Archive of Our Own ^beta

Her apartment was gone. That was the thing Holly was most hung up on.

Foaly had explained it on the way back to Haven, giving gentle assurances that he had picked up her stuff and put it in a storage locker the minute the LEP declared her case on the back burner and her landlord decided that enough was enough. Turns out going M.I.A. didn’t pay the rent.

“I had been thinking about smuggling stuff out for weeks previous, but I guess I didn’t want to think about you being gone. Even though I had no doubt you could handle yourself, as you did, and you had Artemis with you, well…” Foaly didn’t finish the sentence. She could fill in the blanks from there. Nobody could just disappear into limbo and then come back, especially not Holly, because her luck was a mixed bag, and shouldn’t her good luck ought to have run out by then?

Thank God for Artemis for not sending us any further, she thought, head pressed against the window as they lowered into the ground. Thank God for me, as well. I was in charge of where. Though that might be slightly less hard than trying to make sure we end up in the right decade.

At the thought of Artemis, she felt a dull pain in her head. It wasn’t just the eye thing that was messing her up - that’d have to be looked at by a doctor, though the magic of the tunnel and her personal intervention should’ve made sure all the necessary nerves were hooked up correctly. The problem was that there had been a long moment where she, Artemis, and million different demons had all shared one consciousness.

She knew what it was to be a part of a team, to practically merge minds with someone in a single-oriented goal. Nothing like that, however. Holly felt cold and adrift, and it was only worsened by the way Foaly kept shooting her looks that she knew were meaningful but she couldn’t figure out in what way.

Holly wanted her bed. She wanted to make her dad’s Butternut Risotto and curl up on the sofa to watch the latest Crunchball match she had waited weeks for, keeping up with the stats religiously. She wanted to call Mulch and complain about whatever case they had the next day or week, or whenever. She wanted to debate calling Artemis, think better of it, and then call him anyways for the sole intention of irritating him. She wanted to text Foaly blurry pictures of her coffee table just to tell him that she missed him, but how could she?

Her bed was in storage, along with her sofa and TV and coffee table; she had missed every Crunchball match for three years (who knows how the Crunchball world could have changed in that time!); she probably wasn’t going to be working in the P.I. business for a little while if at all; Artemis had his own things to deal with that she didn’t want to bug him about literally an hour after he was unceremoniously welcomed back to the world; and Foaly was right there, just a few feet away from her.

She did miss him, though. Holly hadn’t realized it because it had only been two hours for her, but the moment she saw his face and realized how long she had been missing, she suddenly ached with the loss.

Holly turned away from her friend, instead choosing to watch as the cluster of demons slowly came out of their time-addled and Mesmer-induced disorientation. At least they hadn’t had anyone waiting at home, wondering if they’d ever come back (except for Section Eight, of course).

*

When the sadness hadn’t yet set in, Foaly explained the changes in the LEP outside of Sool getting kicked. Firstly, was her position still needed? The answer was yes. Unequivocally, yes. That was a relief - she wasn’t about to be fired before she could even get back on her unsteady legs. That is, she reminded herself, if she still wanted it.

Was it some form of Stockholm Syndrome if she wanted to go back? Or was it her just trying to regain some sense of normalcy? Either way, Holly added, whatever the severance package she would be inevitably fitted with wouldn’t last forever. She’d have to make a decision sooner or later.

“Take your time,” Foaly assured. “But it’s really nice now, and I’m not saying that just because I work in the best-paying section and that oaf is gone. There are a few more girls now, you might be pleased to note. It was decided that even despite your so-called “failures” as a test case - which is frankly dwarfshit, in my opinion - you proved useful, so they’ve been letting a few more in. Especially with Trouble at the helm now.”

“Trouble is commander now?” Holly asked, grinning. “No shit! Good for him.”

“Good for all of us,” he agreed.

After Sool’s less-than-honorable discharge from the force, Trouble was quickly promoted to the role of commander. He had, after all, worked closely with Root before his death, not to mention had been on the front line for their many, many encounters with the human population. Holly felt a faint glow of pride at that. When she saw him next, she’d have to congratulate him, even though he was years into his tenure as commander. It was the principal of the thing.

Foaly pulled up the memo that had ended Sool’s career for her to peruse over - a funny little thing, describing how he wouldn’t mind the demons, she, and Artemis all being lost to time forever. Before she considered going back into the LEP, she ought to pay the man a nice visit, maybe make him a knuckle sandwich. It wouldn’t do anything productive, but at least it would make her feel better - as well as the recent high-priority LEP cases.

The demons were near the top of the list, obviously, as well as a case involving a couple of sprites and the trade of holy water that she was intrigued by - you didn’t hear about many deals with holy water these days, mostly regulated to old war history.

Additionally, there was an Earthquake near Atlantis, and, finally, some Opal-imitator manufacturing an outbreak of LEProsy (nicknamed that due to the fairy population only managing to catch it from LEPrecon proximity to humans) that they were only just managing to get back under control. Otherwise, things had managed to be relatively stable for three years (as in, there weren’t any more kidnapping cases or goblin uprisings).

“Man,” Holly remarked, “why is it I’m only around for the really dangerous stuff?”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t enjoy jumping headfirst into danger,” was Foaly’s breezy reply, and she couldn’t even argue it. She did like danger. “Also, I think your priorities are twisted if you don’t call an earthquake and an outbreak of LEProsy as ‘dangerous.’” Also fair.

“Still.” She laid back in her seat, reading over the case files. “It’s weird - life went on without me, and I didn’t even realize it. Though, I suppose I’m going to have to get used to that feeling pretty quickly.”

“I’m sure you’ll readjust soon enough,” he assured, though his tone betrayed the fact that he wasn’t entirely sure either.

The two went silent at that, their words steamrolled over by the separation. A year or three wasn’t as impactful to a fairy as it would be to a human, but it was still a space in time where Holly had been taken out and then painfully reinserted. It was… awkward. Years of friendship were the only thing that sustained the two.

“So, wait, since I missed it: Who managed the snag the rose back in ‘117?” Holly finally asked, attempting to bridge the gap. Did Foaly even watch The Bachelor anymore? He and Holly used to watch it separately and then bitch about human tastes over the phone.

Her worries were assuaged when he barked out a surprised laugh and beamed at her as if the one question made him realize she was still herself and she still wanted to be the person she was three years ago. “Estella.”

“No!”

Foaly laughed again at her scandalized tone, shaking his head fondly. “You’re coming to stay with me until we manage to suit you with another place, maybe one slightly less prone to throwing you out for going missing in action and missing a month’s payment. How’s that sound?”

She smiled. “Perfectly fine. Though I will admit, it might get a little crowded with that wife of yours.”

He blinked. “Wife? You know...? Oh.” He held up the hand his wedding ring was on somewhat belligerently, as well as the hoof that had the wedding bow on it, customary of centaurs. “Forgot I had those on.” Same old Foaly.

*

Caballine was a sweet woman. That much was obvious; Holly was a stranger to her, the only way she would’ve heard about her either via news reports, the movie about the goblin revolution she found out had premiered while she was missing, or Foaly himself. She let her stay anyway, despite her track record.

“I wanted to wait for you to get back before holding the wedding, but…” Foaly explained the first dinner, his sentence petering off towards the end. His face was twisted into an expression somewhere between sheepish and saddened, and Holly couldn’t help but feel guilty. He looked helplessly towards his wife, and she picked up the slack for him.

“I became pregnant, and it was looking more and more like you all weren’t coming back, so we eventually just called it,” she finished. Their kid, Marigold, was up in bed, all the better to be introduced to in the morning, maybe over breakfast. “You missed it by about six months, unfortunately.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” she told them, stricken, and Foaly shrugged, reaching over to wrap her into a half-hug.

“You know what, Holly? It’s alright. Because I knew you would’ve been there if you could have. You can make it up to us by watching Marigold sometime. And, if you’re still feeling guilty, maybe by sending your belated wedding gift as gold.” Foaly winked, and Caballine smacked his side lightly, chuckling.

Despite her work as a trailblazer, Holly didn’t have many female friends. A lot of it was due to how few women there were working in the LEP, primarily LEPrecon, but she knew, shamefully, she was part of the problem as well. Holly had always had to act like the guys to be accepted even marginally, so it was a bit infuriating to see other women, like Lili Frond, seemingly breeze past without quite as much work. It wasn’t a nice reaction.

Caballine wasn’t interested in the LEP outside of how it generally impacted The People’s life and how Foaly had to work there, so it was just… easier to foster a relationship without having to give a shit about office dynamics. Foaly was there to see it, but he was the last person who would judge her for not behaving exactly like a tuff bro 24/7.

The first morning after, Caballine had to help Marigold clop on down to the kitchen, keeping her humanoid body upright while her little horse legs came clumsily downstairs. “She’s getting better at keeping upright,” she told her when she spotted Holly watching, her eyes exhausted but proud.

“Oh. Cool,” Holly replied, awkwardly. She had never been good with kids. The only one she ever regularly interacted with was her cousin Meg, and even she was in secondary education already when Holly went to Limbo. She knew even less about centaur milestones, even though she was sure they went over it in one of her higher education classes - something about how understanding the differences of fairy species would lead to a higher understanding of the magic each was capable of.

Caballine laughed and took pity on her. “I know, I know. It’s kind of boring if you’re not a parent. All you need to do is say congratulations and I’ll be appeased.”

“Congrats, then.”

“Thank you!” Caballine teased. Holly was tucked into a seat on the island, which felt brand new, examining the newspaper that had landed outside the couple’s door. Her suspicions about the chair were confirmed when the woman pointed out, “When Foaly gave me the signal that you were coming back, I rushed out and had that brought over to the house, along with the bed. No offense, but your old one is crap. It’s treating you alright?”

“Oh, it’s fine. And the new bed is nicer than my original. Thanks.” She smiled gratefully at the woman, fanning the newspaper out further. They had seriously discussed taking Holly in beforehand. Kind of heartwarming.

Caballine smiled back and turned her attention to the fridge as Holly refocused on the newspaper. Already the retrieval had been made public and gotten front-page coverage, though she supposed it wasn’t much of a surprise. She was just hoping that this one wouldn’t be turned into another movie in the “Holly Short” category, blagh. It was mostly cool, but still pretty embarrassing.

They described her as a hero and Artemis a confusion, plus hadn’t done much research into actually figuring out which of the demons had helped to bring everyone back, of course. They focused more on hyping up her involvement and reintroducing the idea of warlocks, all while undermining the work taken by Qwan or N°1 alongside her. In another life, maybe she’d be fine with it. Of course, if she was the sort of person who was perfectly okay with allowing the effort of the less desired to be pushed under the radar, she wouldn’t have been the one bringing the demons back from Limbo.

A loud smack brought Holly out of her thoughts, and she looked up at Caballine, who was staring at her with a raised eyebrow. She had two bowls and a box of cereal set out in front of them. “You’re drumming your fingers,” she pointed out. “Nervous tic?”

Holly tucked her fingers into her palm, shutting the paper as Caballine shook out the cereal for them. “Something like that. It’s just… reading the papers, you’d think I was the only one to do anything, while everyone else just stood and marveled. It’s preferential treatment, plain and simple, all because I’m an elf and was working on behalf of the LEP. I don’t think it’s fair.”

“At least you’re getting positive recognition. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Sure, for me, maybe. But in the grand scheme of things, there’s a reason I left the LEP, and its focus on bumping up only its most prized workers is part of it. Other people deserve recognition for their work too, not just LEP officers. And even within the LEP, there are people behind the scenes who deserve much more support than they’re currently receiving, not just the frontliners.”

Caballine watched her with a careful look on her face, and Holly could tell when she was being scrutinized. She rocked forwards and dragged her bowl across the counter to her, readily meeting the woman’s eyes. Whatever test she was taking, she was willing to pass. After a moment, Caballine softened and passed the sim-milk over.

“I can see why Foaly likes you,” she told her, and Holly grinned. Success.

*

Holly had made a silent promise to herself when Artemis first crossed the threshold from the ship to behind the quay wall of Duncade, the teenager small in comparison to the gray concrete of the wharf and all its mighty ships. They had taken off quickly, eager to get back to Haven so they could start slotting the Eighth Family back into their bureaucracy. She promised that she would let him be the first to call; she was barely wrapping her head around the whole thing, she was sure that it was harder for a fourteen-year-old with a human family and human sensibilities to even consider the fallout.

That, of course, didn’t take into account what they actually experienced in the time spent away.

They were too busy with their respective worlds, the logical part of her argued, dealing with the dust settling and then being kicked back up again. They were giving her time to rest, but she’d have to hunt for a new permanent house soon, and that job, come on, Holly. He was fourteen in a world that expected him to be eighteen (God help them all, just the idea of Artemis with a fully matured brain was enough to make her worry), a dangerous, inexplicable dissonance.

She missed him, though. Holly kept waking up in a cold sweat at night, the press of a phantom blade going straight through her chest waking her up. The feeling overlaid because she could remember what it was like to watch the experience from Artemis’ eyes as well. The gun in hisher hand, the panic and devastation while making sure everything happened at exactly the right time.

It was on the third night of having the dream she found herself awake, scrambling for her phone blearily, her heart thumping like a hummingbird’s. It hurt. It wasn’t even real, not in her proper timeline, and it hurt.

The line had only just connected, barely enough time for the stupid device to so much as click before she burst out, “When you fired the gun, did you blink?”

“...What?” The voice on the other side of the ground said. She pulled the phone away from her face, scowling at it as she checked that she had the right contact. She did, it was just two in the morning, and he was delirious.

“The gun,” Holly repeated, a touch impatient. “When you fired it at what’s-his-face, did you blink, or did you manage to catch his expression? Was he in pain?”

There was silence, and then he sighed, the quiet rush of air prompting a slight buzz against her skull. In the background, she could hear the shifting of blankets, the whir of a computer somewhere, and if she strained… a child crying? “He was thrown into the wall, his paradoxical self was surprised, and then he vanished. I didn’t get a good look at his face,” Artemis told her, much more awake in his explanation.

“Hm.” She didn’t offer much more than that, leaning forwards to press her forehead against the wall. It was late. Her fingers drummed against her knee as she attempted to blink away the darkness, one eye faring much better than the other. Why were human eyes so bad at adapting to low lighting?

“It wasn’t--” He breathed out harshly. “You weren’t supposed to get hurt like that, Holly. If I could’ve stopped it I would’ve. I did. I am sorry you were forced to experience that at all.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“I know, I know. Regardless.”

After a minute she asked, “How… How are you?”

He chuckled lightly. “Fine, considering. Foaly called to debrief me around two days ago; he wants me to come in some time within the next month for my side of the story and to examine any changes in my body prompted by the time stream.”

Holly winced. “Yeah. He hasn’t pulled me in for anything official yet, but he’s been, well, eyeing my eye a whole lot. I’m staying with him and his wife right now until we get the chance to find me new permanent housing.”

“Foaly is married? Never mind, I’ll interrogate him next time I catch him spying on me. That’s kind of them.”

“I guess.” She fisted the cover of her temporary bed. They had bought it just for her, welcomed a fairy into a home that had previously been just for centaurs. What an inconvenience she was. “I was worried there for a little bit. They’ve got a kid now, and I’m no good with children. I was worried she would keep me up half the night, but she’s doing pretty well.”

“Child,” Artemis said, dazed. She felt the same way whenever she thought about how there was another living being in the world that never crossed her mind before she left. “Amazing. Why is it that everyone was with a child while we were missing?”

Holly sat up in bed. “Wait, don’t tell me, Mud Boy. I swear I heard a child babbling in the background. You’re telling me there’s actually a kid over at your place now?”

He laughed, a confused little thing that gave way to barely-repressed stress, like cracks in the foundation that hadn’t been there before, and when you looked too close you realized the building was about to collapse. “Toddlers, technically. I’ve got siblings now,” he confessed, voice tight. “Twin brothers, Myles and Beckett. Beckett got sick from eating something he wasn't meant to, and he's quite miserable. I missed so much. It was hard enough being an only child to my parents, but now? I-- I don’t know how to be an older brother, Holly.”

There was a newfound sort of vulnerability in that confession. Bonded by trauma. The old Artemis, the one she left with his memory in smithereens, wouldn’t have told her. Not even the one she called just to talk to, after the second encounter with Opal. Now, they had been inside each other’s consciousness and, biologically speaking, were still inside one another’s heads.

“I don’t know how to be an aunt,” she agreed. It was terrifying to wake up and realize you missed a rung of evolution, of change, in such a short time. At least Darwin was right. “We have therapists, Artemis. When you come down for your examination, we can get you in touch with one.”

“I don’t do well with counselors,” he said, and his voice sort of broke her heart. He was so young and so bewildered, already resigned to a fate where he dealt with his hurt all alone because he couldn’t trust anyone else with himself, not in any way that mattered.

Holly sighed. “Okay. That’s fair, neither do I. We can just-- I guess we can just figure it out together.”

The line was silent for a long while, the dark in her room suddenly pressing in on her tightly. It wasn’t scary, it just made her tired. She could no longer feel the press of enchanted metal against her stomach, her dream had been chased away. Holly felt better. Thank God.

“It’s late,” she finally said, scrubbing at her eyes. “Sorry for waking you up so early in the morning. I just-- The blade, and… I needed to talk to you.”

“It’s perfectly alright, Holly,” he reassured. “I needed this too. I will attempt to arrange a trip down to Haven within the next week or two. Perhaps we could meet up.”

“Yeah. Of course. I’ll talk to you later, alright, Artemis?”

“Same here, Holly.”

She smiled, thumb hovering over the ‘end call’ button. “Good luck, Mud Boy. Be seeing you.”

*

Holly was glad to hear the PI business was still ongoing, even with the surprising development of Doodah Day of all people there to take up her spot while she had been gone, but Holly wasn’t entirely sure private work was what she wanted to be doing for the rest of her life. Besides that, she hadn’t exactly been around to keep an eye on the rise and fall of the most recent criminal underbelly.

“That’s perfectly fine!” Mulch had assured, showing her around the slightly revamped office. There was a larger cooler, for one, with a few more fish. Doodah still looked pretty nervous around her, but after reading about their cases, she had to admit, she was impressed.

“I have to admit,” she said, “I’m impressed.” Mulch beamed at her, urging her to sit on the couch they had in the breakroom. God, she missed that couch. Mulch had cried when she first called, though he tried to deny it, and she didn’t push. It was nice to feel wanted, but it didn’t do well to embarrass friends. She slumped into her seat, the groove she had carved out unfortunately having unflattened itself in her absence. “We could use this. It’d be good to have a business out there for former felons to get back on their feet.”

“That’s what we were thinking too, Short,” Doodah agreed, fidgeting. “We haven’t been making any hires, but that’s the direction me and Mulch have been talking about taking this.”

“It’s because it’s a smart idea. Who better to capture criminals than the ex-criminals?” Mulch interjected, and Holly nodded. They’d know the tricks the best, better than any officer could probably ever hope to get.

Holly looked over at Mulch, who was reclining against the couch. He caught her eye, raising an eyebrow. “You know I’m probably not coming back to this, right? If this is going in that direction, I can’t be a part of this. I’m not exactly an ex-convict, and my involvement might end up impeding your case.”

He sighed, leaning over and slapping her on the back. “Come on, Short, admit it. You’re in too deep with the LEP. You miss all the fancy perks, and you miss their version of the justice thing. I’m not mad. I’m just happy you’re around again. Plus, if we keep your name on it while you’re racking up medals, it’ll make us seem more credible.”

She snorted, pushing him away from her slightly. “Profiting off of my fame, eh?”

Mulch shrugged, grinning with a mouthful of large teeth. All the better to smile at you with. “You were always way too recognizable. I wouldn’t even be able to take you anywhere now.”

With that matter put firmly to rest, it still put Holly in the position of having to find a new place within the Lower Elements Police proper. The severance package finally came home with Foaly at the start of the second workweek, about five thousand ounces of gold in total. It was enough to last her a little while, especially since the second Holly had brought up paying rent, Foaly and Caballine immediately shot it down.

Except, she was bored.

You could only spend so much time just lounging, or getting reacquainted with the crunchball scene, or filling out paperwork to prove to the government that you weren’t dead, or figuring out how to exist around a baby, or figuring out how to make friends, or, or, or. Holly was sick of it!

“Sometimes I worry you’re a little too hyperactive,” Foaly said, narrowing his eyes from across the dinner table when she told him she wanted to come into work with him the next day.

“I am not hyperactive!” Holly argued. “I’m just a little restless.” Caballine and Foaly shared a look, before rolling their eyes. “If you were forced to take leave, you’d be bouncing off the walls and deconstructing the microwave or something, like, the third day.”

Caballine snorted. “Okay, that one’s fair. I tell you, less than a week into our honeymoon, and he destroyed the electronic lock on the bar just because “he wanted a look at it.” We would’ve had to pay for it out of pocket, but we’re lucky he managed to make it more secure, so they just let us off with a warning.”

Foaly huffed, his face going red with embarrassment. “Your average dwarf could pick that lock! They were lucky I came around when I did.”

“Oh, sure, carrot cake. I bet they were really grateful to have your expertise when preventing petty theft from a hotel suite bar,” Caballine snarked, and Holly laughed as he argued something about the detection of those who hadn’t completed the coming-of-age ritual. Like that had ever stopped any kids before.

The fight between the two centaurs broke up the fights between her and Foaly surrounding how she should spend her government-mandated break, so without much fuss, she followed him to the LEP headquarters come morning. Marigold waved her off. She truly was a cute little fairy.

People stared at Holly as she waited for the train. People stared at Holly as they rode their way downtown. People stared at Holly as she walked into the headquarters. Their gazes had a palpable weight; it was like bullets raining against her back as she went.

Holly wasn’t a self-conscious woman by any means, let Danu hear it, o she who had blessed them, but the sheer amount of people staring at her made her want to curl into a ball and cry. Or, at the very least, go back to Caballine’s where the food delivery personnel was so bored they didn’t even blink twice.

She even caught Foaly staring at her, a worried expression on his face, so she bit her tongue. It wouldn’t do her any favors to admit it might have been a mistake to take her out that early. Not to mention, Holly was stubborn. So instead, she looked away from him and squared her shoulders. If they wanted to send her away, well, then ha! They’d have to try harder than just creeping her out!

“Hey, Foaly!” A techy pixie guy she hadn’t met before called out to them, running over and quickly starting to drag the centaur away. “We’ve got a problem with a couple of security cams near the train station. We’ve been trying to piece it together, but you know how it is, nobody can match your expertise.”

Clearly, the guy was an expert; he was buttering Foaly up. “Well, I dunno,” Foaly replied, just on this side of bashful to not seem like the egomaniac he was. Caballine must’ve done numbers on the man. “I’m kind of showing Holly around. You’ve heard of Holly Short, right?”

“Oh, sure, sure.” The guy’s eyes slid over and off of her in less time than she should’ve received, in her so humble opinion - just enough time to take stock of the body and then refocus on the man with the higher-paying job. Either this pixie was the slowest officer in the field, lived under a rock, or he was just that wrapped up in his own life. Typical. “C’mon. With your brain, it’ll only take a few minutes. The girl can last a few minutes. You can last a few minutes, right?” The last comment was directed at her.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I think I can take care of myself,” she replied as flat as possible, “considering that I am a decorated officer who worked here for several years. I don’t think it’s changed that much in the time I’ve been gone, working on the case to bring the entirety of the Eighth Family back into this timeline.” Okay, calling herself an ‘officer’ rather than explaining her departure was stretching the truth a little, but it was worth it to see the recognition make the man’s face go pale.

“O-oh, I’m sorry, ma’am. Sir. Sirma’am,” he stuttered out, and though Foaly raised an eyebrow at her, she felt unguilty. “I just- I just need to borrow him for a moment.”

“I don’t have to go,” Foaly offered, but she waved away his concern.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured. “As I said, I worked here for years. I think I can manage ten minutes. Just make sure to come and get me if it gets life-threatening. Wouldn’t want to be left out of the fun.”

He grinned, giving her a lazy salute. “You got it, Hol. Ten minutes. Don’t break anything.” She snorted softly as the pixie walked him away, slowly morphing back into the self-assured man who was just looking to fob some work off onto anyone else he could. She had rattled him, at least.

Holly exhaled heavily as she turned, twirling the ring on her finger - her dad’s, from higher education. Alright, first things first: she might as well get a look at the canteen. Unless she managed to get rehired on the spot, she probably wasn’t welcome in several of the departments without a chaperone. Frond help her, a chaperone.

Her feet still knew the way, nothing got changed too much in Haven unless there was a serious disaster; it was sometimes frustrating and much too stifling, in that long-suffering trailblazer sort of way, but right then it was a relief.

Heads swiveled to greet her, and she tried not to feel self-conscious about how she looked, thankful that she had managed to wash her hoodie the other day. The Parisian Disneyland logo had long since faded, but it at least smelt of flowers. Eventually, Holly crossed the threshold and the canteen, of all spaces, was neutral territory.

She didn’t get in line for anything - the gruel they called food wasn’t all that tasty even on good days - but she did manage to find a place to settle on the edge of a table in a corner, where she could get a good look at the rest of the cafeteria. It wasn’t exactly lunchtime, so the place wasn’t buzzing, but there was a decent flow of fairies coming through, plenty she didn’t recognize.

They recognized her, though.

Despite the constant watching, most fairies were polite enough to leave her be, between wanting to not seem rude and nosy, wanting to not catch whatever time-hopping disease she had, or genuinely trying to give her a bit of space to get reacclimated. It was a good few minutes of just staring the small crowd down before someone finally had the guts to approach her: a sprite, of course.

“Is it true?” He asked after a few hesitant seconds. “You’re the one that managed to bring the Eighth Family back to Earth?”

That was simple enough to answer. “Yes.”

His eyes began to shine. “Single-handedly?”

“Well, I certainly helped, but--” Holly attempted, but then he was off, asking about the tips she might have about wielding that amount of magic power, and ‘how did you figure it out!’ Once a few people had spotted the sprite chatting at her, they ignored how uncomfortable she was and approached as well. The LEP loved their drama.

It was uncomfortable; Holly had made a career out of being a public figure, and she didn’t mind it too much, but she would never get used to it, no matter how many centuries she’d live. Especially positive attention. When she got good coverage, everyone wanted to talk with her. At least when she messed up, people were more likely to avoid her, afraid of catching her failure, rather than ask for an autograph.

Most people weren’t talking too badly, but the pack instinct was starting to kick in, and they were swarming her. It was hard to find a way out past the people. She’d never see the sun again. Oh, God, she was dying! She couldn’t breathe! If one more person asked her out for a coffee she’d collapse!

Then, like a solitary buoy riding above an ocean of noise: “Do you want to get out of here?”

The voice was a whisper in her ear, female, and Holly, with her face still angled towards the ground, slanted her gaze to the source just behind her. There was an iconic mass of blonde, poofy coils right in her face, and Holly knew the owner of that particular voice.

“Oh, absolutely,” Holly told Corporal Lili Frond, who was offering her hand, an escape route through the crowd, and a friendly smile.

Lili helped Holly to her feet, parting the group of people attempting to get a decent look at her on their lunch break, saying something about ‘important, confidential work’ involving her. Smart. The crowd split like the red sea, with only one gnome nearly getting trampled on.

Holly held tight onto the woman’s hand, even after most of the danger had passed, and it made her feel like a helpless little rat being led along by its owner. Going back to that babysitter comparison, Holly thought, chagrined. Despite this, she didn’t let go. She felt terribly vulnerable, and even if Lili Frond was going to have to be the person to help her through it, she’d have to manage it best she could, one way or another.

It wasn’t until they bypassed the main entrance and made their way to the cool, dark room Lili had been assigned as her office - another previous injustice made beneficial to Holly the moment she needed it most. What was the world coming to? - that they finally dropped their hands. Holly’s went straight to her jacket pockets, while Lili’s clasped behind her back.

“...Thanks for bailing me out,” Holly finally said, after a long moment of silence. Lili smiled sympathetically.

“Of course! I know what it’s like to get accosted like that.” At Holly’s confused look, she elaborated, “After my first PR stunt for the LEP, it took nearly an hour before I could get away. So many people wanted to ask questions about what it was like during the filming process, and stuff like that. My hand was cramping so badly after all the autographs I had to sign!” Holly suppressed a groan. It always felt like such a brag whenever Lili talked about things she had done for PR.

Holly exhaled heavily, calming down, before she asked, “Can we turn a light on in here? I can barely see two feet in front of me.” Lili, who was within the two feet range, shrugged, her hands going up to fidget with a necklace she had on.

“Um, I sort of removed the light bulb a while back. I come here to, like, decompress, and the fluorescent doesn’t help when I need to calm down. I have a few lamps, though.”

Holly got headaches when she was under too much fluorescent, so she could sympathize. Fairies weren’t meant to survive on artificial light. All her lights at her apartment had been meant to mimic natural lighting. The Foaly’s had a lot of windows that allowed for the light of Haven to creep in, which worked about as well. “That’s fine. I’d just like to actually see, if you don’t mind.”

Lili moved over to her desk and flicked the closest lamp on, bathing the office in a soft yellow that illuminated the room just enough for Holly to get a good look around the place. It was well-organized, with a shelf of different colored boxes to one side of the room. Her desk itself was tidy, an accomplishment Holly had to give begrudging respect to. There was even a pleather couch pressed up against one of the walls. Fancy.

“I’m sort of jealous,” Holly said, looking around the room. “Do you mind if I sit?”

“No, go ahead. You want a drink?”

“No thanks.” Holly sat back against the couch, pressing her palms into her eyes. Stars danced across her vision as she sighed. “I’ll have to text Foaly and tell him where I am. He’s the one that brought me.”

“And you wandered off,” Lili said, sly, as she sat down next to her with a water bottle. “Typical Short.” Holly gave a short laugh.

“He left me, alright? He’s off dealing with some technical problem a few people couldn’t be bothered to solve themselves. I didn’t really stick around long enough to pay attention to what the issue was. Not really in my job description, of course. I prefer the action.” Lili laughed at that, and a smile that Holly realized was creeping out from her teeth dropped. Joking with Lili Frond about her job. Weird.

After a moment, Holly told her, “Sorry for the freak out back there.”

“It’s fine! I get overwhelmed by crowds too. I’m not about to judge you for it, that’d be rude and slightly hypocritical. I think you’re entitled to panic now and then.”

She sighed, fidgeting with the drawstring of her hoodie. “Sure. It’s just been a little while since I’ve been out in public, especially without a buffer. I’ve been staying with Foaly and his wife since I got back, so, you know. There isn’t quite as much buzz around there.”

“Oh, yeah. He and Caballine are good people.”

Holly looked up at her. “You know Caballine?”

Lili smiled, a little sad, not meeting her eyes. “A bit. Practically every member of the LEP showed up at his wedding. A couple nearly clobbered that dwarf Foaly made his Best Man.” Holly shook her head, just imagining it. Poor Mulch. At least she had enough of a brain to register who was and who wasn’t a threat most of the time, apparently unlike her colleagues. Muscleheads.

Lili rubbed her fingers back and forth against the armrest of the couch, her gaze directed downwards. “So you haven’t been around anybody else besides Foaly and Caballine since you brought the Eighth Family back?”

“Eh. I met up with Mulch Diggums and his business partner for lunch once, but that was at our-- his P.I. firm, so it wasn’t exactly in public,” she explained. Holly bit her lip, debating whether to tell her more, but she eventually continued, “I don’t really like people staring at me wherever I go.”

“I feel you there!” Lili said with a giggle. “Everywhere I go, people watch me. It’s so horrible!” Admittedly, that made Holly grow a little agitated. It was like, every time she thought Lili was a decent person to be around, she said another stupid thing that reminded Holly of why she never liked her.

For one stupid, shining moment, Holly bit out, “Yeah, people staring at you because you’re the famous, attractive spokeswoman for an important business seems just so terrible.”

“Right?” Lili made a face, seemingly not phased by the sarcasm, and Holly blinked. “When your whole job revolves around looking pretty and nice and shit, it can be sort of nerve-wracking. Since I’m such a public figure, anytime I do something wrong, it ends up reflecting badly on the whole company.”

Holly had felt immediately guilty when she insulted her - it was one thing to say you didn’t respect a person’s job to others and another to say it to their face - but Lili’s explanation just further cemented that in. Being in the public eye was terrible on both sides, Holly had to admit, but at least since she was publicly seen as a loose cannon, her actions tended to have more impact on how people perceived her rather than the LEP at large. “That doesn’t sound fun,” Holly admitted.

“It's probably why I don’t have a lot of close friends,” she said. She turned her head slightly, and her hair went with it. Having longer hair always seemed like such a pain, but Lili’s always looked nice. “Since I have to act a lot to play up the normal, bubbly thing I’ve got going on for PR, it doesn’t make a lot of people comfortable when I stop acting.”

That did seem hard. Holly didn’t compromise on herself or her actions, so having to go day in, day out, just pretending seemed exhausting. Except… “Why are you telling me this?” Holly asked.

Lili didn’t look up from where her hands had been fiddling with her water bottle cap, but her voice was firm and honest when she told her, “I just thought that you might appreciate having more people around you who aren’t just trying to suck up to the hero of the week.”

That was.. really nice.

“Yeah,” Holly agreed, faint. One of the reasons Holly had always slammed her as ‘airheaded’ was because of how nice she could be sometimes. Seriously, how could a woman make it through the workforce, staying that positive? Holly could never.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, thankfully releasing her from having to do any more rumination. It was annoying when people didn’t stick in little boxes she had made for them, and she didn’t want to think about that.

There was a message from Foaly, asking in worried chat speech where she had gone and please don’t have punched anyone while he had been working. Holly stood up awkwardly, Lili turning to look at the movement. “I’ve got--” She pointed at her phone. “From Foaly. I’ve gotta go. Thanks for helping me out, Lili.”

“Sure,” she said, smiling. Then, as Holly turned to leave: “Wait. Do you want to come over for dinner sometime?” Holly gave her a confused, slightly alarmed look. “For the friends thing. If you want.”

Holly wanted to say no, wanted to laugh in her face, and walk away. She was sure she would have a week or two ago (give or take a few years), but Lili was being kind. They hadn’t ever been friends, and Holly didn’t want to make friends, but Lili had come around and helped her when she didn’t have to because there was three years’ worth of excuses built up. But she did anyway. Holly should say no.

“Okay,” she said instead.

Lili beamed. “Here’s my business card. It has my phone number on it,” she explained. “Or, at least, one of them. I can give you my personal number later. Text me and we can arrange a date. I can cook!”

“Okay,” Holly repeated, weaker the second time, as she took the business card from Lili Frond’s carefully manicured hand and placed it in her pocket.

Holly turned and left.

When she finally managed to find Foaly near the front desk - looking more than a little anxious - she had very nearly decided that she wasn’t going to text Lili Frond. That would symbolize the world ending, wouldn’t it?

Foaly sagged with relief when he spotted her. “And where did you run off to, young lady?” He joked as she came over. Holly grinned and punched him lightly on the arm.

“Shut up. You’re only two decades older than me! See if you’ll be getting any birthday present next year from me, old man!” He slung an arm around her protectively, though she shook her shoulders a little until he loosened his grip.

“C’mon, let’s head over to Trouble’s office. He’ll wanna say hi.” As he led her over, he continued lightly, “Heard you got mobbed.”

“Oh, great. Is it already office gossip?”

“Always. How’d you manage to escape that?”

She made a fist with a wolfish grin. “I fought my way through, of course.”

“Of course.” He snorted and Holly rolled her eyes.

“Okay, okay. I had to get rescued from…” She pursed her lips, considered saying nothing, but by that point Foaly was already eyeing her, waiting for an answer. She sighed. “Corporal Frond managed to get me out of there. I was waiting in her office until you noticed I had gone missing.”

Foaly stared at her, looking gobsmacked in a way that made Holly’s hackles raise.“You got rescued by Corporal Frond,” he repeated, his voice sounding a little weird. “She’s nice.”

“She is,” Holly agreed, not particularly happy about it. She fished the business card out of her pocket so she could show it to Foaly. “She invited me out to dinner. Said to text her and we can arrange a playdate.”

After a moment of looking it over, he told her, “I think you should take her up on her offer,” as neutral as he could manage.

“Really,” she asked. Though it sounded more like a flat statement, Holly was honestly wondering. Foaly was, occasionally, a decent judge of character.

“I think it’d be good for you to get some friends.”

“I have friends!” She protested. “You’re my friend.”

Foaly held up a hand to signal for her to calm down, but he acquiesced. “Sure. I just mean new friends. Friends who weren’t in some way directly involved with the Fowl Manor siege. You’ve got Caballine now, but that’s what, one? Come on.”

Holly huffed. It was fair. She had had acquaintances before Limbo, ones who were, at the most, very distantly related to Artemis, but at the same time, those were all casual conversations between co-workers or people she met on Critter about crunchball and cute mice. No-one close.

“I’ll think about it,” Holly finally said. “Now, show me around the office.”

Foaly shrugged. It was obvious that was as much of a promise he would get out of her. “As you wish.”

The thing was, Holly had a thing against Lili Frond. It was obvious. Maybe not to Frond herself, what with her being kind and all that, but basically everyone who had worked closely with her knew about the Frond Thing. At the same time, practically everyone was in on the Frond Thing.

It was casual breakroom coffee conversation: Frond is such an airhead, Frond would be better suited to modeling, who on Danu’s green Earth decided that she of all people would be part of the LEP? Must be because of her looks or lineage, maybe it’s her fault she’s this way, maybe it’s her fault we’re having this discussion about her at all.

It wasn’t just Holly. It wasn’t even initially Holly. Frond had been there for three years previous, but Holly, serious-reckless-recon-record-case-trailblazer-first-girl Holly Short, was doing everything she could to integrate herself into the workplace culture, and that was just another part of the culture. Just another thing to integrate.

Holly, though? Holly had it bad. Holly hated being compared to Frond. It was barely manageable to try and move past the female thing, but it was made more difficult when there was another woman who was carefully undoing all her hard work. How could she justify the cropped hair if Lili’s was long? How could she make excuses for taking up space when Lili was regulated to her office and her PR videos? How could she get away with acting like a quote-unquote, “bitch,” if Lili stayed bubbly?

What a bimbo, what an airhead, what a self-absorbed little fairy. An air of truth in there, how rich, how loved, what a fun bloodline. No need to examine this, to separate fact and fiction, no need to make friends or an actual conversation. It was easier to just play nice when she was around, and elbow buddies around the coffee machine later.

So why on Earth was Holly standing in the doorway of Lili Frond’s house?

She hovered outside the house awkwardly, deliberating whether or not she just wanted to stand her up, say she got sick with a stomach bug, got run over by a teenage sprite who had just grown into their wings enough to fly. Anything but have some serious one-on-one time with Lilian Frond, of all people. Foaly and Caballine even bullied her into bringing a side dish. Sheesh!

Holly tapped lightly on the door with her foot, her hands full with the tupperwhere she had poutily prepared. Caballine walked her through it, at least, so she had at least one thing that she knew was going to taste good.

After a moment, Holly heard the door unlock with a click before opening outwards. Lili poked her head out, blinking owlishly at her until she recognized Holly. “Oh!” Lili exclaimed, opening up the door further so Holly could step in. “You made it! Just set your shoes by the door, I don’t want to track more dirt into the house than there is already.”

“Sure did,” Holly muttered, easing her shoes off with her toes. “Foaly blackmailed me into it.” Wait, she should probably be a little bit nicer. “Er. I mean, he just encouraged me to come,” she tried again. Christ, it was hard being a kind person. Only one sentence and she was already sweating. “I brought squash. With, um, shallots.”

Lili smiled at her then, and it was strange, because it was nothing like the smile plastered on every PSA about career opportunities, or reporting your neighbor, or stuff like that. “Thank you. You can go ahead and set it on the counter with the farofa. Do you want a drink?”

“Sure, why not.” Holly set the squash down next to… well, she didn’t know what farofa was, but it looked good. She turned to take in the rest of the house. It was honestly gorgeous. Holly wasn’t much of an architecture gal, she didn’t exactly know the terms, but it was spacious as all get out. Holly turned in a circle, just admiring everything. It wasn’t the boring, minimalist sort of house that was gaining prevalence, and it sure wasn’t a hole in the ground like Holly’s last place was. “Big place,” she remarked. “You live alone?”

“Yeah. What else am I going to spend my fancy salary on, anyways, huh? Might as well treat myself to a roomy place.” Holly turned to look at her, her hands propped on her hips. Hmph, a large salary, of course, she shouldn't have expected anything less. She was doing… something with some limes and a bottle of sim-alcohol, but Holly decided she was better off not asking. “But, the feature I’m most proud of is the ceiling,” Lili continued.

The ceiling…? Holly tilted her head back to look at it and, wow, yeah, it was pretty. The whole thing was painted into the colors of a sunset, bordering on a coming night. She whistled. “Must’ve been a big job.”

“Well, sure. It was a pain rigging up the magic to get it to match up with the sky. Sometimes, on a good night, I can even see constellations.”

Oh. It was tied to the actual sky. That was pricey magic. Holly leaned back to stare at it, her arms bracing her on the countertop. “Yeah, that's nice. The few times I’ve seen some, it always blows me away,” she told her, off-handedly. “The first time I saw them was on a trip with my parents, a couple of decades back. I was just a kid. It was a Disney trip, the typical thirty-nine-year-old thing. Kid becomes a teenager, you take ‘em to Disney.”

“Sure,” Lili encouraged, looking over at her. Holly would feel embarrassed, but she could recognize the look of longing on Lili’s face. No matter how antagonistic towards someone you were, there was a connection when you started talking about the surface world between any fairy. It was seldom too personal; everyone had the same yearning you did, the same urge for clean air. “I went when I was forty.”

“Right. They took me to Disney, and we were staying at one of the hotels -- one of the ones that you know are meant for fairies, but it’s pretending it’s all about the immersion, or whatever it is humans like -- but, um. We were at the hotel, and then all at once, everything shut off. There was this huge power outage that reached throughout the whole of Paris, and there were a good couple of minutes before they managed to get the backup generators working where just the entirety of the night sky was right there, unblocked by human light pollution.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Lili said dreamily, close to her ear, and Holly nearly jumped. She turned as she realized that Frond was right behind her, examining the squash she had brought. “It’s been so long since I’ve been on the surface.”

“It’s getting worse out there,” Holly said after a pause, and Lili’s smile turned grim. “Sorry. Depressing topic.”

“A little. It’s alright though, I’ve got the perfect distraction: the food’s ready. If you wanna go ahead and sit down, I’ll set the table.”

Holly went ahead and took her seat, the oak of the dining table large and polished, signaling that it too was fairly expensive. She ran her finger against the gloss, smooth against the top of it. Her house was filled top to bottom with expensive items, passed off as casual living and sure, maybe for Frond they were, but Holly knew she wouldn’t be able to just splurge for this type of stuff unless she got a promotion and saved up for years.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Lili setting down a bowl in front of her and then sitting across from her, the farofa stuff and her squash set down in the middle. “Sorry there isn’t more, but go ahead and dig in. You put the farofa on top.”

“Alright.” Holly took up the spoon after Lili finished serving herself. “What is farofa? Sorry, I’ve never seen this type of food before.”

“Oh! Sorry, it’s a toasted manioc flour mixture. The main dish is called feijoada, it’s this black bean stew; they’re Brazillian recipes my grandmother taught me when I was in university.”

“Tastes good,” Holly complimented, taking a spoonful. So many beans. “Brazillian recipes, eh? Are you an Amazonian elf?”

“Yes.” Lili shot her a confused look. “At least, I am on my dad’s side. His parents used to live there. Where did you think I got the blonde hair from?”

“I’m not sure,” Holly said, realizing that she hadn’t given it much thought outside ‘blonde hair is a rarity equals more attention equals more annoying.’ She hadn’t bothered enough to figure out whether it came from a box or not. “I’ve never seen any sunflower spots on you, so I guess I didn’t connect the dots.”

Lili snorted and tugged her shirt down just enough that Holly could see the yellow arrowhead markings against her dark skin. “Whatever, most people ask if it’s fake anyway. Or, the more polite ones do, at least. Some of the more… uncouth individuals tend to ask more about carpets than my actual hair.”

Holly winced sympathetically. The question was less usual with her auburn hair, but she had dyed it green back in higher education. A terrible mistake, both appearance-wise and unwanted attention-wise. “I hope you punched them.”

“I just tend to ask them to explain what they mean. It usually shuts them up, either because they realize what they said was creepy or they think I’m a little too dumb to bother with,” Lili said airly, and Holly couldn’t help the grin. She was funny.

“Anyways, I’m Amazonian on my dad’s side, but my mom is from Haven. Frond blood, remember?” The smile dropped off into something more neutral. She did remember. “I think it was a bit of a scandal back in the day - I mean, the descendent of King Frond marrying some no-name Amazonian? Shame on the family.”

“Sure.” Holly stabbed at her food - best you could “stab” a stew with a spoon, anyways - while Lili took an awkward sip at her drink. Frond blood, shame on the family, christ. “My parents are both from Haven. They met at a coming of age ceremony. Got married a few years later, had me about fifteen years later, died in my sixties. The whole shebang.”

“Romantic,” Lili remarked, raising an eyebrow.

“Whatever. I don’t need my parents to have had a large, sweeping will-they-won’t-they. I mean, they were my parents. I don’t care.”

“You don’t have a tender bone in your body.”

Holly gave her a wolfish smile. “I can be tender. I’ll be so tender it’ll blow your mind.”

Lili rolled her eyes, but she was laughing. “Buy me a drink first. Or, don’t, because I have this great bottle of wine I’ve been saving, and I figure we can crack it open on the couch when we’re done.”

“I’m flattered. Now, try my squash.”

The odd thing was, conversation with Lili Frond came easy. Holly was sociable and knew how to hold down the line, but Lili didn’t have her PR job for nothing. It was odd because even though Holly was entertained and having a good time, it didn’t make her hate Lili Frond any less (note to self: hate is a strong word).

After dinner, they had traveled over to her couch, so plush that Holly sunk into it where she sat. The whole place was so… fancy. There was an ease in its expenses, something Holly could recognize just from a cursory glance. Lili wasn’t struggling whatsoever; she had her pick of any furniture she liked.

There was a tiara in a glass case that Holly hadn’t noticed until then, the precious jewels within glistening and shiny. Lili was talking about the court case that had gone on between a few officers after one put a shit-ton of laxatives (shit-ton being literal) in their lunch that kept getting stolen.

“Anyways, the guy labeled it, ‘Poison: Do not eat,’ so it was all but laughed out of high court.” Lili laughed brightly, one arm thrown over her eyes to block out the light. “The thief took a week or so off work, but I don’t expect for him to be stealing lunches anymore.”

“Right. Hey, Frond, is that a crown you’ve got set up there?”

“Hm?” Lili perked up, visibly confused at the sharp conversational change. She looked over to where Holly was pointing at the glass case and went, “Oh, that old thing? My mom had it made for my coming of age ceremony. Pretty, huh?”

“How much is it worth?”

“I dunno. If I wanted I could probably sell it and live off of the funds for a couple of centuries? But that’s so boring! At least in the LEP, I can work on exciting cases occasionally. Did Foaly tell you about the LEProsy outbreak we had a while back?”

“Jesus Christ,” Holly said faintly, too quiet for Lili to notice, and sat back on the couch. She stared up at the ceiling, painted pretty and magicked to hell to match up with the skies up above. Even the wine she was drinking cost more than anything Holly could afford on her own. Holly had a revelation.

“Frond, I think you're a good person, and you're interesting to be around,” Holly interrupted, eyes still transfixed by the stars twinkling overhead.

Lili froze, her speech about a council member refusing non-magical treatment going severely derailed, and gave her a faint smile. “Um, thanks!” She went to continue, but before she could, Holly held a hand up, effectively silencing her.

“Because you're a good person and I've enjoyed hanging around you tonight, I'm going to be honest with you: I don't really like you all that much.”

“Oh.” Holly finally looked down at Lili, drooping and scratching at her side of the couch sheepishly. “That makes sense. I always-- I always got the impression you didn't care for me.”

Holly took in a sharp breath; she knew. Of course, she had known. “And yet you invited me over anyway. That takes guts.” She sat up, looking over at Lili, setting her glass down on a coaster. She folded her hands in her lap, and continued, gently, “Me disliking you has nothing to do with you as a person, alright? It's the fact that you're Lili Frond, of all people. You're a beautiful, rich fairy, with a super well-paying job and a great lineage. You don't have to beg to keep your career at every corner. I know it's hard to be popular, and I feel for you, but frankly, I think I'd prefer being popular to being infamous because I screwed up. God knows I've been on both ends. You're Lilian Frond. I'm Holly Short. We aren't friends.”

Lili stared at the ground, not looking up even when Holly stood. “I understand.”

“But--” Holly placed a hand on her shoulder, and Lili’s head tilted up to match her gaze. “I think we can be friends,” she said. “We just need some time.”

For a beat, she did nothing, her expression open and confused, but then Lili smiled. She shook the hand off her shoulder and wrapped her arms around herself. “Alright, Holly. I'll hold you to that. In the meantime, I think you should leave.”

“That's fair,” Holly agreed, shoving her hands in her pockets. “Thanks for cooking, Lili. I appreciate it. It was good.”

“I'll send you the recipe. Make sure to pick up your tupperware on your way out.”

Holly nodded. “Roger.”

They didn't say anything else to one another as Holly gathered up her things and left. When she exited the house, the door made an audible click behind her as it closed. The night air of Haven wasn't refreshing, exactly, but it seemed sweeter to Holly after their talk, a sense of melancholy taking place in her chest be damned.

Holly took a few steps away, ready to find her path back to the subway when her phone buzzed in her pocket.

From Lili Frond: a recipe for feijoada on yellowing paper. Holly grinned.

*

“I come all this way to visit you,” Artemis complained, “and I’m forced to do manual labor.”

Holly rolled her eyes at him, hefting up another box and propping it against her hip. “You’ll live.”

“It’s good for you to build up the strength to carry things,” Butler added, though his hovering signaled that despite his words, he was worried Artemis’ form would fail him and he would accidentally snap his twiggy arms or something along those lines.

He glared at them. A single attack for multiple opponents; he was always so efficient. “Of course I'll survive, I had simply been under the impression that we would go out for dinner. Anything rather than… helping you lug your boxes around.”

“We're too noticeable.” Holly shrugged. She shot him a grin and continued, “You're a hero now, Mud Boy. That means people want your autograph,” punctuating the sentence by tapping the tip of his nose. He had an expression like he had just rediscovered Holly had found and read his romance novels, all indignant and confused and betrayed. It was very funny.

She didn't stick around for him to yell at her, just carried the box of books into the house, ignoring Artemis’ snappish mutter of, “Honestly, Butler, I am more than capable of carrying a box of silverware for five minutes without dropping it, stop hovering.” According to Artemis, he had been treating him a little delicately ever since their return. It'd go away in time. Most of the snags in her life had so far, after all.

It was, against all odds, moving day.

Foaly stepped into the doorway just as Holly got up the porch. “Want me to take those for you?”

“Sure,” she agreed, handing the box off to him. “How's Caballine and Mulch with the bed?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Mulch keeps stopping for snack breaks while Caballine rebuilds it. I think he might've put a few screws in if anything. So, basically, everything’s going according to plan up here.”

Holly laughed at that. “We’ll have to order lunch when we all take a break to prevent him from finishing it off. We could do-- What’s it called, the Dodecanese place that opened up recently?”

“Spitz. And, agreed. I would kill and die for falafel right now.”

“Would you two please mind stepping out of the doorway?” She and Foaly turned to an exasperated Artemis, who also looked about two seconds away from collapsing. Butler was still back at the moving truck, gathering the boxes out.

“Oh, shush,” Foaly said, flapping his hand at him. “You’d understand the importance of food if you ate anything other than blood.” Artemis gave him a look that was reserved for comments about how thin and pale he was; while it normally managed to freeze a man to death, the warm brown of his left eye ruined the effect.

“I do not eat humans, nor animals, for that matter,” Artemis said after a moment, dour, and shook his little box of utensils. “That said, I again ask the two of you to let me walk through.” They parted like the red sea, but once he got inside, Holly began trailing him to the kitchen.

“What do you mean you don’t eat animals?” She asked, with some air of delight. “I thought all Mud Men were cruel pig-killers.”

He opened up her drawers and began setting the utensils in delicately. “Since I’ve gotten home, I have since taken up the vegan lifestyle. I feel, as we’ve grown closer as friends, that it is a tad insensitive of me to continue eating meat. I’ve grown disenchanted with it, frankly.”

“I’m glad you’ve woken up to common sense,” Holly remarked, raising an eyebrow. She peered into the drawer as he arranged the utensils all neat and tidy. “You really don’t have to do that. They’re just spoons, and forks, and stuff.”

“I am creating a beautiful pattern that, once I am finished here, will grow into the rest of the household,” he replied airily, joking. Butler came in carrying several boxes as he spoke, and Holly cocked her head at him.

“Is this seriously what he’s like now that he's comfortable with me?” She asked him.

Butler smiled. “From what I’ve seen? Yes.”

Holly groaned. “God, Artemis, you are such a ponce.”

He looked up sharply, his expression one of simultaneous confusion and offense. “What did you just call me?”

Butler quickly moved on. He set the boxes down and laid a hand on Artemis’ shoulder, encouraging him, “Go fetch something else. If you stay here, you’ll pretend to get caught up in the details and then not do any work.”

Artemis frowned, but nodded and headed back out without argument. After she watched him go, Holly couldn’t help her dry comment of, “Surly, isn’t he?”

“Teens,” Butler scoffed. “Think they know everything.”

Holly shook her head, smiling a little, before refocusing on the man towering above her. “Well, thank Frond he’s gone because that means we can finally talk like grown-ups again! I should’ve called so much sooner. How have you been doing?”

“I'm alright. I've been adapting. A house with babies again. And Artemis.” He paused, then looked down at her. “I'm glad you aren't dead," Butler told her, and she smiled. He sounded so earnest and relieved.

"Me too, old friend," she replied. "The years have done their number on you, huh? You're going to have to work harder to conceal your emotions now, you're all out of practice."

He laughed. "If you think that's bad, you should've seen the beard I was sporting when Artemis came for me. Would you grab one of the boxes I sat down and help me carry it up? These are all labeled ‘knick-knacks’ which I’m sure you’ll be able to sort through just fine, later.”

She hoisted it up at his request and followed him up the stairs to the second level of the house. It was a little bit decrepit, and the stairs creaked threateningly under Butler’s feet, but the loss of quality was a small price to pay for what she got. The house was hardly a mansion, and she'd have to fix a lot of it up herself, but it was also one of the few places she had found that could allow Butler to walk in it without shuffling about on his knees. When Foaly and she went about house shopping, she took a tape measure to every door frame.

“This place is nice,” Butler said once they reached the top.

“No, it's not, it's just sizable. I am going to have such a time doing repairs. All myself, mind you; I can't afford to have the whole place renovated by a reputable source.”

He smiled. “Perhaps manual labor will distract you enough to prevent you from participating in any other life-threatening events.”

“Boo. Where's the fun in that?” She walked off towards the room she had decided would be her bedroom, and expected Butler to follow, which he did. True to Foaly’s word, Caballine was hard at work setting the bedframe up while Mulch stood in a corner and worked through what appeared to be his third box of cereal, occasionally saying encouraging things like, “You’re doing great, Caballine,” and “This delicious box of cereal will be waiting for you when you finish! If, uh, I don’t eat it all.”

“I come bearing gifts,” Holly declared as she came in. Caballine glanced over to give her a smile before getting back to work, but Mulch gave her a dainty wave, looking only the ittiest bit shameful. “And Butler,” she added, cocking her head at a place in the room that Butler placed the boxes at. He was very good at following nonverbal instructions, though that came as no surprise.

“Butler,” Mulch greeted as he came over to peer at that particular round of boxes. Holly opened it up to reveal some of her books, a few crunchball cards from a youth past, a medal from after the defeat of the B’wa Kell. Very simple stuff that she’d, unfortunately, have to organize later.

“Diggums,” Butler replied to the dwarf over Holly as she unpacked. “Steal much lately?”

“Hey, I take offense to that. I am a changed man. I am a private investigator, and have been for nearly four years now.” Mulch spread his hands innocently, the box of cereal making a sound as he moved it. “You hole yourself away for three years then call me a crook. I am hurt, Butler. Wounded, even.”

“He filched my wallet when he thought I wasn’t paying attention,” Caballine piped up from her corner. Everyone’s gazes swiveled to her as she gracefully stood up and clopped over to Butler, wiping her hands on her skirt. “Wow,” she said, tilting her head back until she met Butler’s eyes, “you’re big.”

“I try,” he replied.

“Why didn’t you say anything about the wallet?” Mulch asked, annoyed.

“Because I love publicly humiliating you. C’mon, toss it over or I’m getting the husband to revoke Best Man status.”

“You can’t do that, you were married ages ago,” he grumbled but tossed it over to her anyway, to which she caught and then pocketed, a faint smile playing at his lips.

Holly watched them all, an unnamed feeling scorching through her, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. Ever since she traveled back she had been missing something she seemed unable to reach. She could reach it then.

In that moment, when they were transporting Hybras, she felt a connection with hundreds, thousands of people all at once, reaching out across magic to tuck one another inside their brains. Holly had dug her fingers deep within her own head until she could reach past into the dirt of Haven. She thought of Foaly, and Mulch, and her faint knowledge of Caballine, and Lili, and even Butler, in the general Ireland-adjacent vicinity. Holly had been asked to think their way home.

“What was it like to not have me and Artemis around?” She asked Butler, suddenly. It was the question she wanted to ask everyone she crossed.

He looked at her and blinked. “It was long and dull. I had just gotten used to the sound of the sea.”

Holly smiled at him. Butler smiled back, aiming for a pleased expression, but his eyes betrayed him through the shade of exhaustion in them. It would go away sooner or later, she would make sure of it.

A knock came from the doorway, interrupting them all, which preceded Artemis poking his head in awkwardly. “N°1 is here. And a... blonde woman?”

“Oh! That's Lili!” Holly began to bound back downstairs as she called, “Come on everyone, they're here to help.”

“Pardon, that's Lili? As in Lilian Frond?” Artemis asked, hurrying to keep pace with her. “I was under the impression you detested her.”

Holly snorted. "I did, but we're friends now. Get with the times, Mud Boy." She turned her nose up to the sky and smiled when she spotted, out of the corner of her blue eye, Artemis shaking his head with incredulity.

She burst out onto the lawn of her new house and greeted the woman and the little demon, beaming at the sight. As the rest of her friends joined them, her heart felt light.

Finally, Holly thought. She was home.