She often hears the other girls-especially an older girl named Katar-talking about how annoying she is, but Miri ignores them and continues to excel in her lessons.
She also starts to figure out how to use quarry-speech-the way that villagers communicate with each other silently when they're working in the quarries. She finds that she loves to read and spends all of her free time in the classroom going through Tutor Olana's books and reading about the history of Danland. The only person who seems willing to talk to Miri is Britta, a girl who just moved to Mount Eskel from the lowlands (after her parents died) and is shunned by the other girls because they assume that she thinks she's better than them.Īfter some time though, Miri starts to excel at her lessons. When they arrive at the academy up in the mountains, they find that their teacher is a stern woman named Tutor Olana who doesn't put up with any of their shenanigans and locks them into closets when they misbehave.Īt first, Miri keeps getting into trouble for talking back, even costing the other girls a visit home when she talks back to Tutor Olana (which makes everyone hate her). Miri doesn't want to go but soldiers come and take all the girls away-except for Marda, because she's older than the prince. They find out that the high priests of Danland have declared that the next princess will come from Mount Eskel (their territory), and that all girls ages twelve to seventeen are required to attend a princess academy for the next year so that they can learn fine manners and be ready for the prince's selection in a year's time. The trumpets sound from the village and Miri-along with her best friend and secret crush, Peder-runs over to see what's going on. When the book begins, young Miri is miffed that her father won't let her go to work in the quarry with him and her older sister Marda-once again, she's left out and expected to take care of the chores at home and barter with the trade.
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