Chapter 5

The white mouse uncrossed her legs and dropped her hands into her lap as she leaned forward to look at Oswald closer. " ," the Princess said, her face stern.

"She asks why did you give her gift to an older mouse and a duck," the bird translated.

"I trusted them with it," Oswald offered. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep it on." He looked at the bird and asked, "You told her what I told you about why I couldn't, right?"

The bird gave him a nod of his beak.

The Princess sang out a tone, signaling locals to walk in that weren't wearing masks. A smile pulled on her lips as she rose to her feet and let out a few notes to her people.

"She wants to welcome you properly, with a feast," the bird offered.

"What about my friends?" Oswald asked, throwing his thumb over his shoulder in an attempt to point towards Churchmouse and Maronette.

"The feast will be at night fall, plenty of time for them to join us as well as those still on the boat if they want to," the bird offered. The Princess gave him an order, interrupting him from saying anything more to Oswald. The bird gave Oswald a nod before flying over the locals and out the doorway, the dogs following close behind.

The Princess stepped down from the grass carpeted pedestal and over to Oswald. With a pleasant smile on her face, she stopped just in front of him and asked, "How stupid do you think I am?"

Oswald lost his grip on his hand behind himself and took a step back, surprise on his face. "You can speak English!"

"Of course I can, I gave the bird the ability to speak after Mickey and that pirate landed on my island all those years ago," the Princess informed as her smile vanished. She waved a hand at him, forcing the rubber bands to snap and his ears to reveal his true silhouette.

Oswald felt a force against his nose, getting him to grab at his face as it was pulled back to his natural shape. Dropping his hand, he dropped the fake voice and asked, "How'd you figure it out?"

"I read minds," the Princess informed, crossing her arms over her chest. "You call yourself Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and, even though your accessible memories have holes, you know your brother is Mickey Mouse."

"So what are you gonna do?" Oswald asked, leaning towards her as he put his hands on his hips.

"Well, if you want to take the place of your brother so badly, you'll have it." The Princess flicked a hand at Oswald only for the rabbit to let out a surprised scream as all over his body he felt pens and needles.

He looked down at himself only to gasp at the muzzle below his eyes. He poked at the nose in surprise, unsure how to believe what he saw.

"Seeing is believing, isn't that how the phrase goes?" the Princess offered as she materialized a type of mirror floating before Oswald.

Oswald took a step closer to the mirror to see the mouse reflected back at him. Turning his head, he found he could control how his ears faced back at him, surprising himself at how easy the trick was to pull off. He twisted himself so he could see more of himself only to realize he felt his tail cramped inside his pants. He reached behind himself only to find a long mouse tail in his fluffy tail's spot, forcing it through the hole in his boxers to at least give it some comfort. "What did you do to me?!" Oswald put a hand to his mouth as nothing but air came out. He looked at the Princess only to find her hiding her laugh behind her hand.

"I told you I wanted Mickey," the Princess said, dropping her hand. "I'll spare your friends' lives, at the cost of yours. The feast will be your last meal and you'll be unable to tell them a thing."

"If you're so powerful you can do all of this, why not just bring the real Mickey here yourself?" Oswald asked, his voice gone but knowing she could hear his question.

"Teleporting things is delicate work," the Princess admitted with a shrug. "Your home is too far away for me to see clearly." She let out a sigh. "You'll have to do as an imitation. I'll never get the real Mickey back here."

"He's the imitation," Oswald tried to say as he looked away from the reflection, crossing his arms. "Anyway, you telling the scouts you wanted him dead and stuffed wasn't smart."

"Yeah, I know," the Princess said with a sigh. "I was overly excited when they came close to the island."

"Are you even sure you want him stuffed?" Oswald asked. "Don't you enjoy someone to talk to? Someone that isn't one of your subjects?"

"That's why I've got the bird."

"Come on." Oswald took hold of her wrist and took her out of the pagoda. He hoped she wouldn't feel the dread that his plan was building up inside him. An image of Ortensia flashed in his mind before he tried to quickly shove it away.

"Where are we going?" the Princess asked, keeping pace with the rabbit.

"To do something you'd never be able to do with that bird," Oswald said, throwing her a forced smile. Looking back to where he was going he retraced his path back to the lagoon. He pushed back a large leaf and stopped on the shore.

"I still don't understand," the Princess said as Oswald let go of her wrist. "I've seen this plenty of times."

Oswald grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled it over his head, still expecting his long ears to be where they belonged. Putting the white shirt over a bush, he turned to look at the Princess only to give a laugh at her blushing cheeks and stare. "If you can read my mind, you should've seen this coming," Oswald said, testing the limits of her powers. He reached down to untie his now oversized shoes as he added, "Anyway, it can't be the first time for you to see someone undress."

"But I don't understand, we don't swim," the Princess admitted. "And I don't know what 'skinny dipping' is."

"You'll see, it's fun," Oswald offered, kicking the shoes off before looking down at himself to untie the pants. He froze a moment as he realized how much skinnier Mickey was compared to himself. He pulled the pants off, leaving himself in his blue boxers, and waded into the water. As the water got to his knees he turned to look at the girl. "Come on, the water's great," he said, waving her over.

The Princess looked him over before reaching down to untie her sarong.

Out of politeness, and fear for what his wife might think, Oswald turned back to the lagoon and continued forward until the water came up to his shoulders. He heard the Princess splash through the water to come up behind him and turned around when it sounded like she was close.

"What are we supposed to do?" the Princess asked.

"Just swim around, have fun," Oswald tried to explain as he swam out into deeper water. "You live on an island, surely you have water sports."

"Not really," the Princess offered, slowly swimming closer to him. "Everyone is taught to swim young, of course, but it's only a safety measure. We only get wet when we're bathing."

"Well think of it like a group bath, but more fun and no soap," Oswald tried, turning over so he floated on his back.

"And you do this all the time?" the Prince asked, watching Oswald lazily float across the water.

"Normally in the summer," Oswald offered, remembering the time before the thinner disaster when there was water clean enough to swim in. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before rolling over to reorient himself. He ran a hand over his eyes, the muzzle getting in his way, before opening his eyes. He looked at the white mouse and noticed her hands just visible under the water as she kept herself afloat. Giving her a smile, he swung an arm towards her to give her a splash.

"Hey! What was that about!?" she exclaimed, holding her arms up in defense.

"Well than, get me back," Oswald taunted, sticking his tongue out at the girl. He closed his eyes as she swung her arm, prepared for a face full of water only to receive a small splash. He looked at her and laughed, sending her another splash.

The Princess let out a laugh as she used both hands to send a wave back at the rabbit.

The sun fell below the trees as Oswald swam back to shore behind the Princess. He watched her step out, revealing she was only in her loin cloth. Blushing, Oswald quickly looked beyond her to where their clothes still hung on the brush. "So, have I changed your mind about killing me for my pelt?" Oswald asked, diverting his eyes as he got to land. He skimmed the bushed for a large leaf and plucked it off to help dry himself off.

"Hum, I don't know," the Princess said, going straight for her clothes. "It would be easier if you didn't need food."

"If you're already complaining about how much I eat, than I'm definitely stuffing myself at dinner!" Oswald said through a silent laugh. Throwing a look over his shoulder to see she had put her top back on as he asked, "Why don't you let me speak?"

"I don't want you to plan with your friends," the Princess stated bluntly. "You may have come here planning to trick me out of my ultimatum, but in the end, I'll still get what I want."

Oswald pressed his lips tightly together, tossing the used leaf back to the bush he had snapped it from. At least I can still talk to you, Oswald thought as he grabbed for his pants.

"Are you always so desperate for someone to talk to?" the Princess asked.

Oswald puled on the pants, glancing up at her to see her now fully dressed as he reached behind himself to push the long tail down a pants leg. "I mean, it's nice to talk," Oswald tried to explain. Struggling with the tail, he looked over his shoulder as if that would help.

The Princess let out a note with a sigh as she stepped over to the rabbit. "Get your hands out," she ordered. Taking hold of the waist band, she pinched the fabric between her fingers at the seat of his pants and, with a spark, created a small hole. "There, put your tail through that."

Oswald reached back and fed the tail through the hole, wondering how mice dealt with such long tails.

"We're born with them," the Princess pointed out. "Though it'd be the same for me to ask how you deal without having a tail at all."

"Oh, I have one, it's just smaller," Oswald pointed out, tightening the stings of his pants before reaching for the shirt.

"You have one?" the Princess echoed.

Oswald pulled on the white shirt before reaching for the shoes to carry as they started following the path back to the village. "Yeah, it should still be on the boat," he offered off handedly, not wanting to explain to her about cartoon physics if she didn't know what it was.

"Well than, explain it to me," the Princess demanded.

Oswald rolled his eyes, knowing he had gotten himself into a long explanation.