More and more toads arrived in Wartwood over the next three days. Grime paid for lodging at Felicia Sundew's inn for himself, Sasha, Percy, and Braddock, but the rest of the toads camped outside the city limits in tents. In total, 103 toads came to attend the party, which was about ¾ of the toads stationed at the South Tower, as well as Beatrix and a few of her toads from the West Tower. These are the ones that adore Sasha. The remaining quarter of South Tower toads, who are either apathetic toward her or straight up dislike her, stayed behind to protect the tower.

When it came to outfits, the frogs each wore the fanciest clothing they owned, though this wasn't always practical (Sprig wore a suit jacket far too big for him, for instance). Anne wore a nice blue dress specially made for the occasion, while Sasha wore a ceremonial set of armor that was rather flashy and not particularly useful as armor. The toads meanwhile didn't wear anything special since they wouldn't have done so if the party was at the tower for Sasha alone. The sole exception was Grime who gladly wore a red cape and spiked shoulder pauldron over an outfit that Sasha said looked like a pilot wearing cowboy boots.

While combining Anne and Sasha's parties made sense from a logical standpoint, in practice it was very awkward. Centuries-long social segregation between species won't go away instantly just because two human girls are friends. Most of the toads didn't want to be in a frog town and most of the frogs didn't want the toads there either, but none of them are willing to deny Anne and Sasha a shared party, so they begrudgingly put up with each other. (At the very least, the frogs admitted that Percy's party decorations were far superior to the ones they would've used.)

Of course, some silly prejudice wasn't going to stop Anne from initiating some group bonding activities, and she was somewhat successful in getting frogs and toads to intermingle. There were a few fun rounds of Drawsidoodle played ("In my world we call this Pictionary!"), an impromptu frogs vs. toads bugball game occurred, and in general there were some discussions happening between the species. It helped that Grime, Percy, and Braddock had already spent a few days in Wartwood, not only acclimating the frogs to toad visitors but also letting the initial visitors learn enough about the town to instruct the other toads. So yeah, things weren't perfect, but some genuine camaraderie was formed between the species.

"This is remarkable," said Hop Pop. "I never imagined I'd ever see frogs and toads intermingling like this."

"Yeah, it makes you wonder why we've been fighting all these years," said Percy. "This seems a lot better."

"I don't think the toads who aren't here will agree with you," Mrs. Croaker pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's good to have hope." If only more toads were as optimistic as Percy.

Just then, Mayor Toadstool stepped forward on the town stage to make an announcement. "Can I please have everyone's attention?" A few people stopped their conversation and turned to the mayor, but most didn't. "Hello! Can everyone hear me?" He spoke a little louder but it didn't make much of a difference.

Luckily Polly heard him. "EVERYBODY SHUT UP!"

Now that got everyone's attention.

"Thank you," said Toadstool. "I hope y'all are ready, 'cause we've got some live entertainment prepared for tonight. I know that frogs and toads may not get along too well, but we all love being entertained, don't we?"

There were murmurs of agreement in the crowd.

"Alright," said the mayor. "First up is Sprig Plantar."

Some quick cheers went out as Sprig walked out onto the stage with his fiddle. "Hello everyone. Here's a little song I wrote for my favorite little sister. Don't hate me, Polly!"

"Normally I would, but Anne's also my favorite so I guess we're even," stated Polly from the crowd.

"Uh… okay," said Sprig. "I had to edit the last verse over the past week now that Sasha's here." He cleared his throat and started playing.

Wartwood is but a small, simple swamp

Where grownups work hard and kids go for a romp

But our lives were upended one fateful day

When a girl arrived from far, far away

Anne helped us all have lots of fun

And be responsible when we're done

So why don't we celebrate this girl from Earth

Because she's got so much worth

Three cheers for Anne, our favorite forever

So smart and loving and funny and clever

She might leave us one day but don't you worry

I don't think that she's in a hurry

Sasha was found and Marcy will be too

'Cause if you lost your friends Anne would help you

We've bonded so much while we've been roomin'

I love you Anne Boonchuy, my sister the human

The crowd erupted in applause. Anne had happy tears in her eyes, Hop Pop looked at his grandson with pride, and Sasha smiled seeing that Anne had a big brother who cared so much for her. Even the toads who didn't care for frogs at all wept for Sprig's beautiful song. Sprig took a bow and walked off the stage and toward his family, whereupon he was crushed in a big hug by Anne which he quickly returned.

"I love it so much! Thank you!" she said.

"You're welcome, Anne," said Sprig happily.

"Gee, Sprig," said Hop Pop. "I didn't know you were so good with that fiddle. You could make a career out of that."

Sprig let go of Anne and looked at Hop Pop nervously. "Maybe as a hobby or even a side gig, but I'd rather make a career out of adventuring or something like that."

"Oh… alright." Hop Pop looked slightly upset but didn't dwell on the subject.

Toadstool walked out on stage again."Next up is Captain Grime. Yes, seriously."

Grime stepped forward with a harp, to the shock of everyone except those who know the captain very well. "I have also prepared a glorious musical piece to commemorate this occasion!" He usually only got this eager when he and Sasha were playing a game together.

"He's not actually gonna play, right?" asked Polly.

"Trust me, he's actually an excellent harpist," said Beatrix. "Somehow."

And it was glorious. Never before had the frogs of Wartwood heard a melody so magnificent. Any discussions and arguments ceased during Grime's performance. No one would dare miss this. His fifteen minute performance was far shorter than the three hour performance he was talked out of doing, but it was still easily the highlight of the night.

Grime walked back to where Sasha was. "Did you enjoy that?" he asked.

"It was great, Daddy…" said Sasha, still in disbelief of what she just witnessed.

"Well, okay." Toadstool got back on stage slowly. "I'm not sure if anything else tonight can top that, but next up is Hopediah Plantar with freestyle dancing."

That was enough to shock the Plantars out of their stupor.

"No, Hop Pop! No!"

There were a few more performances after Hop Pop's abysmal dancing, but eventually everyone became focused on the giant cake Stumpy made. With a little assistance from sword-wielding toads, he managed to get the cake into 200 even slices, a little bit more than enough for everyone. However, right as he was about to serve them he was interrupted by a distant squawk.

"What's that?" asked Anne, noticing an approaching shape in the sky.

"It's a bird from Newtopia!" shouted Beatrix.

Most of the gathered amphibians scowled. There aren't a lot of things frogs and toads generally agree on, but distrusting newts is one of them. As the bird approached it became clear that it was a giant sparrow wearing some golden armor. The sparrow landed in the center of town and off of it stepped a pink newt emissary.

"Apologies for interrupting whatever's going on," she said. "I don't want to be here as much as you don't want me here, so I'll make this quick." She held out a fancy-looking envelope. "I've just come to deliver a message to Hopediah Plantar."

Hop Pop awkwardly raised his hand. "That's me."

The newt stepped forward to hand him the envelope before hurrying back to her sparrow. "I will return in two days to pick up your reply, Hopediah. Don't forget." And with that, she left.

"How the hell did you get a letter stamped with the royal seal, Plantar?" asked Toadstool.

"I don't know," said Hop Pop with a shrug. "The only person I know in Newtopia is old Sal, and he doesn't work with royalty." He opened the envelope and started reading.

To Hopediah Plantar of Wartwood—

I hope this message reaches you well.

The letter you sent to Sal Liquamen inquiring if he has seen humans arrived last week. This is quite a problem considering the letter was sent nearly a year ago. I am hereby instructing you to not use Sloth Postal for any future communication with Newtopia. Messages will be sent and received by one of our sparrow riders.

Anyway, I write to inform you that the human Marcy Wu has been peacefully living in Newtopia at the royal castle since she arrived. Now that we know Anne has been living with you in Wartwood, His Majesty King Andrias invites you to bring Anne to Newtopia where we can combine our efforts to find the music box that brought the girls here.

Please write back as soon as possible about Anne's current condition. Marcy would be very happy to hear about how she's been doing. Also, please share any information you have regarding Sasha Waybright, as we have none.

Additionally, if something bad has happened between when you wrote your initial letter and now, I will be forced to unleash the wrath of a distraught child upon you.

I look forward to receiving your reply.

Lady Olivia

Royal Advisor of King Andrias

"Well, what's it say?" asked Polly impatiently.

"Apparently Marcy's living at the castle in Newtopia," said Hop Pop.

Everyone gasped in shock, especially Anne and Sasha.

"Marcy's living in a castle!? That's so cool!" said Anne excitedly.

"I didn't think this day could get any better!" said Sasha. "What else does it say?"

"Well, I've been invited to bring Anne to Newtopia, and they also want to know if we know anything about you, Sasha." Hop Pop smiled. "This is great news!"

"But how did they know Anne was here?" asked Ivy.

Hop Pop looked ashamed. "I used Sloth Postal to send my letters a year ago. It looks like Sal's letter just arrived…"

"So you're a cheapskate, then," said Grime, unimpressed.

All eyes were on Hop Pop. "Uh… well… I…"

"Hey! Hop Pop does his best with what he has!" exclaimed Polly.

"Yeah!" said Sprig. "It's not his fault he can't afford first class shipping!"

"But he can afford better than Sloth Postal," Wally pointed out.

Polly got even madder. "I bet you can't afford anything, Wal—"

"Stop arguing! I want cake!" Luckily Sasha managed to shut everyone up.

Stumpy and a few others began distributing the cake to those gathered. Most of them were focusing on the cake, but not Anne and Sasha. Neither of them thought they'd find Marcy so soon, especially since it took so long to find each other. But this was real. This was happening.

They'd be together again soon.

Just look at Grime's outfit from The Dinner and tell me it doesn't look like a pilot's uniform.