As days went by, Jacquelyn and Ella were bonding. The two would meet in the woods and the witch would impress her friend with magic spells and a variety of jokes. Sometimes the two would have serious talks about the economy or the stability of empires but most days they talked about things like hobbies and interests.

Unfortunately, Ella's stepmother was a bitch. She would often scream for Ella at random periods of the day and wouldn't let her take a break until the house was spotless. There were visible eye bags under Ella's pale grey eyes because of how hard her stepmother worked her and how late she stayed up doing... other things that Jacquelyn didn't know about. (Nothing dirty, banish that thought.)

The stepmother didn't ever give Ella enough food to eat despite being legally required to by the king. Anyone could easily call the crown guard, but no one did because Ella said she was okay, and she was always smiling and laughing. Ella's body was thinner than all of the other ladies and she would occasionally be ridiculed because of it. Sometimes little boys would call her a "stick bug" or a "skeleton".

Ella's stepsisters weren't any better. They would also work her to the bone and make a joke out of her while the whole time maintaining their sweet voices and proper postures. The elder stepsister, Marianne, would gaslight Ella to a great degree and insult her with a sickeningly tender voice making Ella think that she was imagining all of the mental abuse.

Jacquelyn did her best to help but there wasn't much she could do; magic could solve lots of problems but not the kind that Ella was going through. Unless she shed blood, that would get rid of the problem but cause a whole new kind of issue. Murder was illegal and the penalty was death, if you were caught that is.

Because of all the sweets and meals that Jacquelyn was feeding her, Ella started gaining more energy and weight as time passed. It made the witch happy that she could at least help Ella with that much.

Soon it was nearly time for the king's festival. Ella wanted desperately to go but her stepmother said "Hell naw, sistah!" (Not those exact words but something pretty close.)  but after Ella begged for near an hour, her stepmother relented and said that she could go, but only if she picked up all of the seeds she had dumped. Jacquelyn didn't think it was fair that the stepmother had poured out an ENTIRE BOWL of seeds for the sole purpose of making Ella clean them.

Somehow Ella did clean them. Every. Last. One.

But her stepmother came up with a new reason why Ella couldn't go, her outfit! she had nothing to wear!

That was where Jacquelyn came in.