Emma Swan some would say was a bit of a loner. She lived alone in her cottage on the edge of the forest miles enough from the local town to maintain her privacy, but close enough that when it came time to cart in her latest load of wood, she would be home by nightfall.
She had a routine, chop wood 5 days a week, load it into her cart, deliver it into market on the weekend. Craftsmen were her main buyers. The wood she chopped was specialized, taken from a grove of magically imbued trees most did not dare risk. Yet Emma Swan was not afraid of the dangers of the forest, having long been raised amongst them. One of her main buyers was in fact the craftsman Geppetto, who crafted Pinocchio from the wood.
It is not the wood however, that is the subject of our tale, but rather the Woodcutter herself. Though it is said the wood, imbued with magic as it is, has the power to grant wishes. If there were anyone at all who has a wish left ungranted, it is one, Emma Swan.
For you see, despite having chosen to live on the edge of the forest far enough from town to maintain her own privacy, Emma Swan was lonely. Though she upheld a demeanor while in town of a person who was simply there to do business then leave, the truth was, deep down, Emma Swan wished for nothing more than what she had never had: family.
For Emma as a newborn babe, must have been lost. That is what the first of her caretakers had said. She was a kindly old woman who had found her wandering as a small child, barely a year old. In the forest, of all places! A blanket, dirty wrapped around her shoulders.
The old woman had died of sickness and Emma had been left wandering the forest at the age of 6 trying to find someone to tell of her first caretakers death.
That was when the Woodcutter found her.
He was not an unkindly man, but he was not one to help a person when they fell either.
"Get back up." He told her, one day as she tripped as they trekked their way through the forest. "There will always be falls, the important thing is, getting back up. There won't always be someone to help you stand."
Emma learned much from him. Even how to access the magic grove and cut the wood without too much trouble from those that guarded it. The key was to replant seeds from the trees and to make offerings, to care for the grove as much as she took from it and Emma Swan did her best to ensure each seed she planted made it, each seedling grew into a strong sapling, so that it could one day grow into a strong magical tree like the others.
Perhaps this is why the guardians of the grove absolved to ensure that Emma got her wish most of all.
The key to your wish being granted by the wood of the grove is simple: the wood simply must hear it. Emma Swan rarely made wishes. Except during a single day of the year: her birthday.
This year, she just so happened to have gone into town to deliver her load of wood.
This year, was about to change everything, for Geppetto had gifted her a carved wooden swan from the very same wood she delivered to him. He was unaware of her birthday, but Emma almost cried at the coincidence.
As she returned home, her yearly birthday pie tucked into a basket next to her in her cart seat, Emma couldn't help the feeling of hope washing over her. Granny made the pie every year and Red, her granddaughter wished her a happy birthday.
It pulled at her heart and tugged at that deep down desire she held at bay.
She could help but whisper it as she thought about the warmth she had felt with Granny and Red, the yearning she felt seeing them together.
"I wish I had a family."
Little did Emma Swan know, that the magic wood was listening, and for the Woodcutter, the grove had been waiting a very long time to grant her a wish.