Chapter 55: Telling Julien the News
A little while later, Isobel left the penguins' and went back to the lemur habitat.
Julien greeted her the moment she arrived. "You have been gone all day! What happened?"
Isobel looked around. "I have much to tell you. Let's go for a walk."
They began their walk, and Julien impatiently hummed while Isobel remained silent. Julien loved their walks, but he hated that Isobel was taking forever to tell him what happened. She obviously had a lot to say.
He bumped her a bit with his shoulder. "So?"
Isobel looked up at him and took a deep breath. "I saw my father today. I told him of my dream, and he told me more of my past."
Julien nodded. "Nice. What did he say?"
Isobel looked away for a moment. "Remember when you told me that it did not matter to you that I'm not royal?"
"Obviously." Julien said. He then realized that sounded snobby. "I mean, yeah."
Isobel swallowed. "Well, what if I was?"
Julien stopped her. "Wait, what? So you are the royalty, like me?"
Isobel finally nodded. "I am the Princess of Talamaru."
"This is amazing news!" Julien threw his arms up. "We are both royal and what could be better, yes?"
Isobel smiled, relieved. Of course Julien would be happy to know that she was royalty. It was one of his favorite subjects, so to speak.
"I was not sure what to think." Isobel admitted. "I have thought I was someone else my whole life. But… this explains a lot."
"You see, I was knowing it this whole time." Julien bragged. "There were so many signs."
Isobel raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh?"
"Yes." Julien nodded. "When we were at the palace, I did not see any of the sparkly gems like the ones you are wearing, so they must not be from the king. But whoever gave them to you has some very good taste, let me tell you."
Isobel reached up to feel her earrings. "You noticed that?"
Now Julien looked a little hurt. "I know, everyone is thinking that I am just a stupidy king with no eggs inside of my head. But I do notice things. Sometimes."
Isobel looked at him sympathetically as she moved her hand from her earrings. "I've known that about you."
Julien perked up a bit at this.
"And my mother gave me these earrings." Isobel explained. "I remember having my ears pierced."
"Did it hurt?" Julien asked as they continued on their walk.
Isobel laughed. "It's a needle going through my ear! Of course it hurt. But it was worth it."
"I'd say so." Julien admired her earrings. "So, we must have a party tonight."
"What for?" Isobel asked.
"For celebrating that you are a princess!" Julien explained. "I mean, you are deserving of all of de fun parties anyway, but this is some crazy news and we must have de wild dancing for it."
Isobel smiled, her eyes glittering in the setting sun. "I'd like that."
Julien was glad. "Do you want de smelly penguins to be there?"
"They do not smell." Isobel defended them. "I think they are busy making plans for the helicopter though. Besides, the four of us haven't had a party by ourselves yet."
"This is very true." Julien pressed his fingers together in front of him. "The eggs that are inside of my head after all are hatching! I know what we will do for our party."
Isobel laughed quietly. His sayings were completely ridiculous, but she found them amusing.
:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:
Skipper's eyes began to hurt from the strain of squinting at the blueprints and assisting Kowalski with taking off old parts from the helicopter. They were not planning on fixing anything today. But they were excited and figured it wouldn't hurt to start removing pieces.
"Look at these wires, Skipper." Kowalski was under the belly of the Charley.
Skipper slid under to join him. "Which ones?"
Kowalski pointed with his flipper to the bundle of wires that were crisscrossed in the helicopter's belly. Kowalski laid the covering down next to him.
Skipper nodded. "What do they connect to?"
"The propellers." Kowalski sighed. "The propellers need to be replaced and I think a rat might've started making a meal out of that little yellow wire in-"
Snip. Skipper pulled out a pair of scissors and completely severed the entire bundle of wires.
Kowalski shrieked. "Why would you do that?!"
Skipper looked proud. "We're starting from scratch! You said they needed to be replaced anyway."
Kowalski face-flippered. "I said, the propellers. Not the wires. Only the yellow one needed to be replaced. Because all I have is a spare yellow wire. I have absolutely none of these other wires."
"Hoover Dam!" Skipper tossed aside the scissors. "Well, sorry, 'Walski. Where can we get new ones?"
Kowalski sighed. "Well, we'd have to sneak into Alice's office again so I can order them online. Somehow. I guess we'll need her credit card too…"
"We'll get it done." Skipper said. "Looks like we have a new mission
