Once upon a time, there was a beautiful faraway kingdom known as Precinctia, ruled by King Lieutenant Jacob Marshall, Queen Prosecutor Lana Skye, and their daughter, Princess Detective Ema. Princess Ema was of age to wed, and the king and queen had set to work finding a suitor for their daughter. The process was hampered, however, by Princess Ema's haughtiness – she spurned each and every man that her parents so much as suggested to her, usually by way of throwing a pieces of a local dish known as a Snackoo at their foreheads or completely ignoring them while (very loudly) eating them. If the sound of the Snackoos being munched so ferociously didn't scare the suitors off, then the impact of the little morsels against their foreheads did.

Princess Ema also happened to own a set of forensic tools made especially for her, and was very fond of testing them out at every opportunity she was given (needless to say, it made royal banquets quite awkward for the family).

One day, the Kitaki family, rulers of a small country looking for assistance from Precinctia, came to the castle with the intent of betrothing Prince Wocky to Princess Ema. Prince Wocky had a reputation for flashy behavior, which Princess Ema was none too enthused about, but she resolved to wait until dinner that night, when she and the prince would have to get to know each other, to properly voice her displeasure.

That dinner never happened.

That night, Dr. Meraktis, the royal physician accompanying the Kitaki family, was murdered near a small pond in the castle garden, stabbed through the heart with a sword. He was found about an hour after his death, according to the report filed by the team of royal guards who secured the scene. Once the investigation had begun, Princess Ema was all too eager to use her forensics kit to assist the royal guard.

When she arrived on the scene, Ema noticed a peculiar object lying on the ground, glinting in the dimming evening light. Her curiosity now piqued, the princess set down her kit on one of several rocks surrounding the pond and put on a pair of white gloves to investigate. Just a few feet away from Dr. Meraktis' body, there lay a heart-shaped pendant made of aquamarine with two wings made out of mother-of-pearl. The golden chain had been broken, as evidenced by the securely closed clasp. “I wonder...” Ema muttered, before her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a splash. Oh no! She thought, turning towards the pond. Apparently, the rock she had chosen to rest her kit on wasn't quite stable, and had toppled, along with her kit, into the pond. “No!” Ema cried, rushing to the edge of the pond – but alas, the kit was lost. “Oh, what am I going to do? I won't be able to get anything off of this!” With no way to gather any forensic evidence at the scene, Ema began to cry tears of frustration and disappointment.

“Tears hardly suit such a maiden as yourself, Fraulein,” a soothing light baritone voice spoke, trying to console her. Ema stopped crying, looking around with her stinging eyes to find who was speaking to her. She was understandably perplexed when she saw nobody else besides the corpse of Dr. Meraktis (which had yet to be replaced by a dummy or a chalk outline).

“Wh-...who's there?” The princess stuttered nervously, now spooked.

“At your feet, Fraulein.” Ema looked down to find...a frog?

“AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!” Princess Ema screamed, stumbling backwards. “You...you can talk?”

“Indeed, Fraulein.” The frog looked up to her with a ribbit to punctuate his statement. Ema raised an eyebrow, skeptical of the talking amphibian. “What troubles you so?”

Ema began to tear up again. “My...my forensics kit fell into the pond! I don't know what I'll do without it...”

“Please don't cry anymore. I can retrieve your kit, but what will you give me in return?”

Without thinking, Princess Ema suddenly blurted out, “You can have whatever you want! Jewels, my crown...anything! Please, help me get my kit back!”

The frog shook his head. “Fraulein, I care not for your riches. All I wish is to be your companion; to stay by your side and sleep on your pillow at night.”

Blinded by desperation, Ema agreed without so much as a second thought to what the frog said. Besides, frogs aren't great friends anyway... “Whatever – I don't care! Just help me get my kit back, please!”

“As you wish.” The frog turned away and dove into the pond as Ema looked on, biting into her lip with enough enough force to slice through a handful of Snackoos at once. A few moments later, the frog resurfaced with Ema's forensics kit. “Here you are, Fraulein.”

“Yes!” Without another word, Ema snatched up her forensics kit, the pendant still held gingerly in her hand, and scurried out of the garden, her mind now set squarely on both finding out what this jewelry might have been hiding from her and forgetting about meeting a talking frog as soon as possible.

The frog bounded after her for some distance, crying “Wait, Fraulein! Take me with you!”, but to no avail. “Fraulein!” No matter how loudly he croaked, the princess wouldn’t listen. “Princess!”

Once the sun had set, Princess Ema had freshened up in preparation for a modest supper with her parents in lieu of the formal dinner with the Kitaki family. The servant that usually came to tell her that her parents were ready for her had not come yet, which allowed Ema enough time to examine this odd piece of evidence. She had hidden the pendant away in her kit while traveling from the garden back into the castle so as not to have it taken away from her by the royal guard. After all, they didn’t know how to handle evidence like she did. From what she could tell, the stone was genuine, and of quite high quality, too – Ema could see through it to her desk as though it was a strange aquamarine lens.

This was dropped at a castle, after all…it wouldn’t be uncommon for someone with the status to be here to own something like this. Ema mused before putting on a pair of rose-tinted glasses and taking out a small bottle of fingerprint powder with a white puffed brush to match. She rested the glasses on top of her head like a headband, separating her bangs from the rest of hair in preparation for the procedures she wanted to use to examine the evidence. With the brush, Ema carefully applied a layer of fingerprinting powder all over the pendant. With a gentle breath out to blow away the excess powder, Ema revealed a single fingerprint on one side of the aquamarine. Ever so carefully, Ema applied an adhesive and lifted the print from the stone. Before she could send for the fingerprint to be analyzed, Ema was interrupted by a knocking on her door. “Yes?”

“It’s time for supper, Your Highness.” Ema quietly shut the necklace away in her own lacquered jewelry box and carefully packed up her forensics kit before leaving her room for the royal dining hall to have dinner with her parents. As she walked through the castle’s hallways, moving towards her destination, Ema couldn’t help but to feel as though someone had their eyes on her.

Dinner was an awfully quiet occasion that night. The royals ate in silence until Princess Ema found it necessary to speak on her findings. “I found something interesting at the crime scene,” The pause was filled with the clinking sound of utensils on dishes. “a lovely aquamarine necklace with some fingerprints on it.”

A silence. Had she done something wrong by bringing up this crucial and possibly decisive piece of evidence? Had the royal guard somehow overlooked the abandoned jewelry?

Queen Lana looked at her daughter with a keen interest in this new information. “Go on.”

Relieved that she hadn't committed some grand faux pas, Ema continued. “I found a fingerprint on the stone, and the chain was broken. I haven’t tested it for blood yet, but…I think there was a fight at the scene before Dr. Meraktis was killed. And- ” Ema was suddenly cut off by a loud knocking on the dining hall doors.

“Fraulein, I know you’re here! Please, open this door!” That barely baritone voice, that... accent…there was only one possible source. Ema bit down on her lower lip and let her eyes glare daggers as the door. Queen Lana was apt to notice that.

“Ema, who is that?”

Ema simply shrugged. “It’s just a frog.”

Clearly, Lana was not convinced that her daughter had been talking to a frog. No amount of euphemisms is going to change anything, Ema… “Frogs don’t usually follow princesses into their castles, Ema.”

Ema let out a sigh. She couldn’t possibly lie to the Queen Prosecutor herself. “He-…he helped me with the investigation. Just a little bit, though! He saved my forensics kit from drowning.”

“Fraulein, you promised!” The cry came from the other side of the door, and Queen Lana focused her gaze on the princess once more.

“Promised, Ema?”

“Um, I…”

“What did you promise him?”

“I didn’t- ”

“What did you promise him?”

Ema refused to speak simply because she realized then that she couldn’t remember the nature of the promise due to her kit-in-pond-induced panic. King Jacob, intrigued by this new development, motioned to the guards at the hall doors. “Let the poor creature in.”

The guards nodded an affirmative and opened the door to reveal, to the royals’ surprise, a small green frog, who promptly bounded towards their table.

“Good evening, your highnesses.” The frog greeted the dinner party quite politely, bowing his small body in order to lower his head without the aid of a more sophisticated neck. The king and queen, while very much perplexed concerning the sight of a talking frog, acknowledged his presence with curt nods. The frog jumped onto the table, ensuring that he would be clearly seen and heard by the monarchs that he sought an audience with.

“What is your purpose here, frog?” The king inquired, trying his best not to comically raise his eyebrow as a reaction to the unusual circumstances.

“If memory serves me right, there was a murder here in the garden just this past afternoon, correct? I met the esteemed Princess Ema while she was investigating the scene of the crime. Her Highness’s forensics kit fell into the pond, and I offered to retrieve it for her in exchange for her company.” The frog narrated with quite a bit of feeling, as though he were a bard with a simple tale.

“And then?” The king almost seemed childishly incredulous at this frog's account of the day's events.

“Judging by the Fraulein’s expression, I’m sure that you can conclude that I followed though and retrieved her kit from the water. But by the virtue of me being here…” The frog trailed off, leaving the conclusion to be reached by the monarchs.

The queen’s stern gaze shot towards Ema. “You didn’t…”

Ema felt her left eye twitch. “I…I can explain.”

The king simply shook his head. “There is no need for it. Ema, I would like you to honor the promise you made to…” He hesitated, wondering how to end his statement. “…this poor frog.”

Ema opened her mouth, at first to protest, but then closed it, looking down at the amphibian with a measure of disdain before meeting her father's gaze obediently. “I would only be too happy, Father.” She replied with a forced smile, her voice suddenly pleasant, as opposed to her usual Snackoo-throwing rage.

The frog felt a chill go down his small spine. Achtung, baby.

--

“Fraulein Ema, I hadn't the slightest idea that you were royalty until I asked about where to find you here.”

Silence.

“It must be strange to be surrounded by people who are so afraid of you, ja? I keep hearing things about something or the other called a 'Snackoo'. Is this some sort of rare delicacy?”

Silent still. For a moment, the frog considered abandoning the fruitless endeavor. Nein...it would be foolish to give up here. His glassy gaze was fixed on the princess's chocolate hair and the back of her gown, the very same sight he had been treated to for quite some time. Ach...if only she knew. He might have shaken his head from side to side if he had the physical capacity to do so.

Ema moved, her steps deliberate as she approached a partially folded screen with a dressing gown draped over the top. The frog looked away at a wall to respect the princess's privacy. He leaped down from the table which he had been sitting on, traveling a ways across the chambers to a small round cushion on top of Ema's bed. After several long moments of waiting, Ema emerged in a simple white nightgown, her hair let down from its usual style to flow freely. The frog felt his little heart skip a beat.

“What are you doing on my bed?” Ema's voice was patronizing, harshly so. That lost heartbeat was very quickly made up for.

“Fraulein, I simply thought that I might - ” The frog protested, only to be cut off by the princess.

“Get off.” The frog didn't budge, ostensibly due to the absence of a particular word. Ema took a moment to think through her statement and amend it. “Please get off of my bed.”

Without a word, the frog complied, making himself more comfortable on a cushioned low windowsill beneath a tall window with french doors. He heard the sound of the bed sheets shifting as the princess made herself more comfortable and settled down to sleep.

At long last, the light was snuffed out. “Gute nacht, Fraulein.”

The night replied with stars and silence.

“AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!” Princess Ema screamed, stumbling backwards. “You...you can talk?”

“Indeed, Fraulein.” The frog looked up to her with a ribbit to punctuate his statement. Ema raised an eyebrow, skeptical of the talking amphibian. “What troubles you so?”

Ema began to tear up again. “My...my forensics kit fell into the pond! I don't know what I'll do without it...”

“Please don't cry anymore. I can retrieve your kit, but what will you give me in return?”

Without thinking, Princess Ema suddenly blurted out, “You can have whatever you want! Jewels, my crown...anything! Please, help me get my kit back!”

The frog shook his head. “Fraulein, I care not for your riches. All I wish is to be your companion; to stay by your side and sleep on your pillow at night.”

Blinded by desperation, Ema agreed without so much as a second thought to what the frog said. Besides, frogs aren't great friends anyway... “Whatever – I don't care! Just help me get my kit back, please!”

“As you wish.” The frog turned away and dove into the pond as Ema looked on, biting into her lip with enough enough force to slice through a handful of Snackoos at once. A few moments later, the frog resurfaced with Ema's forensics kit. “Here you are, Fraulein.”

“Yes!” Without another word, Ema snatched up her forensics kit, the pendant still held gingerly in her hand, and scurried out of the garden, her mind now set squarely on both finding out what this jewelry might have been hiding from her and forgetting about meeting a talking frog as soon as possible.

The frog bounded after her for some distance, crying “Wait, Fraulein! Take me with you!”, but to no avail. “Fraulein!” No matter how loudly he croaked, the princess wouldn’t listen. “Princess!”

Once the sun had set, Princess Ema had freshened up in preparation for a modest supper with her parents in lieu of the formal dinner with the Kitaki family. The servant that usually came to tell her that her parents were ready for her had not come yet, which allowed Ema enough time to examine this odd piece of evidence. She had hidden the pendant away in her kit while traveling from the garden back into the castle so as not to have it taken away from her by the royal guard. After all, they didn’t know how to handle evidence like she did. From what she could tell, the stone was genuine, and of quite high quality, too – Ema could see through it to her desk as though it was a strange aquamarine lens.

This was dropped at a castle, after all…it wouldn’t be uncommon for someone with the status to be here to own something like this. Ema mused before putting on a pair of rose-tinted glasses and taking out a small bottle of fingerprint powder with a white puffed brush to match. She rested the glasses on top of her head like a headband, separating her bangs from the rest of hair in preparation for the procedures she wanted to use to examine the evidence. With the brush, Ema carefully applied a layer of fingerprinting powder all over the pendant. With a gentle breath out to blow away the excess powder, Ema revealed a single fingerprint on one side of the aquamarine. Ever so carefully, Ema applied an adhesive and lifted the print from the stone. Before she could send for the fingerprint to be analyzed, Ema was interrupted by a knocking on her door. “Yes?”

“It’s time for supper, Your Highness.” Ema quietly shut the necklace away in her own lacquered jewelry box and carefully packed up her forensics kit before leaving her room for the royal dining hall to have dinner with her parents. As she walked through the castle’s hallways, moving towards her destination, Ema couldn’t help but to feel as though someone had their eyes on her.

Dinner was an awfully quiet occasion that night. The royals ate in silence until Princess Ema found it necessary to speak on her findings. “I found something interesting at the crime scene,” The pause was filled with the clinking sound of utensils on dishes. “a lovely aquamarine necklace with some fingerprints on it.”

A silence. Had she done something wrong by bringing up this crucial and possibly decisive piece of evidence? Had the royal guard somehow overlooked the abandoned jewelry?

Queen Lana looked at her daughter with a keen interest in this new information. “Go on.”

Relieved that she hadn't committed some grand faux pas, Ema continued. “I found a fingerprint on the stone, and the chain was broken. I haven’t tested it for blood yet, but…I think there was a fight at the scene before Dr. Meraktis was killed. And- ” Ema was suddenly cut off by a loud knocking on the dining hall doors.

“Fraulein, I know you’re here! Please, open this door!” That barely baritone voice, that... accent…there was only one possible source. Ema bit down on her lower lip and let her eyes glare daggers as the door. Queen Lana was apt to notice that.

“Ema, who is that?”

Ema simply shrugged. “It’s just a frog.”

Clearly, Lana was not convinced that her daughter had been talking to a frog. No amount of euphemisms is going to change anything, Ema… “Frogs don’t usually follow princesses into their castles, Ema.”

Ema let out a sigh. She couldn’t possibly lie to the Queen Prosecutor herself. “He-…he helped me with the investigation. Just a little bit, though! He saved my forensics kit from drowning.”

“Fraulein, you promised!” The cry came from the other side of the door, and Queen Lana focused her gaze on the princess once more.

“Promised, Ema?”

“Um, I…”

“What did you promise him?”

“I didn’t- ”

“What did you promise him?”

Ema refused to speak simply because she realized then that she couldn’t remember the nature of the promise due to her kit-in-pond-induced panic. King Jacob, intrigued by this new development, motioned to the guards at the hall doors. “Let the poor creature in.”

The guards nodded an affirmative and opened the door to reveal, to the royals’ surprise, a small green frog, who promptly bounded towards their table.

“Good evening, your highnesses.” The frog greeted the dinner party quite politely, bowing his small body in order to lower his head without the aid of a more sophisticated neck. The king and queen, while very much perplexed concerning the sight of a talking frog, acknowledged his presence with curt nods. The frog jumped onto the table, ensuring that he would be clearly seen and heard by the monarchs that he sought an audience with.

“What is your purpose here, frog?” The king inquired, trying his best not to comically raise his eyebrow as a reaction to the unusual circumstances.

“If memory serves me right, there was a murder here in the garden just this past afternoon, correct? I met the esteemed Princess Ema while she was investigating the scene of the crime. Her Highness’s forensics kit fell into the pond, and I offered to retrieve it for her in exchange for her company.” The frog narrated with quite a bit of feeling, as though he were a bard with a simple tale.

“And then?” The king almost seemed childishly incredulous at this frog's account of the day's events.

“Judging by the Fraulein’s expression, I’m sure that you can conclude that I followed though and retrieved her kit from the water. But by the virtue of me being here…” The frog trailed off, leaving the conclusion to be reached by the monarchs.

The queen’s stern gaze shot towards Ema. “You didn’t…”

Ema felt her left eye twitch. “I…I can explain.”

The king simply shook his head. “There is no need for it. Ema, I would like you to honor the promise you made to…” He hesitated, wondering how to end his statement. “…this poor frog.”

Ema opened her mouth, at first to protest, but then closed it, looking down at the amphibian with a measure of disdain before meeting her father's gaze obediently. “I would only be too happy, Father.” She replied with a forced smile, her voice suddenly pleasant, as opposed to her usual Snackoo-throwing rage.

The frog felt a chill go down his small spine. Achtung, baby.

--

“Fraulein Ema, I hadn't the slightest idea that you were royalty until I asked about where to find you here.”

Silence.

“It must be strange to be surrounded by people who are so afraid of you, ja? I keep hearing things about something or the other called a 'Snackoo'. Is this some sort of rare delicacy?”

Silent still. For a moment, the frog considered abandoning the fruitless endeavor. Nein...it would be foolish to give up here. His glassy gaze was fixed on the princess's chocolate hair and the back of her gown, the very same sight he had been treated to for quite some time. Ach...if only she knew. He might have shaken his head from side to side if he had the physical capacity to do so.

Ema moved, her steps deliberate as she approached a partially folded screen with a dressing gown draped over the top. The frog looked away at a wall to respect the princess's privacy. He leaped down from the table which he had been sitting on, traveling a ways across the chambers to a small round cushion on top of Ema's bed. After several long moments of waiting, Ema emerged in a simple white nightgown, her hair let down from its usual style to flow freely. The frog felt his little heart skip a beat.

“What are you doing on my bed?” Ema's voice was patronizing, harshly so. That lost heartbeat was very quickly made up for.

“Fraulein, I simply thought that I might - ” The frog protested, only to be cut off by the princess.

“Get off.” The frog didn't budge, ostensibly due to the absence of a particular word. Ema took a moment to think through her statement and amend it. “Please get off of my bed.”

Without a word, the frog complied, making himself more comfortable on a cushioned low windowsill beneath a tall window with french doors. He heard the sound of the bed sheets shifting as the princess made herself more comfortable and settled down to sleep.

At long last, the light was snuffed out. “Gute nacht, Fraulein.”

The night replied with stars and silence.