DISCLAIMER: *shudders* HATE this thing - it reminds me that none of them exist, but still, I suppose I gotta do it...I own nothing but my plot, Carmen Geum, Basil Kobalde (yes, he WILL be in it this time) and the All-Seeing-Eye. *shudder* enough all ready!!!

TO MY REVIWERS: thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!!! To everyone who reviewed! I'm, eternally grateful!!!! Thanks to: Princess Karita, Lilyana, palace freak, reviewer, Blue yeti, Eleida, avalon, salem cone, animefanatic07, Artemis Fowl the second, Hols da mad one, weido, Lli, and Hermione Weasely. Love ya all. Oh, and Holly, YOU BAD, BAD GIRL!!!! YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO READ THIS!!!!!!!! BAAAD GIRL!!! And what was the point of nagging me about updates when I was in the same room, sitting barely 2m away form you, writing it? ^_~

On with the story!!!! *William Tell Overture starts to play in the background* dadada, dadada, dada da da da, dadada,dadada, dada da dun da...sorry about that... in a strange mood today...

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NEAR THE MANOR HOUSE WHERE THE BALL WAS BEING HELD, NORTHEAST BANK OF HAVEN:

Holly and Foaly had agreed to meet a couple of blocks away from where the ball was being held. Holly arrived first, and stood outside a hat shop – this was a very upper-class neighbourhood – shifting nervously from foot to foot. When Foaly finally rounded the corner, she couldn't help but laugh. She knew it was cruel, but the centaur in a smart evening suit was just too much not to. However, by the time he reached her, she had herself under control.

"Hello Foaly. I was starting to think you'd done a runner on me!" she said, winking cheekily at him.

Foaly just stared at her in amazement. He hadn't recognised Holly at first. It was only when she had spoken to him that he'd realised who she was. All he could do was gawp at her. It was incredible! He'd never seen anything quite like this before!

Holly coloured slightly. "Put your eyeballs back in, techie-all-fours. There's no need to stare. Anyway, look at you, all dressed up in your suit! You look so dashingly handsome, oh centaur of mine!" She fluttered her eyelashes and pretended to swoon. If he was going to be like that about her appearance, she was certainly going to do it back to him.

Foaly got over his shock, and poked her in the stomach, causing her to double over in defence. "Don't knock it, Short. You don't know how hard it is to find a quadruped suit these days! The amount of places I had to go to, you'd think I'd asked for a human-size or something!

Holly thumped him playfully on the arm. "If you say so centaur. We'd better get going though, or we're going to be late, and you know what the commander is like if you do that!"

*

Holly and Foaly arrived at the manor house with just two minutes to spare. They were stopped at the door, and their invitations demanded before they were allowed to enter. Security was tight. The LEP weren't taking any chances. Only fairies with an invitation were let past the bodyguards positioned at the manor gates. As an extra precaution, the location of the ball had been kept as secret as possible, and Holly hadn't even been able to tell Carmen where it was. Only those who were coming had been told. It hadn't even said it on the invitations.

They were admitted, and made their way to the ballroom, where the event was being held. By human standards, it was quite an old manor, and had been built about two and a half centuries earlier, during the ball craze that had happened in Haven around that time. All the big manor houses had been built with these huge rooms, designed only for formal occasions, when formal balls had been all the rage. Foaly had even gone to a few himself, though he had never liked that kind of thing. He wasn't good at formal parties. To him, the words seemed like a contradiction in terms. In his opinion, parties were supposed to be fun, and a time for everyone to relax and be themselves. Exactly the opposite of what was happening there tonight. Oh well.

They followed the signs that had been put up to guide them, and arrived in the small antechamber outside the room, where they stood anxiously, trying to work up the courage to enter. Sure, trolls, goblin overthrows, and criminal masterminds were scary, but they had nothing on this. This was in a different league altogether. Neither of them wanted to be the first through that door.

Eventually, however, they agreed to go together, and feeling not just slightly apprehensive, they went in. They, or should I say Foaly, was spotted by the commander, who came over to greet them. Root wondered who the pretty, young elf on Foaly's arm was. She looked vaguely familiar, though he couldn't quite place her. However, as he reached them, he recognised her at once. It was Holly! Root stopped for a moment, stunned. He recovered himself, and closed the gap between them.

Holly, who had seen the look on his face, sighed. "Here we go again..." she muttered quietly to herself, wishing fervently that she could sink into the polished wooden floor. Why hadn't she tried harder to catch some horrible, contagious disease when she had had the chance? Anything, even the plague, would be better than this. Holly tried desperately to keep her face from turning a nice, bright, cherry colour, and failed miserably. Root tactfully ignored her discomfort. There was no need to make this any harder for her than it already was.

He showed them where they could find food and refreshments, and pointed out a few of the important and influential people in the room whom they didn't already know or work with. One name in particular caught Holly's attention. It was as Root was naming a few of the civilians present.

"That's Lady Camilla, wife of one of the council members, there, standing by that flower arrangement, and talking to her is the owner of this manor. You need to be particularly nice to him, as he is a friend of Lope's, and was kind enough to let us use this place." He pointed subtly to the good-looking elf in the expensive dinner jacket who was standing next to a middle-aged pixie. "His name is Basil Kobalde. The sprite next to him is - "

Holly held up a hand to stop him. "Did you say Basil Kobalde?" she asked, attempting to sound casual.

Root looked at her suspiciously. "Yes. Why? Do you know him?"

"I used to. Or at least I thought I did." Holly answered, not taking her eyes off the elf in question. The commander, noticing the glare Basil was receiving, sensed trouble ahead. Obviously Holly had some unresolved issues with this fairy, though what they were, he couldn't quite guess. Whatever it was, however, it couldn't be allowed to get in the way now.

Root grasped her by the shoulders and turned her around to face him. Holly tore her gaze from Kobalde, and looked up at him with a question in her eyes, daring him to ask her what the problem was. He ignored the challenge, and fixed her with a stern, reprimanding look instead.

"Holly, I'm serious about this! Whatever your feelings for Mr Kobalde are, you have to put them aside now. I don't want you, or anyone for that matter, getting into scraps with anyone else, and especially not the host! Got that? I don't need one of my officers disgracing the LEP! I'm frowned upon for letting you stay as it is, and if you pull a stunt like this, you'll be out, and I won't be able to do anything to stop it. Do you understand?"

Holly's insides burned with fury. He knew nothing. He had no idea what Basil had put her through... no idea at all. But she knew she couldn't risk arguing with the commander. Not again. She couldn't disobey a direct order without a tactical reason. There was nothing tactical about wanting to punch someone's lights out.

She nodded sullenly, and turned away in disgust. She clenched her fists, and squeezed hard, to help calm her down. She couldn't just go around attacking random people. She didn't need to be labelled as psychologically insane.

Foaly, it seemed, had just caught on to who the cause of all this controversy was. He turned to Holly, having just remembered where he had heard Kobalde's name.

"Is that the guy who told you that he - "

"Yes" said she quickly, not wanting him to say it, or to have Root hear.

Foaly nodded slowly, catching on. "And was he the one who got Carm - "

"Yes Foaly, that's the one." Holly hissed nervously, throwing a glance at Root, who was looking a bit too interested for her liking. Foaly caught the hint, and shut up quickly, with an apologetic look at Holly. Unfortunately, however, the commander's curiosity had been aroused.

He looked from Foaly to Holly, and then back to Foaly. "Oh, so you know him too, do you Foaly? May I ask how?" he asked suspiciously, eyeing the pair cautiously.

Foaly swallowed nervously, trying to think of an answer that wouldn't get Holly or himself in any more trouble. "Well..." he said slowly, staring fixedly at the floor. "Not exactly. I only know him from what Holly's told me."

Root, seeing that he wasn't going to get anymore information out of either of them, decided to deliver his ultimatum.

"The two of you had better behave yourselves, or the consequences will be dire. Get it?"

Holly and Foaly nodded.

"Good. Now try to look like you're enjoying yourself. This isn't supposed to be a punishment. Much as that may be difficult to believe."

And with that, he left them. Holly flexed her fists, biting her lips together to prevent them from voicing her angry thoughts. Control yourself, girl, she told herself sternly. You can deal with this. Just breathe in, and breathe out. In, and out. That's it. Nice and calm. Just breathe. Slowly, the worst of the anger drained away, but she was left with a fury that simmered and bubbled deep inside her. And at some point it would have to be released, and there would be nothing that she could do to stop it.

*****

*happy sigh* well. There it was at last. Chapter 4. Sorry I took so long, but I just started school, and I'm getting loads of homework...you know how it is. This chapter was actually gonna be a bit longer, but I decided if I put the rest in, it would take me ages, and it would get shortened and rushed. So anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!! I KNOW YOU HAVE HOMEWORK, BUT PLEASE REVIEW ANYWAY!!!! PPPPLLLLLLEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! Oh, yeah, and I'm gonna sort out italics and stuff on fri...it went a bit wrong this time, so hopefully, next time, I can get 'em!

Bye for now, slime xxxx

p.s: POWER TO THE MUSHROOOMS AND THE GREEN AND YELLOW PAINT!!!!!!!!