Chapter One
The Girl with the Fire for Hair
The sun had just risen, so it was still early morning, maybe about seven or eight. Ed had awoken to an ache of hollow hunger growling angrily in his stomach. He mumbled to himself in a cursed tone as he clumsily climbed higher in the trees tangled branches toward an apple at the top. A cracking sound made Ed jump a bit, but to his relief it was only a twig that had got caught under his foot. He sighed and began climbing again.
"Ed, is it such a good idea to climb that high? It's an awfully long ways down." Al asked from below Ed's staggering heights. Ed swallowed his fear, to stubborn to turn back now. Grabbing for the next branch above him he slipped and missed, falling slightly off balance he grabbed onto the branch he was standing on. A crunching sound filled Ed's ears as the branch gave way and he tumbled down the mess of limbs and branches. As he was being tossed and thrown through the knots of weaving branches, he felt a stabbing pain pierce the soft skin of his left shoulder. His yowl of surprise and fear was heard by a red haired girl, who turned to examine the sound. She saw the branches tremble and then spew Ed out onto the ground with a heavy thud. He hit the ground and curled up on his side, grasping his wounded shoulder. She gasped and rushed over to the awkwardly curled teenage blonde. "Are you alright?" She asked pulling his right hand away from his left shoulder gently, a scratch down his good arm. She felt the stiff metal under her fingers. But did not let the strange automail arm distract her form Ed. He groaned in agony as a fresh jolt of pain surged through his body. She reached into the left side of her red jacket and pulled out a scrap of cloth of what used to be a bandana. It was worn and faded in a few spots. She wrapped it around his arm carefully as not to put any more discomfort on him. He was already losing consciousness, his vision blurry and his mind fuzzy. "I'm Rhea." She was about five foot six with red hair that lay on her lower shoulder blade. Her face was slightly tan from the sun and was dotted with freckles, a pair of kind blue eyes and a warm smile met Al's face. "I'm Alphonse, and this is my brother Edward." Al replied. "Pleased to meet you. Perhaps a thorough look at that cut should be done. I live not to far from here." Rhea said concerned about Edward. She gestured to a cluster of houses at the foot of the hill. Al scooped up his unconscious brother. "It's for your own good Ed." Al murmured. Rhea smiled and turned toward the small clump of houses.
Rhea took a short cut through the wooded area of the hill that lead toward the western part of the town. Bird sang over head and squirrels bounced around in search of nuts on the forest floor.
As soon as they reached the foot of the hill, Rhea turned down the streets. Children ran about, playing with each other. They would pause and wave at Rhea and give wide ear to ear grins. Rhea would smile back kindly and wave. Mother's watched their children play and gossiped amongst each other. They all smiled as Rhea strode past with a bounce in her step. "Afternoon Rhea." One of the women called to Rhea. She wore a blue dress with a white apron. It wasn't dressy for a special occasion; it was just a plain, flat dress like that of the other women. "Afternoon ma'am." Rhea said with a wave of her hand.
They soon came to a walk way that led to a light blue house. Rhea then turned onto it and approached the house. She opened the door to the light blue house. "Well this is it, nothing too special." Rhea said. A hallway led to what looked like the kitchen and dinning room. To the right was a small room with a small sofa and an end table with a lamp. "Set him there." Rhea instructed pointing to the sofa. Al lay Ed down gently on the cream-ish, tan colored couch.
When Rhea returned, she held a tin box in her hands. She carefully wiped away some of the dried blood from around the cut before taping down gauze onto his arm. She wound a bandage around the arm. "He lost consciousness around ten minutes ago; we have to check for a concussion." Rhea replied pulling one of Ed's eyelids open and waved her finger past his face, she studied his eyes carefully, watching the way it moved and checked for dilated pupils.
"Well the good new is that if he did suffer a concussion, it's only minor, the bad news is he won't be waking up a good fifty minutes or more." Rhea said placing her fingers on his wrist to check for a steady pulse when Ed's eyes opened slightly. "Who are you?" Ed mumbled groggily jerking his hand away and struggled to sit up. He winced as his cut sent another jolt of pain through his body as he moved suddenly. "I'm Rhea, and please sit still; you're only making it worse on your body." She replied gently holding out her hands to help stable him, but he ignored the help stubbornly and steady himself with out her help. It took a bit of effort, but he managed to a sitting position. A grandfather clock in the den began chiming; the nine loud bongs broke the silence. "You're not in traveling condition…you two can stay the night here." Rhea said in a soft tone. Ed sighed and mumbled under his breath. "Seems we have no choice." He muttered unhappily wanting to get out of this small town as soon as possible. "Thank you." Al replied. "It is no trouble at all." Rhea said smiling.
Rhea led them to a blue room with cream colored borders that ran along the top and bottom of the walls. A bed on each side of the room made of white oak and a window on the far wall. A small oak night table to match sat next to both of the two beds and a small kerosene oil lamp on each table. Hand stitched quilts covered the beds and a light blue rug lay in the middle of the wooden floor. A painting hung on the wall of a small cottage overlooking a shimmering lake with a small blonde haired boy and a golden dog. "This is the guest room; my room is down the hall." Rhea said pointing a door on the end of the left side of the hallway. Ed took a peek at the door on the opposite side of the hall, there was a sign on the door, and it read: "Dragon's Den a caution to all who enter: Here there be dragons." "If you two need anything feel free to ask." Rhea said walking toward the living room next to the kitchen and dinning room. She hung her jacket on the back of a chair and picked up a notebook and began to fill the blank lines with black penciled words. Feeling her eyes getting heavy she decided to rest them for a moment but fell asleep.
Rhea awoke the next morning blinking to the early break of sun in the back doors wide windows streaming across the room and resting on her face. She sat up and stretched her arms, out of the corner of her eyes she saw the chair she had hung her jacket on was pulled out and facing the living room. Confused Rhea looked at it, she was sure she had pushed it in and was certain she had not at all turned it. She scratched her head and shrugged. She walked to the bathroom and turned on the faucet letting the warm water fill the sink. She splashed some on her face and reached for the towel next to the sink. She grabbed the soft fabric and pulled it from the metal ring and dried her freckled face. Hanging the towel back up she reach for her hairbrush and bushed out her long red hair, hesitating to pull it back into a pony tail, but instead she reached for her toothbrush and toothpaste. In the middle of brushing her teeth a quite mrrow followed by and knocking on the glass back door made Rhea turn. She spat into the sink and put her toothbrush in her mouth and walked to the back door. "Leo?" She asked as she opened the back door and a golden tabby kitten bounded in. He sat down and began to lick his chest fur before giving another happy mew. Rhea knelt down and gave the kitten a stroke before returning to the bathroom to rinse her toothbrush.
When Rhea returned to the living room Ed was sitting half asleep his head lay on the table and Al was stroking Leo. The gnawing hunger still burdened Ed as he sat half awake in the kitchen. Though the stinging of the cut had stopped, he was still famished. "Good morning." Rhea greeted. "Good morning." Al replied, Ed just gave a tired moan and opened his mouth to a gaping yawn. "Not a morning person, huh?" Rhea asked putting her hands on her hips. Ed sat back in his chair his braid dangling over the back of the chair. Leo jumped up and began to paw at the golden hair that hung over the back. "Leo, stop that, Edward's not going to be very happy when you tip him over." Rhea chuckled. The kitten stopped and looked at her in a mischievous way before leaping back into Al's lap. "I'm hungry." Ed moaned opening his eyes half way. "Pancakes?" Rhea asked. Ed nodded his head that lay on the table again. Right now he could eat anything…well maybe except milk…maybe. Rhea smiled amused and set to work in the kitchen.
"Those are the best pancakes around here." Rhea said proud of her work. "They're good." Ed replied chomping down on a bite of pancake Rhea was sure would not fit in his mouth, yet it did. Ed was wide awake now and was enjoying one of his favorite things, stuffing his face. "So what brings you two here?" Rhea asked as Leo happily curled up in her lap a quiet purr as she stroked his back. His golden blonde and slightly tinted brown fur felt soft and smooth under her finger tips. "We're looking for something." Ed replied taking another large bit of pancake. "Hmmm…what sort of something?" Rhea asked tilting her head slightly to one side. "We're looking for a stone of high value." Ed replied annoyed by Rhea's constant questions. Rhea blinked for a moment in deep thought, searching her vast knowledge of the world's oddities. "Could it be the legendary Philosopher's Stone?" Rhea asked narrowing her eyes slightly watching Ed's expressions. Ed began to cough trying to choke down a bit a pancake he had just put into his mouth. "What do you know about the Philosopher's Stone!?" He asked wiping his mouth with the corner of his sleeve. "A tidbit here and there, not much really…but I do know someone who used to research it." Rhea replied with a satisfied smirk on her face and handed him a napkin. He took it and set it down on the table. "If you guys are interested, we could go visit him. I'm sure he would not mind us looking over some things." Rhea said. "Would you?" Al asked. "Why not?" Rhea replied. "If you're willing to hike, he lives just outside of town." Rhea finished with a hint of joyful pep in her voice.