Crescent Moon

The crescent moon shined silver above the mountains of Xing as the woman in black stopped to look over her old country. She had left without the intention to return and yet, here she was and a sound of bittersweet nostalgia swayed through the air as the flutes in the nearby village played. For a moment, she enjoyed the cool air of the starry night before she took off her mask to allow the air to cool her hot cheeks. She had been travelling the whole day and the whole night because she had had the intention to reach the village where she had been born with the first sunrays in the morning but luck had been with her for once and so she had reached it three hours after midnight. She wondered briefly why the villagers where still celebrating at such a late hour before she recognised the sweet sounds of a wedding dance mixed with the harsher tones of a traditional song which was usually played whenever the oldest son of a family took his father's place and became the head of the family.

The woman in black smiled as she remembered her old village and took off her black jacket before she traded her pants for a red skirt. It wasn't part of her mission but her instinct told her that she had to attend this celebration. She hid her warrior clothes and her weapons in her bag as she entered the village. It had been more than ten years since she had been here but nothing had changed. With a frown, she noticed that one half of the colourful banner showed the crest of the Wei-family … the family she came from. She forced herself to stay calm and relaxed because there was a logical and more than satisfying solution for this strange thing. If one of her many cousins was to be wed today, it was just natural for her crest to be seen everywhere after all.

But as the woman in black and red reached the centre of the village, she saw her male cousin Chao who had always envied her position as heir of the family and it was no problem for the woman to realise what she had just walked into: her cousin was about to steal the title from her and even though she had never showed much interest in this position, she was not keen on being robbed.

The crowd made room for her to walk forward to the pedestal where her rival was about to grab the ring of the family. For a moment, the true heir stopped and frowned before she took a kunai from her boot and threw it with the accuracy she had worked for so hard. The kunai flew right through the circle and pinned the ring to the wooden wall behind Chao who turned around.

"I don't appreciate your efforts to steal my title, cousin," the woman said darkly as she grabbed a new kunai. "You may wish to surpass me but this will always be just that: a wish and a dream."

Their fathers had set them up to their rivalry the moment they had been named. The woman had been named Jun Li because her father had chosen when he had believed that he would be blessed with a son. He had hoped for a warrior and so he had given her a name with the meanings 'talented ruler', 'logic' and 'strength' while her mother had approved because in case that the child would be a girl, the name would have been the same with different meanings like 'supreme' and 'beautiful'. Her cousin on the other side had been named Chao with the meaning 'surpass' but up to now, he had never been able to surpass his female cousin.

They had been raised side by side because the girl had been merely a month younger but Chao had never been able to outsmart or trick his cousin who had fought him with fair yet harsh means during their more or less friendly spars.

"It's an honour to have you here today, most honourable cousin," Chao said seriously while he grabbed the rapier on his side. "Too bad that it's my position now, Jun Li."

She smirked at him as she drew her own sword. "Our family was always led by the strongest fighter of a generation, right?" she asked calmly as she moved forward in a catlike and fluid motion. "And since I doubt that you could ever be the stronger fighter out of us, I challenge you, Chao."

"You are a madwoman if you really believe that you can still beat me, Jun Li," he replied. "But I accept your challenge, most honourable cousin. I heard that you became a rich little housewife in the West."

"Maybe," she replied while she walked towards a training ground. "Be careful with your white robe, cousin. We don't want any stains, do we?"

"And are you sure about your pretty skirt?" he asked haughtily as they slipped into their stances.

"I fought in prettier clothes before," she said with a shrug as she grabbed her sword tighter. There was no way she could lose. She had a reputation to defend – and the honour of her family. She was the oldest granddaughter of Fu Wei who had been known not only in Xing but also in Amestris where he had fallen protecting Emperor Ling Yao. She was the daughter of Cai Wei who had died to protect Emperor Jun Yao. And she had spent the longest part of her life protecting the same emperor her father had served before her. She had an incredibly high social status in her old village because many of her glorious missions and famous fights.

Victoria sat in her bed while she counted the stars above her head. It was a silent and strangely cool night in early October. Her fingertips carefully danced across the area where Max had injected the antidote as she wondered why she was such a lucky person. Ever since her infancy, she had gotten out of the cold grasp of death by seconds. She had been far luckier than her parents who had become a faint memory by now. She sighed deeply as she tried to remember her mother's smile without seeing Riza in front of her eyes. It was bitter that she had forgotten but then again, Lynn and Martin had died ten years and three months ago. She knew that she would eventually run out of luck but somehow, she hoped that it would take some more years before she would fall forever. She wasn't ready to die yet because she was too stubborn and too keen on healing her country completely. Roy was a strategist, no healer but she was a healer and a strategist because she had taken after Lynn and Martin.

"You really should sleep," Nick said as he slipped out of the shadows.

"And you should stop sneaking up on me," she replied while she turned around. "You got better."

"Thanks," he smiled as he sat down next to her. "So, what's on your mind today, big sister?"

"It seems like everything is moving too fast for me to follow," she said. "Cretan rebels endanger the western area of Amestris and since they are on our side of the border, the Cretan Secret Service can't do anything without asking for permission first…"

For a moment, the twins sat there in perfect silence before Victoria opened her mouth but right afterwards, she shook her head and closed it again before she looked down.

"What is it, Vicky?" her brother asked softly before he brushed back a strand of her hair.

"Sometimes, I really wonder if the choices I made were the right ones," she said. "I decided to follow the call and to make it my goal to be the chancellor one day. I decided to heal this country because the most of the ones who used to have the power to make the difference are dead or without any influence now. Dad, Ling and Miss Elaine Hamilton are only ones with the ambition and the chance…"

"You worry that you might fail, right?"

"Yeah."

"You will never fail, Victoria." Nick wrapped an arm around her before he placed a kiss on her temple. "It's a feeling deep inside of me, you know? I … I can nearly see you, Vicky. I can already see you in a pretty black dress with a purple scarf during your assumption of office. You have the right spirit but you didn't change a bit since the last time you took an exam: you always doubt yourself when it comes to the important things. You need to accept that sometimes, even the brightest of us made the wrong decisions. There is always a certain risk in life, you know, and not everything can be perfect."