Waddle-doo "All for honor"
People call me a flunky. They call me a thug.
Maybe they're right. But I'm an honorable one.
I've served in the castle for longer than I can remember. I led my men here during the days of the old king. In exchange for food and shelter, we swore ourselves to his service. Traditionally, that means we stay around for as long as the food does and do whatever the king asks us to.
That's the part the others don't understand. "Why do you help the king?" They ask. "He doesn't care two cents for all of you. Yet you protect him from his own monsters and assist him in attacking his own subjects. You die for a king who doesn't even respect you and you throw pies at people who have done no wrong."
That's what some of the younger Cappies say, especially that one Tiff girl who's always hanging around the castle. The older ones don't mind. They understand better. They remember the days of the wars, when survival meant to pledge life to another's service. They know the age-old rules of lord and vassal.
For the young, everything in life is free and obligation is owed to none. Oaths, loyalties, and commitments don't mean a thing to them. So they can't understand how a agreement made with a penguin long dead has anything to do with things today. They don't see why we would agree to continue serving such a ruler for so long. Some suggest we just pack up and leave.
We could, I suppose. But that's not the Waddledee way. We serve our masters. Treachery or disloyalty is not even considered. The master fulfills his part, we fulfill ours. We really can't do otherwise.
I don't know if anyone quite understands this. Maybe Metaknight does. Curio thinks he knows more about us than anyone else. He says our behavior results from a survival instinct. The girl explained it to me once. We can't provide our own food or shelter, so we protect a host organism in exchange for them.
He's right, in a way, but not like he thinks. It's not a question of ability to provide. We could build houses. We could grow crops and cook food. We could do all those things. We already do.
So why do I lead my men into a place like this and submit to a madman who knows less than we?
Because there is one thing the Waddledees can never provide.
Leadership.
I'm the leader of the Waddledees. I take them to far off lands and select lords for us to serve under. It's my duty as it was my fathers before. I'm the closest thing they have to a chief.
But even I can't lead. All I can do is follow orders, or traditions. I direct my people because my father ordered me too. I am responsible for their safety and well-being simply because custom chose me as such. My only decision I ever really made was to walk in the door of that castle and not others.
My only decision. Shows you why we try not to make more of them.
A Waddledee's life is service. The health of that life is his loyalty. Regardless of what the king orders us to do, we obey, for he is our lord. We have delivered deadly packages. We have kidnapped little girls. With our own hands we have built the new throne room and the teleporter, portal to countless evils. All for honor. Without our honor, we have no direction to our lives.
I tried to explain this to the little girl. She didn't understand. "But you helped the king when he threw you out before. He replaced you with a robot and you still helped him."
Ah yes.
Perhaps I have overstepped custom in some ways. But even then, I was following an order, given to me by my first and better master, the old king.
The girl is too young to remember. She wasn't around in the old days, when we first came over the ocean, to be welcomed by the Cappies and their ruler. The old king was like his son, willful, stupid, and somewhat childish, but he was good. He truly understood honor.
That time was good. We kept the peace and served with honor. The king sent us on just, if somewhat misguided errands. The townspeople were our friends and the castle our home.
But all things end. And as the king lay on his deathbed, he uttered the last command that has bound me and my kin to our fate.
"Take care of my son."
So I serve. I commit treasonable acts to maintain honor. I stoop to crime to avoid infamy. I slave for my father, and my people, and the old king.
For whatever might be said of me, I am loyal to my master.
