Turtles by Elsane

Chapter 1

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Getting caught with the turtles had been more or less inevitable, but Arakáno did wish it had been his mother, and not his father, who had discovered him in the courtyard. Mother would have sat down beside him on the edge of the fountain and asked a relentless string of quiet, logical questions, like: Did you ask anyone before you put turtles in the fountain? What did he think the turtles were going to eat? Did he know what turtles liked to eat? Did he think that the turtles could find food in the fountain? Oh, had he been planning to bring them food regularly? What about cleaning up after them? – until he was squirming so badly that he couldn’t help agreeing to give the turtles away.

But Father – Father would ask where he got the turtles, and that was worse. He didn’t know why it was worse, but it was very clear that it was.

Father sat down on the rim of the fountain beside him, noticed the turtle-sized palace that Arakáno had built in the water, and coughed.

“Where did these fellows come from?”

“The woods above the big waterfall,” Arakáno said cautiously. That was easy enough.

“I thought you were going to go see Aikanáro today,” Father said.

“His tutor said he was too behind on his rhetoric.”

“Ah,” said Father. He nodded at the turtle in Arakáno's hands. "You’re scaring that one.“

“It won’t put its head out!” Arakáno said. This was a great frustration, and the unfairness of it burst from him in a great wash. "I made them a proper palace in the fountain with jewels and flowers and a waterfall, and I sang to them, and I brought them berries, but it still won’t put its head out!“

“Well, holding it upside down is not going to encourage it.” Father took the turtle from him. He held it in one hand and ran his other hand absently over the turtle’s shell, and, still looking at the turtle, said, “You didn’t go above the waterfall alone, did you?”

That was a trick question; he wasn’t supposed to. He mumbled, “No.”

In Father’s hands, the front of the turtle’s shell slowly eased open, and a cautious snout poked out. His cousins had been able to coax the turtles out of their shells, too, with one easy slip of a finger along the crest of their shells. Arakáno stared back at the little beady eye in utter, accusing jealousy.

“It’s not fair!”

“Justice –”

“– belongs not to one alone but to the several,” Arakáno said, singalong. Everyone quoted that at him, even Irissë.

Father slid the turtle back into the fountain, where it kicked its way back to the depths of the waterspout and vanished behind the bright curtains of spray.

“Was it Tyelcormo who took you into the woods?” Father’s questions were sharp, the ones that mattered, and flashed out swiftly; and there was something unhappy coiled behind this one, a feeling that made him brace for yelling.

In a small voice he said, “I went with Pityo and Telvo.”

Father looked off into the spray, his shoulders easing. Not yelling, then. But his shoulders and his mouth were still heavy with the same unhappiness, and it was clear that going up into the woods with Pityo and Telvo was bad.

No one explained; but whatever this wrongness was, it made his brilliant, laughing eldest brother turn hard and cold and fierce, it made his parents have quiet, angry discussions that stopped when they saw him, it turned Turukáno icy and proud, and Irissë scornful; it hung over the house like the shadow of a mountain he could not see.

“I like Pityo and Telvo,” he tried, hesitantly. "They’re nice.”

“They’re nice children,” Father agreed, but somehow that only made him more unhappy.

One of the turtles lumbered off the roof of the little palace with a splash. Arakáno threw his slightly crushed berries into the fountain and watched them sink. The turtles didn’t even try to go after them. His insides felt cold, and all twisted up. He wanted to kick something.

Father sighed, and put his arm around Arakáno’s shoulders. "There are turtles in the ocean, did you know? Much bigger than these! Some of them are bigger than I am.”

“Truly?”

“Truly. Let’s go down tomorrow to Alqualondë and take a boat out to see them. We can bring your cousins along to help us sight them.”

“Yes!” said Arakano, hardly able to believe he was getting away this easily. No yelling, and the promise of more, better turtles. Maybe the sea turtles would be friendlier.

“Go take these poor turtles back where you found them. Tell Irissë I told her to take you.”

Arakáno screwed up his mouth. "Both of them?“

“All three of them, Arko.” Father was not impressed. "And clean up the fountain when you’re done.”

“I will!” Arakáno said, and set off for the house, quickly, before Father could decide to get angry at him after all.