- A maid shows Ella to her room, but first they pass by all these other rooms that are color-themed (the Lime Room, etc). Ella is going to be in the Lavender Room, in which everything is some tint of lavender. EVERYTHING. We sure hope it's a good color for her
- She naps in a chair, and Areida smuggles her a roll from dinner. We like this girl already.
- Some other girls come in and make fun of Areida's Ayorthaian accent (pronouncing "l" like "y"). Ugh. Not cool, girls. Ella calls the lead mean girl a name in Ayorthaian meaning "tall girl" but since it sounds exotic, everyone thinks it's an insult.
- Madame Edith lectures Ella for her unseemly behavior, then tells everyone to get into their nightdresses because the "Shores of Sleep" approach
- That's a direct quote. We can't make up something so corny.
- Since Ella can't sleep, she reads her fairy tale book, which is evidently a lot more like email than an actual book. In it is a letter from Mandy, saying that Simon the parrot man brought her a parrot for a pet.
- Oh, and Char showed up with a centaur colt for Ella. He didn't know that Ella was sent to finishing school, so he was a little ticked off about that. He offers to raise the centaur for her while she's away. Its name is Apple. You know, because he gave her an apple?
- Obviously, Ella starts bawling.
- The next day, Ella's teachers slowly begin to whip her into shape (not literally; the school's not that bad.)
- Music Mistress orders her to match notes until she's singing on key. Dancing Mistress tells her to step lightly. Sewing Mistress orders Ella to make her stitches smaller, which she does, but she ends up stabbing herself a lot in the process. Manners Mistress is fond of saying that whatever they're doing would horrify the king.
- Okay, that one doesn't horrify her too much, since Ella is already BFFs with the prince.
- Every day, Ella's prodded into shape. Her spell doesn't mean she can do it all on autopilot, though; she has to concentrate on all the orders to make sure she's fulfilling each of them.
- The only stuff she's actually good at is composition, math, and languages. (You know, the things that might actually matter?) Writing Mistress gives her a dictionary of exotic speech, which she studies endlessly. She even practices Ogrese, despite how nasty it sounds
- Ella is pretty much awful at everything for the first month. By the second month, however, her spell has molded her into someone who's polite, delicate, and quiet. In other words, totally unlike herself.
- Obviously, Ella hates being forced to be like that, so she dreams about smashing china and instigating food fights.