Artemis Fowl and the Hazard of Haven

Chapter 2

Chapter 2- Bad News 

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As Artemis made his way through the crowd, he couldn't help but wonder how precarious his entire situation was. His father had died, and his grief had settled. Now Holly was becoming Commander of Haven city, and he couldn't help but feel some amount of pride in her too. But wasn't grief supposed to overpower all emotion? 

An interesting study for later. I must confer with Argon about this later. Perhaps I'll begin by asking him about his hip. It might show I care about his prosaic problems. Clearly, Artemis hadn't made much people-progress.

Of course, making his way through the crowd wasn't all that difficult. People surrounding him weren't more than three and a half feet tall. Butler, who was following Artemis, towered over everyone even more conveniently.

Many of the fairies stared at the twenty-something Artemis. About a decade and a half ago, he was proclaimed Public Enemy No. 1. It was natural, because several of the cadets were only in academic training back then.  After the Fowl Manor heist (that was put down in both economic and disastrous history), no one except a handful of fairies knew exactly why Artemis was suddenly a friend to the fairy folk. Apparently he had helped the LEP in the downfall of Opal Koboi as well as in several other criminal activities. Many still had their doubts though, especially those fairies that were politically involved because of all the disputes the Council had had due to a certain small group of humans.

Artemis subsequently chose to ignore the rare whisper that followed. A fully living clone was not something the People were used to, even with their technological advancement. The body and mind could only be falsely synthesised so far.

Holly was sitting on a wood-carved chair on the dais. Original wood too, not just a chemical fusion of falsewood with plastic, something that had been brought especially from the surface. It was tradition that the Commander-to-be sit on the chair before being pinned with the badge.

A shiny golden badge. Every girl's dream, thought Holly sarcastically, before noticing Artemis and Butler take their seats in the crowd. A smile originated on her face immediately. She hadn't seen her human friends for quite some time. It was a nice change filled with nice memories. It distracted her from the anticipating crowd.

One of the head Council members reached the dais. He was using a traditional microphone too. Ancient tradition was not something the LEP let go of easily. Obviously, the speech began with a walk down the memory lane, naming the older commanders who had done justice to their stands. The back of Holly's neck prickled as Julius Root's achievements were announced.

"And now, the moment we have all been waiting for," an ancient council member droned in a rather nasal voice. "I call Major Holly Short on stage to accept the new toke of her leadership."

Don't panic, she thought to calm herself down as she walked to the centre of the stage. Applause rang in the auditorium that seemed smaller than usual due to a certain seven and a half foot Eurasian. He shot Holly an admiring smile which she returned, exhaling as she reached the middle.

She shook hands with council members and with retired Majors and Commanders after the golden pin was flaunting itself on her chest. Someone announced that it was now time for her to give her speech, and she prayed that she wouldn't fumble.

She went to the podium, hoping something would go wrong with the microphone so that she would have more time to adapt to the atmosphere. But she knew there would be no such luck, because even though this was an ancient model, Foaly would have tweaked it for clarity and other technical aspects that bored her.