"You are a Princess of Oz," stated Ozma with dignity. "I shall appoint the Wizard as your Counselor and Advisor. With his wisdom and your honesty of heart and sweetness of nature, I am confident the Land of Oz will be well ruled."
Dorothy was silent, considering.
"Come, my dear," said Ozma with a smile. "I shall be gone only three short days. I am sure once you have become accustomed to the idea, you will enjoy the novel experience of being a real ruler, so do not worry."
Rising from the divan, Ozma concluded: "I must go now to inform the Courtiers and Lords and Ladies of my journey. I will instruct them in the regular affairs of state to be carried on in my absence, so that you will not be annoyed with these routine matters."
Ozma kissed Dorothy on the cheek and the two girls left the room arm in arm, parting a few minutes later as Ozma went about making preparations for her journey. Dorothy joined Toto who was waiting patiently for her in the lovely gardens of the Royal Palace.
The little dog quickly noticed that his mistress was not nearly so carefree in her play as usual, but seemed more serious and thoughtful. He wondered if this had anything to do with her conversation with Ozma, but since Dorothy didn't mention the subject to him and seemed to be so busy with her own thoughts, Toto, being a wise little dog, refrained from troubling her with questions.
Dorothy had a long talk with the Wizard later in the day. The little man pointed out that Dorothy's duties as a ruler would be very slight, so well-governed was Oz and so well-behaved were the Oz people. Nevertheless, Dorothy was greatly cheered and relieved when the Wizard promised to help her, should any problem arise that she found troubling.
Ozma's time was so entirely taken up with affairs of state and the many preparations for her absence from her beloved country, that Dorothy saw nothing of the girlish ruler during the remainder of the day.
The morning of Ozma and Glinda's departure dawned bright and clear, with the sunlight shining brilliantly on the beautiful city of Emeralds.