Riza Hawkeye was an early bird and at six in the morning, she sneaked down the stairs, passing quite a few bedrooms where people were still sleeping peacefully. She entered the kitchen to make coffee for herself before she would read a few more chapters in the book Kay had recommended. To have a few minutes to herself would be nice with all the chaotic people surrounding her – especially since the children had asked her to go to the ice rink in town later on.
"Tea's in the cup on the counter, Lynn," a strangely cheerful and relaxed voice said and Riza was surprised to see her superior's cousin at the table, lost in a novel.
"It's me, not Lynn," she replied as she started to prepare the coffee. "Good morning."
"Ah well, Lynn's sick so she won't be up today," the other woman said with a nod. "She was foolish when she decided to act all tough and invincible yesterday…" She lifted her gaze from her own lecture – a bunch of stained parchment, covered in barely legible signs – to smile at the blonde. "Do me a favour and help me with the tea before Phil wakes up and laughs at me. I always make too much because I am still used to preparing breakfast for five instead of one."
Riza sent her a genuine smile as she helped herself with the tea. "When will the others be up?" she inquired. "I mean, do you know this, Lieutenant Colo-"
"It's just Jade," the higher-ranked woman interrupted her. "Phil and Serena sneaked out for a morning walk five minutes ago and Bendix should be up and showering right now. He will be here in a few minutes, probably along with Olivier."
"You know him quite well, don't you?" Riza inquired as she sipped on her tea.
"We work in the same department and live in the same building," Jade shrugged. "Plus, we were partners in West City before we were transferred to the South when Lynn was in the hospital once more. We are used to each other even though we still argue a lot."
"And Kay is part of your team as well?"
"We got nightshift together at times. She curses those nights because she rather is home with Charles and Laila but she accepts it as part of her duty. We usually send her home around midnight because there isn't much to do at night and we agree that it is better if she as a mother and wife gets home early than we because we are both single and have no family in the city."
Riza was about to reply when the door was opened and the duo of blondes strolled into the room. Olivier's hair was in a firm ponytail and Bendix looked tired and restless.
"Morning," he greeted as he helped himself with the tea. "Slept well, Jade? You are up so early."
"Since four, yes," she confirmed as she wrapped her hands around her cup. "I slept well but there was this translation to do and I proudly confirm that I managed to break that code."
"Which was to be expected," Olivier stated as she grabbed a mug of coffee. "Aren't you famous for being the best when it comes to codes and stuff like that?"
"I would never confirm that I have the right to stake such a claim," the black-haired woman said as her lips curled up into an amused little smirk. "Then again, I am generally the one who is consulted every time there is a code that needs to be broken so that investigation can go on."
"We just lost her for a few weeks when she had to travel to Central for a translation," Kay said as she closed the door behind her. "Welcome to the early birds, Riza and Olivier. Let me guess, Jade, you have been up for hours already."
"Twelve seconds till Roy will arrive," the black-haired woman said with a smirk. "And I guess that he won't be happy because it is far too early for him to be happy yet."
She was right and Riza had to admit that her superior had never looked less happy in all the years she had known him. Dark bags were under his eyes and he moved with the grace of a zombie as he grabbed the mug of coffee from his cousin's hand. "Morning," he muttered.
"Did you have a hard night, Roy-boy?" Jade inquired with a wide grin.
"Tell your brother to stop talking in his sleep and I might have better nights," he replied.
"Tell him this yourself because I am not your personal messenger, Roy-boy," she said as she patted his shoulder. "Anyway, I am going out now … if Phil looks for me," she stopped and for a moment, Riza watched how despair crossed her face. "Never mind," she said. "Have a nice day."
Kay was in the library and checked the accounting as Riza entered and sat down on the windowsill. The redhead looked up with a smile as she rested her pencil on her wide sheets of numbers for a moment. "How was breakfast with the others?" she asked as she leaned back in her chair.
"It was fine … it is normal for Jade to skip out as soon as the major general arrives?" Riza asked.
Kay frowned deeply before she turned away. "Their relationship has been tensed for as long as they have known each other," she stated. "Jade and Olivier were rivals back in school and since we all went to the same school, I have been entertained by them for years. It is mostly harmless – or it used to be harmless until Olivier heard that Jade and Bendix were seen together on outings that looked a little bit too much like casual dates."
"A love triangle like in a cheesy romance novel?"
"It might be funnier if Jade was aware of this view and if the involved trio would not happen to be high ranking officers who are all depending on each other. Jade is in the research department and might very well cut Olivier's entire budget even further. Olivier on the other hand is the one who controls most ancient scripts and that's what Jade actually likes to work with. Bendix needs Jade because she can put up with him and because she can actually cook quite well and I think that he would starve without her but she needs him because otherwise, she would get lonely up in the South – it's not her city after so many years."
"Okay, so your hobby is it to watch how a pretty unhealthy relationship between three people develops and seeing that you are probably the one who sees the major general the most frequently, you can spice things up whenever you want to?"
"It's a lot better than simply watching," Kay shrugged. "I haven't lost hope yet that Olivier confronts Jade one day and that my favourite fellow general gets that Jade is not interested in Bendix and that they are like siblings."
Their conversation was interrupted as Nerissa entered, hair messy and anything but calm. "Kay, I need someone to blow something up," she snapped as she held out a letter. "My agency refuses to destroy my old work. I believe that as the artist, I have the right to destroy what's mine."
"Dad will never approve of something like that, Nessa," Lynn said as she leaned against the doorframe, wrapped into eight blankets and sneezing permanently. "He said that he can't blow up things anymore … people are getting suspicious and…"
"Too bad that Kimblee is arrested," Kay said as she rolled her eyes. "Okay, here is what we do: Lynn talks with Jade because she can make things go boom as well. Just in case, we should inform Serena and Phil as well. Riza and I get Mustang into the boat. Dad will never-"
"Continue, it is very interesting to watch the way you plot something," her father said as he gently took a book from the shelf. "By all means, did I ever keep you from doing what you believe to be right? A little advice from the professional: wait till New Years Eve."
"Did I ever mention that I sometimes hate you, dad?" Nerissa asked with a sigh.
"You did," he grinned as he disappeared. "Oh, by the way, don't forget about the snowball fight. I am sure that Serena is already creating her fort along with Tempest."
"Dad just allowed us to blow something up," Lynn said slowly. "He also gave us advice. Has he snapped already?" she mused before she walked away, shaking her head and sighing.
"Okay, I will organise the explosion, Nessa, and you take care of the kids today," Kay said with a smirk. "Nick is on a tour with Charles and Martin but Laila and Victoria are hiding somewhere. It would be nice if you would find them before they can blow something up."
Nerissa paled considerably and for the first time, she seemed really worried. "Riza, you are a sniper, aren't you?" she asked as she looked at her cousin.
"Y-yes?" the brown-eyed lieutenant asked back.
"I will need your eyes to find them – they are pretty good at hiding from me…" Nerissa said with a sigh as she dragged her out of the library. "I will raise my child to be a little bit more … responsible and less tricky – that's for sure. Oh, hi, Olivier. Are you joining us?"
The major general turned away from the window she had been observing the lands. "What are you going to do?" she asked as her eyes flickered back to the window and before Riza could ask, she spotted Jade who marched across the frozen meadows as a certain brigadier general followed her. They seemed to be discussing something quite closely and the ice queen seemed to be bemused by the entire situation.
"We are looking for your goddaughter and Laila," Nerissa said and suddenly, her innocent blue eye was strangely guarded as it also roamed over to the duo outside. She was obviously also informed about the love triangle that was not really one and seemed to be working on some way to keep this situation from escalating.
"I will see whether I can find Vic somewhere," the major general said. "I believe that she and Laila wanted to sneak out to the graves yesterday but before I fell asleep, I heard how Kay caught them so I guess that they are going there now."
"We need to hurry up," Nerissa said after a moment.
"The graves?" Riza inquired as they started to hurry through the hallways, grabbing their coats.
"The graves," Nerissa confirmed, eyes set strictly ahead of her as she pushed open the doors. "I told Kay to make sure that they don't go there in winter – it's too dangerous. Hell, all of us got hurt there at least once – damn, we really should hurry up."
"Why would they want to go there?" the commander of the Briggs asked sharply.
"For the same reasons Kay and I used to go there – curiosity," Nerissa stated drily as she nearly ran across the white landscape. "And Laila and Victoria are worse on their own than with Nick."
"Nerissa, Riza started. "What is so dangerous about that graveyard?"
"In summer, it is safe as any place of this mansion," she replied. "It is dangerous in winter when you can't see what you are stepping on. Lynn broke her ankle when she lost grip on a frozen surface covered with snow and so did everyone else too."
"Ouch," the general said with a frown. "That sounds not good."
For a moment, Riza wondered why the stoic woman and Nerissa went along this well before she remembered that Nerissa's husband was the assistant of the Ice Queen and thus they had met before and they had long gotten over themselves – something which had never happened with Breeze Soul and the ice queen.
"You have been standing at that window like some sort of stalker for half an hour, Mustang."
He flinched back and twirled around, only to be face to face with Serena Hamilton who leaned against the wall, arms crossed and a smirk set firmly in place.
"I was not aware that my behaviour is any of your business," he replied.
"It is my business when someone stalks my cousin," she said drily. "And don't claim that you are watching Olivier or Nessa – they are both unavailable for you."
"It makes sense for your sister but Armstrong is single."
"Yet emotionally attached to Llewellyn – and she has been that way for over a decade … and she is a little bit too loyal to switch over to you," she said as she smirked. "I could help you."
"Someone like you helps no one," he stated. "We may never have met before but I am highly aware of your reputation, Major."
"You obviously listened to the wrong people," she said softly. "See, there is the problem: you only have the information circulating in the East and in the capital. And truth be told, I was a little bit dangerous while I was there. Rules do not interest me. People do."
"You blew up an entire building."
"It was deserted and should have been rented to people who would have died as soon as the house would have collapsed. I had proof that this would happen. The official places refused to stop their plan. So I went and blew it up."
"You are an expert for weapons and explosives?"
"A woman needs to be strong to survive in a job where ninety percent of the co-workers are male. Having a reputation like the one I have keeps them away from me."
"Having Phil as your partner does the rest," he said. He looked at her and watched how she bit her lip as he mentioned his cousin. Jade had beaten it into his brain that she would personally murder him, drag his corpse into the forest and bury him where no one would ever find him if he dared to confront Serena about Phil's hand because there had been no other option.
"It does," she confirmed but her eyes were wary. "Anyway, we were talking about my cousin."
"And about mine," he grinned. "What are your intentions with Phil?"
"He is my partner and the one I trust with my life."
"You don't hesitate."
"Hesitation cost him his hand," she stated drily. "I was too slow and so I had no choice left."
"You four … you were the first survivors, weren't you?"
"We survived by chance, not because of our skill. We survived because we had the advantage of outnumbering him – and seeing that it was four against one, we failed pathetically. We should have been able to win, we should have defeated him. But we didn't."
"Jade said that she had second thoughts once she realised that he was Ishbalan."
"We had all our second thoughts. None of us uses an alchemy that is designed to kill. Lynn is a healer and the rest of us should be destroying houses and buildings, not people. We did not join to kill. We joined to change."
Roy looked over his shoulder and watched how a shadow disappeared from the wall. He frowned but he would investigate later on. "I can understand that," he said but he had known this from the beginning because this was about Jade as well and he knew her.
"Now back to Riza," she said with a smirk. "She likes rain lilies. See you at dinner."
