- That means this dude is over two hundred years old. The man explains that he is neither living nor dead, and he fills up dainty teacups and floats them over to the girls while he tells his story.
- He was a highborn gentleman in the court of the High King D'Eathe, and when the High King went mad, he joined the rebellion against him (the one that the girls' ninth great-grandfather, Harold the First, started and won).
- For his betrayal, the High King bound this guy in a dancing pavilion to serve him. He faded into the foundations of the palace, but recently was released enough to become keeper of the pavilion again, though he still can't leave it.
- And so they call him Keeper; he has no other name anymore. Then the girls introduce themselves, all twelve of them: Azalea, Bramble, Clover, Delphinium, Evening Primrose (who goes by Eve), Flora, Goldenrod, Hollyhock, Ivy, Jessamine, Kale, and Lily (the baby).
- Before they leave, the Keeper gives them an invitation to a ball the next evening.
- The girls spend the next day super excited for the ball—they find their dancing slippers from Christmas in an attic, and then they spend all night getting gussied up.
- The girls dance their hearts out. Taking a break, they talk about how much they miss dancing, because it makes them forget the bad things in their lives (their mom dying, their dad being absent, not being allowed to do fun stuff because of mourning). Keeper overhears them, and invites them to come back and dance every night.