One: The Morning After

Though by now it would be dusk aboveground, here in Haven it was morning again–or what passed for morning when there was only the artificial light of the sun strips to mark it. The main thoroughfare was jammed with gnomes ambling along and sprites zipping overhead, one swooping low enough to ruffle the hair of a tall elf, almost causing an accident, and leaving behind him a string of cursing pedestrians. Their voices blended with the profanities from a cluster of swear toads.

Yet somehow, in spite of it all, Holly found herself grinning ear to ear.

Police Plaza was within sight when Holly realized people were staring. It wasn't normal for LEP officers to look so cheerful as they battled their way through morning foot traffic. In fact it was downright unnatural. And worrisome. Holly did her best to school her features before she unsettled anyone too much. It was not an easy task. She hadn't felt this good in ages, giddier than if she'd taken a happy-shot from one of the LEP psychiatrists. She resolved not to mention this to Artemis when she spoke to him after her shift; he was smug enough as it was.

Even the fleeting thought of Artemis set her heart thrumming. It was embarrassing really, but as she arrived at Police Plaza and made her way through the lobby, it was all she could do to avoid humming. But she'd been to the surface last night and it was only natural for her to be in a fair mood today, right? And if she strode towards her cubicle with a little more spring in her step than normal, it was just because yesterday had been a gloriously full moon. Surely no one would think anything of that.

"You're awfully chipper today."

Holly could feel herself flush. Was it that obvious? "Good morning, Commander," she greeted Trouble Kelp.

"Have a good surface visit?"

"Yes," she replied, a little more quickly than she'd meant to. "Lovely. It was a Beltaine moon, you know." The moon's magic was stronger at the Equinox, known as Beltaine and Samhain in the old country.

"Oh I know," Trouble replied dourly.

She took a good look at him then, only now noticing the dark smudges beneath his eyes and the rumpled look of his uniform. "Have you been home yet, Commander?"

He shook his head. "No time. We had a dozen Retrieval teams up there in eight different times zones."

"It does get rather busy on a Beltaine full moon," Holly said, feeling a little guilty. She'd been ordered by the Council to check in on Artemis... but her orders hadn't covered the rest of the evening's activities. She did her best to blot out the memory of Artemis's skin, pale and warm to the touch, the curve of his shoulders, his spine beneath her fingertips – with very little success.

"Fowl didn't give you any trouble, did he?"

Holly felt her face flushing, but she managed to keep her tone perfectly even. "No. No trouble." A shiver ran down her spine as she remembered the touch of his lips, trailing along her skin.

"The Council's expecting your report in a couple of hours."

Now there was something to sour even the best of moods. "Yes, sir."

Trouble grinned. "Try not to sound so enthusiastic when you're in the Council room."

"I'll try to tone it down, Commander," she replied and then continued on her way to her cubicle.

She spared a few moments to glance through the pile of e-forms newly deposited on her desk and the messages waiting in her inbox, and then, with a deep breath, headed for the ops booth. Better to have this over with sooner rather than later.

She knocked on the ops booth security glass. A moment later Foaly's voice came through the intercom. "Sorry, Holly. Can't talk now. Terribly busy, you know."

"Foaly, you open this door, right now."

The ops booth was, of course, completely unassailable, but Foaly must have realized he would have to leave its safety eventually if he ever wanted to return home. That being the case, he opted to buzz Holly in.

"Holly," Foaly said, tail swishing frantically, almost knocking over an energy drink on his console. "Good to see you. That is..." She suppressed a groan as she noticed colour rising in the centaur's cheeks. Well that answered one question: he definitely had checked her helmet's cam feed last night.

"How much did you see?"

He opened his mouth as if about to protest but snapped it shut as she glowered at him. His eyes dropped. "Nothing adult-rated." Holly sighed with relief. Well there was that at least. "When I noticed your suit wasn't giving any readings I tried contacting you via your helmet and when that didn't work I got worried and checked the camera feed. All standard procedure."

She should have thrown something over the helmet – Artemis's shirt maybe – but she'd still have had to explain the lack of readings from her suit. Equipment malfunction? That would only work once. And she had every intention of taking that suit off the next time she had the chance to visit the surface; there was certainly nothing malfunctioning with Artemis's equipment.

"I hope you're not going to smile like that when you make your report to the Council," Foaly said, interrupting her thoughts, which had gotten dangerously off-track again. "Mud Boy must be more athletic than I gave him credit for. Or I suppose it's Mud Man now?"

Holly crossed her arms. "Are you finished?"

Foaly considered this for a moment. "For today. Honestly, Holly, what were you thinking?"

"I love him, Foaly."

"But it's Fowl."

"Exactly."

She met his gaze until he dropped his eyes. It didn't take long. It had been three years since she and Artemis had returned from Hybras and switched eyes, but even now she found people were often uncomfortable meeting her gaze. Her friends and colleagues had noticed the change immediately and she'd had to explain what had happened dozens of times. She had the impression that they were unsettled to know it was Artemis's blue eye, as if he could somehow watch them from the inside of her skull. Grub Kelp was forever skittering away when he saw her; the new eye definitely had advantages.

"Are you going to report me?" she asked finally.

He smiled and keyed in a series of commands in his keyboard. "For what? Shagging a Mud Man while on duty? I don't think there's actually a law against that."

"Thank you, Foaly."

"Just... be careful, Holly. You know how Artemis is."

"Oh I know," Holly said, smiling. "I know better than anyone."