She should have called ahead, but she'd wanted to surprise him with her visit. Through the gap in the curtains she could see...

The yellow light of the single lamp gave Artemis's pale complexion colour, and made Minerva's olive skin and blonde hair look almost gilded. And what a lot of Minerva's skin there was.

No only was Minerva a very feminine woman in build and temperament, and Holly not so much, but there was a greater difference in size and build between the sexes in humans than in Elves, and Holly found herself feeling quite inadequate. Though he was trying valiantly, Artemis couldn't contain one of Minerva's full, soft-looking, breasts in a hand, while hers would probably fit in his mouth. So long as he was careful with his teeth, anyway.

"Holly," Foaly said sympathetically in her ear, and she tore off her helmet. She didn't want to talk about this now. She alighted in a near-by tree, and sat down to cry a bit.

Shortly afterwards, someone joined her, wrapping her in strong arms and soft, feathery wings. "Shh, child," he said.

She looked up. "Great-grandfather?" she asked. She remembered her mother saying he'd felt the need to meddle personally in her and Holly's father's courtship, though at least he'd been acquainted with Coral beforehand. What of him she could see certainly looked to her like Cupid, in the form he was usually depicted by fairies, a young nude elf with red-blond hair and matching feathered wings.

"Of course I am," he said, and kissed her forehead. "You can hardly blame the boy for straying into more willing arms when you're swearing vehemently you have no intention of making a claim. If you'd gone in anyway, he would have sent her away."

"That doesn't make me feel any better," she said, and pulled away a little. Unfortunately, she was right next to the trunk, so there was no further to go.

"I know. Remember who made you feel that way."

"Yeah, thanks a lot," she said sarcastically, leaning into the trunk.

Cupid appeared to take the hint and let go of her, standing up from his seat on the branch they'd shared and pacing on thin air in front of her. "Holly is not merely one of the few things green in the depths of winter, it grows its fruit then."

"That doesn't mean it has to be grateful for the cold." She paused, tracing patterns in the frost on the trunk. "I don't like this metaphor."

He stopped in front of her and tilted her chin up with a finger. "Who says it was a metaphor? You're named for that sacred plant, that symbolises strength in all situations."

"But why? Haven't I had to show enough strength in under fire already? I don't even know which choice is supposed to be the right one, let alone if I can make it."

"Yes you do," he said gently. "None of these things have been tests, dear one, they've been things that needed doing that fell to you because you had the strength to endure them."

"That would make Artemis something that needs doing, which winds up as a terrible double entendre."

"I know," Cupid said smugly, "but once you adjust to the size difference, you really won't find doing him difficult."

"Size ... oh my gods," she said, and hid her face in her hands.

The branch dipped slightly, as if beneath his weight, and he patted her on the back, just above the wing-rig. "That double meaning was unintentional."

"That wasn't a double meaning, it was outright bawdy," Holly said.

"I was serious. Making love to someone who is much larger or smaller than you does take some adjusting to, but the difference in cock size between humans and elves isn't always as big as the difference in body size. I don't think you'll find him uncomfortably built at all."

"Oh." She looked up, and thought for a moment. "Is Minerva going to find him inadequately built?" Why Holly was thinking about that she didn't know -- if anything she ought to want Minerva to be horribly disappointed and not want to do it again.

"Minerva didn't find him anything. They stopped while we were talking, and she went back to her own bed."

"She did? I'd have thought ..."

"They're still young, younger than it is socially acceptable to be sexually active, and even though they turned to each other for comfort, neither wanted to go any further with someone who isn't the one they love."

"Who's ..."

"No one you know, or will be important, though his name's Alain."

"Stop interrupting me," she snapped, and then immediately felt stupid. Family or not, she'd just snapped at a god, and three generations back was hardly immediate family.

But instead of turning her into some appropriate animal as angry gods have been known to do, he just patted her on the back again.

"So, I should ... " she moved to begin hovering.

Cupid held on to her arm and shook his head. "Not just yet, he's ... busy."

"Busy?"

Cupid facepalmed. "What do you think he's doing?" he hissed.

Holly twigged. Of course, what else would a functioning young man be doing very shortly after having had a woman he desired half-naked in his arms? "Somehow, knowing that is worse than thinking he was in the middle of screwing her."

"Sorry," said Cupid, and patted her again, then, hand stilling on her shoulder, briefly got a distracted look. "Aaaaand ... he's done. Go on, then. Act shocked if he hasn't got his pants back on by the time you get there."

"Foaly's going to want to talk the second I put my helmet back on."

"He has been able to see and hear me, you know," Cupid said, bending to peer into the helmet camera and waving at Foaly through it with a cheeky smile. "Don't worry about it. At least, you won't have to if he doesn't want Caballine to suddenly fall out of love with him. I'm sure it can wait for a face-to-face conversation."

"I'm not sure I appreciate you using such dire threats on my friends, but thanks. I ... should I? Now?"

"Your choice. He probably deserves to sweat a bit for letting you think you'd given his mother spelltropy, but you don't claim him soon, he really might end up 'screwing' Minerva, and it's gonna be a little while before your next chance. It's not going to effect the proper course of events much, but there's a chance he'll get her pregnant, which wouldn't be good."

"I don't think I'd like that either," Holly admitted.

Artemis opened the window at her knock, and his face lit up, though he hid it quickly. "Hello, Holly," he said.

"Hello Artemis," she replied, and jumped off the sill into the room. "Io Saturnalia."

"Merry Christmas. Why are you here? Did something happen?"

She shook her head, and pulled her helmet back off. Artemis had re-dressed, and looked as immaculate as it was possible to in pyjamas, but even without the divinely revealed knowledge of what he'd been doing, she'd know from the scent of the room. "Just had a recon, then I came to do the Ritual since I was up here. A Saturnalia full moon is especially auspicious. Foaly said he could cover for me for a quick visit with you and Butler."

Artemis shut the window. "Butler might not be asleep yet. Shall we go check, and then perhaps have some tea?"

She found herself smiling, and replied, "Sounds good."

It turned out Butler was asleep, and she sent calming vibes in his direction just to make sure he stayed that way as Artemis peeked around the door into the darkened room. "I'm afraid you'll have to suffer through my attempt at making tea, then," Artemis remarked, as they headed off towards the kitchen.

"I'll survive."

Holly did notice the mistletoe, but while, like her name-sake, it was a sacred plant to The People, the fertility symbolism which had lead to kissing beneath it becoming a popular superstition among humans of North European origin had been invented out of whole cloth by their ancestors, and had nothing to do with the plant's actual magical qualities. As a result, she thought nothing more of it than she would have thought of a bunch of holly or a bit of tinsel.

She was therefore very confused to turn around shortly after walking past it to find Artemis lingering some distance behind her. "What are you dawdling for?" she asked.

"It's considered bad luck to get caught beneath the mistletoe with someone and not kiss them," he replied.

Well, that's one way to bring the subject up, she thought, and marched back to him, grabbed the hem of his shirt and dragged him forward towards the greenery. Once he was underneath it enough to count, she let go, turned around and hovered upwards.

Rather to her surprise, Artemis turned his face sideways and began backing away, his eyes hardening and mouth pinching seemingly against his will. "If this is just for the mistletoe, then no."

"Artemis, The People don't give mistletoe that significance. I changed my mind. That's all."

Artemis was still regarding her warily, as if he expected her to tear his heart out and stomp on it any second now.

She sighed. "Cupid told me personally this is meant to be. Actually, he said you're one of the things it falls to me to do because I'm the one strong enough to cope. And yes, the double meaning of 'do' exists in Gnommish too. He even admitted it was intentional."

"Cupid?" he asked incredulously, the wariness fading. "The god?"

"Yes," she replied calmly, reminding herself it was nearly two thousand years since it had been at all common for humans to worship the true gods, and so it did make sense for him to not believe in them.

"Are personal appearances usual?" he asked, merely sceptical now.

"Well, I've never met him before, nor any of the others, but he's my great-grandfather, and my mother met him a few times over her life."

"Yoo-hoo," Cupid called from behind her, and she turned around. He waved at them. He was wearing a slightly different form now, less common in The People's iconography but still recognisable as Cupid, that of a short Southern European human with golden hair and white wings, his facial features unchanged except for their colour, his nose and mouth still recognisable as her inheritance from him.

"You have his nose," Artemis said inanely.

"She does, doesn't she," Cupid agreed cheerfully. "Who do you think it looks better on?"

Artemis didn't answer, and she understood why: answering Holly could be taken as saying she's better-looking than a love god, which had got people into trouble in stories she knew humans had preserved, while answering Cupid could be taken as insulting to her.

"Point is, I exist. Carry on," he said, and disappeared.

When she turned back around, Artemis was wearing a stunned expression. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"It's a great deal to process," he said. "Did you only change your mind because he said?"

"His advice pointed me in the right direction. Technically, he's responsible for us feeling like this, so free will is a moot point anyway."

Artemis rolled his eyes, and stepped back toward her. "That's so comforting a thought."

"The world hasn't changed, Artemis, just your understanding of it. Now, kiss me, would you?"

And he did, pulling her to him with an arm around her waist and a hand on her shoulder, both gentlemanly and careful not to interfere with the beat of her wings, and starting off with a soft timorous peck, then reapplying himself to a proper kiss. This time, it was definitely Artemis kissing Holly, not her kissing him. Even without knowing he'd been somewhat intimate with Minerva, it would have been obvious he'd had some experience somewhere since their last kiss.

And then he tickled her. She screeched, flailed, lost control of her wings, and ended up going 'thump' into the wall just below the mistletoe and sliding down it. "Ow," she muttered, feeling her magic heal the broken capillaries before bruising could occur. "What was that for?"

Artemis bent and offered her a hand up. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting such a strong reaction."

Holly restrained herself from making a sour remark about Minerva liking to be tickled, the obvious place for the decision to tickle Holly to have originated, as she wasn't supposed to know.

"Never mind," she said. "Let's go have that tea."

Didn't manage to get this up during Saturnalia after all, though at least it's before Christmas. Am posting from stepdad's computer, as mine is down.