Author's note: I'm alive! It's good to be back :D These drabbles shall update every weekend and focus on a wide variety of characters, set mainly before and after the manga/Brotherhood storyline. Prompt list is from the community 50-themes on LiveJournal. Enjoy!

An Ishvallan woman on the side of the road offers him a mug of coffee, and he accepts, surprised, with a thank you in her own language. The rest of his party - Hawkeye, Fuery and Breda, their translator, and the small group of elders who serve as guides - stop to wait, but the woman beams up at Roy through a face full of wrinkles and says something beyond Roy's weak grasp of Ishvallan.

"She wishes for you to keep the cup," the translator explains, "and thanks you for your service."

Roy is a little shaken. On his trip through the slum, so far he has encountered glares and insults and seen countless starved, resentful faces turned away and towards him, but nothing yet like this. The woman continues to look at him, a wide smile wanting for several teeth stretched across her face, the red color of her eyes clouded with age. He can't see a single hint of anger or fear in her, and on this first of what he hopes will be many visits to Ishval, he can't afford to lose something like that. He thanks her again.

He takes a sip from the mug before they move on to the next cluster of tents. Years ago, the coffee in Ishval was gritty with dirt and bitter as the desert wind. The drink in his hands is full of cinnamon and nutmeg and something smoky he can't identify. Roy can't imagine where anyone who lives here might find spices or how they could afford them. Did the woman obtain them specially for him? Is it possible that in the midst of all this desolation and mistrust, she has gone out of her way to show him kindness where she knows he will find none? Does she believe that he might truly wish to help, as few of her culture have believed so far?

He drinks the rest of the coffee in a few swallows and hands the mug back to its owner with a bow. "It was delicious," he tells her, putting as much thanks into his voice as he can, and the woman's grin grows even wider as the translator conveys his message. The Ishvallan elders mutter among themselves, seemingly pleased. Fuery manages a smile. Roy feels hope.

Thanks for reading! Until next week~