Chapter One
A Cold Wind Blows
Waking up, the small girl stretched her arms high over her head. Blinking her eyes, she stood up and looked at the sky. It was mid-afternoon, and her nap had given her the rest she had needed for days.
Letting out a quick growl, she called her friend and companion, Ro, to her. The large puma was easily twice her size, and had smooth, well groomed fur. Ro let out a little purr of laughter as he saw the girl. Her hair was all messed up from the nap.
Noticing her friend's laugh, she walked over to the stream they had camped near. Clapping her hands and touching the water, she formed a small area of water that was very smooth, enough to function as a mirror.
After she had fixed her hair, she picked up the only belonging she had. It was a little stone horse, and she had had it since before she could remember. Ro paced around a tall pine tree, waiting for his friend.
"Ro, will you stop that?" she said in puma, the only language she knew. "I know you want to get going. Pacing won't make me go faster."
"Fine, fine, but can we go already? It's your name day, Kei. Mama gave you the name you have now ten years ago! It's the most important day of the year, so we have to celebrate!" Ro was excited. He was looking forward to a day full of fun, and at least one hunt. Kei was getting especially good at hunts.
"All right, all right. Let's go," Kei replied. She was less excited than Ro, but she was happy anyways. A name day only came around once a year. She and Ro left the camp they had set up untouched. It was time to head north, towards the fluffy, white snow.
Kei climbed to the top of a tree. Her eyes were almost as good as a hawk's, and she soon spotted what she was looking for. A long dirt path made its way up to a bigger area with strangely shaped trees.
There were a lot of things moving about down near the trees. Things that looked like she did and walked like she did. Kei guessed that it was probably a gathering, and happily decided to stay away.
Leaping from branch to branch, she was soon on the forest floor, standing besides her companion. After another quick discussion, she led her friend around the place with the weird trees.
Sounds reached her heightened senses, but she couldn't understand them. It was as if the things that looked like her were speaking gibberish, and that made her wary. It might have been a different language, but to her it sounded bad.
Finally, Kei and Ro reached the snowy forests of the north. Kei, not having fur like Ro did, was shivering. Ro went bounding off to hunt, and about two hours later he came back with an elk.
"Whoa, n-n-nice catch!" Kei said, trying to suppress her shivers. Ro looked sadly at her shaking body, trying to think of a way to help.
"Try wearing the pelt of the elk! It might warm you up. Use your magic on the snow to make it melt. You could wash the blood off of it," Ro suggested. Kei smiled. She liked Ro's idea, and did just what he suggested.
About fifteen minutes later, Kei was wet, but warm. To let it dry, she took a nap while curled up in Ro's soft fur. Once she woke up, she pulled on the pelt and continued on their way, farther into the snowy mountains.
In Briggs - Edward and Alphonse
Sitting in the small jail cell, the two brothers contemplated their capture. It wasn't really strange to them, being captured again. That had happened to them... how many times? It was just something that delayed their search.
Some of the soldiers from Briggs came to their cell, talking about how the brothers had saved some of the soldiers. Ed had helped get rid of the homunculus, which had dug deep underneath the fortress.
This caused Ed to question the sanity of those stationed at Briggs. Why would they cage up someone who had helped them in a time of need? It was just too weird, the way those people did things.
Ed let out a sigh. "Al, when do you think they'll let us out?" he asked his brother.
"When they need us," Al replied. Again, Ed sighed.
"Yeah, well, that's obvious." The two brothers tried to take a nap.
When they woke up, they saw some soldiers struggling with a small girl wrapped in a furry cloth. Another person dragged in a caged mountain lion, which was desperately trying to reach the girl.
Listening closer to what was going on, Ed heard two sets of growls. One was from the mountain lion, but the other was from the girl. He had never heard such a sound coming from a human, so he was surprised.
Al, who couldn't sleep because of his body, was watching the scene with interest. The soldiers finally managed to get the small girl into a cell, and shoved the cage of the mountain lion in with her.
"Hey, who are they?" Ed asked the nearest soldier. The man looked up in surprise, as if he hadn't noticed the other prisoners.
"Oh, it's you guys. Well, we don't know who she is, and she won't talk to us. All she does is use growls and roars. I don't think she can talk," he replied.
A loud bang came from the end of the hallway that connected the cells. Storming in, Major General Armstrong looked around furiously. She didn't like threats to her stronghold and wouldn't tolerate spies.
She walked right up to the cell the girl was in. Looking her in the eyes, she stood there for a few minutes. It seemed like an eternity to Ed, and he didn't have the patience to just wait for one of them to break.
"So, what's she doing here?" Ed asked, receiving a very annoyed look from Major Miles, who had followed the general in. Armstrong stood there for a few seconds more, the glare she gave the girl sending a shiver down Ed's spine.
"Who are you?" Armstrong asked her. The girl continued to growl, which made the general angrier. "Why are you here?! Answer!"
"General! I don't think she can understand you..." Major Miles said. "Let's get her some food and water, then we might be able to figure out a way to learn more. It's not worth hurting her if she can't talk to us."
The general turned away and nodded to Miles. He gave out the orders while staring at the girl. She was trying to get the cage of the mountain lion unlocked, and failing.
Miles surprised Ed and Al by tossing her a key. What surprised them more was that instead of trying to put it in the locks, she tasted it. Ed was so shocked that his jaw dropped open, and he tried not to burst into laughter.
"Um... you put the key in the lock, little girl," the major said, stressing the words "key" and "lock". She looked up at him with a puzzled expression on her face.
"K-kei?" she asked. The major held up a bunch of keys.
"These," he replied. Shoving on into a padlock he held up, he demonstrated how to unlock something. "Key goes into lock."
Ed couldn't take it. This was so funny to him! He was laughing his ass off, trying not to fall over. His ribs were hurting, but he couldn't stop laughing. This awarded him with a glare from just about every person in the room.
"Luk..." the girl said.
"Yeah. My name is Miles," he said, pointing to himself. "Miles."
"Mi...ils... Miles!" She responded happily, pointing to the major. Switching back to the growls, halfway through they heard something close to english. "My name is Kei! My mama gave me that name! Yesterday was my nameday."
"You are... Kei?" Miles asked.
She nodded. Pointing to herself she began to speak again. "K-Kei. My... na-name... Kei. Miles, my name Kei."
"Kei, put the key into the lock," Miles told the girl. She looked puzzled again, but tried to do what he told her. A little click told them she was successful, and the lock came undone. Kei pulled open the cage and let her pet out.
"Ro," she said, pointing to her pet. "Ro, meet Miles. He's our friend. He's helping me speak their language. Maybe you can learn, too."
"Nah, I don't want to. Their language doesn't seem as complex as ours is. You should just stick to puma," Ro growled back.
Everyone in the room was surprised. The cat spoke back to the girl? It was, again, something they had never seen before. They just stood there for a minute, and then a soldier brought food and a pitcher of water.
Seeing the water, Kei got excited. She clapped her hands together and touched it, forming an icy arc in the air. Clapping again, she turned it back into water. The look on her face was of pure joy.
Ed was astonished. Such a girl knew alchemy? Even if she did, how had she been able to clap like he did? It was strange. Ed felt a compelling need to investigate further.
