Round, coconut-shaped eyes had glazed with tears as he lowered his pencil, surveying the message he had written. The turtle felt not much else other than true despair, guilt, and every other feeling that mixed in with it. The fact that he would not have to give any speeches, nor catch up with long-lost cousins gave no relief - only sadness, for Mr. Tortimer would give one hundred speeches and have ten thousand boring conversations with soul-sucking relatives if it meant he magically arrive on time at the Sea wedding today.
The next wave came, not of water but of emotion, for now the elderly turtle had become washed with helplessness and defeat. Perhaps he could watch from afar? From over the bay? His turtle gaze was blurry by now, full of cracks and blind spots, though maybe if he imagined and dreamed hard enough he could pretend to be there... and imagine Mrs. Tortimer there too.

Eyes drifting closed, submitting to the great loss, the turtle almost missed the arrival of his first hero. It was the whip of wings against the wind that allerted him to one of those majestic pegasi, the one's he'd seen come and go every day for the past few years. He wished to know more about them, speak to them even, though he had always been much too frightened of the mighty beasts.
At first the turtle recoiled into his shell, slamming his flippers and head under the brim of his hat-like shell to protect himself. Sadly, he was not a tortoise, so to completely hide within his shell was not an option. If things did become terrible he might attempt to bury himself.
But no,
The pegasus spoke instead of fought, and he smiled instead of gawked.

Promply another had landed! Only this one was half the size of the first, and apparently had not spotted Mr. Tortimer, chosing only to adress the supreme, gilded pegasus. A prince of some kind?
"Yes," Something WAS terribly, terribly wrong "I have made an awful mistake. Today is my great-great-great-great-great-great.." He paused to take in a heaving breath, "great-great-grandson's Sea Wedding, and I have to be at the oasis now!" He raised his flippers in a gesture of frustration, the sprigs of hair upon his head glinting as he craned his head between both boys. "Can you help me?"