The day of the first ball arrived. I slept until late into the morning, despite my excitement. It seemed the previous night had worn me out more than I thought. Giselle and Victoria's mad rushing about didn't even wake me. They had found some maids from the inn to serve as their ladies in waiting. Neither of them even acknowledged me when I slipped into the washroom to get dressed. I did not dress in my ball gown; I would change into that before the ball. I was just playing with my hair in the mirror when someone banged quite violently on the door.

"Ebony, get out of there! Stop hogging the washroom!" It was Giselle who was hollering at me through the door. "And someone is here demanding to see you!"

I looked at my surprised face in the mirror for a moment before I opened the door to a very angry looking Giselle. "Who wants to see me?"

Giselle huffed and shouldered past me. "I don't know who she is. Now get out; there is only ten hours before the ball starts."

The maid she had assigned as her lady in waiting followed her into the room and even gave me a sympathetic look as she passed. I was barely out of the door when it slammed shut behind me. Giselle had not answered my question. Victoria was sitting at her vanity having her maid brush her hair. Victoria was making faces at herself in the mirror and the movement of her head was making it difficult for the maid to not pull her hair. I rolled my eyes. She was already beautiful; she did not have to amplify her beauty by finding her most lovely angle.

Only ten hours until the ball Giselle had said. I didn't see what would possibly be done to get them ready that would take ten hours. The most I was giving myself to get ready was two. I remembered that someone was waiting for me in the sitting room and went out to see who it was.

I was greeted by a large woman in an even larger light pink dress sitting primly in one of the chairs. At first I did not realize who she was, but she seemed familiar. Then I remembered. She was the woman who had spoken out the other day when the royal coachman had come to fetch me from breakfast. She had her gloved hands propped up on a cane in front of her and her grey hair was piled quite haphazardly on top of her head. When I entered the room she sniffed. "Well, you took your time coming to greet your guest. It is proper to curtsy before a lady, girl."

I bobbed a short curtsy and apologized for my rudeness. I did not know why this woman was here to see me. I had never actually spoken to her in all my time at the Gilded Leopard. She stood an introduced herself. "I see that you are worse than I thought. I am the Duchess Elaina Frow and I am here to help you prepare for the ball. I saw your absolutely appalling display two days ago and since you are acquainted with the prince you must be instructed in better manners. So grab your ball clothes, for you will be spending the day with me being instructed in how to conduct yourself properly tonight. Now what is your name?"

"I am called Ebony. I don't think—", I started, but Duchess Frow was quick to cut me off.

"That is the point, girl, you don't think and if you are going to be seen with our young prince then you must act the part. I have already spoken to your lovely sister and you will not be missed. She thinks it is a superb idea. I have discussed it with my circle of friends here and they all agree that you need to learn some manners before tonight. I will also make sure you do not make a fool of yourself and make sure you dress properly. Get your things!" She finished with a snap.

Not knowing what else to do, I hurried to get my gown, shoes, and mask. I had not planned on wearing much in the way of jewelry. The Duchess insisted on seeing my dress before she took me wherever we were going. She gave a small nod of approval when I showed her and commented that I was not a complete simpleton. Two proper ladies in waiting were waiting in the hall and followed me as I followed Duchess Frow.

As we walked I worked up the nerve to question the demanding Duchess. "I am grateful for the interest that you are giving me, but I am still not sure that it is entirely warranted."

The Duchess did not slow her step in the least and didn't even look back at me. "I have already explained, if you are going to be seen with the royal family in public then you must act the part. I am intimately acquainted with her majesty the queen and I could not bear it if she found out her son is fraternizing with the wrong sort. I have seen how delightful your sisters are with people so I hope that you will not be entirely useless at socializing properly."

I frowned. She could not make it more obvious that she thought of me as little more than some uncivilized wild girl who had just rolled in from the middle of the woods. I did not like her speaking to me so and was not sure I wanted to spend the few hours before the ball in her presence. "I have been trained in etiquette." I retaliated.

"Good, so I will not have to start from scratch. Now go in here and my maids will help you clean up." Duchess Frow had opened a door that had a golden nameplate that read Macaw Room. I was surprised by the garish amount of bright red that was the dominant color in the room with splashes of blue and yellow. I much preferred the more singular color scheme of the Crocodile Room. The Duchess did not seem to mind and walked right in and sat down on a large couch with feather print.

I was herded into the washroom. In this suite there was only one bedroom, a washroom, and the main sitting area that opened onto the balcony. The maids were all business as they closed the door and began hurriedly undressing me. One removed my clothes while the other prepared the bath by mixing a number of soaps into the water that was gushing forth from a golden spout in the wall. I had not been waited on in this manner since my family's governess had left when Giselle and I had turned thirteen. I cannot say that I missed it one bit. I tried to inform the two women that I was perfectly capable of undressing myself but they paid me no heed.

After manhandling me into the tub and enthusiastically scrubbing me until I was sure that the entire top layer of skin was gone, they let me dry off and dress myself. The Duchess was still sitting imperiously in her chair and she had a small black dog sitting in her lap. The dog was little more than a puff of fur with a golden collar. She asked me to spin around for her and examined me until she decided that I was now properly clean. "Very good, girl, now I will outline for you what I have planned today. It is important that I train you in all the pertinent areas in the eight and a half hours that remain until we must be off for the palace. Of course you shall ride in your own carriage then and arrive with your family as it should be. Now I will be sending you to the ballroom here to perfect your dancing. Two hours is hardly enough time to properly learn everything so I hope that you are not unskilled. Then I will spend an hour teaching you how to properly speak to the other people at the ball until my most intimate friends arrive for dinner. Our dinner will be light so as not to weigh us down before the ball. Then we shall spend the rest of the time preparing for the ball itself. Now hurry to the ballroom where Gillian is waiting for you."

I did my best to try and convince the meddlesome Duchess that this was all too much but she wouldn't hear it. When I tried protesting she sent me away with one of her maids to the ballroom so I couldn't bother her anymore. The maid grabbed my arm and I had little choice as we went down to the ballroom.

Gillian turned out to be harsh-looking woman who looked annoyed when we entered. She stood ramrod straight in the center of the dance floor and was squinting at a small golden watch that was hanging from a chain around her neck. "You're late." She announced stiffly. She reminded me of a governess that my stepsisters and I used to have.

The maid left me with Gillian and returned to her mistress. I figured that explaining how unnecessary it all was to Gillian would be even more useless than it had been before when I explained it to Duchess Frow. Gillian went straight into instructing me with herself as my partner. She was a stern teacher who forced me into the proper steps by pushing me in the proper direction. More than I few times I stepped on her feet when she unexpectedly moved in a step I had not learned. Most of the dances she showed me were ones I had already learned with a few small changes. It did not take me long to learn the changes for each dance but Gillian seemed to have an endless list of dances to go over. She also insisted that I repeat each dance at least three times which ate up our two hours quite quickly. Then I was being whisked back the Duchess Frow's room by her maid.

The hour when the Duchess was having me speak was even worse than the two I had spent with Gillian. She wanted me to stand uncomfortably straight, almost to the point where I was bending backwards, and speak loudly and proudly. After a few minutes of her inane instruction, I knew there was no possible way that I would speak like this at the ball. For now I would just play along and do what the Duchess said so it wouldn't drag on longer than it had to.

Much to my relief one of the Duchess's friends arrived early and cut short the speaking instruction. The woman who arrived was just as large as Duchess Frow and seemed to have similar taste in style as she wore a large green dress with an excessive amount of lace. Her name was Madame Mellie Mott, which I found to be a silly name. Madame Mott spoke of her daughter who would also be attending the ball. Apparently her daughter was causing her grief by spending entirely too much time with one of her friends. Madame Mott said she thought the friend was being a bad influence on her daughter and going to make it impossible for her to find a nice husband. It seemed the Madame and the Duchess had already had this conversation about the daughter because they did not mention how the other girl was being a bad influence; they both just seemed to know. Madame Mott was becoming quite upset as she went on when the rest of Duchess Frow's friends arrived.

There were two other women who arrived with a man. I only caught their first names, Frieda, Beatrice, and Walt. With the rest of her friends present, the conversation turned to me after they all greeted each other. Their probing eyes made me shift uncomfortably in my seat while they asked me questions and discussed amongst themselves. At least when it was just Duchess Frow and Madame Mott, I was left to sit quietly and not have every detail of my appearance discussed.

"Tell them your name, girl." The Duchess ordered.

I did as she said and they launched into their assessment of me. The middle aged gentleman, Walt, seemed to think I was a charming specimen of a girl and a delight to be around. The women were quick to dismiss his opinion and he returned to sitting quietly and sipping his tea. He must have just come on the whim of his sister, Beatrice. She was too thin with a rather large beak-like nose and a tiny chin. Even though it was unkind of me, I thought her short grey hair made her look like a goose. I justified my rude thoughts by the fact that they were openly discussing my flaws in front of me. Her opinion was that I was much too plain and that it would be difficult to make me look like someone worthy of the royal family.

"Look at the drab color of her hair. It is just too brown. That along with the appalling tan of her skin and the fact she is shaped like a boy make her hardly anything special." Beatrice said. I clenched my jaw at her hurtful words so I did not say something they would make me regret.

"Now, now, Bea, she is not as bad as all that. I don't see how her being a few shades darker than the average girl makes any difference." Her brother comforted. I decided the brother was lovely while the sister was absolutely horrendous.

"You always have been too harsh." The other woman, Frieda, commented quietly. She was a tiny old woman who had fly away grey hair and wrinkled skin. "The girl does have some redeemable qualities. There is a bit of shape to her that may look quite lovely in some dresses. If that is Ebony's dress hanging there, then I think she will look lovely."

The others seemed apt to listen to Frieda's assessment and nodded in agreement. It was as if they completely dismissed all their other opinion to please the tiny woman who sat between them.

The discussion went on until dinner was brought on two silver trolleys by the hotel staff. There was a table set up on the balcony where the food was arranged so we could eat. I found the Duchess and her friends became less formal and critical when they had food in front of them and I was able to join into the conversation. I felt better when they were talking to me and not about me. I didn't really talk to Beatrice all that much because I still didn't like the goose. She also did little to converse with me, not that I minded one bit.

After they all finished eating the small meal that had been brought, Duchess Frow's friends were quick to depart so they could continue to get ready for the ball. From somewhere, two more maids had appeared so Duchess Frow could get dressed as well. While the Duchess strapped herself into her corseted dress with two of the maids, the other two helped me into mine. Once I was wearing my dress it seemed to become real. In less than two hours I would be attending a royal ball, the first ball of the princess's celebration.

I'm back! The story came to a bit of a grinding halt there for awhile. I looked at the last date I updated and it was more than two months ago (yikes).

So anyway there's that chapter. It's a bit odd and there are some characters that are introduced that will be important later on in the story. I hope you like it and I shall try to get back on track with updates.