A/N: Yeah, this one came out a bit slower. I've been really busy with this, that and everything else. Still, one month is pretty darn good for me. This still has no beta if anyone is willing...? Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or FMA:B. I do own the mer-versions of any characters though, original or not. If you want to use them, please ask and don't steal.

Edit: 6th Jan 2014 - Updated translations

"Speech"

'Thoughts'


Chapter Four: The Art of Conversation

"Edward!" Al gasped. Ed waved in reply, a grin stretching across his face. He moved no closer though, his wary gaze on the young girl. He simply floated there, watching the two humans curiously.

It took Winry a few moments to get over the shock. "But...that's...and...you..." she stuttered out. Her platinum blonde hair whipped to and fro as she stared dumbly from Al to Ed and back again. She raised a hand and pointed at Ed's head and shoulders, which was all that could be seen above the water, her whole arm shaking.

"I told you so," Al said with a wide smile, allowing a bit of smugness to colour his tone. He gestured for Ed to come closer while grabbing Winry's hand and leading her to the water's edge.

Ed dived under and Al feared that Winry had scared him off. He gave a sigh of relief when Ed's head rose back up at the shore's edge; right behind the rock the merboy's scratched out transmutation circle was on. Ed hauled himself up to lean on the rock, just like he had a week ago.

Al waded out to Ed. "Hi Edward!" he said happily, all traces of sadness completely erased by Ed's arrival.

"Saluton Alphonse," Ed cheerfully replied.

"Oh my gosh...he's really real..." Winry breathed, cautiously stepping closer until she stood slightly behind and to one side of Al.

"Oh, Edward, this is Winry," Al said slowly, gesturing to the girl.

"Winry?" Ed frowned lightly, testing the word out on his tongue. His tail rose out of the water behind him and he waved it lazily from side to side as he peered at Winry, studying her. He noticed her bright blue eyes immediately become riveted on his bright tail. "Saluton Winry," he said with a fanged grin.

"Hi..." she said faintly.

"Ĉu vi ankoraŭ havas mian skalo?" Ed asked, wrapping a hand around the spot on his forearm that he plucked the scale from.

"Skalo..." Al repeated, watching Ed. "Of course; scale! Yeah, I have it," Al said quickly. He grabbed the matchbox from his pocket, fumbling slightly in his haste, and presented it to Ed, pulling the little box open to show its contents.

"Bonega!" Ed nodded, satisfied. He mimed picking it up, staring at the young human boy meaningfully. "Tenu la skalo en via mano."

Al did so very carefully. He looked to Ed to see the merboy grin. "Like this? But why?" he asked in confusion.

Ed almost doubled over in the water trying to hold back laughter. He surfaced, grin wider than ever. "This is why!" he crowed triumphantly.

Alphonse almost fell over in shock. He was completely still, ignoring Winry tugging on his sleeve. After half a minute of struggle he finally got his mouth to work. "Is this alchemy or are you magic?"

"Oh, so you DO have alchemy on land?" Ed asked, curiosity burning bright in his golden eyes. Al nodded mutely. "No, it's not alchemy."

Winry's tugging became more urgent and Al finally turned to her. "Al...what are you saying? You're speaking the same language he is..." she trailed off, looking spooked.

"I am?" Al blinked.

"Now you're speaking English again!" she half wailed, letting his sleeve go as she stepped back. Her hands were clasped in front of her chest and her head was bowed a little as she struggled to hold in tears.

"I am?" Al repeated in confusion.

Ed slapped his outstretched palm on the water, catching both of their attention. "Give her this," he said, holding out another red scale. Pulling out scales that weren't loose stung quite a bit, but he figured it was worth it.

"Of course, I get it now!" Al chirped. He turned to Winry and offered her the scale. "Take it, it'll let you understand him," he said softly, like he was speaking to a scared animal.

Winry's hand trembled slightly as she took the tiny scale and held it tightly in her clenched fist.

"Why do you look so scared? I'm not going to eat you, you know," Ed said with a wink, baring his sharp little fangs.

Alphonse frowned lightly. "Wait, if you can do this, why didn't you when I first met you?"

Edward shrugged. "I didn't know," he replied simply. "I started doing some research when I got back home, to find some way to communicate properly." He folded his arms and tilted his head to one side, making his gold locks fall over his shoulder. "It was not easy," he added with a small frown, remembering his mother's watchful eyes.

"Research? What kind of research did you have to do?" Al asked, trying to picture Ed reading a book underwater. Did they have books underwater? They couldn't have paper...could they?

"I looked into the old stories and stuff. I tried to do a bit of reading on the subject, but there isn't really anything recorded. We're not supposed to have any sort of contact with humans you see, so there isn't much information like that around in the first place," Ed explained while tapping his claws on his upper arm.

Winry stared at him. "How can you read underwater?" she asked, echoing Al's thoughts.

Ed stared back blankly and straightened his head. "How do you read on land?" he shot back, equally confused.

"Uh...with paper, what else?" she replied.

The confusion did not leave his golden eyes. "What is paper? We use either thin sheets of rock or specially coloured seaweed that's been lightened and woven with alchemy. It's okay to scratch words into the rock, but it's a bit hard to use seaweed."

"Paper is like woven seaweed I guess... It's really light and easy to write on, but the ink will run and the paper will go wavy if you get it wet," she said.

Al watched her with a tiny smile on his face. She had been so afraid a minute ago, now she was on the verge of lecturing the merboy. Girls seemed to have a knack for lecturing and reprimanding. Winry was better at it than even their school teacher, Mr. Thompson, and his face turned an ugly red when he yelled.

"I think I understand," Ed said while nodding slowly to himself. "Anyway, what are you doing on the beach? Were you waiting for me?"

Al fidgeted, shifting from foot to foot, making small ripples in the water. "Sort of... I was waiting for you, but I also came down here to find a big shell for my mother," he partially mumbled.

Ed's ears perked up. "What sort of shell?"

Al showed him the one he had picked up just before Ed hit him with seaweed. "One like this. If you put it up to your ear, you can hear the ocean inside."

"You want a large conch shell? That's easy! How big do you want it?" Ed said cheerfully, pretending to examine the membranes of skin between his fingers. He wiggled his fingers, watching as the skin membranes folded and flexed to match the movements. He was careful not to stretch his fingers too far apart as it created a sharp ache.

Alphonse pondered for a moment. He put his left arm across his chest and held his right elbow while tapping his chin with his right pointer finger. After a couple of seconds he stopped to examine his hand, much like Edward. "Is this too big?" he asked, holding his hand up in front of his face.

Ed hummed thoughtfully then held out his own hand. "Here, let me measure it against yours." As Al's hand touched his, Ed wondered how humans could live out of water. Al's hand was smaller than his, the tips of his fingers coming up to Ed's last knuckles. Ed filed the comparison away. "Okay, I'll be back in a bit."

Al and Winry watched the merboy wriggle backwards and slip under with a flick of his tail, reminding them of the whales they sometimes saw passing by who slapped their tails on the water before disappearing. Despite Ed's vivid colouring, the dark waters blocked him from view the moment the tips of his tailfin submerged.

Ed, now completely back in his element, smiled widely. Al hadn't changed a bit. He quickly propelled himself down into deeper water and scanned the sandy bottom. It didn't take him long to locate a conch shell that was empty. He measured it against his hand where Al's fingertips had reached. 'Too small.' He put the shell back carefully in case a nearby crab was looking for a bigger home.

He found two more a minute later, though both shells had occupants and he left them alone. Ed swam a bit further out, checking under rocks and ledges and behind clumps of seaweed. Several minutes later he held a beautiful big conch shell with a speckled and striped brown and cream pattern. The inside of the shell was tinged pink with a mother of pearl sheen. The shell was empty so Ed put it against his hand. It was a few millimetres longer than Al's hand, stopping just short of Ed's fingertips.

With a satisfied smirk Ed took his prize and swam back to shore. The ten spines along his back were rigid, cutting the water like a shark's fin when he reached shallow water. He could clearly hear Winry gasp in shock and then giggle nervously to hide her embarrassment when Al pointed out that it was only Edward. His head rose out of the water, his blond hair plastering itself to his face as he sampled the air. It was certainly different than breathing underwater.

What humans didn't mention in any merfolk tales was the fact that merfolk have two respiratory systems. They had a set of lungs, just like those of a human only a bit smaller, to use when out of water. These lungs were positioned just below the diaphragm. When underwater however, they used their main pair of lungs that filtered the oxygen from the water, located exactly where a human's lungs are. When Ed had taken his first breath of pure air it had stung his throat and secondary lungs, causing him to cough and hack for a good long minute before his body adjusted. Now he could make the transition smoothly as his body knew when to close and open which airways.

The air had a salty taste, much like the water. Ed wondered if all air was like this or if it was just because he wasn't inland. Shaking his scientific thoughts aside, he proudly presented the shell by sitting it on what was quickly becoming his rock. "How's this?" he asked, once more leaning against the rock.

"Oh wow...thanks so much Edward!" Al said, gently picking up the shell and cradling it.

"You can just call me Ed," the merboy said.

Alphonse took the cue and replied, "Just call me Al."

Ed turned his molten gaze to Winry. "And I just call you...?" he prompted. One of his earfins flicked, sending some droplets flying.

"You just call me Winry," she answered, putting her hands on her hips and standing over the merboy in a vaguely menacing way.

Ed put his hands up in surrender and chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Kinda boring though, don't you think?" He smiled blandly at her, taking pleasure in teasing the girl.

At least this human girl was different from the dainty little snobbish maids back home. They would flash their fins and giggle; batting their eyelashes outrageously whenever a guy they thought was cute swam past. They used their armfins like a human would use a fan, peering over the membrane as it covered the lower half of their faces. Ed found the whole armfin thing a waste of time as most mermaids' fin membranes were transparent, so why bother 'hiding' behind them?

"Are you calling me boring?" Winry said slowly. She leaned over him with narrowed, angry blue eyes, just waiting for him to give her a reason to hit him. Winry hit Alphonse on the rare occasions when he annoyed her too much and it always made her feel better.

Edward, having been raised by Izumi, instinctively sensed this violent streak. Still, it did not deter him from saying, "I dunno, are you?" and grinning wickedly.

Winry's small fist whistled through the air to connect solidly with the top of Ed's head. It was nowhere near Izumi's strength, but the young girl could sure hit harder than her frame suggested. He scrunched his eyes shut for a moment as his hands flew to his head and he gingerly rubbed the sore spot.

"Ow, geez! Just because you're violent, doesn't mean you're not boring," he muttered just low enough for Winry not to pick out any words. "Are all human females this aggressive?" he asked in a louder tone. The smirk left Ed's face as he was honestly curious.

"I think it's just Winry, but I don't really know any other girls, so..." Al said shyly, quickly ducking his head in an attempt to avert the girl's ire.

Winry glared at him but her fist remained by her side. "Yeah well...what are the girls like where you live then? Are they just gaggles of gigglers?" she shot at the merboy.

Ed blinked. "A what of gigglers?" He had never heard that word before, though he could guess that it meant a group of some sort. Even Al looked a little confused at the expression.

"A gaggle," she replied while crossing her arms. "It means a group or flock of geese, though I think it suits those airheaded gossip girls really well. They flock together and make lots of unnecessary noise," she stated firmly, looking pleased as Ed said a little 'oh' of recognition. He had no idea what geese were, but she had gotten her point across.

"Yeah, you could say most of the girls are like that. They really annoy me, flashing their fins and giggling like it's a huge joke. Most of them are really vain and spend their time primping when they're not flirting. Don't tell me they're like that on land too?" he asked, his attraction for the land dimmed somewhat by the thought.

Winry shrugged. "It depends, I guess."

Al cleared his throat a little self-consciously. "So, Ed, are you staying for a while?"

"I wish I could, but..." he said with a small shake of his head. "I'll have to leave soon. My mother's been keeping an eye on me and if she found out that I snuck away..." he trailed off with a shudder. Getting punched by Izumi hurt, but Ed knew she'd be mad enough to use her tail and armfins if she discovered he'd snuck away to the surface to see a human, let alone two.

Izumi had cut him with her armfin once. Ed was lucky that merfolk rarely scarred or he'd have a large one across his right bicep. The spines on every merperson's arms were incredibly sharp and, when folded flat, part of the spines extended past the elbow. When like that, they became as deadly as any dagger, for cutting and stabbing. It was never wise to sneak up on one of the merfolk. Any fights were usually fast and fatal.

Their tails were very powerfully built and if there was sufficient room, could be swung with tremendous force, enough to shatter a pane of glass.

"You're leaving again already?"

Al's voice broke into Ed's thoughts and he looked up at the young human. 'He looks like someone just told him he can't keep the fish he caught as a pet,' he thought, oddly touched. He was sure Al didn't see him as a pet. Right? "Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be back when I can sneak away again," he said reassuringly. He was unsure if he was trying to convince Al or himself.

"It was great meeting you. Thank you for the scale," Winry said shyly.

"No problem," Ed replied with a grin. "I gotta go. I guess I'll see you when I see you."

"Okay. Bye Ed, and thank you for the shell," Al said, copying Ed's grin.

Ed waved and started wriggling backwards. It was harder this time around as he didn't have the tide to help him.

"Oh, wait!" Winry suddenly called, stopping Ed in his tracks. She splashed out to him, pulling something from her hair as she went. She boldly fished his left hand from the water and quickly tied something around it before hastily stepping back to Al.

Ed looked at his arm curiously. She had tied a ribbon around his wrist in a double-knotted bow so that it wouldn't work loose easily. It was sky blue. Ed stared at the girl. "What's this for?"

"W-well, you gave me something...so I wanted to give you something. You know, to r-remember me by," she said quickly, stuttering a bit as the words rushed from her, as if speaking fast would lessen the embarrassment she was feeling.

"Oh, thanks," Ed said, not quite sure how to respond. He decided to leave before things became even more awkward. "Bye!" he said, disappearing under the water as soon as it was deep enough. He swam as fast as he could, staring at the ribbon all the while. It was only a shade lighter than her eyes he noted absently, smiling.


A/N: Yeah, not much happened, I know. I'm planning a bit more action for next chapter.

As for the scales and language barrier... well, it's hard translating everything and it would have been really annoying for me and all of you readers if I had kept it up for too much longer. I'm not having everything in English though; there will be Esperanto here and there.

Concerning Winry wailing about Al switching between Esperanto and English – please keep in mind that the capitol of Amestris is built over London. They speak English. If you read the manga or watch Brotherhood then you'll notice that the country of Xing is like Asia. The people there speak Xinghese, which I'm counting as a mesh of Japanese and Chinese. Hence why there are no Japanese phrases or suffixes like –kun and –chan in this story.

Esperanto translations:

Saluton Alphonse/Winry – Hello Alphonse/Winry

Ĉu vi ankoraŭ havas mian skalo? - Do you still have my scale?

Bonega! - Great!

Tenu la skalo en via mano - Hold the scale in your hand

Well, what do you think? Has my writing improved? (Not likely XD) Has the quality slid? (I hope not!) As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.