Artemis belongs to Eoin Colfer, Ailíne belongs to Julienne Potato, Tinkerbell belongs to J.M. Barrie and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Tinkerbell
The nursery was warm and quiet as the sound of his voice lulled her into comfortable drowsiness, but there was something she must tell him.
"Daddy?" Ailíne fixed her large hazel eyes on her father as he closed the book.
"Yes, a stór?" Artemis smiled down at her while she snuggled into her pillow, preparatory to sleep.
"I'm a big girl now."
"Are you indeed?"
"Yes I am. So you could read me a big girl's book next time, 'cos I don't believe in fairies."
The night-light's glow was too dim for her to see the tears in his eyes.
This was inspired by Julienne Potato's lovely story 'Growing Up' and she has kindly given me permission to post it. I tried to capture the bitter-sweet quality of the original. Ailíne is a variant spelling of Aillén which means little elf,' a stór' means my dear or my darling.
