June 28th, 1988

It was somewhat odd, if reassuring, to know that he was unlikely to be mobbed walking by himself down the streets of Rush Valley. Of course, that was because most of the major engineers, like Winry, were attending the convention at this time of day. Edward had been relieved to get away for a while. He was thrilled that his wife and his granddaughter-in-law were having a wonderful time representing Rockbell Auto-mail and seeing everything that the convention had to offer. However, it had been nice to slip away from the chaos for a while.

While he hadn't been here often in his life, Edward still always felt a connection with the place. Perhaps because it had been during the period in his young, chaotic life, when he hadn't had a place he considered home anymore. Or maybe because it had been during the part of their journey where Winry had been with them. Days he had squandered obsessed with a thing he couldn't have, even if the search had eventually led them to more important information. That was it, he decided. Rush Valley was special because it was a place that made Winry sublimely happy. She had come here, and trained here, even though she had returned to Resembool, and eventually made her decision to move to Central and pursue newer, bigger contracts. She had kept moving forward as much as he had tried, despite being worlds apart.

With its gears in every window, and the constant smell of machine oil and the sounds of equipment grinding out parts, everything about Rush Valley reminded him of Winry. Even now, decades later, she was as vibrant and lovely to him as she had been when they were teens. How had he ever managed to keep those long legs and bright blue eyes out of his head?

Now, pretty girls that age included his great-grandchildren. A fact Edward tried not to think about too often.

He was on his way back towards the Convention when he heard a growing murmur of excited voices near the doors. When he came around the corner, there was definitely a crowd. Curious, he tried to see what they were looking at. "Hey," he asked a young woman at the back of the group, "What's going on?"

"We're here to see our favorite engineer!" the black-haired girl in coveralls grinned brightly. "She's a legend who almost never comes to Rush Valley. I've wanted to meet her for years."

Someone had fans. Ed looked at the crowd. "Everyone's here to meet one person?"

She nodded eagerly. "Oh yes. She's got quite the fan club here in Rush Valley."

"A fan club, huh?" Ed couldn't see over the crowd. He didn't even try to stretch to see over the taller men in the way. "Who are you waiting for?" he asked, though he was beginning to have a funny feeling as he looked at the crowd of young men and women, almost entirely under thirty, waiting eagerly to meet their idol.

"Winry Rockbell Elric!" the girl replied just as the crowd surged, and near the front people started getting excited. She turned, her black ponytail almost hitting Ed in the face.

"Oh my goodness! There she is!"

Ed tried very hard not to snicker. I wonder what Winry thinks of this. He was more amused that, for once, he had gone utterly unrecognized. "Why are you such a fan?" he asked with a tone of innocuous curiosity.

"Who isn't?" she replied, looking at Ed as if he was crazy. "She's a Rockbell, first off, and they practically invented the industry! Rockbell Auto-mail is what every designer worth anything hopes to make of their own work someday. To have it seen and used and worn all over the world; who wouldn't want that? The lines are so clean and elegant and functional! Half the major breakthroughs in Auto-mail engineering in the last century alone were made by Winry Rockbell!"

Ah, and there it was… the slip back. No Elric there. Ed nodded as if he was taking it all very seriously. It was fascinating to hear why this group of at least fifty people were there idolizing Winry. "How are you going to talk to her from back here?" he asked.

"Oh, I doubt I'll get to talk to her," the girl shook her head and looked abashed, "But even getting to see her in person is an honor, right? I mean, you never know if you might never get another chance."

"Then shouldn't you talk to her?" he pressed a little, trying not to smile.

"I wish." The young woman—Ed pegged her at no more than twenty when he got a good look at her—looked wistful. "I'd love to get her opinions on my work. I heard she's going to be talking about her trick for extra-smooth turning bearings in her discussion later this afternoon, so I'll probably just go cram in and listen like everyone else."

"What if I offered to introduce you?"

That got her attention off the crowd in front of her and the woman looked at him. "How are you going to do that?"

Ed held up a finger in a shushing motion, then held up his right arm so she could see it.

She proved she knew Rockbell engineering by how wide her eyes got very quickly. She looked him hard in the face, then gasped, and Ed knew he'd been recognized. "You would do that?"

"Sure," Ed shrugged as he put his arm down. "Why not?"

"You don't even know me."

"What's your name?"

"Dina Kelly."

"I'm Ed, nice to meet you." He held out his hand and waited until she tentatively shook it. "Why don't you just come with me, and I'll introduce you to my wife somewhere that's not this crazy. Do you have the piece you wanted to show her?"

Dina nodded. "Not here, but the shop I work in is just around the corner."

"Go get it," Ed suggested. "I'll wait right here."

For a moment, she looked like she was afraid she was being had, then she clearly decided she didn't care because if she missed the chance she'd regret it. "All right. I'll be back in five."

Ed didn't have to count, but Dina was back in four minutes and twenty seconds with an auto-mail case. "That was quick."

"At least you're still here," she paused, sucking in air. She had clearly run back. "So… how were you going to get over there?" she nodded past the swarm of fans.

Ed smiled. They could wait, or they could try to go around, but there were more fun ways. "Haven't you ever shoved through a crowd before?"

"No, not really."

"Just watch." He turned and started with a couple of polite excuse-mes which were, of course, ignored. Then he grinned and barked. "Excuse me, coming through. You're blocking the sidewalk!"

The people right in front of him glared him, irritated, but started to shift. Only one required an auto-mail elbow to the side to get him out of the way. Ed repeated his shout and a couple of shoves, and slowly they started to move, and momentum carried forward. If you pushed right, a crowd would part for whatever was behind them just because the rest of the crowd was moving. It also didn't take long for at least a couple of people to look at Ed and realize that they didn't want to argue with an old man, and that that old man was Edward Elric. By the time they got to the front, they had a small, if clear path, which was quickly closing behind them.

At the front of the crowd, Winry and Gale had paused and Winry was talking pleasantly with several of the younger men and women who were there; shaking hands, and generally being friendly and polite, though Ed could tell she was a little startled at the sheer overwhelming nature of their enthusiasm. Proud as Winry was of her work, she had never seen herself as a celebrity, Ed knew. That had always been him and Alphonse. "There you are," he grinned as he joined them, as if the crowd was of no consequence, "And here I thought I was a shoo-in for a date with you this evening."

"You might have to wait in line," Winry chuckled.

"Nah, I did that already." Ed shrugged and nodded back the way he had come. "Do you want to go have lunch, or would you like more time with your fan club?"

Winry flushed slightly. "They're very nice people."

"So am I, when I feel like it," he quipped as he stepped in closer. "We can stay as long as you like," he whispered in her ear, "but if you want rescuing, let me know."

Winry smiled. "Just a few more minutes then," she replied, then glanced curiously over Ed's shoulder. "Who's that?" she asked.

"Someone who'd like to talk business," Ed replied, leaving it a little cryptic. He'd let Miss Dina Kelly introduce herself.

Winry just shook her head a little and turned back to the young man she had been talking to, who was looking at her adoringly. If she hadn't been old enough to be his grandmother, Ed might have insisted on doing a little more posturing, all in good fun of course. As it was, he was content to stand there and watch Winry interact with them for another ten minutes before she finally apologized that she didn't have time to talk to everyone, but hoped they would come to her session that afternoon, before taking Ed's arm and giving him an I'm ready to go look.

Ed nodded to Dina to follow along, and so the young woman, trying not to look awkward, fell into step behind them, but roughly beside Gale. They had already planned to eat at a little restaurant a few streets over, away from the main press of town, so Ed was glad to see the place wasn't entirely full when they arrived.

After they were seated and had ordered drinks, Winry looked at Dina across the table and smiled. "So, Edward tells me you'd like to talk business."

Dina looked nervous, but she nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Winry is fine," she waved it off. "Ma'am is my grandmother."

Dina chuckled, and the ice was broken. Winry had always been good with people. "I'm Dina, Dina Kelly," she added, taking Winry's hand when it was offered across the table.

"I'm not usually this forward but Mr. Elric offered to introduce me so… here I am, I guess." She swallowed, and Ed wondered if he had overestimated her age. "I was hoping you could look at my work," she blurted out, holding up the case in front of her. "I've spent two years trying to create something that even comes close to being half as amazing as what you do! I wanted to make something durable, but light, and umm, sort of unusual."

Winry smiled patiently. "Is this for someone specific?"

"Sort of," Dina nodded. "My little brother lost part of his leg in an accident a few years ago, but he's sensitive to a lot of metals, so I've been trying to come up with something that he won't react to that still works for auto-mail, so he can have a working foot again. He loves sports, and running around, and he was really active before." The tenderness in her voice was heartbreaking.

Ed watched Winry's expression soften. "We always do our best work for those we love," she commented, glancing briefly in Ed's direction before looking back at Dina. "So how can I help?"

"Everyone I work with thinks I'm wasting my time," Dina admitted as she opened the case, and revealed the partial leg inside. Ed noticed it looked like it was meant to mount mid-shin. That must have been some accident. "They don't think I can come up with the right metal alloy. A traditional steel is just too heavy."

"I'll speak to that," Ed commented glibly.

"Hey, it was what I had to work with at the time." Winry smiled, but never took her eyes from the fascinating piece in front of them. "May I?" she reached out.

"Of course." Dina proffered it, and Winry picked up the foot, examining it and clearly intrigued.

"So he's sensitive to copper and nickle?" Winry hazarded a guess a few moments later.

Dina blinked. "Yeah, he is."

Winry nodded. "It's not surprising. There are a lot of people with metal sensitivities, it just doesn't usually matter much unless they have to handle it every day, or wear it against their skin." She examined the foot, bending it at the ankle, listening to the movement. "This is a very nice piece."

"Thank you."

"I don't think you're going to get the lighter weight you want without using lighter metals," Winry commented regretfully, "But as it is, this is very light and sturdy, so unless he's going to be going into combat on it, it should be fine while he's growing. How old is your brother?"

"He's twelve now. He was nine when he had the accident."

"So you definitely want something lighter." Winry handed the leg back. "Have you considered plating?"

"Yeah, but we don't have the equipment for that at our shop. Most people don't. I thought about some kind of protective coating, but I couldn't think of something that wouldn't get in the crevices, and wouldn't mess with the port fit."

"There are a couple of coatings you can use if you've got access to an alchemist," Winry agreed, "and you want to make sure it's something he won't react to. How is he with chrome?"

"Better, but not great." Dina looked down. "It's really frustrating."

"Then when you need is definitely a thin non-metallic coating. Like this." She gestured at Ed who took the cue, and held out his arm.

Dina looked at his arm. "That's coated? It doesn't look like it."

"You bet it is," Ed nodded. "Feel it."

Looking like she had either been asked to pet a cobra or the world's cutest kitten—Ed wasn't sure which—Dina gently tapped his arm with her finger, then placed her palm on it, running her hand lightly down it, eyes wide. "That's amazing. How did you do it?"

"Like she said, access to an alchemist." Ed grinned. "There's not a process more precise then that, though you can get pretty close as long as you dip your pieces carefully instead one at a time before assembly."

"Is this coating some kind of trade secret?" Dina looked both hopeful and dubious at the same time.

"Not a secret, though it is patented." Winry smiled. "Our son invented it, so it's common on a lot of our pieces now, particularly on the ports since it keeps the metal from directly contacting the skin."

"That's why Rockbell Auto-mail is more heat and cold resistant!" It was as if a small light had come on. Dina smiled. "Can you… I mean, I'd pay for the coating of course, and any time but—" She glanced between Winry and Edward as if she wasn't entirely sure who to talk to.

"I'm sure we could coat your foot," Gale was the one who chimed in, as the current active co-owner in the company. "You'd want to take it apart, coat it, and then reassemble, and it would be ideal to be able to fit it to your brother first, but I'm sure we could make a deal. I'd really like to know what's in that alloy of yours."

With that question, Dina was off and talking and Ed listened for a couple of minutes out of interest in the metals, but quickly lost it again when the talk shifted fully into auto-mail shop talk. Let the girls have their fun, he was just glad Dina seemed to have gotten over her shyness, or her idol worship at least, enough to enjoy herself. By the time lunch was over, they had exchanged business information, Dina had sworn she would come to Winry's presentation that afternoon and be in touch with Gale about arranging the coating, and Winry had promised she could call with questions or ideas any time.

Dina had to get back to work before the presentation, so they went separate directions right after lunch. Ed followed Winry as she headed back towards the convention. His wife was smiling. "Enjoyed that did you?" Ed asked.

Winry chuckled. "You know I did. I don't know how you find people like her in a crowd, Ed."

"Talent." Ed shrugged. "I'm just good with people."

Winry looked like she wanted to retort. Instead she squeezed his arm. "Maybe you are. She's quite the talent, especially for only seventeen."

Ed blinked. She really was younger than he'd thought. "How long did she say she'd been working on auto-mail?"

"Two years," Gale chimed in and nodded, also grinned. "She's definitely one of us. I wonder if I could hire her away in a couple of years."

Ed shook his head. "You're as ruthless as Winry when it comes to business."

"Of course she is," Winry retorted. "Why do you think I gave running the business over to her and Coran?"

"Well, not because of family connections," Ed quipped. "We're married and you still don't give me a discount!"