Nina Elric was pretty happy with the way things had worked out with her new school. When she had first been told that she would have to move, she was devastated. She couldn't imagine a world where she wouldn't be able to go to school with Riza. Riza was her best friend. She didn't think she'd ever be able to make a friend that wasn't Riza.
Thankfully, that had proved to not be true. She had actually made more friends in Amestris than she had had back in Xing. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that she made friends with every person that she saw that didn't have a friend and acquired quite a large group of friends that didn't have them before she came along, but she still had quite a few friends. And some of them she even really liked. Katie was almost as good as a friend as Riza was and Rachel was one of the funniest people she had ever met.
So yes, Nina was happy at school.
Happy enough that she was so excited to be at school after summer she didn't even notice the new student in their class.
"Students," the teacher said. Her name was Ms. Brown, which was funny because her hair was actually red and up in a bun. She seemed really nice, but you never knew what a teacher was actually like on the first day. "I know you're excited to see your friends again, but we must settle down. Settle down."
Everyone eventually quieted down and took their seats.
"Now, we're all going to learn a lot this year so you should all be excited." The teacher continued to talk for a few more minutes about being excited for the new year and being that much older and learning so much and being nice to each other… Nina noticed some of the other kids in the class rolling their eyes. While she knew that was rather rude, she couldn't help but agree with them in her heart of hearts. They were all 12 years old. They weren't idiots; they knew how to behave in a classroom.
But then the teacher said something that immediately caught Nina's attention.
"This year we are also pleased to have a special addition to our class, Zhou. He's from Xing," she said, giving the class a look that Nina wasn't quite sure how to interpret. "Come on up, Zhou."
Her pronunciation wasn't bad Nina supposed. But it was far from correct. She straightened anyways, straightening her neck to look at the Xingese boy. He was her age, with the typical black hair and dark eyes. He was pretty skinny and moved slowly and awkwardly up to the front of the class.
"Zhou speaks very little Amestrian, but that shouldn't stop you from trying to be his friend. Zhou, will you say hello to the class?"
"Hello," he said. His voice was soft and accented. Some of the class tittered and the other half of the class hit the half that had tittered. The boy still turned red though.
"Class," Ms. Brown said sharply and the tittering all died down immediately. "Zhou, go back to your seat."
He did so, as he walked, looking around the class. When he locked eyes with Nina she gave him the widest grin she possibly could. He stared back as if afraid she was going to eat him.
Which wasn't that far from the truth to be perfectly honest. The very moment break was declared and everyone allowed to run around outside for a few minutes to work off pent up energy, Nina practically tackled the Xingese boy.
"So what Providence are you from," she asked in flawless Xingese, running up beside him as he made his way towards the corner of the grounds.
The poor boy jumped and then looked at her like she was an alien from another planet that had just asked him what Providence he was from.
"… I… excuse me?"
"What Providence are you from? Ms. Brown only said that you were from Xing, and she probably wouldn't be able to understand the structure with the clans anyways. Most people just can't wrap her head around the idea of a society so structured on ancestry and familial relations, which is really all the clans are. It goes back a long time, but eventually everyone in the same clan is related, don't you think? The clans used to be small families until they grew into tribes and then were converted to clans. But every time I try to explain that to my other teachers they never get it so I don't think I'll even try this year."
"… Excuse me?"
Nina giggled. "Oh come on, I'm speaking plain Xingese. If I was speaking Amestrian I wouldn't blame you for being so confused, but… oh… you didn't come from one of the south eastern clans did you? Oh you probably speak that one dialect don't you? Oh, I'm so sorry. My name is Nina," she finished, slowly.
"What? No, I'm from the Yu clan. It's located in the heart of Xing I am just… very confused. How… how do you know Xingese?"
"Well I was only raised there," she said with a smile. "You would learn a language pretty well if it was your home from the time you were three to ten. We also speak it pretty frequently in my home. It's hard for us to stay in one language to be honest! Dad's been speaking it for so long it's as if he grew up with both of them, and of course my siblings and I did grow up with it… It's really funny when someone visits and we'll accidently slip into another language. Liwu and I are pretty good at not doing that though. Emily's the worst. She's young enough that it's hard to differentiate sometimes and a lot of the time we won't even realize she's changed languages cause we'll just start speaking whatever she is…"
"I.."
"I'm sorry, am I talking too much? People tell me I'm a bit overwhelming, I'm sorry. So your name's Zhou?"
"Uh… yes. My name is Zhou Yu."
"Oh, so you're related to the clan leaders?"
"I am the son of the third son. My grandfather was a clan leader."
"That's cool. I'm the daughter of the daughter of the first daughter."
He mouthed the words to himself, as if trying to make sense of a foreign language. "Wait… daughter of the daughter of the first daughter… you mean you're the daughter of a princess?"
"Princess Mei Chang," Nina responded, nodding. "It's really not that big of a thing… Oh no please! You don't have to bow!"
"But… I am standing before the Emperor's granddaughter."
"If it makes you feel better about it, I'm adopted, so I'm not really the daughter of the daughter of the first daughter, or granddaughter of the Emperor. I don't even know who my biological parents are. But I consider my adoptive parents my parents through and through. Not the great granddaughter of the Morning Star, though."
He straightened hesitantly. "So why did you come here to Amestris? Either way if you were worried about being the only Xingese person here, my brother's Xingese so you not only know someone who speaks Xingese, but someone who actually is Xingese! I bet we'll all become really close friends. Liwu's always loved Xing more than Amestris, even though he likes it here a lot more than he thought he would. So he'll love talking to you! And I've never visited the Yu clan, so I'll want to hear as much about that as I can!"
"… Uh-huh…"
She grinned widely at him.
"Don't you just think we're going to be the best of friends? You never answered my question."
"Uh… I… my father decided that he didn't want to wait for my two elder Uncles to die and pursue a career here in Amestris. He's interested in starting a business."
"Well that's really cool! So you're planning on moving here for good for good instead of just visiting or only living here for a year or so?"
"Well… yes, that's the plan."
"That's great," she said, grinning widely. "It'll be nice to have a friend here at school who understands Xing. I've always felt sort of left out because everyone I know here has only ever lived in Amestris and they don't know anything else. Most of them have never even lived outside of Central. It was a real shock coming here from Xing. I wish I had had a friend to help me adjust when I came here."
"What do you mean you feel left out?" he asked, frowning. "You have so many friends."
"Oh, well. I have friends. And they're great friends! But they don't really understand what it was like for me, growing up. Only Liwu really does. And while you obviously can understand completely because different houses, different parents and all, you know what it's like in Xing… Have you ever gone to the Capitol?"
"I've been there a few times." He still looked overwhelmed, but seemed to be getting the hang of talking to her. "One for a New Year's Celebration and once for the Prince's birthday…" He paused. "You would be cousins with the Princes wouldn't you? Your Uncle is the Emperor!"
"Yeah… Uncle Ling's really funny actually. You'd think he'd be all serious and somber and scary but he's actually really funny and weird. Unless you get him mad. Then he's scary. Kinda like Aunt Lan Fan. Though she's not really funny. But she can be really nice. Except when you get her mad. Then she's a lot scarier than Uncle Ling. And Jun-li's really nice, but he's not really social. He doesn't like people or parties. But Fu is really good at talking to people. And Quyi is a jerk."
"… Prince Quyi is a jerk?"
She frowned. "Well… okay so he's not a jerk. But he's a jerk to me. He's best friends with my brother and didn't like playing with me as well. He's gotten better at not being a jerk but he mostly ignores me for Liwu."
"Oh…"
A bell rang and Nina looked around before grabbing onto the Xingese boy's hand. "Come on, class is about to start again," she told him, dragging him towards the schoolhouse. "And then after school we can walk home together and you can meet Liwu and Nina!"
Mei Chang had grown up in a world where there was no real… stopping. There was very little peace, very little boredom (aside from her pregnancy with Emily which was close to pure torture), and never a chance to let down her guard. Even since she was able to understand what people were telling her she was told that she must always, always, always be on her guard. She would always have to be prepared for the chance of an assassination attempt. She would always have to be learning one more thing that would help her get the throne. She would always have to be practicing alkahestry to make sure that she would be safe.
Once she came back from Amestris she had to worry about assassination attempts even more because she named heir to the throne. Then she was working on the railroads and dealing with politics. Then she was absorbed with being with Al and traveling around the East and then helping him recover and then getting married and more politics and then children. She continued to work on various projects while rearing children, but they would take the backburner to making sure he children because respectable human beings in society.
And now her youngest, Emily, was as school and she suddenly found herself with more time than she knew what to do with anymore.
She could work on this project but… or that one but… of course then she should probably work on that.
So because she couldn't figure out which project to work on she didn't end up working on anything.
Then the door opened. Mei blushed slightly, thinking that it was Liwu and Nina coming home and they would discover that their mother had completed essentially nothing while they had been at school and what sort of example was that just sitting about—
"Mei?"
"Al?" she asked, getting off the couch and walking around the corner of the hall to discover her husband standing there. "What are you doing here?"
"We finished early because it's Prime Minister Bryan's anniversary with his wife, and he told us to take our wives out on a date."
"What?"
"He told us to take our wives out on a date. Do you want to go out for lunch? Or maybe we could go dancing? I know we could find a place somewhere here in Central… what?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her wide grin.
"Nothing."
"No, what is it?"
"I just… I love you. Let's go out to lunch. The kids won't be home for another hour or so."
"Okay, let's go. And maybe we'll even get dessert," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"You rebellious man, you. Dessert! Perish the thought."
He grinned and pulled her out the door.
"And he completely believed me when I told him that I only ate fish on the full moon."
Al laughed out loud and Mei chuckled along with him at the memory. "He's going to be convinced the Xingese are odd, Mei."
"Odd? We're odd? You're odd!"
"How could you say that? I'm practically a full blooded Xingeseman by now. I am a citizen after all. I've lived there long enough."
"You'll be a full blooded Xingeseman when Ed lets Sara dress in some of Winry's old outfits and do cartwheels in the middle of Central Command."
Al roared with laughed and Mei grinned. There had been quite a row at the Elric house a few months ago when Ed had found out that Sara had not only been dating a boy secretly for the past eight months and that Winry knew… but that the boy has proposed to her.
And she had said yes.
Then the door opened and their children walked in.
"Dad. What are you doing home?" Liwu asked, blinking.
"My meeting finished earlier. I just finished taking your mother out on a date."
"A date? But you're both old," Nina said, her nose wrinkling. Al raised an eyebrow.
"We're too old to date?"
"Yeah."
"Oh. Well are we too old to do this?" he asked, before pulling Mie towards him and kissing her, wrapping his arms around her waist while she did the same for his neck.
Nina started making gagging noises and Liwu turned slightly red.
Emily's reaction was by far both Al and Mei's favorite though. A high pitched squeal of "EWWWWW!"
Zhou = hit by a steam roller of words and energy known as Nina Elric
Emily = freaked out by her parents kissing
Al and Mei = cutest couple ever
So I went to Prom yesterday (it was at a museum. Which was awesome. And I went Stag so I didn't have to bother sticking with a date the whole time) and I went with a group that left at 4 for dinner and then making it down to the museum and then I didn't get home till 12. And On Friday I went to the play that a friend of the family was in (fanciest, highest quality middle school play I've ever been to) and my brother had a party at my house that didn't end till 1:00 on Friday night and I went to my Grandma's tonight. Busy weekend, right? Yeah, pretty busy but nothing I can't handle... until my teachers decide to assign all of my homework for this weekend. Chem lab, huge APUSH packet, 5 essays that he told us we would only have to have ready by Tuesday when NOPE. Monday. SDFGHJKJHGFDFHJLKJHGFDGFHKJLKJGFDDFJKM. *deep breaths, deep breath. Buddah pose*
Ya'll are lucky I love you and decided to update this even though I probably shouldn't have.
And well, I really wanted to write this chapter. I love writing overenthusiastic Nina.
Anyways, please review!
