Turtles belong in the sea by and large, it is true, and being in such a form one can move with grace and ease through ones natural medium, enjoying such an experience and showing all that one is truly at one with ones world. Being a man is useful to a degree, and certainly it is much easier to negotiate walls and such structures in a form like this better than with flipper and inflexible plastron, but really, a man is not at ease in any medium on this world. Long ago, when the Compromises were made to survive the Great Darkness, and some of us agreed to be a man for a while, and some of us agreed to remain turtles for a while, it was a great help to the General Survival. And things may change yet again and perhaps we will need this awkward body to stumble about on the hard surface of the world, when we know we should be better off swimming and swimming with our brothers and sisters.
But why build walls and such structures in the first place? These civilized types, they are so weak and foolish that they make buildings to live in in a vain effort to keep the world out of their frightened existence. Hah! This is folly indeed, as eventually all will come to ruin, and the elements will weather away their cherished dwellings. Better by far to live according to ones nature, although it is true, a man really has no nature of his own once he has lost Korgatsu, and he stumps and plods about on the face of the earth, unable to find a home or move easily where he wants to go.
The things he builds are unreliable, and hard to understand. One must really be broken down and fractured indeed to come to grips with such things.
So here we are, and I feel I have done a good job so far, what with clambering over walls and jumping around in the dark, acting in a dangerous manner when it is difficult to see. And as we sneak around on this roof, well whoa! This roof it moves, and Holy Crab! it is made of little slippy pieces, all fractured and no good for the clumsy foot, and I skid on my arse, and more bits of the damn roof crack under me. Ow! A real nuisance! Now everyone knows I am here mucking about on their stupid roof – why do they keep him in here, why do they not just leave their prisoner in a cave for when the tide comes in, or kill them quick and let the spirit go fly where it wants and stop bothering the living at all? Now everyone else is in a fluster, Cleombrotus ripping open doors on windows – who is such an imbecile to put a door on a window? - and Darkos firing off his bow all over the place, and Grant swearing under his breath. I am really fed up with this stupid roof, so I jump off it where it is safer on the ground. You know what, I so pissed off now with these guards hollering and whinging that I call on Good Brother Swamp Snake to give it to them real good, and he fly right out of my belly and sink his bright fangs into that stupid soldier up there and give him right what-for, and serve him right for building such a stupid thing for me to fall around all over in the first place! In fact, not even is that enough, I call on Waterspout to leap into the well and form himself physical, which of course he is delighted to do, being joined with his element and all that!
Up he come whoa! And the sound of him sloshing and slopping all over the place makes me feel good again, and I watch Brother Swamp Snake push right down the throat of that dumb guard, he don’t know what hit him. That is right! Gramper Soulmarsh is here, keep your noise down! The others all disappearing inside that damn window, except Darkos, he just loves to sit and fire that bow of his at anything that moves. Well, it is time to open their door, and in we go, Waterspout and me, he give me a right good soaking and make me feel even better still. I bar their door and make them think again about how they design their stupid building when they cannot even get back in it. Hah!
I look at the other door – what do they need so many doors for? Don’t need to keep the wind out in here! – and me and Waterspout we march straight through it. Frighten the hell out of Cleombrotus, and give him a good soaking too, only he does not look so pleased with this as I thought. He is fiddling with even more damn doors, and I am fed up with this and glaze over to the Spirit World with Misty Eyes. I get a good look around, and stop Cleombrotus just before he try to stove in a door with many sleepy souls behind it! Looking down, there is a real shock – three big, red, powerful Glowings, one of them burning hard, and some real feeble little human lamps trying to light their way in the Dark Void. That One of Strong Power, it make me sick to look at it, there is something real wrong with it, it is perverse! I tell Cleombrotus, and he say ‘Priest’, and talk to the other two through the power of the spirit’s Quiet Far Calling. Down they come, and get a good soaking too! Waterspout, he just doing his thing, but no one seem pleased about it but me. I try to detract away from the gnarly looks, playing with the door lock with my old metal pin, but it is useless for anything, really, and they just look even more annoyed. Cleombrotus decide to deal with the door the Warrior Way, and then we are in.
Listen there is another thing – ever since I Fall In with this Crowd I am given nothing but grief and a bad time, always I seem to be getting diseased or nearly dead or have some berserk soul want take over my body and squash me right out. Things are a lot clearer back in the Salt Marsh, and when the Elder tell me not to Fall In with the Wrong Crowd I think he mean those boys they eat too many of the Turtles Eggs and get smashed on the Queer Stuff, or tie stones on the gull’s legs and peeping at the Naiads when they at their own pleasure. That is as nothing compared to these guys, they really know how to put a man through it, such scrapes they are always getting me into.
Down the stairs we go, with jostling and pushing and Waterspout flying round splattering all over the place. I look through the wall to the strong red glow, I hold my breath and leap through the door, shouting at Waterspout to fill that spirit’s body with his wet self and drown him good! Suddenly I am struck dumb, and for a second I don’t know if it is the sight of the body of that Sick Thing or some evil spirit choked my tongue. He is all wrong, truly he must have broken himself before some sick God to get It’s Favour. Oh boy! He look like he been tied on a rock and pelted with lava both wet and dry, and his arms are chained to each other and he is booming and lashing about with a big whip, wearing bloody robes, and through the Misty Eyes he make you want to vomit! I try to shout out but nothing coming, and then Waterspout hurl himself on that Sick Thing and start to drown him.
So I am stumbling about, cannot make a word from my throat, no Magic coming now at all, and next thing I know a great red mass come over me and petrify me and start to try fill up my body and hammer on my spirit like a terrible pulsing pressure, like being stuck down under a rock too deep in the sea! I draw right inwards and I am fighting with this horrible Lune real hard for what seem like forever – it feel like kissing an old woman, sexy and sick at the same time, like in the Uleria Temple when she make me do all those Forbidden Things, putting my Turtle-Maker in the Taboo Places where only food supposed to go in or out, feeling all wrong but egging me on all the same – oh, no no no! it is a mad thing, make you feel you not know if you coming or going or flying or swimming or what – I don’t know whether to laugh or soil myself. It try to make me feel like I want to go some place the spirit don’t belong, oh, Great Grandfather help me! Ai! My head, it is going to burst!
Next thing Cleombrotus yelling and yelling at me to use the Far Travelling, my hand already on the stone, how come I lying on the dirty ground? We surrounded by people all chained and knackered up real good, and men in metal yelling through bars throwing The Destruction everywhere and a right old mess. I don’t know what the hell happening but Cleombrotus look fit to bust my gut if I don’t call the God on me, and this Mighty Spirit of Change it suck me up and then I am out under the black and starlit sky, sprawling about with Grant all the nudey on top of me and Darkos swearing great oaths. Poor Waterspout, he is dead and gone and will never soak me in his sweet water again!
Then everyone is laughing and pulling faces and slapping each others back, and that sting good too if you got no shell on. Well, we get the guy out alright, hope he don’t keep with that carry-on that get him in there in the first place. He want Gramper come get him again? He got another thing coming, I am telling you. This Crowd get me in such straits. It is nothing like swimming around in the clear warm waters over on Mirrorsea, sun on your back and Friend Dolphin leaping all about and singing, you hear me. What the hell I doing all this for? This Swimabout Path it is a whole lot harder than I ever imagine, and it hurt real bad!
I take a long time to get over this one, believe you me.