Once upon a time there was a Blue Heron named Ardie. Ardie was a young Blue Heron. On his flight through the islands in his migration, a windstorm sent him swirling from his flock and plummeting to the island below. As the wind bellowed and the storm came down stronger and stronger, Ardie fell through trees and sand before landing on the beach. He tried to fly back up to the flock, but his wing was broken in the fall

Ardie sad and hurt thought no one would help him, and he would be completely alone to live on this island. He was wrong however as a crab came out of water and greeted him.

    "That's a nasty broken wing you've got there!" The Crab chuckled in a deep voice.

"Let me help you to the forest, you won't be able to get out of the tide yourself," the Crab continued.

Ardie, with a nod, was helped by the kind crab who lifted his wing and walked him to the forest at the end of the beach.

At the end of the beach, Ardie with the help of the crab stood up on his own two legs, and climbed up the rock bank.

"Thank you," Ardie exclaimed with a smile.

In the forest was a multitude of animals coming to greet him, watching him hobble up the beach with his broken wing. A rabbit, a turtle with a snake on his back, and a King fisher, hurried to meet him and ask him if he was alright. Ardie explained to them what had happened, and so the group, happy to help him, took him to their home.

A magnificent redwood tree with a burrow dugged beneath the trunk, would be more than a mansion to Ardie. Thankful he asked the animals what their names were.

    "Well my name is Tom, and his name is Oskar," the turtle answered looking up at the snake.

    "My name is Harriot," the rabbit added, licking back her ears with her paws.

    "Oh, and of course, there's me! Fastest thing alive! Rowan!" The Kingfisher bragged, flying around in circles across Ardie's head.

When Ardie woke up the next morning, all of his friends had decided to help teach him how to survive on his own. Now granted their kindness, none of the animals taught him how to live like a Blue Heron, they all taught him to live like they did. Ardie would hop through the forest with Harriot collecting grass and vegetables for the rest of the friends. Ardie's hops were much stranger than Harriot's considering their size difference, but it bother either of them. After a few days Ardie hopped quite elegantly, hopping faster than most of the other rabbits in the forest. 

Tom and Oskar decided to take Ardie out for a swim, after all, he did come from the beach. Oskar and Tom swam much faster than Ardie, and tried to race him, knowing that it wasn't quite fair, but after a while Ardie swam quite gracefully. Ardie caught up with his friends and splashed them with water. They laughed and they played in the water until the sun came down, and they came back to shore covered in sand and seaweed. 

Rowan, while seeming like he had more bark than bite, showed quite a bit of modesty, and decided to teach Ardie how to fish. Ardie and Rowan made their way down to the beach, wading through the shallow water. Rowan flew about quickly, and rimmed his wing through the water in circles looking for a shadow to pounce on. Ardie tried the same, but scared away many of the fish around him, trying to run and catch them.

    "No Ardie you have to fly!" Rowan Explained.

    "I can't Rowan, I broke my wing, remember?" Ardie reminded Rowan.

    "Oh yeah, I forgot. Well you can also dig for clams?" Rowan improvised.

Ardie and Rowan dug a few clams and had a good lunch. Rowan asked Ardie if he wanted to see his favourite place on the island, and so Ardie replied yes. They hopped and flew through the forest up to a cliff face.

    "This is where I learned to fly, and a falcon taught me how to dive really fast here. There's only one thing wrong with this place. The Eagle." Rowan continued on in a boast about how good he was at flying, and then did a few tricks in the air, before returning home.

Over the next few months, Ardie's wing had begun healing. Everyday Ardie would forage for food he could give his friends, fruits and vegetables in the summer and fall months, and fish in the winter months. Little by little, each day got easier for Ardie, as he hopped and danced through the forest. Finally the spring started to come, and Ardie's wing had healed almost completely. Harriot took off his final bandages off, and freed his big beautiful wings once again. Ardie's friend looked at him sadly, their feet dragging down to the ground as they knew that Ardie could fly away any day. 

    "You know your family is going to come back for you in a month, right?" Harriot reminded Ardie.

    "Don't worry guys, I'm not going to go, I'll stay here and live with you." Ardie replied.

    "Ardie, it's very important that you go, be with your real family, we can only give you so much, but we don't know what a Blue Heron needs." Tom lectured.

    "But ~~" Ardie was interrupted by Oskar quickly.

    "We love ya Ard a chard, but you need to take care of yourself first, think about that."