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Tara tumbled into her new room with a loud 'pop'. As soon as she landed, she looked quickly around. There appeared to be a boy, trying to get his breath back on the other side of the room. That couldn't be right.
No time to figure it out right now, though. The Scholomance might be safer than it was in her mother's day, but that was no reason to not take precautions. 'Come on,' Tara yelled, pulling the door to their room open and running down the stairs. Her roommate dashed along with her and soon enough they were in the cafeteria.
They got separated, with all the other freshmen running in, with all the upperclassmen welcoming them (and their precious cargo of notes and letters from outside).
It was evening before Tara made it back to her shared room. She'd had some time to think by then. The Scholomance didn't make mistakes. Therefore, the Scholomance hadn't made a mistake here. She knew who she was. The question, then, was who was her roommate?
When her roommate came in quietly, Tara was ready. She smiled at her roommate and waited for them to get settled on the other bed. 'I don't mean to be rude,' Tara said. 'But are you a girl?'
Her roommate burst into tears. Oh no. It had seemed rather an important question, but now Tara was wondering if it was too much for induction day. She opened her arms, though, and her roommate stumbled into them.
And finally, many tears and a few false starts later, came the words, 'How did you know I'm a girl?'
It turned out her roommate had still been figuring it out herself. She hadn't even told anyone yet. Her roommate assignment must've been quite a shock. But after the initial tears, she seemed pretty happy. She and Tara talked well into the night, getting to know each other and, for the new girl, figuring herself out.
'What should I call you?' Tara asked her. If no one knew, she probably didn't have a name yet that fit her. And indeed, she looked a little perplexed at that. 'We could try a name out for a bit, if you've got any ideas,' Tara said.
'Let's try Daisy,' her roommate said. And so she went to sleep, her first night in the Scholomance, across from her new friend and roommate, Daisy.
The next morning, she'd thought better of being Daisy, and they tried out Eunice. Then Adeline, Estella, and finally, Elle. Tara wondered how many names it would take.
But somehow, Elle stuck. Elle was as unsure as ever, the first few days. Did it really feel like her, she wondered often. But she kept it. And so they reached their first field day, Tara and Elle. They watched the next class get inducted. And eventually, Elle realized this name had stuck. She said, 'It really feels like me,' with some surprise.