“Perhaps,” said the Good Wizard. “I was a princess myself once.”
“You were?” asked Anya. “How—”
“Shhhh,” said the Good Wizard. “That’s another story. You have to stand up and wave now.”
Anya stood up, turned, and waved. Everyone cheered and clapped and whistled and barked and made celebratory noises. Two magpies flew in and added their song from the rafters, and the castle cats, though they had expressed their independence by not coming down from the attics, set up a great cheerful yowling. Outside in the moat, the frogs began to croak in unison, keen not to be left out. Some of the knights inside croaked too, forgetting themselves.
Somehow, despite all this racket, the young Gerald the Herald could be heard:
“Frogkisser Crowned Queen of Trallonia! Rikard the Evil Sorcerer Defeated and Banished! Only Stone Found! All-Encompassing Bill of Rights and Wrongs Reestablished! What Could Be Next for the Frogkisser?”