"Whoa! Watch it with the reflection, will ya!"

"Sorry!"

Angel, Edward, and Alphonse were strolling through Carnival. Angel had her hands pulled up to her chest after nearly blinding a passerby. Luckily, the man thought sunlight had glinted off of something she was wearing, and didn't realize what she'd actually been doing.

"Maybe that's enough practice for now. At least while we're out in the open," Edward told her. "You see what I mean, though? What you do is like artwork with light, completely overlooking the practical uses of manipulating it. Here." He pulled her into a shaded alley for a moment. "Now try pushing it away instead of pulling it toward you."

Angel touched her circle again and put her hands out, though she didn't know how that would help. A dark patch about two feet in every direction grew around them. Surprised, she yanked her hands back, causing the light to bounce back like a camera flash. "I…I never thought of that…"

"It would be a handy trick if we were, say, sneaking through the dark."

She gave the space around her an experimental prod. Not so much a push as a redirection. Edward's eyes got big. "What?"

"For a second there, I almost couldn't see you!"

"Like I turned invisible?"

"Yeah! It was more like a mirage-type look, with all the sunlight we're dealing with, but cool! You could really develop control with that. Try it again."

She attempted to repeat the reflecting feeling. This time she saw it too—a blurring of her outline, like she was looking through water. Edward touched her arm, and the strange effect covered him, too.

"Guys," said Alphonse, "we're getting some suspicious looks. Can we do this after we look at the city plans?"

They started moving again without playing with alchemy. Angel felt an odd bubble of excitement in her chest, as if she were a five-year-old at the fair for the first time. It was fun seeing what all she could do. Edward had explained how most alchemists specialized in a particular element or category of elements. She wondered what her mom had worked with. I miss her; I wish I could have known her in life. Her fingers brushed the fresh bandage on her left wrist. The Elric brothers had politely asked her to refrain from summoning souls around them. They still found her method a little unnerving.

It was crazy in a way, hurting herself to call up people she usually didn't know. And dangerous, like Alphonse said. Once or twice, she had cut deeper than intended, and had trouble stopping the bleeding. She didn't want to have to show a doctor what she did. Sometimes she was ashamed of this ritualistic self-injury. But at the same time, it allowed her to help others, ease their pain. It often eased her pain, too, considering the number of times she had called up her own mother.

"Hey, Angel, didn't you say this was it?" Alphonse's hollow voice broke through her reverie. She realized they were about to pass the city hall.

"Oh. Yes, we're here."

Inside was cool and smelled of old parchment. Several bare wooden tables were set to the right, by a desk that stood in front of a wall of paper rolls. To the left appeared to be the administrative desks and a hallway that must go back to offices. Busy-looking people hurried in and out of it. Only one other person was looking at building plans. As they passed, he muttered something about which space would be best for a trapeze showcase.

"Hi," Angel said to the clerk at the desk. "We're conducting a research project on the growth of the towns around Carnival. Could we see maps of the Southern quarter from ten years and twenty years ago please?"

The clerk nodded, following the catalogue tags to the rolls in question. "Plans may be checked out for half an hour at a time. Please try to stay within that limit."

"We will. This will take several visits anyway." Angel led the way to the most private spot they could get. "Okay, judging by the rumors, if anything significant has changed, like buildings or their use, it should be marked on these maps."

They pored over the maps together, a difficult maneuver considering the size of the table against Alphonse's armor alone. Angel and Edward kept tangling quietly over the best position for looking at both pieces of parchment as they all compared possible locations in whispers.

"Look here, this building changed uses several times just within the year."

"Yeah, but it's too small for housing the circle they'd need, let alone research equipment, holding cells, housing for the researchers—"

"That could still be expanded underground."

"Maybe. It doesn't feel like something they'd use, though. Set it on the back burner."

"Here's one that's nice and sheltered."

"That's become a military garrison in the last couple years, I can tell you that. Nothing remotely like research going on there."

"How can you be sure? For all we know this is some big military cover up or diabolical plan or something."

"Hey, you asked me for help, and I know this area better than just about everyone, so lay off. This is not the place to be arguing, anyway."

"Says the one who started it—hey!" By accident, Edward blocked Angel's swipe at him with his right arm. She shook her jarred arm, wincing. The next moment, he narrowly deflected her shot at a much more vulnerable spot. "How did I earn that?"

"Because you're really getting on my nerves. It's not exactly easy for me to suggest actually going to Terekor! I was trying to show you this building on the west outskirts—"

"That's nowhere near the epicenter of disappearances, and way too out in the open! The garrison would at least give them protection—"

"Until the whole military came down on them. The outskirts are an asset out here. You said you've been to settlements close to the dessert, no one dares isolate themselves from the core communities unless they have the means to be completely self-sufficient."

"Hey guys," Alphonse piped meekly. "We know they're not afraid to hide in a metropolitan area—maybe this old hotel—"

"No!" Edward and Angel hissed, their faces an inch apart. Even hunched over, one could still tell Angel was taller. This fact only further irritated Edward. He was about to stomp away when Alphonse grabbed him by the hood of his coat.

"Brother, look at this. She might be right—"

"I'm not sticking around for you to take her side—"

"But there are industrial pipes—"

"Why should I care—"

"Because according to both maps, it's a grain mill, but the pipes are only on the second one."

Angel leaned absurdly close to the map. "I actually didn't notice that bit. He's right. And that building was supposed to be abandoned for some time until only the last year or so."

Now Edward was intrigued in spite of himself. "You're sure it's far enough from any main routes for people to notice changes like the building being used again?"

"Well, it was. In the last few years, the town has grown considerably. The farmers have really banded together. Hang on." She rolled the older map, returned it to the desk, and asked for something else. When she joined them again, it was to unroll a building plan. "This is the most recent plans of that building that have been submitted, only six months old. Supposedly it's being fixed up as a community farming storage."

"Or to tighten up security now that they're not so isolated," suggested Alphonse. "These people are reaching all over the country; it makes sense that hiding their operation would be more of an issue than being close enough to resources."

Edward glowered for a moment at his brother for ganging up on him, but knew they had a point. Already they had a fair bit of evidence for this one place, more than could be said for any other location they had considered on the map. He sighed, and began to study the layout. It actually reminded him so much of the 5th Lab that phantom pain stabbed his gut—he had a fresh scar where a condemned murderer in armor had nearly killed him.

"Brother?"

"Yeah, I understand what you're saying," he answered grudgingly, turning to Angel. "So, how far are we from this place?"

"Only about two hours by car."

"We can't take something like that. I don't want to risk tipping them off that someone's onto them."

"Well, um…there's probably a farmer or two visiting the troupe with a wagon we could hide in. Want me to go see what I can scrounge up?"

"Sure. Meet us back here as soon as you can. Al and I should have these plans fairly memorized in no time."

"You want to go tonight?" Angel's eyes got wide.

"Sheesh, not so loud. It won't take long to plan, not when we've done it once before."

"Uh, I don't recall it going so well that time…" Alphonse reminded him.

"Still, if it turns out not to be what we're looking for, I don't want to have wasted more time than I had to checking it out."

Angel's misty blue-grey eyes bored into him. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Just get going. We'll explain the plan when you get back."

Alphonse waited until the girl had stalked away before speaking again. "Brother, what exactly do we plan to do?"

"Disable their little operation out here. And I don't plan on letting them get away this time."