At the sound of someone jumping out of the window General Stone finally opened his eyes. He sighed slightly. "Do you really think me that easy to steal from, Fullmetal?" Stone asked the open window. But the answer was obvious by the breeze that drifted in through the window and played across his olive skin.
It wasn't as if he hadn't noticed that the false book was not where he had left it. Nor did he fail to notice the streak of black as Edward scrambled out of sight. But he rather had hoped that the young alchemist wouldn't think so low of him to not notice an intruder in his own bedroom. And since he really didn't want to arrest the boy, he would let it go for the moment, he was too tired to chase Elric anyway. Besides he doubted there was anything in that book that would help much in his search for the Philosopher's Stone.
If Edward had done his homework he'd find many people to attest to Chayim's sleep mutterings, hence the reason he had indulged in them. Why he mentioned Eldorado he didn't rightly know…he hadn't thought of that place in some time. I bet that's where he'll go next…his bull headedness does lend itself to a certain charm I suppose…Not as if he'll find it anyway. Eldorado is as dead as the people in it.
A small smile forced the edge of Chayim's lip to move upwards. "Come now, Edward…do you really think I would write down where I hid the blasted thing?" Chayim sighed and rolled over. "My reputation must be slipping…I'll have to fix that tomorrow…"
"Brother!" Al called in greeting as the blonde came into the room, slightly out of breath from running back from The General's mansion.
"Well, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked curiously. "Did you find the book?"
Ed gave a huge grin and held up the little black book. "You bet I did, ya crappy Colonel. Nearly got caught by Stone but I got it alright. And he was muttering something about 'Eldorado' right before I got outta there." He offered sitting down at his desk and easily breaking the lock on the book. The other soldiers crowded around, curious at what might be in the mysterious, yet innocuous, little book.
"As in the mythical city of gold?" Hughes asked.
Ed nodded as he opened the book. "Yeah, since one of the stone's powers is transmuting gold I thought it might mean that's where the stone is hidden or something." He offered as his gold eyes instantly started skimming through the writing and equations scrawled across the slightly yellowed paper. It was thicker and rougher paper than Ed was used to, almost like the old parchment that some of the really high class alchemy books were written on in the restricted section of the library.
"What's in it, Brother?" Al asked eagerly. This was the best lead they'd had in such a long time.
"Give me a minute…geeze this guy's handwriting sucks…" Ed muttered flipping pages quickly. He could barely contain his own excitement; this was some heavy duty alchemy in this book like: equations to equal human souls (an equation that Ed noticed was not finished), transmuting perfect human limbs, regenerating dead plants, even the diagrams were amazingly advanced with designs that Ed had never even dared think to add to his transmution circles. "This is…This guy's a genius…its crazy…" Ed said in awe, he hadn't been this overwhelmed with pure knowledge since he was cramming for the alchemy test to become a state alchemist.
Mustang leaned further over Ed's shoulder. "What is that in the transmution circle?" He muttered curiously. He'd never seen such a ridiculously complex design. "Wait…it looks familiar…I've seen it somewhere…"
"Well I would hope so…" Ed muttered. Roy flinched a little, he hadn't meant for anyone to hear his musings…"It's a Vesica Piscis. It's the basic idea of uniting two polar opposites. It's also how images get reflected through the eye." He supplied as he started to flip the pages again, making sure to go slowly so as to not rip any of them.
"Hold on…" Ed said reaching a page that looked more like a diary excerpt than equations and theories. The writing was tighter, slightly neater, and actually followed a paragraph structure (unlike the notes before it). "I think I got something here." He said before he started to read the passage out loud.
"I've given up hope on restoring Eldorado. Nothing seems to destabilize the gold, which I find peculiar considering I have never failed to transmute gold one way or the other before. I am so very furious with myself! All those people…turned to gold for the rest of time. It's such a horrible sounding demise; I hate myself for bringing it upon them. I should have known the Ishbalens would not harbor a thing as terrible as The Philosopher Stone. But the only question now is…what to do? I can't very well bring such destruction upon the rest of the world. And as much as I loath to admit it I seem to have backed myself into a corner where the Military of Amestris is concerned. I'll not let them decide the way the world shall play out; I don't trust them with power. Not yet. They aren't ready for it. But then…who is ever ready to bear the burden of this power?
I found an interesting map carved into the wall of the Temple of Ishbala. Perhaps that is where my answer lies. Do I dare use the hiding place of the one people who despise me more than myself? I probably wouldn't survive the trip there much less survive if any Ishablens were to be found there. But it seems as if I have no choice in the matter either. The river Lia will be flooding soon, with the coming rains from the mountains to the west. This entire valley will become unreachable…and inescapable if that happens. I have to make my decision quickly…I hate being rushed…"
Ed put the book down with a frown. "He…gave the Stone to the Ishbalens?" Breda asked sounding confused.
"Well he wouldn't have to worry about them using it now would he? They find alchemy unnatural and except Scar we've never come across one that thought anything different." Hughes said with a shrug. "But more importantly, I think the General may have given us enough clues about where Eldorado is located to find it. Or at least the valley he said it was located in."
"He did mention a river…" Hawkeye moved to her desk and pulled a large map out, rolling it across Edward's where everyone was still congregated around. "But I don't recognize the name." She added scanning the surface for the name Lia.
After a few minutes of searching none of them could find the River Lia either. "W-wait a minute." Al said suddenly. "The General wrote about the Military of Amestris. Doesn't that mean he's not from Amestris?…so maybe…wherever he's from calls the river something different than we do?" he suggested.
Edward gave his brother a smile. "Not a bad idea Al. We just gotta figure out where the General is from now."
A few minutes of silence fell over the room. "Anyone happen to know?" Fuery asked to the awkward silence.
Edward had been assigned the job of keeping an eye on the General while the rest of them went searching any records they could think of for said General's birthplace. Ed had complained loudly about that, but Mustang had replied with the defense that Ed got to do all the spy work last time and it was time for the rest of the team to have some fun. Unfortunately for Ed the 'team' had agreed and overruled every viable retort he came up with.
Stone was currently lying on the roof of the central offices, ruby eyes closed as the breeze tossed a few loose strands of hair around. Ed was peering around the corner at him, making sure he didn't move. Though in all honesty it looked like the man had fallen asleep. Suddenly Stone sighed. "Edward! Are you gonna stand there all day or are you gonna come over here and talk like a civilized person?" He called, not even bothering to open his eyes.
Ed, obviously, was surprised and jumped before getting a hold of himself and coming around the corner with as much dignity as he could muster. "How'd ya know I was there?"
Stone smirked a little, head still cushioned beneath his arms. "I can smell your shampoo with the way the wind is blowing. I didn't take you for a strawberry kinda guy…"
Ed turned red faced. "It was all that was in there!! I didn't have a choice you-"
Chayim laughed a bit. "Easy, Fullmetal…it's not necessarily a bad thing. I myself have a bit of a preference for the smell of the rainforest…it's so relaxing." Edward almost laughed…almost. It came out more of a snort than a laugh. Chayim opened one eye to look at him. "What?"
"Sorry you just don't seem like the kinda guy who relaxes." Edward said, hands in his pockets to give the illusion that he was more at ease than he really was. Knowing that the alchemist in front of him could do some of the stuff he had been reading yesterday made him a bit more leery of the short man.
"And you are?" Chayim shot back. "Sit down, Edward…it's terribly uncomfortable for me to talk to someone standing over me like that and I happen to not feel like moving right now." He all but ordered as he closed his eye again.
Edward hesitated. Did he trust this guy…well no but then again he hadn't ratted Al out either so…With a sigh Edward sat down next to the officer, keeping his eye out across Central than looking at the man that was being so casual next to him. Suddenly a thought occurred to the golden boy of the military. "General?"
"Mm?" Chayim showed he was listening with the barest movement of his eyebrows.
"Where are you from…you look…just like-"
"An Ishbalan." Chayim finished with a smirk. "Yes…I've heard."
Edward waited a minute. "You aren't are you?" He asked again.
"Aren't what?" Chayim asked back, still looking careless.
"An Ishbalan." Edward answered.
"What about them?" Chayim was thoroughly enjoying this little game, as evident by the smile on his face when Edward made a noise of frustration.
A minute later Edward tried again. "Are you an Ishbalan?"
Chayim took the minute to think of his answer this time. "What do you think? Am I an Ishbalan? Or some poor guy who has bad genes?" This time he opened both eyes to look at Edward fully.
Edward recognized a test when he saw one. "Well…" He started, composing his answer carefully. "You have all the features of an Ishbalan…but you are an Alchemist which isn't something that Ishbalan's believe in so logically I'd say you weren't if it weren't for the fact that I don't know of any other people with Ishbalan features."
Chayim smiled a bit. "And?"
"And…the only way to be both Ishbalan and an Alchemist, at least by what I've heard, is that you would have been outcast of Ishbal." Edward finished uncertainly. He hated tests like this…he barely knew what the test was much less how the General would react to what he said.
Chayim smiled wider and settled back into his original position, eyes closed again. "So why bother asking?"
"Y-you mean?! You are an Ishbalan?!" Ed said jumping to his feet in surprise. He had been almost positive that he was completely wrong. Especially with all the stories he'd heard about the religiousness of Ishbalans. It just didn't seem possible.
Chayim chuckled a bit. "My mother was Ishbalan…my father was not. It made my situation a little more…unique than that of most that grew up in Ishbal. I knew from a very early age that I was not exactly welcome so I decided if I was going to be an outcast I might as well be the best outcast possible and went off to study the one thing we weren't ever supposed to even mention. Never really went back." He explained. "But your reaction is quite typical, don't worry about it."
Edward sat back down. For some reason his head refused to wrap itself around this new little tidbit. They had an Ishbalan…working as in Internal Investigator…for illegal alchemy? Something just didn't seem right about that…almost…too ironic. Even for the military. It was almost as bad as- "Hold it…does Scar know you're an Ishbalan?" he asked suddenly.
Chayim opened his eyes again, this time in confusion. "Scar?...Oh! The killer with the alchemic arm…I highly doubt it. I didn't fight in the Ishbal uprising…or whatever they're calling it now. It was considered a conflict of interest and I was ordered to stay put in central."
"Wait a minute…you're saying you've been in the military for as long as the bastard Colonel?" Edward said looking the man over again. Not a fleck of age seemed to stick to him though. No grays, no wrinkles, no blemishes and while the others weren't exactly old either Chayim still looked to be Ed's age…if not younger.
Chayim blinked a little before laughing again. "Oh let me guess…I couldn't be more than sixteen? Right?" Edward nodded. "Okay…let's do a little math…as an alchemist you should be able to do that…I have been a General for almost fifteen years now…and you are technically the youngest alchemist to make the cut so I must be at least older than 12 when I was accepted. And I don't know about you but I was most certainly not made General right away. Let's say it took another five years to build rank or so. That means…"
"…You're at least…33?!? That can't be right! You don't look it at all!" Edward said jumping to his feet again and pointing at the man in an accusing manner.
Chayim just looked amused. "And what would you say if I said I was older?"
"There's no way." Edward muttered sitting back down, arms folded stubbornly.
Chayim laughed, finally sitting up properly, mostly so that he could whisper into Ed's ear. "Aww…no need to flatter me, Fullmetal. It'll go to my already too big head." Before Ed could react, Chayim was already on his feet and heading towards the stairs. "Thanks for the chat…it was more fun I've had most days." He said waving over his shoulder casually.