Cap'nHoozits: No, Winry will not start keeping her wrench under her pillow. I just put that in there for a few laughs. Don't worry. She'll find a victim. Muahahahahahahaha!
Sonar: Glad you like it. Keep reading.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. If I did, the picture at the end of the manga, or anime, of Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye would show their wedding day.
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Chapter Four: New Clothes.
The sun and the smells of breakfast cooking woke Winry the next morning. The first thing her brain registered was the blanket. She knew that it hadn't been there when she fell asleep. The only explanation for it was that Scar had put it there. . . Yeah right, she thought.
Winry sat up and stretched, then threw the blanket off, stood up and stretched some more. She pulled some clothes out of the closet and set them on the bed before concealing her room from any prying eyes. After Winry was done dressing, she set aside her clothes from the previous day and made a mental note to ask Scar where exactly she was supposed to wash them. She walked downstairs and into the kitchen, where she saw Scar preparing breakfast. He didn't even have to turn around.
"Good morning Winry," he said in his usual monotone voice.
"Good morning Scar," Winry replied in an equally monotone voice. "Need any help?"
"You could set the table for me. Plates and cups are in the cupboard left to the oven, silverware just above them."
Winry got out two sets of dishes and utensils. She set them on opposite ends of the table so she and Scar could face each other. By the time she was done, Scar had finished preparing the food and was bringing it over to the table. They sat down and began to eat, after Scar had said a prayer to Ishvala and Winry sat there a bit uncomfortably. This meal, however, was not silent like the night before.
"So what's the schedule for today?" Winry asked.
"First," Scar started, "You need new clothes."
"What's wrong with the ones I have?" Winry took great pride in her sense of fashion, and did not like anyone criticizing it.
"They aren't fit for the conditions of the desert," Scar explained. "You need clothes that will allow your body heat to easily escape during the day, but keep it in at night. The clothes you would normally wear would do the exact opposite. You also need protection from the sun. Your skin is so pale you would be covered in sunburns within an hour."
Winry sighed, knowing that she couldn't argue with logic.
"Fine," she said, "But I get to choose my wardrobe."
"That's okay," Scar replied with a shrug. "I'd probably pick the ugliest outfits anyway."
Winry mentally giggled at this. And here I thought he had no sense of humor. Come to think of it, I've never even seen him with a real smile on his face.
"Once we have your new clothes," Scar continued, "I'll take you on a tour of the village, so you won't lose your way if you need to go anywhere alone and you'll know where everything is."
Winry simply nodded. She didn't like the idea of going anywhere with Scar, but if she could survive one night in his house, then she could survive a tour with him.
Breakfast was over sooner than she thought, and she helped Scar clean up. After they were ready, Scar led her to the shopping district, pointing out landmarks and other significant buildings that she might need to find in the future. One of them was the laundry. Once a week, in the morning, they would bring any dirty clothes they had and pick them up in the afternoon or evening. That solved one of Winry's problems.
Another place Scar pointed out was the bath houses. There was one in each sector of the village, and every evening the people who lived in those sectors would gather at their bath house. Scar explained that he would have brought her there yesterday, but she had looked almost dead on her feet and he didn't want her to fall asleep in the bath and drown herself. Winry looked at him with eyes that asked if he meant it. Scar avoided that look.
At last, they arrived at the store that bought, sold, and exchanged clothing. It was a very large store, with separate sections for each age group and gender. There were three counters, each on a different wall of the store. One was for those who made clothing and came here to sell it, one for those buying new clothes, and one for those who could exchange outgrown clothes for new ones depending on their value and condition.
One of the women who worked at the store saw Winry and Scar enter and hurried over to them.
"May I help you?" she asked in a friendly voice.
"This young woman just arrived yesterday," Scar explained, "And she doesn't have any proper desert clothes."
The woman gave Winry a quick once-over. "Visiting military relatives?"
"Oh, no," Winry said. "I recently found out that my mother was Ishvalan, so I'm here to find her family." The woman gave her a curious look.
"You didn't know she was Ishvalan?" she asked, not quite believing her. "It's not hard to pick one of us out in a crowd of Amestrians."
"My mother changed her looks when she married my father," Winry told her.
"Why would she do something like that? Was she ashamed of her Ishvalan heritage?"
"I don't know." Winry stared at the floor. "She died when I was really young, so it's not like I can ask her." Scar shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "As to her being ashamed of her heritage, she always stood up for her people. Maybe she thought that Amestrians would be more willing to listen to one of their own than an Ishvalan." The woman sighed.
"I'm sorry to hear about your loss," she said. "Did she say anything to your father?"
"He knew she was Ishvalan, but I don't know how much she confessed to him. He died the same time she did." Again, Scar made it obvious that he was uncomfortable, if you knew what to look for, but no one noticed.
"What kind of parents did you have?" The woman asked. "Not very good ones obviously, to leave you alone in this world with no other family to go to."
"I was not left alone," Winry retorted. "I had a grandmother, my father's mother. She took care of me after my parents died. She's unable to take care of me now, so I decided to come out here and find my mother's family."
"Prepare yourself to be disappointed," the woman said, sounding more and more obnoxious every second. "They could have died in the war, no thanks to the Amestrians and their State Alchemists."
Winry had just about had enough of this woman. She was getting ready to burst. Luckily one of the women shopping there with her child overheard the entire conversation. She had lived in the Asbek slum in the northern mountains that Winry and Scar had stayed at after escaping Kimbley. She knew who Winry's parents were, so she decided to come to her rescue.
"Did I hear that correctly?" she asked, coming to Winry's side. "Your mother, the Rockbell doctor, was an Ishvalan?"
At the mention of the name "Rockbell," just about everyone in the store came up to Winry to meet the daughter of the couple who had saved so many of them and their loved ones. Winry accepted all of their comments - praise about her parents' dedication to their work and joy that the wife was one of their own - with a smile on her face, though she was trying desperately hard not to cry. Scar hung back. He still felt remorse for what he had done all those years ago, especially after meeting Winry for the first time. No one who knew about it ever mentioned the doctors if they knew he was listening.
Winry had felt unsure about how she would go about choosing her new clothes, but those feelings evaporated quickly. All of the women in the store put aside their own shopping to help her pick out a full wardrobe. She almost felt overwhelmed by all the opinions she was getting. At last, everyone reached a conclusion about the selection of clothes that was right for her and could fit within the budget Scar was given. After her new clothes were paid for, Winry changed into a long-sleeved, sky-blue tunic that reached mid-thigh and included a hood to keep the sun off her face, a spring-grass green skirt that fell just above her ankles, and sandals. She thanked all the women who had helped her and left the store with Scar, who had absolutely refused to carry all the bags and made Winry carry two of the four that held her clothes.
Scar suggested that they drop off the bags at the house before continuing with the tour. The way he said it told Winry that something was bothering him. Ed had a similar tone when he was thinking about something, but didn't want to talk about. The two of them walked in silence. Winry would occasionally glance at Scar, who looked forward and nowhere else, his eyes betraying the turmoil of emotions that were flooding his mind.
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Uh-oh. What's gonna happen next? Should Winry's appearance change a bit over time, so she looks more Ishvalan? Please review or I'll send that obnoxious Ishvalan lady after you.
End of Chapter Four
