Eden at Yuletide // Lindensea 4

XI. Mercury Street

"You let him get away!" Eden cried in distress. "We should follow them!"

Maeve didn't move, and her face remained impassive.

"Miss Victory, I am here to protect you, not anyone else," she said. "If I went after them, I would be abandoning my post, and if I took you with me, I would be placing you in peril. Either way, I would lose my job, and rightly so."

"But I think that boy is in terrible danger," Eden said, her eyes wide.

"I think so too," Maeve said soberly. "However, we can't take off looking for him – the others will raise the alarm if we don't meet them."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Eden asked desperately.

"I'll report it to the Captain of the Guard, of course," Maeve said. "He'll let the police know, and it's for the proper authorities to investigate."

Although everything Maeve said was rational, Eden still felt bitterly disappointed. "We'd better get back to the markets, then," she said dully, turning to retrace their steps.

"We must have words, Miss Victory," Maeve said, as they walked back together. "The rule is that nobody must wander off alone, and you broke that rule thrice. Once when leaving Nurse May, another time when you saw the old gentleman being robbed, and again when you ran away to chase the little boy, disobeying a direct instruction to stay where you were."

"I'm sorry," said Eden contritely. "I didn't think."

"I thought you were good at controlling your emotions," Maeve said. "But you need to learn to control your impulses. You confronted a thief in the markets, and put yourself in the path of a dangerous man. Imagine what might have happened if anything had gone wrong."

"I was taught to always give people assistance when it's needed," Eden said. "If I saw a shepherd with an injured sheep, or a fisherman in difficulties, I'd do what I could for them."

"That's all well and good in your own country," Maeve said, "but you're in a city now. You can't help everyone you come across."

"Am I going to get into trouble?" Eden asked.

Maeve snorted. "Trouble! The worst that would happen to you is a scolding, and perhaps being confined to the palace grounds for the remainder of your visit," she said. "I'm the one that would get hauled over the coals and stood down."

"I don't want that," Eden said. "I want you to keep on being my bodyguard."

"Well, I'm glad," said Maeve, "but if you don't start following my directions, I will be handing in my resignation before they can sack me."

They had thought they would be able to scramble over the barricade and get back into the markets the same way they left. To their dismay, they discovered it was now being guarded by a tall grey-haired man in a blue uniform. He had a sleek, well-fed look and was wiping his mouth, as if he'd just finished a good lunch at The Red Rose Coffee House before returning to his post.

"Excuse me, sir," Maeve said to him politely. "May we get back over the fence into the markets? I dropped something and had to go after it when it rolled under the fence."

"No you may not," the guard said severely. "Entry to the markets is only via Little Market Street, and you need to pay to get in. The money goes to charity, and I'd be robbing the poor to let you in for nothing."

"But we already paid," Eden argued. "We were already in the markets."

Maeve gave her a repressive look before saying, "Of course we will pay again, sir. Look, I have the money here for you."