After the rapid fire events in the land of Amestris and the constant struggle of life-and-death that raged on for months, the calm, monotonous trek across the desert seemed anti-climactic and almost jarring in contrast.
During the first days of travel, the small caravan that traversed the sea of sand rode mostly in silence, each one exhausted in ways that far exceeded physical means. Occasionally one of the robed figures might glance back, as if to check if they were being followed, unable to truly accept that they were safe. But they carefully covered their tracks, and were accosted only by the harsh desert sun.
They were headed toward their homeland of Xing, where nothing but love, glory and riches awaited their return and yet the only word that could truly describe the air about the small caravan was melancholy. A deep sadness hung over the crew like a cloud- in part, this sadness was due to the loss of a loved one, the corpse of whom was being pulled in a heavily armored box by a team of two great steeds. In part, this sadness was due to the fears and worries of what comes next? and the uncertainty of the world this crew may soon be walking into.
Though mostly, this sadness was due to those left behind, and though they would never admit it, this was truly why every now and again, one of the morose robed figures might steal a glance over their shoulder, to catch one last glance at the land of Amestris before the wavy desert horizon swallowed it up forever, leaving the travel-weary trio to wonder if any of it had truly happened at all.
Ling Yao had always had a big sense of humor about him- he had developed it as a way to battle the cut-throat lifestyle he had been born into. He had always made light of all the times he got himself in hot water and wanted to buy him time to think of a way to wriggle out of trouble. But even on one of his best days, he didn't think he could bring a smile to the two sour-pusses he was stuck gaining saddle sores with.
Looking to his right, Lan Fan followed just a few steps behind. Heavily clad in protective white cloaks and scarves, the only recognizable feature was the occasional wisp of black hair that got caught by the wind. Even without seeing her face he could tell she was deep in the throes of mourning. She rarely complained and almost never cried in all the time they had known each other so seeing his fierce warrior so vulnerable left Ling Yao at a loss for words and left him feeling on edge himself.
Looking to his left, a second, smaller indistinguishable figure with bandaged shins and feet followed silently. Whereas Lan Fan's silence was one of deep sadness and regret, Mei's was one of anger, the silence that followed someone who had lost an argument and still wanted to fight but knew they had no true ground to stand on. Mei had refused such a hasty retreat stating over and over again that she should stay to heal those who had been injured (and also to see to it that Alphonse was alright after his return.)
In the end Ling had won because 1) he had argued that Amestris had plenty of skilled doctors to treat everyone's wounds, 2) reminded Mei of her own grave injuries, and 3) well- he was bigger than her. In the end he won with brute force alone, carrying the struggling girl (with plenty of cuts and bites from Xioa May) halfway to a safe house where the three illegal aliens could plan a quick retreat back to Xing undetected and unimpeded.
Ling sighed, deciding to set his sights on the East for good, seeing as nothing to the left or right or behind him did him any good. The only true solace he could find amongst his brooding silent companions was the little vial he kept in his pocket. He dipped a hand into the pocket to fumble with the little vial, to reassure himself it was there despite being able to sense its ominous presence without any physical contact. Just being in such close contact with the Philosophers Stone (and knowing what it contained and all it represented) was enough to turn his stomach but he wouldn't let it leave his person at any cost- not after all he had been through to get it. Not after all the lives lost to obtain it and all the lives stolen to create it.
He had known when he set out from his home in Xing that the road ahead would likely be a dark, gruesome one- he hadn't known that the very stones he would walk would be paved in blood and death.
Was it worth it? An annoying voice in the back of his mind asked for the umpteenth time that day.
He thought of all the horrors he had seen, the discovery of the homunculi and even being devoured by one. He recalled all those who had died, friends and soldiers and unsuspected enemies turned ally. He thought of old man Fu, how bravely he fought and how deeply Lan Fan wept for him in his death.
He thought of Lan Fan and felt the stab of guilt and regret deep in his stomach. She had suffered so much yet remained silent in her grieving- even now, as the sun threatened to scald her with her own automail arm, she carried on without complaint. He never meant for her to get hurt. He vowed now to never let it happen again. He wanted to protect her.
As the future Emporer of Xing, he truly hoped he could protect everyone.
After several days of nonstop travel, finally, finally they came to a halfway point. A small oasis of sorts that catered to those brave (or stupid) enough to cross the desert was located on a rocky outcropping in the middle of the of the main path that led from Amestris to Xing. There was a stable to refresh their mounts, a tavern, an inn, and even some small shops to pick up new clothes and supplies.
They first stopped at the inn, ready to collapse at the doorstep. Despite all three being trained warriors from birth, none had been prepared for the tolls of sun and sand and exposure.
Ling dismounted first and went to offer Mei a hand off her horse but the little princess turned up her nose and hopped lightly out her saddle on her own and bounded into the inn. Ling winced knowing her still injured feet had to hurt but figured her pride had to hurt worse at accepting help from the Yao clan son.
He made to follow Mei inside but hesitated when Lan Fan made no move to follow. Instead she hovered near the casket still drawn by the team of weary horses.
"We won't be able to take him inside," Lan Fan began in hushed tones before Ling could even speak. "I won't leave him here alone."
"You need to rest in a proper bed, we've been traveling all day and night for days now. We'll keep him somewhere safe, alright?"
Lan Fan hesitated, unaccustomed to disobeying orders from Ling but also extremely stubborn when she set her mind to something. Her grip on the lead horses reins tightened as she glanced back at the armored box that was secretly a well insulated casket of her beloved Grandfather.
Ling took the reins and said, "I'll find him somewhere safe to stay while you go check in with Mei. Get two rooms, one for me and you two girls- surely you two can manage not to kill each other for one night."
He said the last part in jest but the hardened glint in Lan Fan's eye made him waver and wonder if he would ever truly be able to unite all the clans as one under him. The children of the emperor were brought up to fight and kill one another- old habits died hard after all.
Finally, Ling stepped in close and said, "He would want you to rest, not worry."
Lan Fan merely nodded and handed over the reigns, silently heading toward the inn, and Ling told himself he didn't see the tears glistening on her eyes as he made his way to the stables.
Lan Fan wiped her eyes and followed Mei into the inn, where she found the younger girl unwrapping her outermost layer of robes and scarves. Lan Fan considered telling Mei to continue hiding her face until they were safely behind the walls of their own room, but looking around the only inhabitants of the inn were some burly sunburned men who were either too weary or too far into their cups to care about the Xingese girl shaking sand out of her braids.
Lan Fan went ahead and removed her headscarves as well and approached the receptionist. "Two rooms, please. And dinner for three, if there's still time," was all she said as she laid down enough money to cover the room and board.
"Sure, thing sweetie. We don't have much of a selection, mostly milk and stew and bread but the milk is cold and the stew is to die for," the inn keeper replied, somewhat distracted by something over Lan Fan's shoulder.
Lan Fan glanced back and saw that Xiao Mei had weaseled her way out of Mei's robes and onto her customary perch of Mei's shoulder. Lan Fan frowned, ready to reprimand Mei for bringing pets into the inn, ready to fight back when Mei would surely insist that Xiao Mei was "family not a pet!" but the innkeeper surprised her when he asked, "So, uh, what does the little… cat… thing eat?"
Mei was at Lan Fan's side in an instant, "This is Xiao Mei, she's a vegetarian and loves bamboo leaves if you have any!"
The inn keeper "hmmmm"ed to himself in thought then said, "Doubt we got any sort of leaves around here…" He reached out curiously to poke at Xiao Mei's head; the little panda sniffed him curiously… then chomped down with all her tiny teeth. The inn keeper yelped and pulled his finger away.
"Bring her by the kitchen once you're settled in," he said, deadpan and deflated. "I'll… see what I can do."
Lan Fan and Mei gathered their things and followed one of the serving girls as she showed them to their rooms. Lan Fan noticed the girl shoot them some curious looks but she was apparently used to seeing strange travelers through these parts because she never asked any questions.
"Here you are, miss," the girl said as she handed Lan Fan the room keys. "The front doors lock at eleven, so if you leave be sure to be back before then. We have a public bath outside but it's currently out of use due to damage from a recent earthquake. There's a smaller bath down the hall as well but the water never gets warm, so please excuse that. We do ask all guests who come in off the desert to please bathe before getting into the beds. It helps with the sand," she added meekly at the confused looks Mei and Lan Fan shot her.
After one final glance at Xiao Mei (perhaps she had seen what happened to the in keeper, because she didn't attempt to pet the little bear) the serving girl bowed and left.
Mei stretched and hoisted her pack on her shoulder, swiping a key from Lan Fan's hand.
"Alright, I guess me and Xiao Mei will take this room, and you two can have that one."
Lan Fan's eye twitched in irritation. "Excuse me? Us two? This room is the Young Lord's, you and I are to share a room, Mei."
Mei shot her an incredulous look as if sharing a room with someone of the Yao Clan was the worst thing that could happen to her.
"Really? You always slept next to him when we made camps on the way here."
"That was different," Lan Fan explained as she unlocked their room and entered. "That was for protection in case we were assaulted at night. You were supposed to sleep near us as well, but refused to."
Mei grumbled something about not wanting to sleep next to smelly boys and Lan Fan was about to rebuke that the Young Lord did not smell and in fact often smelled like fresh cut lilacs due to the shampoo he used when she shifted and sand fell from within her sleeves and hair and she realized they had all been traveling in the desert heat for days in the same garments so really- they all reeked and surely needed a long hot bath.
Lan Fan reigned in the anger she felt when anyone smack talked Ling and decided to play nice instead- it was the Young Lord's wishes that she and Mei get along, therefore she would do her best not to start anymore fights.
"Mei, why don't you and Xiao Mei head to the baths while I unpack our things here?"
Her attempts to play nice backfired when Mei shot her a look as if she had been insulted.
"I can unpack my own things," was her snippy reply. "Don't treat me like a child."
"I didn't mean it like that-" Lan Fan began to defend, but she realized it was pointless. Mei was already unpacking her things and pretending she couldn't hear Lan Fan anymore. From her backpack she produced her sleeping roll and pillow, some spare clothing, a small comb and some hair ribbons, and then a roll of fabric that clinked when it was set down (telling Lan Fan it must have been extra kunai), a whet stone, then a small tin that had who knows what in it for all Lan Fan could guess. Lan Fan watched as Mei tucked the small tin into the folds of her robes and then announced, "You can take a bath first, I'm heading to the kitchen."
Lan Fan didn't particularly like having orders barked at her either but she didn't get a chance to reply before Mei had bounded off. For someone so young the girl was quite independent.
And so, for the first time since leaving for Amestris, Lan Fan found herself completely alone. She stood in the dim room for a moment, looking around, wondering how she had gotten here- miles from home, battleworn and travel-weary in the middle of nowhere sharing a room with one of the people she had been trained to kill on sight, playing nice at her Young Lord's request as they travelled home with the intention of him finally becoming emperor.
She sighed as she realized they had left Xing a trio and would return a trio- but one of the members was not the same and would never truly be able to return home.
Lan Fan fought back the tears that sprang to her eyes. She was sick of crying. She was sick of fighting, sick of running, sick of the heat and sick of this sand and wanted nothing more than a long bath. She gathered her spare clothes and pushed all the sad thoughts out of her mind, hoping she could leave them behind in the dust just as they had left Amestris behind.
The serving girl had complained that the water never got hot but honestly nothing felt better against Lan Fan's skin than the cool flow of water and she wished it would get even colder. If only she were an alchemist, she could change the whole tub into an icy bath. Or so she figured- she never really understood that alchemy or Alkahestry stuff Mei and her kind were always going on about. It had all seemed like some strange magic growing up, something she could never grasp. But she didn't mind because she had always preferred working with her own hands and relying on her own wits to get her out of a bad situation. She would gladly leave alchemy in the dust of Amestris.
One thing she had gained in Amestris which she couldn't leave behind was the automail arm she had acquired. Bathing with it still took some getting used to. After washing the sand out of her hair Lan Fan dug some special brushes and oil out of her bag to begin scrubbing the caked in grime and sand out of her automail joints. That alone took some time and she was glad she had not had the luxury of a hot bath to begin with, because by the time she was done the water would have been ice cold anyway. She was shivering when she got out and began to think a hot bath wouldn't be half bad after all.
Finally, Lan Fan dried off and changed into her only (mostly) clean set of clothes and bundled up her soiled ones. She decided once Mei and the Young Lord had bathed as well, she would gather up their ruined clothes and try to find a way to properly wash them or even replace them.
Speaking of the Young Lord, it had been a while since Ling had sought after the stables and she wondered where he was seeing as he had not yet checked into his room. Lan Fan had just stepped down the stairs into the main room when the front doors burst open and in walked two burly men carrying someone between.
"Y-Young Lord!?" Lan Fan stammered, recognizing the unconscious mumbling figure to be Ling.
"Friend of yours miss? We found him passed out in the road."
Lan Fan was at his side in an instant, taking his weight from the strange man who looked on bewildered, mind instantly running through the likelihood of ambush or poison.
"What happened, Young Lord," Lan Fan whispered harshly in his ear, preparing herself for a counter attack… when she heard Ling's stomach growl loudly.
"I'm… so hungry…," the half conscious man muttered.
Lan Fan damn near dropped him then. Instead she asked when dinner would be ready.
Mei peeked her head around the corner meekly, inspecting the warm kitchen and sniffing at the savory smells that wafted in the air. There was a middle aged plump woman tending to a large pot on the wood stove; whatever it was made Mei's mouth water, but she didn't see the innkeeper anywhere and did not want to intrude.
Despite her attempts to blend in with the doorframe the cook apparently saw her. Without turning around the woman said in a kind voice, "There's more room at the table than in the doorway, little girl."
Mei stepped into the little kitchen and gave an apologetic bow. "Sorry for spying, I was hoping to find something for my friend to eat."
The woman turned and smiled as Mei climbed into a tall bar stool at the island in the middle of the room.
"I'm sure we can scrounge up something to sate the tastes of anyone around here- where is this friend of yours?"
Mei beamed as Xiao Mei plodded onto the table, sniffing around curiously at unfamiliar smells, completely missing the baffled look of the cook who had just had an animal unleashed in her kitchen.
The cook stood with her hands on her hips, studying the small black and white cat-thing with curiosity as Mei explained, "My name is Mei and this is Xiao Mei. We're traveling from Amestris to Xing and all Xiao Mei's had to eat is roasted seeds. She… doesn't like them very much."
The look of disdain the little panda gave quite clearly portrayed her dislike of roasted seeds.
"Hmmmmm…," the cook murmured. "I'm not sure if we have anything much better than seeds…Oh! Maybe..."
The woman wiped her hands and brow on a towel and stepped through the doorway into a cramped but crammed full pantry. Mei felt a twinge of guilt for putting her out so as she heard boxes being shuffled and cans clinking around.
The woman came back out hefting a wooden crate full of jars with colorful contents.
"We were saving these to be cake toppers during special events," she said as she sat the crate down and pulled out a jar for Mei to inspect. "Turns out, we don't have a whole lot of special events in these parts so I don't see the harm in breaking into a few now for a few guests."
Mei "oooh"ed at the brightly colored fruit floating in clear liquid in the jars. She attempted to open the can but it was sealed tightly shut. "What's in here?"
"Persevered fruits. This one is strawberries, and some of the others are peaches and sliced melon." The cook took the jar from Mei's small hands and attempted to open it as well. The cook was by no means a small or meek woman and yet she still strained to open the jar.
"Welp," she sighed in defeat, wiping a bead of sweat from her face as she shot the jar a look of disdain. "Looks like it's been even longer than I thought since we've had any special events around here. This things as good as sealed by cement… Sorry, dear."
Mei frowned then perked up as if she had gotten a sudden idea.
"Hmmm. Can I try again?" Mei asked as she dug into the sleeve of her robe.
"Sure, sweetie, but I don't want you hurting yourself…," the cook's voice trailed off as she watched Mei produce a small tin from within her sleeve, then produce a piece of chalk from within that tin. Her curiosity overtook the indignation she felt as the girl began to scribble a weird sign on her spotless table and then set the jar in the middle.
The woman's face was set in an "O" of amazement as the young girl brought her hands together then gently laid them at the edges of the symbol and a bright sparkling light filled the room. When the light had died down the jar was no longer there, and there was a glass teacup filled to the brim with strawberries.
"My, myyy," the woman smiled, finally realizing what happened. She handed Mei a fork. "That's alchemy isn't it?"
"Yup!" Mei said cheerfully as she fed Xiao Mei one of the strawberries. The little panda squeed in delight at having something so delicious in her belly after days of nothing but roasted seeds.
"I had no idea I was in the presence of such a skilled alchemist."
"Hmmm, my alchemy is pretty rusty, but I'm far more proficient in Alkahestry."
"Alkahestry?"
"It's what alchemy is called where I'm from," Mei continued, happy to talk alchemy and alkahestry with anyone who would listen. "It's fundamentally the same, but alchemy focuses more on deconstruction and reconstruction-changing something's original state of being- while Alkahestry focuses more on reconstruction from deconstruction -changing something back to its original state of being."
"You don't… say…," replied the bewildered woman. She was suddenly reassessing the unassuming young girl who had waltzed into her kitchen with a new sense of admiration and wariness. "Is that not… the same thing?"
Mei shook her head, scrubbing the chalk marks off with her sleeve. "Not quite. Alchemy focuses on the art of harnessing the earth's energy to change matter with the intent of creating a new material or object. Alkahestry is the art of harnessing the world's natural energy and taking something that has already been changed by some outside force and either returning it to its original form or repairing it in a similar way- so it may look different but the end result is still composed of the same chemical make up."
The woman could tell Mei was trying to explain things in layman terms so she could understand but she still felt like a cloud of words was buzzing around her head like a swarm of angry bees.
"Ah...so… you're an alkahest then?" The woman crossed one arm across her front and rested her chin against the hand of the other, regarding Mei in a new light as the young girl nodded, smiling.
"Is that why you were visiting Amestris then, studying alchemy?"
Mei hesitated, unsure of how to go on. She didn't want to lie but she didn't want to risk being a blabber mouth either. She knew the woman meant them no harm but she knew walls had ears and words had ways of sprouting feet and traveling to people you would rather them not to.
"Sort of… I went to Amestris for… family reasons, and wound up befriending a few alchemists and learning about western alchemy there."
That was pretty close to the truth, Mei decided and she could tell the lady believed her.
"Well, isn't that wonderful, how the East and the West can learn from each other. And now you can head home with a head full of new things and new experiences."
The cook trailed off, catching onto the way the bright eyed girl's expression had switched to one more morose.
"Excuse me if I'm wrong but…. You don't seem too excited about going home."
Mei poked at Xiao Mei's full belly where the little panda had quickly passed out into a food coma after having her fill of fruit.
"I want to go home, I do, my family's waiting for me there, but… I also have a lot of friends in Amestris I'm worried about and didn't get to say goodbye to because we had to leave in a rush and I don't know if I'll get to see them again."
The cook wrung her hands together, realizing the young girl was on the verge of tears. What kind of family business had she been roped up in?
"Goodness… that would leave anyone heavy hearted. But surely you could call them or even write to them when you're home, right?"
"Maybe. I don't have any number to call nor have any addresses to send anything to…," Mei was thinking aloud, chin in hand as she ran a finger around the rim of the now empty tea cup. "I could probably contact Central Military Command to find out, if I knew how to get ahold of them, or maybe the Military Hospital…"
Central Military Command?! Who the heck was this little girl and what exactly had she been involved with in Amestris? The cook recalled the day of the eclipse, how there had been a sudden country wide blackout and how she had heard rumors of it involving both military and alchemists.
Could this young girl have been involved with…?
No, the cook decided, laughing at the ludicrous thought. There was no way this girl had anything to do with all that nonsense.
"H-hospital, you say? Were you sick while in Amestris?"
"Ah, uh, no, but one of my friends is, um…", Mei had absolutely no idea how to say "had his soul fused to an empty shell of armor for years while his real body wasted away in a purgatory-like world after attempting human transmutation when he was a child and only recently returned to his severely atrophied body and needs to undergo serious physical and mental therapy along with all the wounded soldiers that nearly lost their lives to a being that wanted to obliterate everyone's existence on earth" in layman terms so she settled with, "got hurt, but is recovering now."
"I see," the cook smiled. "Well, then that's something to look forward to isn't?"
"Yes, but I'm a skilled Alkahestris and trained in healing! Don't you think I should have stayed?"
"I'm sure wherever your friend is staying, they have a lot of well trained doctors to look after them, so don't feel too guilty about it, dear."
"Yeah…," Mei mulled that over. "I know that. I guess I do feel guilty, seeing as it was my fault he was hurt…"
"What do you mean? How could it be your fault?"
"He was trying to protect me," Mei said simply, and the tears were back in her eyes. She rested her elbows on the table and hid her face in her hands.
"And then I did something horrible… but I was just trying to protect him, too… and I never got to say I'm sorry, or…or…" Fat tears spilled from between her fingers and splattered on the table. "I don't know if I'll even get to see him again, once I'm home."
The cook stood there flabbergasted, unsure what to say to comfort someone so young who had apparently been to hell in back judging by the tortured look on her face.
"There, there, sweetheart," the cook said at Mei's side, patting the girl on her back. "This friend of yours seems pretty dear to you, huh? Surely he wouldn't like knowing you're this torn up all for his sake."
Mei looked up at that and tried to wipe away the fat tears in her eyes. "No… probably not…"
"I can't say I really understand what's going on, but I do know one thing. Sitting around crying isn't going to change anything- so I'll tell ya this. Why don't you write this friend a letter and I'll see to it personally that it gets where it needs to go? That way you can head home with one less worry weighing on your shoulders."
Mei looked shocked. "What! Really?! You would do that for a total stranger?"
"Of course," the cook laughed softly and patted Mei on the back. "We get a lot of travelers in these parts that have to send this or that to here or there so we're pretty good at figuring out what goes where. Besides, Believe it or not I used to be a love sick girl myself back in the day."
Mei smiled and dried the rest of her face on her sleeves. "I… I don't have any paper, or a way to write anything…"
"Leave that to me too," the cook said. "Now I've got to get back to getting supper ready, but I'll make sure you've got something to write on before you're asleep tonight."
Mei stood and bowed, thanking the woman for her kindness. Yet again Mei was startled by the kindnesses the Amestris people had shown her, a foreigner and a stranger.
"I wish there was some way to properly thank you…"
"Thank me by keeping that smile on your face. We don't get to see a lot of happy young girls around here and it helps lifts people's spirits. Now how about you go wash up and change out of your riding clothes and then supper will be ready."
Mei nodded and bounded out of the room, tossing one more thanks over her shoulder and the cook stood there smiling with her hands on her hips until Mei was gone… and then she exhaled a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. She felt as if the wind had gotten knocked out of her, just listening to the little Xingese girl's tale and was eternally grateful she didn't fully understand anything the girl had said.
She had just turned back to her pot of stew on the stove, grateful this was all she had to worry about for now, when another Xingese girl dragged what looked like a half dead man into her kitchen.
"Excuse me… is dinner ready yet?"
The cook sighed. It was gonna be a long night.
Mei made her way down the hallway with higher spirits than she had had since leaving Amestris, wishing she had some way to payback the kindness of the cook and the innkeeper. She was distracted and nearly ran into the serving girl who had lead her and Lan Fan to their rooms as she rounded a corner.
"Excuse me, miss," she said, pardoning herself and was about to pass by but then inspiration struck her. "Actually, could you do me a favor…"
"Wow, you're a lifesaver," Ling muttered around a mouth full of food as she stuffed his face with his sixth bowl of stew. Lan Fan cheerfully ate alongside him and the cook looked beyond baffled but watched somewhat admirably, somewhat annoyed.
"It's… my pleasure…"
Once Ling had had his fill he set his bowl down and sighed contentedly while Lan Fan offered a proper thank you.
"No problem like I said," the cook said as she waved away all the praise. "You two wouldn't happen to be traveling with a little girl with a black and white cat would you?"
"Yes, we are. Hope my little sister hasn't been causing you any trouble."
"Not at all," the cook said. She lifted a glass tea cup from the counter and said, "She's quite a talented young girl. She was spouting off about alchemy and stuff I don't understand but she made this and I was impressed."
"Ha, yeah, she is pretty talented," Ling muttered. He had only recently gotten to know Mei personally but he found he liked the young girl and hoped that one day she would truly accept him as not only her new emperor but also as her older brother. "Hope she didn't talk your ear off…"
He was worried Mei had told the woman too much but after a little prying he found all the woman knew was that Mei was upset about leaving some friends behind.
"I tried to comfort her, but she still seems upset. Maybe as her older brother you could say something to reassure her everything will be alright when you get home?"
Ling hoped his feigned smile would pass as sincere. It was probably easy for this woman to imagine they were a band of close knit relatives on their way to a warm welcome to live happily ever after. Little did she know of the blood thirsty world he and his half-siblings had all grown up tangled up in.
He said he would do his best and then the cook excused herself to announce dinner to the rest of the inn.
She paused in the doorway and shot along a look. "Try to save some for everyone else, alright?"
Ling chuckled meekly then his face grew serious once he and Lan Fan were alone.
"I found a place for your grandfather's body," Ling sad quietly as Lan Fan began clearing away their dishes.
"Where is it?" She asked without looking at him.
"I tipped the stable hand to let me rent out the storage shed-"
"What!" Lan Fan whirled around, insulted at the very idea of her grandfather's body being shoved into a dusty old shed behind a horse's stall. "A shed?! How could you-"
"Hey, hey," Ling puts his hands up defensively, "it was that or an outhouse! And besides, the stable hand said he would keep the door locked tight all night. No one's getting in, I promise."
Lan Fan reigned in her temper and apologized for her outburst. It wasn't her place to criticize her soon to be emperor anyway.
"It's all right. We're all tired and on edge. We need to get back to Xing as soon as possible, but we also need to rest before we kill each other and make all our efforts in vain."
"You're right, as always. We have rooms upstairs already. I'll fetch your things, Young Lord, if you wish to bathe and change from your clothes."
"Sounds like a good idea," Ling said, pushing away from the table. "We should probably see where Mei ran off to."
The duo made their way down the hallway when they heard a bit of a hubbub and saw a small crowd forming outside one of the doors that lead behind the inn. When they poked their heads out to inspect what was going on, they were only slightly surprised to see Mei was at the center of the commotion.
"What are you doing, Mei," Ling barked. The crowd had gathered around the young girl who had been drawing a complicated series of transmutation circles. They were standing near what looked like a pile of rocks and broken down wooden slats.
Mei hopped out with a smile on her face, then hurled her kunai, striking one of the fallen wooden buildings.
"Apparently, an earthquake lodged some hefty boulders in one of their springs and broke up a lot of the outhouses."
There was a bright flash of alchemic energy and soon the run down pile of wood and rocks was set to rights as an outdoor hot spring complete with tall wooden walls and a divider down the middle.
The crowd oohed and ahhed and thanked Mei for her efforts.
Ling and Lan Fan stood there bewildered. Mei really was talented.
"Good job, Mei," Ling praised his little sister. "Good way to pay these people back… now I don't gotta worry about owing them for extra food…"
Mei decided not to question what Ling meant and instead said, "I remembered the servant girl said the baths had been broken and figured it was the least I could do. I'm going to grab my clothes and try to scrub all this sand off my skin!"
Mei happily bounded off and Ling was glad to see she was not pouting anymore at least.
"Awesome, we should probably follow suit," Ling said, turning to follow Mei. "A hot bath sounds wonderful, doesn't it Lan Fan?"
Lan Fan's eye twitched and she merely nodded morosely as she followed, wondering why the hell Mei couldn't have thought of this before her ice cold bath?
Ling's gratitude at Mei's improved attitude was short lived. He ran into her just outside the public bath and shot her a smile but the young girl just frowned and continued into the women's side of the bath. He sighed and went to the men's side, stripping out of his dirty travel clothes and relishing the heat of the hot spring as he stepped in.
He groaned in pleasure and settled against the heated stones that butted up right next to the tall wooden partition that divided the men and women's sides.
"Lemme know if you need me to wash your back for you," he called teasingly over the partition, mostly to get a reaction. He expected an angry outburst. He didn't expect an explosion of alchemic energy and for the water around him to erupt in a geyser and send him flying.
"Stay on your side, pervert!"
"I'm not a pervert! Take a joke," he grumbled as he rubbed his head where he struck rock on the way down.
For a while, Ling could hear Mei talking in cheery tones and knew she was probably talking to the runty panda of hers.
Great, he thought, she treats that animal with more respect than me.
After soaking in the water for a few minutes he realized the other side of the water had grown eerily quiet. He could sense her chi and knew she was still there despite the silence.
"You, uh, alright over there? You didn't pass out from the heat did you…?"
Ling braced himself to be hurled again but all he got in response was a soft, "No, I'm okay."
Ling turned so he could rest his forearms on the hot rocks, facing the wooden partition.
"I know you hate me for dragging you away so suddenly, but I meant what I said about protecting you Mei. About protecting everyone."
Ling could understand Mei's resentment. It would take an idiot not to realize she had developed more than friendly feelings towards the younger Elric brother, and to be forced to leave his side at such a crucial moment with barely a word of farewell had to be jarring and disheartening.
But he could also see the situation from a different point of view- as a man, in Alphonse's shoes. Mei may have been caught up in the moment but Ling was emotionally removed enough to have some foresight and he knew if he had been in Al's position, weak and helpless, barely able to stand on his own feet- he wouldn't want to be the center of attention. He knew the mental stress of being stripped from your body for years only to be returned to what is essentially a skeleton would be more than he could bare.
He had removed himself and Mei not only to begin their trek home but to help preserve Alphonse's dignity- and besides, the Elric brothers had a way of getting themselves tangled up in other people's lives. Ling wouldn't at all be surprised if Ed or Alphonse didn't show up one day once Al was all better.
But he knew there was no way he could explain all that to Mei. So he would just have to bear her resentment for now.
There was a moment of silence in which Ling thought Mei might just ignore him but finally she replied.
"I don't… hate you. I don't."
On the other side of the partition Mei was relaxing in the hot water much the same her older half-brother was, just outside the partition. She began to unwind her long hair as she spoke, mulling her words over carefully.
"After everything that happened in Amestris, I don't think I could hate you. I'm just….scared, I guess."
Her long hair fell loose of it's braids and she shook them out. They were practically matted with dirt and sweat. Mei sighed and began working gently through the tangles with a brush she had borrowed from one of the serving girls.
"Scared, huh? Kind of hard to believe someone like you'd be scared. Didn't you kick that Father guy in the face?" Ling called over the partition, genuinely curious what was on Mei's mind.
"I was scared then too!" Mei snapped. "But I was scared for my people, if I failed, what would happen…" her voice trailed off and if it wasn't for his intense training Ling wouldn't have been able to hear her next words. "And after all that, I did fail, and so I'll have to return to them, and tell them I'm a failure."
Ling scowled. Why wouldn't she get it through her damn head!?
"You've nothing to be frightened of! I already told you I'm taking care of everyone once I'm emperor!" He shouted.
"And you won't be emperor until our father dies! Who knows if my clan can last that long! He already deems us worthless, and wants to tear down our walls to establish new roads and mines and use the land for farming. What's to stop him from wiping us out before you're on the throne, Ling!"
That felt like a slap in the face. On some level he had known he couldn't just stroll into Xing and instantly become the emperor and make everything better with the wave of a hand but having it laid out so plainly before him made it seem real. There would be a lot of turmoil and fighting between him crossing the Xing border and the day he sat upon the royal throne.
"And besides!" Mei went on. "Even if you do want to protect everyone, that takes time! Our clans are still fighting, always have been! I don't hate you but others will and nothing you say or do will change that, will it? And even if you do find the right words to convince everyone-my clan-my clan," her voice was broken by sobs now, "my clan is always at the bottom of the ladder, Ling Yao! Finding immortality was my only chance of actually helping my clan and I-... and I-... Nothing can change the fact that I picked to protect the people of Amestris over my own clan who are suffering at home, waiting for me to say that I saved them!"
Ling felt a royal ass as he sat there helplessly listening to a young girl's sobs. Mei had way too much guilt to bear on her small shoulders. He hoped he would be able to do enough to alleviate some of that weight.
"Mei," Ling called when her sobs had died down, "How old are you?"
He had a rough idea of when the Chang princess had been born but he wasn't exactly sure.
After a couple quiet sniffs he heard Mei answer, "I turned twelve while in Amestris.
Ling milled that over. That meant she had only been eleven when she left her clan to cross the desert to search for immortality.
So young. He thought.
Then again, Lan Fan had only been 14, he only 15. Same as Ed and Al when they had met.
They were all way too damn young to have seen half the shit they had seen.
"When's your birthday?" Ling called over, picking up a more jovial tone. "Well, I'll promise you this. There are words that I can say that will convince everyone, and I'll figure out what they are before your next birthday. How about that?"
A long silence. Then water sloshing as Mei made her way out of the water. When he heard the door to the entrance of the inn open and close he sighed. He knew there had to be a series of words to convince everyone not to kill each other. He just had figure out what they were.
"That's a pretty heavy promise to take on, Young Lord," Lan Fan called from the neighboring tree she had been staked out in. Ling smiled. Lan Fan was never far from his side, and she was always on his side.
"Good thing us Xingese are always true to our word, huh? I never break a promise."
"For everyone's sake, I truly hope that's so."
Lan Fan guarded over Ling until he had finished his bath (he had fallen asleep in the water at one point to which Lan Fan threw a rock at his head to wake him up) and once he had returned to his room Lan Fan gathered up all their dirtied clothes and sought for a place to wash them. She was lucky enough to find a serving girl who would be willing to clean them for the right cenz and Lan Fan was so tired that she accepted after fishing the Philosophers Stone from Ling's pocket and placing it in her own.
After that she returned to her room, where she found Mei brushing through her long hair. Lan Fan hovered for a moment, watching the girl drag the brush through her long black locks. She was stunned by her own pangs of jealousy- Lan Fan had had longer hair as a young girl but had taken to cutting it short when she became Ling's permanent bodyguard. She knew it was a small price to pay to protect someone dear to her but still- she couldn't help but be a bit jealous of Mei's hair.
Mei looked up and mistook Lan Fan's expression for one of disappointment.
"Are you going to scold me for yelling at Ling?" Mei asked carefully, the brush stopping half way through her hair.
Lan Fan straightened up, instinctively ready to do just that but then checked herself. Mei was sitting at a small desk the room had been furnished with and so Lan Fan made to sit on the edge of the bed.
Mei resumed her brushing after shooting Xiao Mei a confused look at Lan Fans obviously forced silence.
"He isn't a bad person," Lan Fan eventually said to Mei's back. "He means what he says- he wants to protect everyone. And I'm sure you feel the same way so-please-try to find it in your heart to trust him."
She saw Mei's knuckles go white around the handle of the brush. She expected tears again but Mei was dry eyed when she finally turned to face Lan Fan again.
"Do you really think he can do it? Do you think he can really find the words to convince all fifty clans to stop trying to tear each other's throats out and work together?"
"I do." Lan Fan said earnestly. "And it would help if we had you on our side already when we get to Xing."
"Even if I am on your side, my word is no good. No one will listen to the princess of the Chang clan," Mei said without any heat, sounding truly defeated for the first time.
"Ling will."
Mei and Lan Fan regarded each other in silence for a while. It looked like Mei was about to speak when there was a knock on the door. Mei scampered to it and when she returned she was holding a stationary set and smiling, tension and foul mood all but melted from her face.
"Look! The cook here is so nice, she promised she would find me something to write with!"
Lan Fan smiled as Mei settled at the little desk and started to write something. Or attempted to anyway- every time she leaned over to write something a long strand of hair would slip over her shoulder and get in the way. Finally, Lan Fan sighed and offered, "Would you like me to braid your hair, Mei?"
Mei shot her a suspicious look.
"No funny business, promise," Lan Fan said seriously, holding her hands up in surrender.
Mei "hmmmm"ed to herself then said, "Sure." and fetched her hair ribbons. She settled back at the desk and handed Lan Fan the brush and ribbons while she returned to writing.
Lan Fan had half expected Mei to refuse, and was actually a bit excited to get to play with the girl's long hair. It had been ages since she had done anything remotely so feminine.
After she had finished one braid, she peeked over Mei's shoulder.
"Who are you writing to?" She asked even though she was pretty sure she knew.
"I wanted to give Alphonse a proper good-bye, and to wish him well while he recovered," Mei replied, unabashedly in her affections. "The cook said she could get any letter anywhere so it's worth a shot."
Lan Fan "hmmm"ed in reply and moved on to the other side of Mei's head. After she was halfway through winding the first bun she realized Mei had burned through several pieces of paper.
"Sheesh, are you sending him a novel?"
"They aren't all for Alphonse!" Mei snapped, finally looking embarrassed. "I wanted to say goodbye to Dr. Marcoh and Mr. Scar and make sure Miss Lt. Hawkeye is alright. The cook said she could get any letter anywhere. If she can just get these to Central I'm sure they will get to everyone."
Lan Fan was startled that Mei had managed to make so many friends in her time in Amestris.
"You have a good idea there. Will you save some paper for Ling as well? I am sure there are a few things he would like to say to the Elric brothers."
Mei looked defensive at that, as if sacrificing any of her precious paper was kin to losing a limb. She squinted suspiciously. "Who does he have to write to?"
Lan Fan finished pinning Mei's braid into place in a neat bun and stepped back. "You're not the only one leaving someone behind in Amestris. ...He didn't want to leave either."
Ling had just finished brushing out his own hair when there came a knock at the door. He was stunned when he identified the chi outside his doorway as that of Mei's and not Lan Fan's but he opened the door nonetheless.
He was even more startled when he saw Mei standing there in her night clothes, looking somewhat huffy and extending a packet of blank paper and a pen.
"The cook gave me these to send some letters back to Amestris. Lan Fan thought you might want to write something too."
"Ah, good thinking," he said, taking the pen and papers.
"She said to leave the envelopes on the counter downstairs when we leave and she will get them where they need to go," Mei said, turning slightly as if to retire to her room.
"Will do. Thanks, Mei."
He was about to close the door when he heard the young girl say, "...December."
"What was that…?"
Mei turned her head to face him. "My birthday. You have until December to convince everyone."
Ling smiled and reached out to pat his little sister on the head. "Looks like I better get to thinking of something, huh? That only gives me about six months."
Early that morning, the sullen trio had begun making tracks in the sand before even the sun had risen. Their backpacks were laden with more food and water and a few odds and ends they had been given as gifts by the kind people of the inn.
Each one was wrapped in their protective white robes and each one rode in silence, just as they had the days before. The small oasis town eventually disappeared over the horizon just as Amestris had before, except this time, no one could tell you when it disappeared because this time no one looked back.
An air of melancholy still hung over the silent trio but this time they just kept moving forward and no one looked back.