Disclaimer: The characters, much of the dialogue, and sadly, even the plot are not mine; they all belong to Eoin Colfer.

Pages: 199 – 206

Chapter 13: Tall and Hairy

Mulch finally came out of the bathroom. Although it appeared he hadn't heard a thing of their conversation, the dwarf coincidentally had a comment that went right along with Holly's previous train of thought concerning her old commander.

"That little lemur," he said. "The silky whatever. You know who he reminds me of with that buzz-cut hairdo?"

It was true; there was just something about the little creature that brought the visage of a certain person to mind.

"Commander Root," responded Holly, and she couldn't help smiling at the thought.

"Yep. A miniature Commander Root," agreed Mulch, nodding sagely as though he had just imparted some philosophical truth he himself had single-handedly uncovered.

"Julius Junior," Artemis supplied, joining in. Cute. Needless to say, a highly unusual form of input for Artemis. But then, though outwardly he seemed as self-possessed as ever, Holly thought she detected a certain buoyancy about his mood now, as though at any moment they might catch him humming as he went about his work if he wasn't careful.

Still smiling slightly as they finally arrived in Fez, Holly said, "Jayjay. That's his name." Her fingers shifted subtly on the controls as she made to prepare for landing. "Now, let's go get him."

Holly put the craft down in a sandpit on a rural golf course some distance from the crowded main city. Artemis thought, and Holly agreed, that this was secluded enough of a spot that it was unlikely anyone would stumble across the shielded shuttle by accident.

Meanwhile Holly and Mulch were by now both fairly well acquainted with Artemis's plan, and now all they had to do was determine what equipment would facilitate what role. Picking through the items they had swiped from the lockup at Tara earlier, Holly seized the only Neutrino as well as what appeared on the surface to be an ordinary duffel bag.

The duffel was in actuality a sort of inflatable pod that could be blown up and used as a transportable hideout, just big enough for two. It would make an excellent temporary base for this operation, as it would enable Artemis and Holly to situate themselves pretty much wherever they chose and still remain unnoticed once their targets arrived. In addition, Artemis would be able to keep well hidden and far back from the fight, so as not to become a liability when the action started, yet he'd still be close enough to direct his two allies' movements if need be.

However, Holly found herself staring distastefully down at the crumpled gray material. If it was anything like the usual gear doled out to LEP officers within their budget-deprived department, she somehow doubted it was going to transform into a deluxe office suite. But, comfortable or not, she supposed it would have to do.

Artemis soon came across a saucer-shaped disk, which Holly reached over and pressed a button on the side that made it fold out into what looked like a motor-powered scooter with a long, black leather seat. According to Artemis, the scooter must have been fashioned to resemble a 1950s Lambretta, though he added as an aside that, if he knew Foaly, he would guess it to also have plenty of useful fairy technological marvels worked into its makeup.

"At the very least, it will make getting to the correct location within a reasonable time frame quite a bit more manageable, I would say," he commented.

Lastly, Artemis dragged out a small, folded-up stack of native garb from a multitude of disguises from a variety of human cultures from all over the world among what Holly and Mulch had gathered from the lockup.

"Hopefully," he said as they hefted the supplies back to the cockpit, "these will be able to provide us another layer of cover to prevent our being noticed while we are en route to the trade-off point. The last thing we want is for a curious bystander to give our description to the wrong individual, and tip my younger self off to our presence."

Holly nodded, but didn't have anything to add as they set their burdens down and Artemis quickly sorted out the clothing.

Peering over his shoulder, Holly saw that for her there was a headscarf to conceal her pointed ears among the materials as well as a sort of dark, robe-like dress that her gift of tongues told her was called an abaya. The loose dress would hopefully help to keep her distinctly adult proportions from being too conspicuous. Artemis had found an extra-long brown shirt that went all the way down to his knees and a pair of sandals for himself. However, Holly saw no sandals her size among what Artemis had brought out, so she figured that meant she would have no choice but to keep wearing Artemis's loafers.

As she looked at the dwindling pile, Holly realized something.

"Only two?" she asked.

"It is still daylight even if it will soon start to cool off," Artemis answered, "so it goes without saying that Mr. Diggums will be approaching the souk via the underground. Therefore, he will have no need for a disguise. The two of us will take the scooter loaded with the necessary equipment and make our way to the trade-off location separately."

Holly shrugged as she took up the dress and scarf, holding them up to get a better look at them. The abaya would probably reach all the way down past her ankles, which she noted may make it difficult to run in if she found herself in a situation where she needed to make a quick getaway.

Since joining the LEP, Holly had gotten into the habit of never wearing anything that could impede her movement or possibly trip her up, and she had never particularly cared for any clothing that might be considered feminine anyway. So Holly would guess it had probably been years since she had worn her last dress. Perhaps not since that time her mother had agreed to go to that upscale party one of her doctor friends was throwing, and after a long argument her mother had managed to force her into that white silk nightmare...

Holly felt a lump try to form in her throat, and she quickly forced her mind back to the present.

Holly lifted the abaya again. In any case, it didn't appear the skirt would reach far enough to conceal the shoes that clearly did not match with the rest of the costume. Holly could only hope no one would pay her enough mind to notice.

Artemis coughed slightly, causing Holly to turn round. He said briskly, though keeping his voice fairly low, "Very well then, I shall take the cargo hold, you take the bathroom and we will reconvene in just a few minutes."

"Right," said Holly, annoyed with herself when she felt her face growing slightly warm. It wasn't really the sort of thing she should worry about in the middle of a mission, but the thought of changing clothes was bringing back slightly unpalatable memories. She recalled with a mental groan Nº1's parting joke as they'd stood there in their underwear holding hands, "I now pronounce you man and elf."

Holly noticed Mulch watching them curiously from across the cockpit. He grinned and winked, and suddenly she was extremely grateful for the fact that only Foaly and Nº1 had been involved in that particular scene before she and Artemis had made their way back to this time. However wince-worthy Nº1's attitude had been, Mulch's version was bound to have been a hundred times worse.

Holly's face quickly morphed into a glare. "Well, how long are you going to stand there?" she demanded aggressively. "We're not getting any younger here, and we'll be traveling faster than you."

Mulch frowned, pretending to look hurt. "Okay, okay. No need to get vicious, Captain. I didn't know you were so old you'd be worrying about your age already, guess it must be a female thing." He turned to Artemis and said in a stage whisper, putting the back of one hand to one side of his mouth as though to block Holly out, "Captain or not, I think maybe this one needs to deal with some of those anger issues before she's given authority over others."

Artemis's lip twitched as though he were trying not to smile.

Before Holly could cut in with her own acidic comeback however, Artemis said, "Yes, thank you, Mulch. But it is true we are a little pressed for time."

"Time travelers, pressed for time," he said, smirking. "Now isn't that interesting."

Holly made a noise in her throat not unlike a growl. However, Mulch ignored her as he stood up leisurely from his chair and, sauntering over to the side exit, abruptly took off into the underground, though not before he shot one last insinuating grin at Holly over his shoulder. If he was disappointed his two companions were now on speaking terms again, he certainly wasn't showing it.

As soon as he was gone, Holly slumped, grimacing and rubbing her forehead as though suddenly exhausted. "Always a battle to get him to do much of anything," she muttered. "I just hope he doesn't decide to up and ditch us on this fiasco. We'd be in serious trouble."

"Little worry of that, I think," said Artemis, who by this time was already halfway to the cargo hold.

Holly let her hand fall from her face and she turned to him, eyebrows slightly raised. "Glad to see you so confident all of sudden."

Artemis shrugged slightly, pausing at the door and turning his head back a moment to say, "Simple matter of what cards we hold, and what is in his best interests. First of all, we have the shuttle's starter chip. As a thief, Mulch is far from lacking intelligence, and to leave now would mean abandoning much of the reward he has been working for. Even if he decides the shuttle itself is not particularly valuable, an entire trolley would certainly be cumbersome to cart around without something with which to transport it."

However, despite this speech, Holly thought she noticed the boy double-checking his pocket for the chip just to be sure.

Holly couldn't help grinning slightly. "I guess you're right," she said. "For a second there, I thought you were going to say something about how he's going to be our friend someday and we should try to believe in him."

Artemis shrugged again, though the tiniest smile curled the corner of his mouth. "Such naivety is not a trait I possess, unfortunately."

Isn't that the truth, she thought. And, laughing slightly and shaking her head, Holly gathered up the abaya and headscarf and turned toward the bathroom.

Holly quickly stripped out of Artemis's suit, which, now that she took the time to notice, looked thoroughly beaten and worn, with too many tears and threads coming loose everywhere, as though the wearer had been through several natural disasters. She wondered what little Artemis would think about it once he noticed the state of his first suit when it finally made its way back to the closet in Fowl Manor.

Holly quickly donned the dress and pulled on the headscarf so that it went completely over her head, covering her neck. This was quite a bit better than the wig she had to say, which was beginning to fall apart now after all it had been put through. The scarf stayed on quite a bit better, and she didn't have to keep reaching up to check that her pointed ears were completely covered.

Holly stepped back to give herself a quick examination in the mirror. Besides the mismatched eyes, she thought she could easily pass as a native girl if no one got too close a look at her face, which lacked the baby fat a real Mud Child her size would have had. In fact, with her darker skin tone she might actually blend in better than Artemis. There was no helping the fact that her human companion, pale as he was like he'd never spent a day in the sun in his life, was going to look like some lost tourist no matter what he wore.

Now, just one last thing. As Holly strapped the single Neutrino she had stolen out of the Tara lockup to her leg and pulled the long dress down to conceal it, she found herself feeling suddenly much better about their situation.

This was it – they would nab Jayjay and then hustle back to their own time. Finally.

Holly emerged from the bathroom to find Artemis already in the cockpit again, standing by the discarded holopack waiting for her. Seeing him in the overly-long shirt and sandals, with his long tangled black hair hanging in his face and stubble poking out of his chin, when usually the teenager never went anywhere without one of his precious suits or with one hair out of place, Holly found herself having to fight not to laugh.

Artemis was holding the platinum, Frisbee-sized disc which concealed the collapsible scooter, and had slung the duffel bag that was actually an inflatable cham pod over his shoulder.

Artemis surveyed her new appearance for a second, then nodded approvingly. "You'll fit right in."

"You too," said Holly, snickering.

Artemis handed her the duffel and was already going for the ceiling hatch.

"These disguises are more or less just a necessary precaution," he explained unconcernedly. "As I said, we do not want to attract attention unnecessarily. But this area is fairly remote, so if all goes well we will not run into many citizens up close, at least not for long enough to raise suspicions. Even when we arrive at the souk, which is near a more dense population and so has a great deal more activity, there are back paths we should be able to take to minimize human contact. For reasons that you will discover fairly quickly, most besides the leather workers do not like to spend a lot of time in that particular part of the city."

Holly decided not to ask about that last tidbit of information; she had a feeling she would know soon enough. Holly just nodded; he didn't have to explain any of this, but she was getting so she just rolled with it. Perhaps giving lectures was just Artemis's own peculiar way of calming his nerves.

Wordlessly, Holly climbed out the top hatch after Artemis. For a moment, the two of them probably appeared to be standing suspended in midair as they remained atop the round, dome-shaped part of the invisible ship poking out of the sand.

"I sure hope you're right about this, Artemis," said Holly, hopping down as Artemis carefully brought down one foot, then the other, though the height above the sand couldn't have been more than a foot. "I would sure hate to trek all the way down here only to discover this trade's actually taking place somewhere else."

Holly wiped sweat from her forehead. They had been standing in the sunlight for less than a minute, but the heat already felt as though it was being focused by a giant magnifying glass right on the spot where they stood. Evening would be setting in soon and the air was probably already starting to cool down from what it was when the sun was at midday, but the climate here was harsh.

"Indeed," Artemis agreed. "But there is little choice. We can't afford to miss this chance in the case that my memory is correct in this instance."

Holly sighed. "How far are we exactly from 'the souk' anyway?"

"Not far," Artemis assured her. He touched a button to activate the disc, which promptly unfolded into the LEP scooter disguised a Mud Man-made Lambretta. "Less than an hour and a half's journey from here, I would say."

One hour, twenty-seven minutes later, they arrived at the place known as 'the souk,' a large sort of courtyard filled with squat, circular stone vats packed closely together like the surface of a honeycomb. The area was surrounded by an almost continuous surface of off-white buildings spattered with dye from the vats the many workers were using to color the animal skins they intended to sell. The buildings were all connected, forming a kind of wall enclosing the area in an irregular geometric shape.

Despite how ghastly the smell was, the area was quite crowded, but Artemis managed to steer the both of them to a tall, old stone building that that would give them the perfect view of the entire souk from overhead.

Holly could not say that the trip over had been the most pleasant one in the world. Artemis had been the one to handle the driving, as usual, so that meant she had had to sit right behind him. Because of the dress, she'd thought at first she'd probably better try sitting sideways, even if it was less comfortable and made her feel some prissy princess-wannabe, not unlike Corporal Frond.

However, this plan was destined for failure as Artemis seemed to be in something of a hurry, apparently wanting to make certain they reached the souk before his younger self did, and so went faster than was probably safe for one of his reflexes to go. Consequently, every slight bump or hole they hit had threatened to throw her off, which, considering the state of the road in some areas, was quite often.

Consequently, it wasn't long before Holly was forced to give in to the fact that the most secure way to ride was to sit facing forward with her arms around Artemis's waist. She had to pull up her robe-like dress a bit (though not enough to reveal the Neutrino secured to her upper calf) to get her legs on either side of the scooter seat so she could sit properly, holding herself against the Mud Boy's back.

With the heat of the day beating down on them as they cruised along down the desert highway, when they finally reached their destination it almost felt like they had been glued together with sweat. It wouldn't have been any worse than anything else she had ever been forced to endure as a recon officer before, except that her mortified adolescent brain kept supplying her with the most idiotic thoughts that went something like: I really hope he's not thinking about how gross this feels.

Holly was forced to recover quickly however as they toted the duffel and scooter up a flight of stairs and came across the balcony Artemis had apparently remembered from his own previous visit to the souk eight years ago, which was happening in this time on his very day... Holly decided to stop trying to think too much on that one, before her head started to hurt. The point was, he already had the perfect spot for their purposes determined and so they made straight for it.

Holly didn't even bother to ask how he had even noticed, let alone remembered such a thing from so long ago. Instead, she turned her attention to getting the duffel blown up to its full capacity, probably less than twice the size of the holo-booth room from before at its largest. The piece of equipment was able to change color based on its surroundings, similar to a chameleon, hence the name "cham pod." Or, as Artemis would have said had Holly mentioned this, similar to the powers chameleons were generally mistakenly believed to possess.

In any case, the pod was virtually invisible to the workers and tourists below once they hoisted the pod down from the landing above and attached it to the dark surface underneath the protruding balcony. When the coast was clear, they climbed down into the exposed entryway at the side of the ovular object, and the pod swallowed them from sight.

Holly was far from astonished to find the pod every bit as cramped inside as she had expected – and that was by a fairy's standards. In fact, Holly had to suppress the feeling of claustrophobia that immediately washed over her, but it helped having the power to simply press a button to open the exit and leave of her own will if she needed to.

In fact, as she glanced over at Artemis, curled up in a virtual ball by the diminished size of the pod seats, Holly found herself grinning slightly and realized she was actually feeling rather cheerful, despite the circumstances. She must still be riding a kind of high from the talk with Julius.

And, she supposed, getting back on good terms with Artemis again wasn't hurting her attitude either.

"Like I said," noted Holly, eying Artemis's squashed form, legs crammed up against his chest, "you're getting tall." It was so bizarre – she would forget about it for a while only to have the oddness of it come back to her mind at the strangest times.

"And hairy," Artemis commented dryly, blowing at one of the many dark, rope-like strings that hung annoyingly in his face. That was one of the reasons Holly herself had always preferred to keep her hair on the short side, even before she'd joined the military-like training program in the LEP. Though now that she was long passed being a trainee where crew cuts were required, she impulsively had a thought she might try growing it out a bit again. Just for a change.

"Your hair was the only thing that stopped little Arty from recognizing himself, so be glad of it," Holly pointed out. She hoped her voice hadn't sounded as chipper to Artemis as it did to her.

However, her mood was dampened somewhat by the infernal smell rising up from the souk, which the simple cham pod didn't have the technology to even try to block out. The stench was so overpowering, Holly drew her headscarf up over her mouth and nose and held it there, though she had to admit it didn't help all that much.

According to Artemis, the smell came from the endless supply of diluted pigeon droppings which, because of the material's acidic qualities, was used by the workers to soften the animal skins for the leather before dying them.

"Why did Kronski choose the souk?" Holly asked. Damon Kronski was the name of the man young Artemis was doing business with, the president of the Extinctionists. The president ironically also held the title of 'doctor,' despite the fact that his only business was probably the killing of rare animals.

"The stink is almost unbearable," she added, "and I say that as a friend of Mulch Diggums."

The two of them chatted a bit more, and Holly was interested if a bit irked to learn that Kronski specifically picked out the souk as a setting because he had been born with a condition that meant he hadn't a sense of smell. Anosmia, so Artemis called it.

However, while they were talking the two of them continued to scan the crowd in the souk through the plastic portal inset into the wall of the cham pod in front of them, searching out their targets. Finally Artemis spotted the doctor amidst the tourists, tanners and salespeople, and pointed him out.

The man was hard to miss, now that Holly looked, big as he was and dressed in a ridiculous camouflage suit, like some kind of a Mud Man military official, though without the toned physical fitness of a real soldier. Kronski didn't look like he had done more exercise than eating hard-to-chew steaks and walking leisurely to drop-off points to exchange for animals he meant to slaughter in decades.

Even knowing what the Extinctionists stood for, the sort of things they did for "fun," Holly realized that she, having never seen one of them with her own eyes, had never until this moment fully appreciated just how despicable the people were. She felt her nose wrinkling, but this time it wasn't from the smell.

Extinctionists, she thought. What a concept. Only Mud Men would even think to build an entire organization around wiping out entire species. It was so ridiculous it was laughable – except they were all dead serious, so Holly couldn't so much as crack a smile.

"Look at him," she said with disgust. "He loves this."

And indeed, the man was enjoying every bit of it, she knew – being in a place that smelled so awful to all but himself, surrounded by hundreds, probably thousands of animal hides, provided through the deaths of so many animals, and on the verge of getting his hands on yet another animal to slaughter – He was probably having the time of his life.

Artemis did not respond for some reason. Perhaps he could not particularly find the ways of this 'Damon Kronski' so awful as she could. To a certain extent for him, business was business, after all. In the end, in his mind saving Jayjay was merely the means to saving his mother.

"There I am," said Artemis, gesturing at an area visible through the portal. "West corner."

Holly turned her attention from Kronski to finding the little villainous Artemis. It took a bit more doing than locating the doctor; unlike the pompous Extinctionist president, who probably wouldn't mind if the entire souk was looking at him, little Artemis, despite the fact he was hardly able to keep from standing out, being a ten-year-old boy dressed in a suit and gripping a cage with a rare animal stowed inside, was standing nearly concealed by one of the dye vats near the middle of the courtyard.

"It looks like your memory is accurate on this occasion," said Holly, shooting a glance at her human partner.

Artemis let out a small breath, otherwise his only indication that he had feared differently. But suddenly he froze, then sat up a little straighter, a faraway look in his eye.

Before Holly could ask "What is it?" the look was gone and Artemis was fiddling with the one-way touch screen, which allowed the occupants of the pod to blow up sections of what they were viewing through the portal. Artemis pointed at a magnified image of a sort of short stone table used perhaps to set drying hides, now stretching out between the doctor and little Artemis at the very center of the souk, separating the two.

"There," he said. "That's where we agreed to make the exchange. Kronski lays the suitcase on the rock. I hand it over."

Holly glanced at him sharply, frowning. "Him," she corrected, a little more forcefully than she probably needed to. "The lemur is a male, and his name is Jayjay."

"I hand over Jayjay," he said, a little reluctantly. "Then we go our separate ways, simple as that. There were no complications."

Funnily enough, Holly did not find this assertion particularly reassuring.

"Perhaps we should wait until after the handoff?" Holly suggested.

"No," Artemis replied firmly. "What happens afterward is an unknown quantity. At least now we have some foreknowledge."

As they talked, both pairs of mismatched eyes still watched the scene carefully, until Holly suddenly remembered something, and worry etched itself onto her brow.

"Where's Butler?" she asked warily, quickly scanning the area for any sign of the hulking bodyguard.

Holly was relieved when Artemis immediately pointed to a certain spot on the filthy, white wall surrounding the souk opposite where they had stationed the cham pod.

"In that window. Watching over everything."

Holly changed the filter on the image, and immediately Butler's form appeared on the screen in an array of lighter tones, unmoving.

"I remember Butler wanted to make the exchange, but I talked him out of it," Artemis commented. "He's up there right now, fuming."

Holly suppressed a shiver. "Butler fuming is not something I want to see up close." She had already faced Butler's wrath once on this trip already. Once was definitely enough.

Momentary surprise flitted across Holly's face when she felt Artemis's thin, bony fingers clasp her shoulder. "Then don't get too close," he said. His voice contained an unusual level of concern that made her look over at him without thinking. He was closer than she expected.

"A distraction is all we need," he reminded her. "I wish there had been an LEP jumpsuit in that lockup. If you were invisible to man and machine, I would be more comfortable with this."

Holly didn't move for a moment, distracted. These words were sounding a bit odd coming from Artemis. Had he said, 'If you had an LEP jumpsuit, then we would be in a much better position' or even 'If you were invisible to man and machine, this maneuver would be quite a bit less dangerous' it would have seemed to amount to little more than the usual sort of commentary Artemis made on the status of the progress of a mission.

Perhaps it had been accidental, but the way he'd phrased it made it sound as though she was someone who it was Artemis's responsibility to take care of. Holly felt a flicker of irritation.

Strangely, she found herself flashing back what seemed like an age ago, when they had gone to Minerva Paradizo's chateau to save Nº1. Back then, Artemis had demonstrated his unquestionable faith in her abilities by a show of rather lack of concern as she had played the decoy as per his strategy by allowing herself to get captured. Or at least she had a feeling that was what he would probably say if she had pointed this out.

This was certainly a switch. Holly could only suppose that it was yet another result of her being trapped in this youthful body. She wasn't an officer anymore, but someone it was Artemis's duty to look after. Like he suddenly fancied himself her older brother, or father, or, possibly –

Holly sensed that now was probably the best time to get going, before she could allow herself to start thinking in that direction again, and she summoned her magic by turning her head away from Artemis's, so that he wouldn't catch a glimpse of her expression, whatever it was.

When she turned back to him again, she was invisible.

"Don't worry, Artemis," she said. The boy may have been directing their movements, but she needed to start taking charge herself a bit more and better act like the adult she was, so he wouldn't keep treating her like a child. No way she was going to let Julius down. "I have been on missions before. You are not the only smart one in the souk."

Her reassuring words apparently did not have the desired effect.

"All the more reason to be careful," said Artemis warningly, and Holly frowned slightly, nettled when she realized her mention of 'other smart people' seemed to have made him think of his own younger self instead. Just typical.

He went on, and Holly was amused by the almost sullen, childish quality in his voice now, "I wish there'd been a set of wings in the terminal. What sort of lockup doesn't have wings?"

Holly grinned suddenly, though of course Artemis couldn't see it. As she got up and headed toward the exit, activating the rear hatch as she did so, she said, happy at a chance to use something Commander Root had once said to her, "Potluck. We got what we got."

Holly climbed back up onto the balcony landing, striding through the old, abandoned shop and down the steps, carefully navigating her way out through the old dingy doorway in the dye-spattered wall. As she did so, Artemis's words drifted back to her once again.

"I would be more comfortable with this."

It was just as she had been afraid of, being treated like the unreliable adolescent girl she felt like. It was hard to take, the condescending protectiveness of the words, irritating as a flare of dust in her eyes.

So Holly wondered why it was, as she crossed the bustling, crowded courtyard, the heat of the evening sun beating down on the top of her headscarf, her lips were curled in the faintest of smiles.

A/N: A longer chapter than last time. The next couple of chapters are going to be pretty short, though. I was thinking about just combining them, but I think I'll keep them the way they are, and try to post them fairly close together instead.

Lol, the 'pronounce you' joke – back when I posted chapter 5, I'd forgotten I'd made reference to that here. (I'm glad I got to work it in after all, heh.)

Anyway, just a couple technical notes you're free to skip, as always:

I'm not sure if anyone would have noticed this, but the balcony thing gave me a world of trouble, lol. The description in TTP isn't very clear, so I didn't know whether it made more sense for them to set up and enter the pod from below, or from above. Above seemed like it would be more difficult to pull off, especially for Artemis, but if it was near enough to the ground to enter from below, couldn't someone run into it by accident? And I couldn't find a single image of the souk in Fez where I could see a balcony that could be used for the purpose Artemis and Holly use it for... So I decided to set it up this way, since it better suited my purposes later. If you're trying to imagine it and just finding it awkward and unbelievable... please ignore it.

The other thing I'm adding as I'm reposting this chapter (with only very minor changes) is something I wanted to comment on before, but didn't because I'm trying to keep these author's notes short as possible... That's that first scene. I know, it seems an odd one to include, especially since Holly hasn't actually had any meaningful interaction with Jayjay. But since they all refer to the lemur as 'Jayjay' quite a lot later, that information needed to be communicated, and it just felt off to just summarize it. So you can see my problem with this fanfiction, lol.

Anyway, thank you so much for all the reviews last chapter! I always look forward to hearing what you have to say, so if you like, please tell me what you think so far, and (kindly phrased) constructive criticism is always welcome. (:

Posted 11/22/11