Seven: Afterword
It was, Holly reflected, quite peculiar to walk the streets of a human city as if she were just one more Mud Person. The night air was crisp and scented with fallen leaves as she drew in a deep breath. For once she had managed to acquire some inconspicuous clothes as her disguise, though considering the way Samhain was celebrated here in the Americas, with Mud Men parading around the streets in disguises of their own, it hardly seemed to matter.
Her companion, who appeared to all as a small boy in a flowery robe, was peering around every which way, delight obvious on his features. This was the second All Hallow's Eve No 1 had been to the surface, but he was just as excited as last year. Qwan believe it was important that No 1 have a solid knowledge of the Mud People and he had gotten permission from Commander Vinyáya for this little outing. Tonight he could roam around freely disguised as Ferdinand with little risk, though that had not prevented the flight commander from assigning an armed guard. Scattered around them were a dozen shielded fairies, blasters at the ready.
Holly smiled at the glee evident on her friend's face as he observed the human children in costumes, toddling up to houses and demanding treats. She ignored the fumes of passing cars and focussed on the luxury of surface air, the crunch of copper-coloured leaves beneath her boots, and the tingle of the full moon's light.
No 1's voice drew her from her thoughts. "You love Artemis, don't you?"
"Yes, of course," she replied without hesitation. With No 1 it was not a loaded question; he loved everyone.
"Did you know that the French language doesn't have a verb 'to like'? They only have 'to love': aimer."
She titled her head and considered this a moment. She'd used French now and then during the course of her career, but not extensively. "I hadn't ever thought about it."
A pack of Mud Boys and Mud Girls swarmed past followed by a pair of haggard-looking adults. No 1 paused to observe them with rapt fascination and then resumed their stroll along the sidewalk. "In Spanish," he continued, "the verb to love isn't normally used for romantic love; instead people use querer, the verb 'to want.'"
"I see."
No 1 grimaced. "In the demon dialect of Gnommish, to love is the same word as to eat."
A smile quirked Holly's lips. "After meeting Abbot I can understand why."
"I love everyone," No 1 announced, and then, brows creased, "but I don't want to eat anyone."
Holly chuckled. "And I don't want to eat Artemis. Now what brought this up?"
A gust of wind sent dry leaves spiralling around them in a whirlwind of crimson, copper, and gold, and Holly yearned to take to the sky. Nights like these were made for flying.
No 1 snatched a leaf from midair and studied it as he spoke. "Qwan and I have been studying coercive magic."
"Coercive magic?" Holly repeated, a chill running down her spine.
"Like love spells."
"Those have been banned for centuries."
"Yes," No 1 agreed. "They do cause a lot of trouble. Then there's the mesmer. Qwan was saying that while you can push someone with the mesmer, you can't make them go completely against their personality. You can't make them hurt someone if they're gentle. Or you can't make someone fall in love. That was an example he used." Holly nodded mutely. It was illegal to use the mesmer on other fairies but humans were fair game. She herself had employed the technique many times in the line of duty, but 'coercive' was not a pretty word. "I can't ever practice it so I've had to just study the theory. Do you think Artemis would let me practice on him?"
That suggestion could not but put a smile on her lips. "I don't think he'd care for the idea."
"What if I proposed it as a new experience? He has no idea what it's like to be mesmerised."
"Actually he does. I used the mesmer on him once."
No 1 cocked his head. "I thought he wore mirrored glasses when he kidnapped you?"
Holly nodded. "He did. It was six months later when we suspected him of being involved in the goblin rebellion. I'm the one who brought him in."
"Oh," No 1 said, drooping slightly, "I suppose I'll never get to practice it then. Though, I'm not sure I'd like it much anyway." His brow crinkled. "What did you make him do?"
"Hmm?"
"When he was mesmerised."
"I told him to take a nap." She shrugged, smiling. "I didn't like him very much at the time."
No 1 tilted his head and peered at her for a moment. "Holly, when you said you loved Artemis..."
She raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were here to study Mud Men. Don't you have a report to write for Qwan when you get back?"
But as the wind whipped the autumn leaves into a frenzy, dancing in the air around them, Holly found herself smiling. A couple of months until the winter solstice and then... then...
ooo
There were two messages from Holly in his inbox that afternoon, one blue – a business email pertaining to the ongoing hunt for the two Opal Kobois – and one green. A personal message. But business before pleasure. Artemis read through the business message first and, as it was mainly a status update and didn't require a reply, moved on to the personal message.
He smiled as he read it. He'd been hoping for this bit of news.
As far as the vacation goes, things are always busy for Recon around the solstice but everything should be normal by the twenty-sixth and Trouble agreed to give me the time off. And my visa came through. The Council approved it, though Commander Vinayáya mentioned that there was hemming and hawing and she had to scare them a little before they caved. But, Arty, are you sure you don't want to spend the holidays with your family?
Of course I'm sure, was his first response. Milan was lovely, but faced with the choice between two weeks with his parents and seven-year-old brothers, or two weeks alone with Holly, it was a not a difficult decision. He would spend Christmas with his family and then they would head off to Italy for the remainder of the twins' winter break, and he would have Fowl Manor all to himself. And Butler, needless to say.
It was perfect.
Much of the time, trying to organise their little trysts was a complicated affair and they were lucky if they saw each other once a month. He had hoped to see her this week as the LEP had been busy due to Samhain (the number of rogue fairies swelled during such seasonal holidays) but sadly nothing had come up close enough that she could fly over to Ireland afterwards.
He read on about No 1's educational surface visit, and paused over the closing of the letter. At first he thought there was a typo. It seemed to read "take care, gold Artemis." Take care of gold? Take care of your gold? Puzzled, he read it over.
Gnommish was quite foreign compared to other languages he had studied and mastered so it took him an entire second and a half to fully realize the word was not in fact "gold." The root was certainly "gold," but it had been combined with something else – a diminutive, he realized, as he scanned his memory for examples. It took him another quarter of a second to work out what that meant and when he did, a profound sense of satisfaction washed over him, not because he had made out the word's meaning, but because of the meaning itself.
Leaning back into his chair, Artemis allowed a very wide smile to creep across his face. The word was an endearment.
Many endearments hinged on stating the worth of the beloved. One of the most common French endearments was "cher," which also happened to mean "expensive." Gold. What was more valuable? Even fairies were drawn to it, lured by its shimmer. The term Holly had employed was perhaps as common in Gnommish as "dear" or "darling" in English, but for a moment, he revelled in it. That word spoke volumes; it said, you are as treasured as gold.
Artemis smiled some more. He had somehow managed to get Holly Short to fall in love with him. All other feats paled against that one.
