The air was filled with the subtle cacophony of avian song. My golden hair shone even brighter than normal in the fiery morning light. Perhaps, in another life, I could have been born as light. Even now, the color and slight wave when the wind played with my hair mixed and entwined both the light and the imitation that I wore.

That breeze was a cold one. My nose was a little chilly, but the rest of me enjoyed the sensation of air on my skin where it penetrated my outerwear.

Of course, none of these details were nearly so important as my destination. The sound of my feet stirring the gravel beneath them as I trotted forth was far sweeter than any bird's song, for it was the sound of movement. This movement was spectacular simply because I was so close to the most wondrous place on the planet.

Already, the inviting wet sounds of the nearby lake had grown loud enough to guide me even without the use of my eyes or my keen nose, which gathered up the fishy smell of the lake and added it to the cleanliness of the morning dew. The earth itself had bathed in preparation for this long-awaited moment.

It was to my great relief when I reached the soft granules of sand that composed the beach. They were much more pleasant to walk on than the gravel of previous footsteps. Much longer and my feet would have grown sore, despite the padded covering that adorned their undersides.

Putting those thoughts to the farthest portions of my mind, I lowered myself, tense and ready for action. The silence of my concentration overpowered nature itself, and I stared down the wooden dock with all the intensity of generations, uninterrupted by sound. For at the end of that dock was a place unlike any other. It was my purpose; the reason I existed. It was in my blood. My very DNA screamed with anticipation. One final lungful of sweet morning air was all I needed.

Then, I sprang forth. Each bounding stride ate up the sand beneath me, leaving nothing but clouds of dust in my wake. Those clouds were shortly replaced by heavy thuds as my feet pounded down the dock.

That was when the other sounds returned to me. The birds continued their unending song. Added to that was my own instrumental piece. The wind rushing past my ears was a sound meant for myself, and myself alone. For a moment, that sound was all I knew. Touch was lost to me. I was suspended in the nothingness of sound, hurtling from the place where I had run out of dock.

This falling felt to me like flying. I was one of the birds, with my own rushing song, flying back to my own home. But alas, I have no wings. My mortal journey came to an abrupt end.

My dearest friend rushed up to meet me. It filled my open mouth, gone slack in a silent cry of ecstasy. Every inch of my surface was embraced, and I welcomed it. The cool, rushing liquid had devoured me once again, but it let me go like it always did. I had to work for my next lungful of air, but the water allowed me to take it because I would always return to the lake. The water held my soul. That was an unbreakable bond, and we both knew it.

Powerful strokes guided me to the rippling, glassy surface. It made me just a little sad to be forced to shatter it with my head, but it was necessary if I was to breathe.

I hovered there, breathing, listening, gripping the thing I loved so dearly and knowing full well that the harder I tried the less I could hold. My fate was a strange one. To be a creature so in love with the lake, and yet chained to the earth by my need for air. Still, this was the way I was meant to be. It was for one reason that I was a land-dwelling creature, and that reason, my second love, was calling my name at that very moment.

Reluctantly, I returned to the land, stopping only to shake the water from my fur before obeying my master's command to come. He seemed pleased when I waved at him with my dripping tail as I came. I was glad. I wanted him to say it just once more.

“Good Boy.”