But Why?

She recognised him when her mother opened the door. He had been over for dinner a few times, and her dad frequently went for fishing trips and hikes with him. He was her father's comrade- a member of the LEP, just like her father, and that thought made her fiercely proud.

She knew that something was wrong. He spoke to her mother softly, in sombre tones, his expression grave. Her mother's eyes filled with tears as she choked and then began to cry.

It was then that she saw him look her way. His gaze faltered at the fierce, guarded look she gave him.

"I'm sorry," he said to her in a broken voice and then began to walk away.

She stood there for a moment. Then something seemed to snap in her, and the little girl ran after him in the streets until she caught up with him. She blocked his path, eyes still as hard as agates.

"How did he die?" She asked stonily.

"I don't think I should-" he started.

"I am his daughter."

He hesitated for a moment.

"How did he die?" She repeated.

He told her.

-----------------------------

They were clustered in a circle, surrounding her. Their jeering faces lost form and blurred as her eyes filled, but their voices were still clear.

"You girls have no right being here at the Academy-"

"Pathetic. Lets see if she can take it like a man-"

"Come, we'll show her-"

A few of them had started throwing things, small things, like coins or pebbles, but any cop could tell you that this could turn ugly really fast.

The next generation of coppers. A frightening thought.

"What's going on here?" A male voice demanded authoritatively. Even at this young age, Terry Kelp was a leader.

His question was greeted by nondescript mumbling. Even his seniors were backing off.

"Go," he intoned harshly, and as one, they left.

He waited for the last of them to leave, shooting glares where necessary. Not many wanted to tangle with Terry.

"Are you all right, Short?" He asked.

She scrambled to her feet and raised herself with dignity. "I'm fine, Kelp."

He looked at her, proud and broken and brave and hurt, and he thought his heart would burst. He wanted to say so much, but all that found its way out was-

"Why, Holly?"

"My father." She raised her chin defiantly.

Of course he knew of Oak Short, who hadn't, in the police business? The man had been one of the most decorated officers the force had known. He had perished in the line of duty, set upon by a brutal pack of trolls. Only one officer survived that day.

And he understood, or thought he did.

--------------------------

"Quite frankly, Ms Short, your case is quite unusual." The gnome looked up from the sheet on his desk.

Holly said nothing.

"While it's true that you did accomplish the parameters assigned to you in the practical test, it was certainly in a… Unique way. I must say, the examination guidelines have not prepared me for such an eventuality…"

"Lateral thinking is useful in an officer," Commander Root grunted through his cigar.

"That may be as such, but… shooting the projector? Some would say that borders on cheating." Sool calmly adjusted his spectacles.

"Recon is full of grey areas. Adaptability, that's the key to living long enough to actually get to that pension fund. Captains need to make judgement calls on the spot." Root watched Holly closely.

"Surely you aren't suggesting we take her as a Captain? Commander, with respect, she hardly covered herself in glory back there in the training room. I'm not even going to mention the cost of a new projector…" he trailed.

"Surely you aren't suggesting we fail a perfectly capable candidate because she was more creative than the examination board?" Root replied.

The tension simmered in the air.

"If you want this elf, you can take her, but you can't expect me to assign her to any respectable commander," the gnome said coldly as he walked out of the room.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"I'll take you if you answer one question. Why did you join the LEP, Holly?"

"My father." She eyed him guardedly, and he was reminded of that dreadful day when he had came to her house with the awful news, and she had looked at him exactly the same way from the stairwell.

They were the only two to know.

And he understood, much better than Trouble had.

-----------------------------

She sat alone, as the many faces looked down disapprovingly at her, as though she were something they stepped in at the park.

Sool cleared his throat.

"In the case of Short, with relation to the incident of Artemis Fowl, we move to strip Ms Short of her rank-"

"Captain."

"Excuse me?" Sool's lip curled as her looked down at her.

"Captain Short."

"Not for long," he smiled bleakly.

Something passed in the air then, an electric hostility, though her face betrayed no emotion as she calmly held his contemptuous gaze.

"Holly did commendably," Root said, partly to defend his Captain and partly to defuse the raging silence.

"It escapes me how you would be able to say that without laughing, Root."

"She recovered half the gold-"

"Meaning she lost half of the rather large amount. And I have my… doubts as to how she acquired the gold from Artemis Fowl in the first place," he smirked insinuatingly. "Ms Short must have other… talents not normally utilised in the LEP."

Sool walked slowly to Holly and leaned over her table.

"You must have been good, for half a ton of gold…"

She seethed, but kept her face calm. Root's face, on the other hand, was turning a rather interesting shade of red.

"Why, you-" the Commander growled, lifting Sool easily by his lapels.

"Ah, will there be two officers demoted today?" the gnome said softly.

Root breathed deeply before letting the detestable creature down. Sool straightened his shirt as though nothing had happened.

"Unfortunately, the decision is not solely mine. I will present the case to the Courtmarshall Committee, and they will decide your fate." His lip curled. "Not that there's much to decide."

Sool walked towards the door, but stopped as he opened it.

"Tell me," he said mockingly, "Why did a pathetic excuse for an elf like you become a LEP officer?"

She glared at him with hate-filled eyes. "My father."

And a creature such as Sool would never understand, although on some nights he wondered.

-----------------------------

She visited his grave on his birthday, as was her custom. She dropped the white lilacs, expensively obtained from a specialist florist, in front of his tombstone. Flowers were rare in the underground, where soil was by and large arid, and any fertile land was more likely to be used for grain and rice than for fragrant eye-candy.

She paused for a moment. Silence came naturally in a graveyard; it was conversation that seemed unnatural, forced.

"The Courtmarshall Committee didn't demote me in the end. I'm still a Captain," she said proudly.

She let the breeze play with her hair and smiled. Even Underground there were currents. Even Underground there was life.

"I still miss you," she smiled gently.

She took a few steps away, then hesitated, and turned back, tears glimmering in her eyes.

"Why did you run? Why did you leave your team and flee that day?" She asked, voicing the question that had burned inside of her since the day Julius had told her by the streets, but never dared to raise before, not even to a dead fairy.

And then she turned again, and left, the breeze blowing a petal loose from the lilac, leaving it to flutter around aimlessly in Holly's wake.