The Yule Dinner was at half-past one, according to the schedule, but people began trickling into the Great Hall hours earlier than that. By the time Eden and Lucy came down, there were hundreds of people in there; exchanging presents, laughing, talking, and sipping sherry from little glasses.

The girls had put their gifts in two spare bags that were left over from the children's party, and began looking out for people to give them to.

"Gosh, it's always such a crowd," Lucy said, shifting her bag to the other arm. "Oh, I can see Roddy with some friends – I'll introduce you to everybody."

But Eden had espied Maeve in a big group that included Jarvis, Nalini, and the elegant blonde girl that she thought must be the lady's maid Severine.

"I'll catch up in a few minutes," Eden said. "I want to give Maeve her present first, if you don't mind."

"Oh. You got Maeve something?"

"Of course," Eden said. "Didn't you get Jarvis a present for Yule?"

"Actually we're not really meant to exchange gifts with our bodyguards," Lucy said.

"Why ever not?" Eden asked.

"A couple of years ago, Clarissa's bodyguard gave her a birthday present," Lucy said in a low voice. "I don't know what it was, Captain Zidane saw it before anyone else. He showed it to Bernard, and after that the bodyguard was gone, and Bernard said we weren't to accept gifts from our personal bodyguards, or give them any. He talked a lot about how it could lead to being compromised."

"It wouldn't be compromising for me, would it?" Eden asked. "Since I'm a visitor."

"Yes, I'm sure it would be alright," Lucy said after a moment. "Don't be upset if Maeve didn't get you anything, though."

"I won't mind a bit," Eden assured her. "See you soon."

Eden had been planning to take Maeve aside and give her the present in private. Now she thought it wasn't a good idea, as it might look compromising. She wasn't exactly sure what being compromised meant, but it sounded very hole-in-corner and like keeping secrets, and probably started with taking people aside to give them things in private.

For a moment she was unreasonably annoyed with Clarissa for making yet another complication at Camden Palace, but then she realised it was really the bodyguard's fault. He was the one who'd bought a gift for a sixteen-year-old girl that was bad enough to have got him sacked. And Clarissa couldn't help being beautiful, any more than Hodge could help being huge, or she could help being small. She showed her remorse by being extremely angry at the bodyguard instead.

"Good Yule, everybody! Good Yule, Good Yule!" she said, waving as cheerily as she could, and trying to get Maeve's attention as everyone returned her greeting.

"Good Yule, Miss Eden!" Maeve said, turning around with a smile.

"I got you a present," Eden said, getting it out of the bag and smiling as hard as she could as she lifted it up.

Maeve's face wrinkled into worry as she said, "Oh, Miss Eden. That's so kind of you. But I'm not sure if I can accept - "

"Well, let's see it first," Jarvis put in, giving Eden a twinkling smile. "Go on, Miss Eden."

Eden took a little breath and handed Maeve the parcel. Maeve took the card off the top, and read it out:

Look
Inside for something that rhymes with nook

Eden had rewritten her poems after seeing other peoples', and was quite proud of this one. It rhymed, which was what poems were meant to be like.

"I wonder what it could be?" Maeve said with a grin as she opened it. "Oh, the latest Jem Bones! I haven't read this one. Can I keep it?" She appealed to Jarvis.

Jarvis thought for moment then said, "If you shared it with everyone in the guardroom, then I don't think you can say you've profited from it personally. I'll let the captain know."

"I don't mind sharing as long as I read it first," Maeve said. "Thank you, Miss Eden. But I feel terrible, because I have nothing for you."

"Don't worry," Eden said. "I know you're not allowed to, in case of being compromised."

"No, no, I must give you something in return, or it isn't right," Maeve said, going through all her pockets in an attempt to find something. "Wait – I think you might like this?"

She took a square of cloth from her pocket and triumphantly handed it to Eden. It was a dull greenish colour, and had a strange gritty texture.

"Er, thanks," said Eden dubiously. "I'll use it for ... um."

Maeve smiled understandingly. "It's a special cloth that can polish and sharpen knives," she said. "It's from the Far East, and very fine. You'll never use anything else once you've tried it."

Eden could see Penelope with her family, sitting with her baby brother Alex on her lap, so she thanked Maeve again before joining her.

"Good Yule, Penelope," Eden said over her shoulder, which made Penelope give a start, and almost drop Alex.

"Oh hello, Eden," she said, holding Alex more firmly. "I mean, good Yule. It's confusing to have a different greeting, isn't it?"

"I suppose it is a bit," said Eden, who hadn't actually thought about it. "Good Yule, Alex."

"Good Yule, Enid," Alex said with a big smile. "I got jam for one of my presents."

"So did I as a matter of fact," Eden said.

"Her name's Eden," Penelope lectured him. "Not Enid."

"Sorry Enid," Alex said contritely. "Why aren't you sitting down?"

"I got you a present," Eden said, handing it over as she took the chair next to them.

"Thank you, Eden. How nice of you to remember me," Penelope said in blank surprise. She read her poem out loud in a slow voice as if to include Alex:

This is for a lady who loves classic
Graphics

Penelope furrowed her brow as she unwrapped the parcel, to find a handsome brass plate on a polished wooden stand that had been stamped LATINA AMO. Her face was one of confused horror for a moment, and then she suddenly gave a peal of delighted laughter.

"Oh Eden! How funny. It's such a good joke."

"Is it?" asked Eden in consternation. "I thought it said I LOVE LATIN in Latin. I never checked it in a grammar."

"But you see it's much more clever than that, because the declension is wrong," Penelope said, as she pointed out the words. "See, LATINA is in the nominative case, not the accusative. They've put a funny mistake in for a joke, saying they love Latin, but really they don't because they can't even write I love Latin!"

"I bought it because you seemed to love Latin so much," Eden said helplessly.

"I know, I do!" Penelope said happily. "It was so nice of you to notice that, and so clever of you  to think of such a funny gift. Everyone else gets joke gifts for Yule, and nobody's ever given me one before."

"As long as you like it," Eden said doubtfully.

"I love it!" Penelope declared. "I've got something for you too, but it's not as nice and funny as your present."

She reached down and handed Eden a beautifully wrapped gift that she'd painstakingly stuck tiny gold stars onto deep violet blue paper in intricate swirling patterns. The card on top read:

North, south, east, west
You're the person I like best

Eden could hardly believe the poem was sincere – Penelope had barely spoken to her since they met, and she was usually so chilly and aloof, as if she had mentally removed herself from the situation.

"That's a ... lovely thing to write, Penelope," she forced herself to say.

"It's not really true," Penelope said matter-of-factly. "I like my mother and father and grandfather better, and my sister and my brothers. But outside my family, I like you the best, so it's poetic licence."

"I see," Eden said. "Well ... that's still very nice. And it must have taken you ages to do these pretty stars."

"Hours and hours," Penelope agreed. "I like doing things like that, it stops me getting the fidgets."

Eden nodded understandingly. "Fiddle fingers, my nurse calls it. She taught me sewing and knitting to help."

Eden opened the parcel. There was a white cardboard box inside filled with tissue paper. In the middle of it was a dark wooden box that seemed quite old, and slightly battered. When opened, it proved to be a heavy brass compass with a red dragon at each direction point, blowing winds across the face of it in sky blue billows.

"You said you were a sailor, so I thought you might like a compass," Penelope said. "Unless you already have one?"

"Not like this," Eden said, examining it. "This is really beautiful, and looks like an antique."

"Yes, it's quite old I'm afraid," Penelope said apologetically. "It belonged to Algernon Flybridge, and he took it to the Battle of Cape Gadeira. It got a bit damaged in the battle, but it still works."

"Captain Flybridge who won the Battle of Cape Gadeira and died heroically there? The greatest naval hero of the last hundred years?" Eden asked in a daze. "It must be worth a small fortune. How can you possibly give it to me?"

"He was a sort of cousin of ours," Penelope said vaguely. "Grandfather, how are we related to Algernon Flybridge again?"

The prime minister turned around, looking quite frail. "He was my third cousin twice removed on my mother's side," he said, speaking to Eden. "I don't know how we ended up with his compass, but it's been gathering dust in my private drawing room for decades. I'd like it to go to someone who will use it and appreciate it."

"Thank you sir, I will," Eden said. "And thank you so much, Penelope. I'll take good care of it always."

"Look Grandfather, Eden has given me the funniest joke present." Penelope held it up so he could see it.

The prime minister peered at it and said, "That's incorrect. It should be LATINAM AMO."

"I know, that's the joke," Penelope said.

"Well, I must be getting too old to understand you young people's jokes," her grandfather said. "To me it looks uncommonly like they left out the M by mistake."

"Have you given Lucy her present?" Eden asked hurriedly, hoping they could stop talking about the Latin plate.

"Not yet," Penelope said, her voice blanker than ever. "She's with a big group of people, and that always makes me feel nervous."

"Let's go together," Eden said, getting up and offering Penelope her hand. "It's worse for me, I've never met any of them before."

Penelope didn't look convinced by this argument, but handed Alex to his nurse. This was the aforementioned Nurse Winnie, a sturdy dark-haired girl with a pale, pretty face that seemed tired and worn down by her responsibilities. Penelope picked up her own bag of gifts, and reluctantly joined Eden.

⋆⋅•⋅⊰∙∘⋆ ❆ ⋆∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⋆

"There you are, Eden!" Lucy exclaimed. "Oh, and good Yule, Penelope."

"Good Yule, Lucy," said Penelope, her face frozen into politeness.

"Come and say hello to everyone," Lucy said. "We're sitting by the drinks table – would you like a glass of punch?"

"It doesn't have brandy in it, does it?" Eden asked cautiously.

"What? No, it's mulled apple cider," Lucy said. "Lovely on a snowy day. Everyone, this is my friend Eden, the crown princess of Westmoreland. Eden, please meet Adeline and Cecilia Belward, the daughters of the Earl of Ringstead."

Adeline and Cecilia were twin sisters; tall, fair, and grey-eyed with long noses and wide straight mouths. They were friendly, and Adeline fetched Eden a drink while Cecilia asked her about the Lakelands, and said that Lucy had done nothing but rave about the place since she got back from holidays. It must be simply a dream.

Soon Eden was being introduced to so many people she couldn't possibly remember them all. Some friends of Roderick called Simon and Nicholas, and their cousin Basil. Cousins of Aubrey called Priscilla and Ambrose, and their friend Rosalind. Rosalind's cousin Valentine and his friend Cornelius, Basil's friend Selina, and her cousins Vincent, Leopold, and Helena, who were friends with Adeline and Cecilia ...

Everyone seemed to be friends or cousins with everybody else and to have known each other from birth. They were all tall and nice-looking with good manners, and liked making jokes and laughing. Eden forgot which was Vincent and which was Valentine, and accidentally called Selina by Cecilia's name. She hoped nobody had noticed.

Eden didn't know why Penelope had been so nervous about coming over when everyone was so welcoming. However when she glanced behind her, she saw Penelope sitting alone. Her body was rigid and her face averted from everybody else, her fingers slowly drumming on the arm of her chair.

Eden's conscience smote her. She had forced Penelope to come with her, when she knew other people made her nervous. Penelope had been nothing but nice to her, in her own odd way, and Eden had promised her father she would try to understand her and make friends. I'm being a rotten friend to poor Penelope, Eden told herself severely.

"Lucy, have you given Penelope her present yet?" Eden said in a whisper to her. "I think she'd like to get back to her family."

"Oh, I forgot all about her!" Lucy said in remorseful tones. "Thanks so much for reminding me, Eden. I'll go to her now. She's waiting so patiently, too."

Lucy picked up her bag of presents and called out, "Good Yule, Penelope! Would you mind if I sit with you for a while?"

Eden went to put her glass back on the drinks table, where it was deftly taken by Aubrey and handed to a footman gathering up empties on his tray.

"Good Yule, my lady," Aubrey said with a neat bow. "I trust you have been showered with a bounty of gifts this morning?"

"Good Yule and yes, tons of them thanks," Eden said. "I've got one to shower you with if you'd like."

She handed him a small parcel from her bag, and he read the card on top of it.

Dear Aubrey,
I hope this gift is not too tawdry

"I must congratulate you," Aubrey said, looking impressed. "This is the second worst poem ever written. Quite a remarkable achievement for one so young."

"Which is the worst poem?" Eden asked curiously.

"Pray to the gods you never hear it," Aubrey said with a shudder. "You will though, tomorrow night. It's always performed before the mummer's play."

He opened his present and found a small oval silver box, with an embossed image on the lid of a knight riding his horse through a forest.

"Girls would put jewellery, hairpins or ribbons in something like that," Eden said, "but I don't know what boys do with them."

"I'll put my cufflinks and shirt studs in it," Aubrey smiled. "And thank you, it's charming. So charming in fact that I now feel terribly embarrassed about my own poor effort."

He took a flat package out of his coat pocket and gave it to her. Eden instantly liked the fact that he'd obviously wrapped it himself, and it looked even more amateurish than any of her presents.

"Sorry about all this," he said with a vague hand wave. "I've never been much good at this sort of thing."

"It's nice you did it yourself," Eden smiled. "It's so much more personal."

The poem on top was scribbled on a piece of parchment in pencil, and read:

From one sailor to another
Calling across the waves and time and stuff
(My apologies for fobbing this onto you
But my family has a million of them, curiously enough)

Inside was a thick book bound in dark green leather. In gold lettering it proclaimed itself to be To the Spice Islands by Clipper – Memories of a Sea Voyage by the Hon. H.R.G. Ponsonby.

"It's by my Great-Uncle Horatio," Aubrey said. "He kicked off the shackles of a dozen generations of plodding Ponsonby predictability and ran away to sea."

"As a cabin boy, you mean?" Eden asked with interest.

"No, he bought a ship and hired a captain and crew, and set sail for the Spice Islands in search of a fortune," Aubrey explained.

"What happened to him?"

"I would love to tell you that he married a dusky maiden, became king of the Spice Islands, and lived a life of freebooting adventure in opulent wealth," Aubrey replied. "Alas, he made a modest profit and returned tamely to our village, where he wed a squire's daughter from the next county and led a blameless life raising prize pigs."

"Oh no, what a letdown," Eden laughed. "I'd still like to talk to him, if he's here." She looked about as if Aubrey might have his great-uncle just behind him.

"Dead and respectably buried three years ago," Aubrey said promptly. "But before he died, he wrote his memoirs and paid to have them published. They printed ten thousand copies, and he gave hundreds away to friends and libraries, but he left us the rest in his will. We've been handing them out as presents ever since, with our deepest apologies."

"Well, thank you anyway. I enjoy reading almost anything about boats and ships," Eden said.

"So have you met all the residents of the zoo yet?" Aubrey asked.

"I wish they had labels like zoo exhibits, I've got all their names muddled," Eden grinned. "I didn't realise Lucy had so many friends here – I feel as if she's been neglecting them to entertain me."

Aubrey gave an Eden a long look, and seemed about to say something, before he apparently changed his mind with a little head shake.

"Lucy wouldn't spend time with you if she didn't want to," he said mildly. "Having a good friend stay with her is a treat, and nobody would deny her that pleasure."

Eden coloured a little, but before she could think of a reply, two heralds grandly dressed in red and gold livery blew their trumpets in a flourishing fanfare.

"Make way for Bernard and Pip, the kings of Lindensea!" shouted one.

"Presenting Pip and Bernard, the kings of Lindensea! Make way, make way!" the other paraphrased.

Everyone stepped back to form a guard of honour for Bernard and Pip, bowing their heads as they passed. A children's choir struck up a Yule carol with such a pretty, lilting tune that it wound itself into Eden's head so she could never forget it ever after.

I'll sing you twelve, ho!
Green grows the holly oak
What is the twelve, ho?

Twelve for the twelve days of Yule
Eleven for the eleven gods of heaven
Ten for the ten words of power
Nine for the nine green healers
Eight for the turning festal wheelers

Seven for the seven stars in the sky
Six for the six true reasons
Five for the elements lived by
Four for the year's seasons

Three, three the Lady's faces
Two, two the holy trees
Clothed all in green, ho!
One is Sun and always One
And evermore shall be so!