Yay, Ember feels all accomplished and stuffs, this being her first chaptered fic. So please read and review. Please?

In any case, the whole story has already been written and will be posted. Ember plans to try to do weekly postings, as daily is not really viable at the moment (she sneaks onto school computers and the like to access at all as it is. It's tough trying to update even that often.) If it is at all possible, two updates will be made a week, but don't go looking for something added every day. All it would do is put undue strain on Ember. And that's just not cool.

Now that THAT gripe is done, read and enjoy (hopefully)!

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The Acquiring of Knowledge

Chapter 1

Even after working with him for so long, Edward Elric truly distrusted his superior Roy Mustang. Therefore it was perfectly natural that he was a little wary of being called in to his office this time.

"Oh, there you are, Fullmetal. Come here for a bit."

There it was again, that distrust and uneasiness. Even though former Colonel Mustang had been promoted to General two years ago, he still displayed a mischievous streak, meaning you never could tell what you were about to be assigned to.

The two went into his office and sat down. But there was someone else there, someone facing away from them. This mystery person was wearing a blue overcoat with the hood pulled up. That was about all Edward could tell about the person. He couldn't even tell what gender this person was.

However, General Mustang seemed perfectly comfortable with this person's presence, as he launched into business. "I have a favor I'd like to ask of you, Fullmetal."

Edward instantly saw his way out. A favor didn't have to be taken care of, it was perfectly optional. Nevertheless, he was still suspicious, and it showed in his voice. "What do you want, General?"

"You still don't trust me, after all this time? I'm hurt."

"You deserve it. But what do you want?"

"The Earthen Alchemist here has a mission that is very important, but doesn't trust anyone to help. Since I don't want any alchemists going anywhere alone, I'd like you to go along."

The Earthen Alchemist? Not anyone he had heard about. Maybe this alchemist was a newcomer? That was the only possible explanation, if this Earthen Alchemist had been trusted with something in any way important. This must be a powerful newcomer, one who hadn't quite had the time to develop a reputation.

This was strange. But Edward had been looking for a way to get out of Central for a little while. Ever since he had finally gotten his limbs and Alphonse's body back three years ago he had been in Central working for the government. He personally couldn't care less about what he did, but the government was not inclined to let someone as talented as him leave. So here he was, and had been for three years.

As much as he distrusted his superior, he was grateful for a chance to get out of Central for a while. However, he wasn't going to show it, and looked as skeptical as he possibly could.

"You know, that can change to an order at any time." And he meant it.

Ed dropped his skeptical act. "Whatever. It's not like I have anything better to do."

The figure cloaked in blue—the Earthen Alchemist—rose from the chair and flipped back the coat's hood, revealing short brown hair, and turned around.

The next thing Edward knew was that he was staring at a startling pair of bright green eyes. The features were fairly androgynous, but there was something feminine about them. That was confirmed when the Earthen Alchemist spoke.

Her voice was surprisingly clear and sharp. "Roy, you idiot, I don't need any help! I can take care of myself!"

So she knew the General, and fairly well. Not many called him by his first name like that.

He was speaking to her now. "Listen to me, Sarah. You are very important right now. You're a state alchemist, one of the few we've got, and a promising one at that. I know very well that you can take care of yourself, but I'm not taking any chances. Just humor me on this one before I have to order you both to comply."

The Earthen Alchemist—Sarah?—knew a threat when she heard one, and she quickly backed down. However, she refused to be totally beaten and walked out of the room.

The General sighed. "You can go now, Fullmetal. The two of you leave in the morning. And don't worry, she isn't usually like this. She's just mad at me."

That was a mild relief. Edward had been vaguely wondering if he would survive this jaunt outside Central. He just had to remember not to get on this Sarah's bad side. A hard task, to be certain, but Edward was sure he could manage it. He just had to show a little maturity.

Maturity? Yeah, right! A voice inside him scoffed. Since when have you ever been mature?

Well, he hadn't, but he had to try. If he didn't, this Earthen Alchemist might wind up carrying his dead body back to Central.

~*~*~

The next morning Sarah woke up at dawn feeling slightly guilty about her outburst—in front of a total stranger, no less! Sure, she knew the Fullmetal Alchemist by reputation, but that made absolutely no difference. She was certain he thought she was a horrible person.

So she was nervous about the tiny little detail of her journey that was finalized the day before. The Fullmetal Alchemist would be traveling with her.

At least he wouldn't get in her way, of that she was certain. His reputation preceded him, and she knew exactly why he was so important to the government. Of all the state alchemists, he was probably one of the strongest and the only one known to have created a Philosopher's Stone, thus getting back his limbs and his brother's body, which had been taken in a failed attempt at human transmutation. Of course, not many people were privy to this particular detail, but she had connections. She could find out just about anything.

She had no more time to waste dwelling on what she already knew. It was time to leave. She put on her overcoat and walked to the train station, where she was supposed to meet the Fullmetal Alchemist.

He was already there, waiting for her. They boarded the train and spent the next few moments in silence.

Being a talkative one, Sarah couldn't stand the utter silence for very long. And so she did the first thing that came to mind—she introduced herself. "Hello, Fullmetal. My name is Sarah."

"Mine is Edward, and could you please not call me Fullmetal? I generally don't trust the people who do that very much, they tend to want something from me."

Well, he got straight to the point. But at least he was talking. "I'm sorry about yesterday. It's just so frustrating, how Roy thinks I'm a helpless child or something!"

"I was meaning to ask you about that. How do you know the General? I've never heard anyone call him that to his face before."

The Fullmetal Alchemist—Edward—was an observant one. She would have to be careful. "Oh. Well, he was friends with my brother a long time ago, so I grew up with him always coming over with my brother. He was almost like a second brother to me."

This seemed to make sense to him, for he moved on. "So, what are we doing, anyway? All I know is it's supposed to be important."

"Well, there's a rumor that somewhere in the West Area there's a clearing in a small forest with a rock in it. That rock is supposed to contain a great and powerful secret, and I think I know where it is."

He seemed interested. He knew exactly what could come of a rumor, having chased one for years himself. "And where do you think it is?"

She got out her map of the West Area and found the forest. It was relatively easy to find, since it was in the middle of nowhere. Sarah circled the area with a fingertip. "I think it's somewhere in this forest."

"Any particular reason you think that?"

"Of course. Almost every other forest in the area has been thoroughly searched and this one is by far the least accessible."

"That makes sense. Of course it would be in a place where nobody has looked. Do we know where exactly in that forest it might be?"

"No. That's where the fun part comes in."

Now he was skeptical. "The fun part."

Sarah couldn't keep the grin from her face. "So tell me, Edward, have you ever been camping?"

"Of course."

"Let me rephrase that. Have you ever been camping in the middle of the woods, at a time when your life wasn't on the line?"

She could tell from the look on his face that his vast experiences did not include camping, not the way she had meant it. This was going to be fun.

Shortly after that, the train pulled into their station. This was as close as technology could take them to the site. They would have to continue on foot.

The train ride had passed very quickly. She hadn't expected that. She also hadn't expected to enjoy the train ride so much. Ordinarily she hated trains, thought they were abominations that destroyed the earth. However, something about talking to Edward had made the train ride almost fun. She was actually, for the first time, sad the journey had ended.

If she had enjoyed that so much, then the camping part of the journey was going to be even better. She could tell.

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And that's all for today! Now, please do read and review. Also, comments on Sarah are most welcome. She's Ember's first original character, and Ember would LOVE to know if improvements can be made in any way.

Ember and Rags to Riches- the mutant penguins have moved on to BIGGER things! YAY!