An icy afternoon, some years ago. The air is filled with noise, for it is mating season once again. Everyone is singing their heartsong, trying to find a mate, and this time, even Noah is joining in. This is the first - and last - time he will ever attempt to find a mate. The reason for this decision is now only a few feet away from them.
Her name was Katherine, and she was the most beautiful penguin he had ever seen. Her incredible voice and sleek black feathers had grabbed Noah's attention from the day he first laid eyes on her. He'd asked his father if it was a good idea, and Jeremiah, now an Elder, had said nothing. But, from Noah's experience, that wasn't normally an objection, and now he was making an effort, singing loudly and hoping Katherine would notice him.
After a while, she looked in his direction.
"Was that you, Noah?" she asked, walking towards him. Her male admirers followed suite, looking at him with fierce eyes.
Noah nodded. "Do you like it, Katherine?"
"Well," she began. "It was nice-" but then they were interrupted by another penguin; Aaron, Noah's fellow pupil and chief tormentor.
"What'cha doin', Daddy's Boy?" he asked, shoving Noah out of the way - he was half Noah's size, but a good deal heavier. "Are you messin' with my girl?"
"She's not your girl." Noah replied, standing his ground. "She's not decided yet."
"Well, we'll see after she hears this," and Aaron begin to sing, his loud, powerful voice belting out the words. Noah didn't like it. Worst of all, Katherine did.
"I must say, Aaron," she declared. "You do have the best voice."
Noah stepped forward. "I never finished singing, Katherine." he objected. "At least wait-"
But she raised her flipper, stopping him in his tracks.
"Look, Noah, it's not that I don't like you, it's just - well, alright, I don't like you. You have no sense of humour. You'd never make a good father - you'd be just like your own."
"And what is wrong with that?"
"Look at yourself. Look how he's brought you up. You've never made any friends, no wonder you can't seem to find a mate properly! Face it, you're a total killjoy; why don't you go hang around with your father and the other Elders, since you're always acting like one?"
"Fine!" Noah declared angrily. "I will!" Then, as an afterthought, he added; "At least I have a life ahead of me! You'll just breed and die!"
He turned away, and for a moment, he thought they'd actually listened to him. Then he heard the sound of laughter. He turned around, expecting it to come from Aaron, but it was Katherine.
Angrily, he stormed away, back to the peaks at the edge of Emperor Land. As he passed the Elders' peak, he saw Jeremiah looking down on him. But there was no pity in his father's eyes; in fact, he almost seemed to be saying "I told you so." But he wasn't concentrating on that; he was remembering something Katherine had said as she laughed;
"What a complete fool!"
Noah woke up at this point, but the dream - or memory - was still fresh in his mind. All the bitterness that had been on him that day came flooding back, and he frowned at the ice in front of him.
"You were the fool, Katherine." he snarled, as though she could hear. "Where are you and your precious friend now? Dead, that's where, and I'm still alive. I was right, wasn't I, Katherine?"
But he was interrupted when a young penguin came waddling up the side of the cliff.
"He's returned!" the penguin was crying. "He has returned!"
"Calm down, child!" Eggbert replied. "Who has returned?"
"Mumble Happy Feet!" the penguin answered, trying to catch his breath. "Mumble Happy Feet has returned!"
There were gasps of outrage from the Elders. From where he stood, Noah could hear snippets of conversation;
"He's returned!"
"I can't believe it!"
"The nerve!"
"You mean he isn't dead?"
"Noah!" Eggbert called to him. "Have you heard this?"
"I have now," Noah replied, waddling towards his friend. Then he turned to the young penguin.
"You say Mumble has returned?"
The penguin nodded eagerly.
"Well," Noah declared to the others. "We're going to have to sort this out, aren't we?"
Then, with him leading the way, they made their way down the peak.
Noah spotted Mumble instantly. He was standing in front of the other penguins, who had gathered around him in a half-circle, like Romans in an ampitheatre. Noah had never heard of the Romans, but he did recognise what was going on; Mumble was telling them something, and they were listening to him.
"So?" Noah bellowed. "You dared to come back?"
The penguins looked at him, hopefully remembering who was in charge here. Then a young penguin stepped forward.
"He says he's found aliens," the young penguin declared. "And they're taking our fish. He says that they're coming, and we all have to do this." he did a strange attempt at a tap dance.
Aliens? Goodness, being exiled would have knocked some sense into most penguins, but obviously Mumble was different in that way, too.
"THERE BE NO SUCH THING AS ALIENS!" Noah retorted, but then Mumble turned around to reveal some kind of device on his back. Noah had no idea where it came from, but he was sure of one thing; it was not made by any penguin.
"Is that - from them?" a female penguin - Gloria, Noah remembered, Maurice's daughter - asked.
"Yeah!" Mumble replied. "But don't worry - I think it's a way to find me."
To FIND him?
"You lead them here?" Noah thundered angrily. "You turned them on your own kind?"
Gloria looked up at him skeptically - a look Noah didn't like at all. "Wait a minute. You said there was no such thing as aliens."
That's right, the voice of rebellion piped up. You did. He was making a fool of himself, just like he had years ago. Only this wasn't just one penguin at stake; this was the whole colony. If he was made to look stupid now, he'd lose their respect, and that was all he had at the end of the day.
"Well - there's not!" he replied. "But if there were, only a traiterous fool would bring them here!"
"But they have to come!" Mumble spoke up. "They're the ones taking the fish, maybe they can do something about it!"
Such blasphemy! Only one thing can save us, and he should know it!
"Only the Great Guin has the power to give and take away!"
"But the Great Guin didn't put things out of whack! The aliens did!"
This talk was too much for the elders. They tutted angrily, glaring furiously down at Mumble. If looks could kill, he wouldn't have lasted a minute. Knowing this was his chance to win the debate, Noah drew himself to his full height and spoke loudly.
"A traitor has come to mock our suffering!" he declared. "We are starving, and he wants us to hippity - hop!"
The Elder continued to speak, reminding himself of his father as he reminded them of how well their old ways had worked in the past. A few penguins seemed convinced, but Mumble and Gloria weren't. They stood where they were, looking defiantly up at him, and suddenly, in Noah's eyes, they weren't Mumble and Gloria anymore; they were Aaron and Katherine, who'd humiliated him in the past, and it was his turn to humiliate them.
"So do we hold true to our ways?" he finished, addressing the whole colony. "Or do we listen to the frentic fantasys of a dancing fool?"
There was silence - no, wait, not quite. A loud beeping noise was coming from the device on Mumble's back, and all the penguins were turning to look.
"Hey," said one. "How does that feet thing go again?"
"Yeah, show us, Mumble."
"Oh, it's easy." Mumble replied, starting to dance. On the clifftop, Noah stared down at him. They still weren't listening? What about his authority? What about tradition? He wasn't taking it.
"No!" he objected. "No, you must resist!"
But no one listened to him. Every one of the penguins below them was dancing, even the chicks, and nothing the Elders could say would stop them. So they chanted, hoping to drown out the noise of the dancing. They would prevail, Noah was sure. The traditional ways had lasted this long, surely they weren't going to fall at the hands of some young outcast and his freakish alien stories?
"Yes, my brethren!" he cried, raising his wings like a conductor as the Elders raised their voices. "Make the world tremble! For when all others leave..."
"WE REMAIN!" The older penguins chanted, and Noah felt a sense of pride. He was holding his ground, something his father would surely have been impressed with. Of course, Jeremiah hadn't had such a problem, but still...
The battle between tapping and chanting went on, neither prevailing, until a strong wind blew up from the north. The dancing penguins stopped. A few of the Elders turned around.
Then a huge object flew over the peak, like a giant bird with its wings attached to its head. A large bulky creation unlike anything the penguins had ever seen before, it soared above them and landed on the peak on the other side of Emperor Land.
As the penguins watched, two strange creatures came out of it, both dressed in orange and walking on two legs. Neither, it seemed, had wings.
Were these aliens? Was Mumble right?
Noah stared at it, wondering what he should do. Below him, the penguins started to dance again, but he barely noticed. Mumble was right, and that meant he was wrong; hardly a great quality for a leader to have.
What to do now?
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, he thought annoyedly as he began to dance. After all, there's nothing wrong with knowing when to admit defeat.
