Page 93 of The Frog Prince

“This,” he said. “Just this.”

He heard slow steps coming closer and then felt a tickle at his side when Alwin sat down. He felt stiff next to Otto, too upright to truly enjoy the day.

“Lie down,” Otto said, waiting for a few moments until he felt Alwin comply. Without opening his eyes, he felt him stretch out at his side, and for the first time in what felt like too long, Otto felt unburdened.

“Not what I had in mind when I asked you what you wanted to do.” Alwin’s voice was soft, the croak in it helping it blend with nature so well that Otto shivered.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked.

“Something more adventurous, I think. Something exciting.”

“I’ve never been one for excitement to be fair,” Otto said. “And I really do need answers. Peace of mind might help with that.”

“Hm…you might not get that today.”

Otto cracked an eye open to look at him.

“Why not?” he asked as something thumped against his thigh and then clambered up his chest. He sat up, making the thing flail and fall, and he cupped his hands under it to catch it.

It was the tiniest frog Otto had ever seen.

It was pale pink in color, and about the size of his thumbnail. It wiggled on his palm, pointing at something behind its back and gesticulating wildly as it croaked.

“Oh my, why is it so small?” Otto asked.

“It’s a little grass frog,” Alwin said. “Completely strange for it to live around these parts, but there are a few around.”

“What happened to it?” Otto asked as the frog kept trying to convey something to him, at one point literally jumping and grabbing his nose, staring into his eyes and croaking as loudly as it could manage.

“Well, it’s quite a tale. Are you sure you’ll be able to suffer through the tragedy?”

Otto’s stomach tied itself into knots at the words.

“Oh poor thing,” he said, lifting a finger to pet the tiny thing on the back as it hung off his nose. “You went through something so rough.”

“Indeed,” Alwin said solemnly. “It had to hop over not one, not two, but three different lily pads to reach this clearing, and then when it finally did, the breeze knocked it over.”

Otto fell silent, looking cross-eyed at the frog on his face.

“Wait, that’s it?” he asked.

Alwin nodded. “That is it. Quite the adventure it had.”

“I thought it had been hurt or hunted or something.” Otto peeled the frog off his nose, only for it to clamber up his thumb and wrap all its limbs around it.

“No,” Alwin said as the frog kept screaming at them both. “You asked if any of my frogs would ever talk to you. There you have it.”

“But I can’t understand it.”

“It does not care in the slightest.” Alwin ran a thumb over his shoulder slowly. “I am afraid you’re stuck with it.”

“What?”

“It has just informed me that you’re warm and it’s staying,” Alwin said, looking at his arm, and Otto watched as the frog detached itself from his thumb and clambered up inside his sleeve cuff, walking along his arm until it settled somewhere on his shoulder.

“Staying,” Otto repeated.

“It would seem it has adopted you.”