Yule is a completely new experience for Aravis; so is snow, and roasted chestnuts, and Father Christmas, and so much more, until she feels her head will burst or her fingers fall off from the chill that's worked its way into her very bones, so much worse than even the desert at midnight.

So when Cor comes along, speaking of another new tradition to show her (he deals so much better than she with the climate and culture, but then, he was born, if not raised, to it) she protests, even when he pulls her along in her heavy wool robes to a room with a roaring fire burning, hot as the Calormene sands.

"It's a lovely treat," she says, "but honestly Cor, even a fire this large can't really be called anything new," and that's when he gives her that cheeky grin, points to a bit of greenery tacked to the doorframe above them, and gives her the gift of his first kiss.