Song of the Spring Moon Waning Read Free Page A

small space and crouching down. "You should be by the river, not here on this busy street."
    "I am waiting for you," the tortoise said. "You are honorable student Wen Yu, are you not?"
    Wen Yu stared down at the tortoise, his mouth open for a long few moments as his brain refused to work. Too many hours memorizing the words of Confucius, Wen Yu thought distantly, had turned his brain to mush.
    "Are you quite all right, honorable student?" the tortoise asked. Its voice was deep and melodic, with a certain measured quality that reminded Wen Yu of the eldest of his tutors.
    Wen Yu began to shake all over. "No, I don't think I am."
    "I would suggest you go back to your room and drink some medicinal herbal tea," the tortoise told him. "You will need your strength. Have you ever heard of the Moon Poems, honorable student?"
    Wen Yu's mind collected itself enough to realize the name was not familiar to him then it shut down again in protest. He shook his head.
    The tortoise slowly moved its head from side to side, regarding Wen Yu. "You will, soon enough. You have been chosen to translate them, honorable student."
    Coming from a person and not a tortoise, Wen Yu would have been elated. Literature was his specialty, after all. Since the news was in fact coming from a talking tortoise, he just stared at the creature, wondering when he was going to wake up and realize he'd rolled into the wall again.
    "I must go now." The tortoise blinked at him. "You would do well to drink some medicinal tea, I think, Wen Yu."
    With that, it turned and made its way back down the alley while Wen Yu watched, open-mouthed.
    When he was young, he and Shi Fei had often played together near a small pond on Shi Fei's father's property. There had been turtles in the water, and they had often watched them swim and sun themselves on stones. None of them had ever spoken to him; they'd been normal turtles and had only done normal turtle things. Then again, Wen Yu had almost no experience with tortoises. He was fairly certain, though, that they didn't talk any more than turtles did. How would Shi Fei react to all this, talking tortoises and the like, Wen Yu had no idea. She'd probably say something practical and arrange for him to see the best doctor money could buy.
    Still, perhaps it was because of the tortoise that Wen Yu dreamed of the pond that night.
    The sky was blue above his head, clear and bright with only a few wisps of clouds. Far off, the row of trees rustled in the breeze. The branches of the willow by the pond gently swayed as the wind picked up, brushing along the surface of the water and causing it to ripple. A bird sang from the tree, its voice clear and sweet. Wen Yu found himself walking towards the pond. He wasn't dressed in his trousers and tunic any longer, but the long, flowing robes of a scholar bureaucrat. He ran his fingers over the fine silk, wondering if this was some sort of a sign. Perhaps his future was bright after all.
    As he approached the pond, he caught sight of a tortoise sunning itself on a rock beside the water. Wen Yu's boots crunched on the stones surrounding the pond, and the tortoise turned towards him. With a start, Wen Yu realized it was the same tortoise as from early that day in the alley.
    "Honorable student Wen Yu," the tortoise greeted him, its deep tone unmistakable. "Or should I say honorable scholar Wen Yu?" He sounded both pleased and slightly amused. "I hope you are feeling better, for it is almost time for you to do that which you were chosen for."
    "He's coming." A sweet, high voice rang out, and Wen Yu looked up to see a dark form flutter from the branches of the willow. It was a thrush, and it landed on the gravel quite close the tortoise. "He'll be here soon, although he's taking his own sweet time about it." The thrush ruffled its feathers, cocked its head at Wen Yu, before turning to look at the tortoise. "So you found another one."
    "He is a scholar." The tortoise blinked slowly. "He will be able to