racoon and deer went their separate ways. Then she immerged from her spot hiding spot and pursued the deer.

“Excuse me. My Deer Boy, I couldn’t help but hear you mention a winged man. Can you tell me more?” asked Dorothea.

“My girl, if you had been listening at all, you would of heard the rumours that he is no longer a man at all, but in time has become a swan.” answered the Deer Boy.

“Where can I find him?” pleaded Dorothea.

“I would ask the sky or water folk if they know more.” the Deer Boy whispered with a wink, and the he strolled away.

So Dorothea decided to leave her husband, to leave him and find herself the winged man. It was the only thing that had made sense to her in the longest time. She searched for day, months and years for a whisper in the wind to where he could be. She had heard rumours here and there to where he could now be, but it was so hard to keep up with all of it when she only hand he small legs to take her around. Again she got bird envy.

 One day, she was sitting on the edge of a pond resting, wondering where to look next, when a goose floated past her on the water surface.

“Excuse me Mr Goose, I am in need of your assistance.” Dorothea cried out.

The goose, who seemed a little stunned, turned to her and asked “You can speak goose?”

“I thought all could” Stated Dorothea.

“Well my little goose girl, I have never met a human so bold enough to speak to the animal kind, for you, I shall help.” replied the Goose.

“I need to find a Swan whom once was a human.” Dorothea admitted. “Oh you'll want to talk to the King Swan you will. He knows all.” “Where can I find him?” asked Dorothea in excitement, she had never been this close before.

“You happen to be in luck my little goose girl, he just so happens to be visiting this very lake tonight.” states General Goose, and he extends his wing to the middle of the lake. Dorothea could see the swan that the goose was telling her about. He was the biggest one she had ever seen. He was wadding in the middle of the lake, right where the sky and water collided with each other and become one.

The goose was a kind one, as kind as they come, and offered to swim her out to the swan. Dorothea gladly took the offer. She climbed upon his sleek back, and he paddled her out from shore. It didn't take long for the pair to reach the magnificent creature. When they did approach him, the Goose explained the girls’ situation to the Swan, and he gladly agreed to help the girl in her quest to find her lost love. The Swan invited Dorothea to sit upon his back so they could talk more intimately.The Goose swam back to shore once Dorothea was securely place with the king. The Swan then turned his head so he could be face to face with the girl. As soon as Dorothea had locked her eyes on the Swans eyes, her mind went a little fuzzy.

Those eyes. Something about the little twinkle within them drove her mind to a far off land. And before she could mutter any of the questions that were racing in her mind, before her mind could even communicate with her body on what to do next; she laid a soft kiss upon the Swans beak.  Then something magical happened. The kind of magic that only a true loves kiss could bring. Like the kiss had the power to break a curse, although there is no evil curse to break here. Instead the magic of the kiss made a transformation. In a glowing light, the power of love took Dorothea, and transfigured her into a beautiful swan. 

They had found each other at last. Reunited finally, they could be together forever. Forever bound to water and the sky. Free to roam either together for the rest of their time.  Oh and they lived happily ever after.