Modern
The world changed around them, but the lake always stayed the same. Buildings crumbled, new ones were built in their places. Men flew with the birds, then to the stars. Newspaper headlines spoke of war, drafts, treaties, walls being torn down. The popularity of ballet dwindled when moving pictures made it on the scene and the theater students spread their talents far and wide. Music moved from phonographs to radios. Still the lake never changed.
His body could no longer move like a danseurs and his hands were wrinkled, unstable; he could not write. Her feathers were loosening and falling off with time, and her eyes were tired. But still they lived on, watching as the world changed and grew while she dozed in his lap and they watched the sunset from the docks.
It's better not to think realistically about a duck's lifespan in the Tutu world. She might even live to be 100 years old.
-Ikuko Itoh