(Actually, I later DID write a fairy tale about it 
Most of the “old timers” have seen it already, but I’ll post it again for the new guys at the end of the report)
This story was inspired by Liliya's favorite Russian fairy tale ~ Scarlet Sails by Alexander Greene and I
tried to mimic the timeless location non-specific sytle of the original. If you have never read Scarlet Sails and have the time (it's loooong) I highly recommend it. it can be found in English
here.
A "Fairy Tale"
for Liliya - from Jet
Once upon a time, there was a woman named Leah who lived in a very small town not too far from the top of the world. She was quite pretty, though she would not let anyone else know that she believed it, when they told her so. And she was intelligent! By night she studied the heavens and the stars, carefully watching their movements across the sky as the seasons changed from spring to summer to autumn and then to winter. By day, she taught the children of her kingdom, all the things that she had learned - so they could grow up to be smart and productive member of society as well. She had a child of her own, a son, small, but full of energy and no doubt - full of questions, he loved the exotic, the farther away it came from and the stranger it seemed to him, the better he liked it! A particular favorite of his was the black and white striped horses of a continent to the south.
The people of the valley where the small town stood, were regular people with regular hopes and dreams, but life was not so easy there. No one really noticed it was difficult because that was the only life they knew. They never gave much thought to things being any nicer somewhere else. Leah was different in a way than those around her, she was inquisitive. She knew there was much more to the world than just what was near the castle and she wanted to learn about the strange people and places that lay beyond her valley, she longed for the adventure that exploring the unknown would bring. So, over the course of time she prepared herself as best she could. She read what she could read and studied languages of far off places to try to teach herself to read, write and speak the way the people beyond the valley did. As time passed she learned the strangest of these languages, It was spoken by many different people around the world, but all who spoke it, did so differently! People in two different places would use the same word to describe to completely unrelated objects, and yet for the most part, they could all understand each other. This language used many unusual symbols she had never seen before, only a few even resembled the letters of her own alphabet, and they all had different sounds than what she thought they should. Even so, over time, she got very good at writing and understanding it. The speaking part was not so easy because there was nobody around her to speak the language with! But Leah persevered, and when she thought she was ready, she sent messages out across the great oceans to see if any of these people from far off lands would write her in return...............
In the tropics, near the equator, where it never gets cold and the seas are a mix of emerald green and cobalt blue, lived an adventurous man, self-reliant and intelligent. He had seen most of the western hemisphere in his travels, from the tallest mountains to the smallest islands. He had gone through snow drifts twice his height, and rainstorms that blew whole kingdoms away. He had walked with lions and tigers, and fought the big fish of the sea. But he was a calm and gentle man, happy with his life and the small home by the sea where he now spent his days. He had no reason to be angry or mean, his life had treated him well and brought him much excitement through the years, and he was happy to sit back at the end of a long day and listen to the tree frogs and parrots as they played in the last light of the evenings, just before the sun slipped behind the horizon. One evening early in the springtime, as he came back from a day on the ocean, he discovered a this note:
Hello...
My name is Leah...
I live in the far north...
I would like to be your friend...
Is it possible?
Answer me... please...
He was not sure whether he should answer the request but something inside told him he needed to. He did not understand why, but he didn't question it either. So he wrote a short answer to Leah and told her he would be happy to talk with her more in the future.................
Hmmm, why me?
I don't mind chatting with you, just wondering...
After some time, they started to send messages back and forth across the great ocean almost every day. Leah told him stories about her valley, its river and the ice and snow that covered the forests and meadows for most of the year. And he, in turn told her stories of the exotic animals that shared his tropical paradise, the sunsets over the water, and the house on the hill by the sea. He was starting to understand the voice inside that had urged him to answer Leah's plea. There was something special about this woman; he could not quite figure it out. She intrigued him, she sparked his imagination, she made him think about things he had long forgotten. The difficulties and problems of everyday life in the tropics did not seem so important any more, and while his life was a happy one - everything around him seemed better for some strange reason. The grass was greener, the birds sang more cheerfully, and the smell of morning was somehow sweeter. Even though spring had barely turned to summer, it was as if they had known each other all their lives. They layed in bed at night and dreamed fantastic dreams of each other while they slept. Every now and then, if only for a brief moment, they could hear each others voices as if they were standing side by side. As time went on there was almost nothing they didn't share with each other. He told his family of her...and she told hers, of him. Strangers passing by, could see the happiness on each of their faces, as they went about their daily lives.
Then one day, the two decided they could not wait any longer, they had fallen in love; impractical as it was - being separated by 2 continents and an ocean; and needed to be together even if it was only for a short while. They talked about him making the expedition across the sea to her valley. While he knew he could easily make the journey, it defeated the original purpose of all her hard work learning the new language. So he came up with a plan, which she quickly agreed to: They would each set out from their homelands. He would travel Northeast following the constellations in the Northern night sky, and she would Travel West following the setting sun. They would meet on a large Island in the middle. Since he had traveled far and wide and was an expert at navigation, he got out the maps and plotted the courses for both trips, his and hers. Meanwhile, she went to the king and asked for permission to make the westward trek. The king told her it was not so simple to just say "yes" or "no", he needed details and papers to record this event. Together the two got everything the king asked for, and a few things he didn't just to be sure. The king took a long time looking over the papers and summoned Leah to his thrown. She sat there very nervously as the king and his men asked her many questions about the proposed journey. She answered all the questions to the kings satisfaction so he reluctantly agreed to let her go, on the promise that she would return to the valley. Everyone rejoiced at the good news and the final preparations were made. The only thing left to do was wait for a day when the winds were favorable, and the two would be together at last......................
In the heat of late summer, there came a day that seemed perfect for the trip, the day was warm and sunny, the skies were dotted with fluffy cumulus clouds. He grabbed his bag, filled with provisions he had collected while waiting for this day, and set a course Northeast across the ocean toward the island where they had chosen to meet. At almost the exact same moment, Leah, with supplies of her own, started her journey West over the hills and through the meadows. She ventured to the port where she could board a vessel to carry her to the spot where the two had agreed to meet. She arrived at the port with much time to spare. The final part of her trip would be short but waiting to depart seemed like forever. She took some time to think as she waited "Would the trip be a safe one?", "Will I know him when I see him?", "Is he really going to be there waiting?", "Will he be in real life, the man I have come to love from all the long letters we wrote?". On and on it went like this for a long time, as soon as she put one question out of her head, she would think of another. This was all so exciting, but frightening at the same time. By Now, his journey had reached it's end. It was a smooth and comfortable trip but longer than he had ever taken before, so he was relieved. Though she could not know for sure, he was already there at the island preparing for her arrival. He had gone to the city a short distance up the river from the sea, and gotten everything ready, he went to the innkeeper and found them a room in a nice part of town, with a view of the moon and the stars when evening fell. He had gone to the market, and found beautiful flowers, odd shaped candles, and other nice things to try to make their stay a comfortable one. He tried to rest but he was far too excited. The time came to go to the port and meet the love of his life, the woman he had dreamed about, but could not touch before now. Oddly, there were no questions in his mind, at least not for now..................
He arrived at the port to find that there was a delay, he paced back and forth anxiously waiting for the minutes to pass. Finally it was announced that the vessel had come in, he was happy, he knew it would take some time for everyone to get off and collect their bags so he tried to be patient. There were many people arriving from all over the world and coming out of the gate in large groups, he watched all the faces very closely, he knew he would be able to spot her in the crowd even though he had not seen her in person before. But the people just kept coming out of the gate and he did not recognize her, the time past and even more people came out, but not Leah. Now the questions started coming into his mind as fast as the people were coming out of that gate! "Was there a problem?", "Did she change her mind and decide not to come?", "Has this whole thing been a big mistake?" and still the people kept coming, and still no Leah. "Did I miss her in the crowd?", "could I be in the wrong place?", "Would I really not know her?"..............and then,.................Like an angel..................She appeared. It was her, it HAD to be her, there is no doubt it is her, I KNEW she would come, and I would know her as soon as I saw her! Leah smiled a smile that spoke a thousand words as they made their way through the crowd, toward an open area of floor. They stopped right in front of each other, looking deeply into one another's' eyes.
He said "I love you!" and she replied, "Kiss me!" so he did. They stood there holding each other and passionately kissing for some time, and although there were thousands of other people around they felt like they were the only two in the whole place................
