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A crisp Irish breeze ruffled the rust-orange petals of the aptly-named "fairy roses" on the hillside of the Fowl Estate. On an ordinary day, this zephyric display would go unnoticed and unconcerned by the residents of Fowl Manor; however, this particular evening happened to be unique. As it was, a sizable crowd of Fowls, Butlers, Paradizos/Fredriksons, elves, centaurs, dwarves, and sprites were assembled beneath elegant white tents on the lawn near the base of the hillside, and, as such, the mistress of the manor was paying slightly more attention to the weather than she normally did.

"What if it should begin to rain?" Angeline Fowl fretted, shielding her face with a hand in order to better see the clear skies. "Are fairies even waterproof? Or will they perhaps melt in a sudden thunderstorm?" she finished with a nervous giggle.

Artemis Fowl Sr knew his beloved wife was only half-kidding, and so chose to calm her frazzled nerves regardless of the absurdity of her concerns.

"Angeline, darling, everything is perfect. The guests have all arrived, the food is prepared, the accommodations are wonderful, and the weather is absolutely lovely. The sun will begin to set in a quarter of an hour, and there is only a small hurricane in sight." He laughed as his wife whipped around to face the horizon, and then smiled sheepishly, taking his offered arm to make their way to their positions.

...

Foaly was having a reasonable time. Reasonable, because although he was glad to be at Fowl Manor for such an occasion, his wife had left him in the metaphorical clutches of Minerva Fredrikson's, née Paradizo's, husband Eric, who was, at the moment, sketching an engineer's design of an equine snowboard for Foaly, and was offering - though Foaly interpreted it as threatening - to take his measurements in order to perfect the device.

"Truly," Eric was saying, with the passion of an inventor that Foaly recognized, "it would be a difficult task to achieve, but I believe, with the right technology and strength of mind, we could accomplish it-"

He was cut off by the return of Minerva, who, upon catching sight of his sketch and interpreting the topic of conversation, laughed prettily and kissed her husband on the cheek.

"My apologies, Monsieur Foaly," she giggled. "My 'usband is desperate to win the Nobel Prize for engineering - we are a good match, no?"

"I thought you were a ski instructor?" Foaly inquired of Eric.

Eric nodded. "In my spare time, yes. The physics of it is really quite amazing. And with growing up in Switzerland, it was somewhat of an eventuality," he said, grinning. "But sometimes, I'm anxious to - well - show off."

Foaly shuffled his hind legs and smiled good-naturedly. "Believe me, I get it. Though I don't think the committees will understand the need for this particular design."

"You never know," Minerva said cheerily. "What with all the sightings in these past few years. Look at us now - mon dieu, there are almost more fairies 'ere than humans. It is quite unfortunate that most humans are still pretending you don't exist."

Foaly smirked. "As it is, we've got light distortion projectors set up around the lawn. Just in case, you know."

Minerva tutted fondly. "Still, imagine what could be accomplished if we could all co-exist once more."

Foaly chuckled. "Gods help us all," he said.

...

Juliet Butler, who was known to be an extremely striking individual on almost any previous occasion, was especially stunning this evening. Dressed as she was in a sleeveless steel blue dress with matching stiletto heels and her trademark jade ring; she was also pacing the perimeter of the tents along the eastern edge watching the skies, and she was crackling with nervous energy.

Her brother, Butler, was as per usual displaying the calm of a centre of a hurricane, and so to the casual passer-by the pair made an amusing sight indeed, with Juliet quite literally running rings around her elder brother.

"Jules, take a breath," the manservant advised his younger sister. "For once, I am taking a moment's rest from worrying about Artemis's safety. You know perfectly well where they are - the oak tree near the river, planting an acorn together. Bedsides, Jules, I have eyes on anyway. I set up a battery camera in the tree yesterday. I had a feeling we would need it."

"But they're late!" Juliet stopped her frantic patrol and rounded on her brother. "What if they're not back for hours? Angeline will go Section Eight if anything goes wrong today, I would know, I've witnessed her insanity all month, remember? My god, she almost had a heart failure when she thought there wouldn't be enough chairs. And the sun is beginning to set already. And, well - and all right, I'm worrying."

Butler smiled fondly. "Bit of a role reversal, isn't it? Usually you're the one telling me to - what do you say - 'take a chill pill'?"

Juliet threw her head back and let out a peal of laughter. "Yes, big man, I suppose."

Butler's retort was cut short by the sight of two slight figures shimmering into view and landing a few metres away on the estate's lawn.

...

Artemis Fowl II was indescribably content.

This, in the case of one who once was never satisfied with something so simple as a meal was quite a grand statement to make.

But how could he not be sublimely happy? This was the day that had been a long time coming. In just a few short minutes the ceremony would begin - his joining ceremony to Holly Short.

He was marrying his best friend, his partner-in-adventures, his protector, his savior; and he loved her as fiercely as he had since she had died in Limbo and he had realized what her death would cost him. He loved her as deeply as he had when he'd woken in a gorilla cage eight years into his own past to find her crying over him. He loved her as dearly as he had when he was in the throes of Atlantis Complex and his devotion to her had been the only thing to shine through the psychosis.

And he loved her as truly as as he had in his final moments before Bruin Fadda's spell took hold and killed him.

As he stood at the top of the makeshift aisle on the hillside of the Fowl Estate, watching his friends and family take place in the fairy tradition of bearing the gifts to their own places under the archway, he felt a small hand slip into his own.

And he smiled.

...

Holly and Artemis were joined on a warm summer's evening on the hillside where Artemis had been saved; she proud and beautiful in her LEP dress uniform, and he in a custom dark silk suit. No. 1 was honored to be officiating the ceremony, and the orange sun was setting magnificently to the west as the pair spoke their vows.

"I love thee passionately and eternally. Obviously," Artemis promised, joking, to a smirk from Holly and chuckles from Foaly.

"Eternally goes without saying," he finished, and this time the words were spoken with such strength and power that none doubted him.

Holly was gazing at him in a way he had only seen a few times before. This look was hard, blazing - a maelstrom of emotions burned behind her bright eyes.

"Artemis, she said, strong and clear, "it's absolutely true to say that neither of us would be alive without the other. I have your eye, Arty, but that's not the reason why we'll always be a part of each other."

More words than these were said, by this pair whose hearts were so close, tangled and strung together by all the trauma, all the laughter, all the the adventures they shared and would share again, and by the end of it all No. 1 couldn't resist.

"I now pronounce you man and elf," the little demon said with sentimental tears in his eyes.

Foaly laughed appreciatively, recalling past circumstances, but Holly and Artemis were just a tad too preoccupied to take notice.

...

Holly had never been to a human party, but she had attended quite a few fairy ones (when your grandfather on your mother's side is friends with Dionysus, you tend to be in invited to some pretty epic raves), and this one was a mix of both. They decided upon a small private ceremony which would consist only of family and the closest of friends. And of course, being Fowls, the kitchen help and catering, tents, silk cushions, and a live band (even private parties had to have some entertainment, after all).

Holly and Artemis were dancing - or rather, Holly was swaying in time to the music and Artemis was holding her close, trying to hide his lack of proclivity for physical activity - when Holly giggled suddenly.

"What is it?" Artemis murmured into her ear.

Holly laughed. "I just remembered that old human saying about your weddings. 'Something old, something new'-"

"'Something borrowed, and something blue', yes," Artemis interrupted. "What's so amusing about that?"

Holly's eyes sparkled with mirth and she giggled again. "Well, I have your eye, Arty. It's something borrowed and blue."

Artemis nodded and smiled slowly, pulling his new wife closer. "I wouldn't say borrowed. It's yours, forever. As am I."

And with that, Holly stretched up and kissed him softly, putting her arms up around his neck as he encircled her waist.

'This is where we belong,' she thought, the slow tingle of realisation filling every part of her with warmth. 'Everyone I love is here.'

But most of all... Holly exhaled slowly, softly; the heat growing ever more within her as she remembered the man dancing with her.

She knew they would always be faced with challenges - new adventures, new struggles, new foes, and they still were from different worlds.

But Major Holly Short knew she could handle it all, as long as she had Artemis Fowl II at her side.