The Island of Narid

Chapter 14: Entrance Into the City of Bloch

I do not own FMA.

OHMIGOSH. PLEASE OH PLEASE ACCEPT MY ABSOLUTE SINCEREST OF APOLOGIES! I did NOT mean for this story to stall as it had. I was on vacation the weekend I was supposed to update, and since then everything has been chaos. This story actually slipped my mind and when I found it, I found a lot of difficulty in writing it again. So please, as I am warming up with this chapter, don't yell at me or anything. It was very hard to write. -- and it is very short, so I apologize for that too.

What do you want, pie? I have pie!

It was night. An exhausted pair lay against a thick trunk of a tree, their eyes closed. One of them drew a canteen to his lips and supped what was left of it. Beside him a young girl reached with her small, dark hand, and tore off a leaf from its stem. She squeezed it between her lips and chewed on it.

Edward turned to her, "What's that?"

"Nyini." The girl answered, understanding the question if not the words. "Bal'e ni slurl." She tore off another leaf from the large and spidery plant, handing it this time to Ed.

With a moment's hesitation, he, too, put it between his teeth and bit down. It snapped a little before a liquid, sour in taste, ran over his tongue. It wasn't the most delightful sensation, but it did seem to suddenly satiate his hunger and thirst.

"So, what was this?" He pointed to the green-blue leaf partway in his hand; the other half in his mouth.

"Nyini."

"Nyini?"

Hierra smiled and clapped her hands enthusiastically. She shot to her feet and packed some of the leaves into her pockets.

Ed realized that it was the first time he had even attempted a word in her language.

The girl spun around, wrapped her short fingers round a clump of grass and tore it from its roots. She then ran to Ed, beaming a precious smile.

"Larj." She said. When he didn't speak she repeated the word, "Larj."

"Larj."

Hierra giggled and thrust toward his face the water-leaves again. Her cheeks were flushed in excitement.

"Nyini." Ed said, stifling a smile and a small chuckle himself.

In the morning Ed had mastered a total of seven words: grass, the water-leaves, tree, rock, dirt, hair, and eyes. Though it was nice to relax a bit, he felt his mind drift back to a certain girl, one with long, dark hair, rose-colored bangs, and violet eyes.

Hierra evidently was less worried. She skipped around the tree she and Ed had slept against during the night before and she hummed a strange tune that was merry in its make.

"Hierra." Ed said, halting both the girl's song and her movements. She sat next to him.

"Dara?"

"We need to look for Rose again."

"Rawse . . . " Her eyes fell, and immediately she was sombered. "A Sera Chto."

Those two words again. Ed heard her repeat those often. "Hierra, what is Sera Chto?"

"Rawse vie a Sera Chto."

Ed drew up his eyebrows in confusion, still not understanding what she meant. But the girl said nothing more. Standing now, she took hold of Ed's arm and helped pull him to his feet.

Edward sighed, "How much longer do we need to go?" Hierra didn't answer, for he mentioned no word she was familiar with. He began walking for a bit until he realized Hierra was not following. Turning back around he questioned her with his eyes.

The girl's own sight was upon the earth beneath her fidgeting feet. There was a second's pause of uneasiness before Hierra looked up at his face and breathed large and deep. Then she jerked forward, urging into a run, with Edward forced to quicken his pace.

"Hierra?" He asked when he had fallen beside her in pace. The girl said nothing, only kept her eyes staring straight ahead in determined resolution. Ed had no choice but to follow.

The land was beginning to change. After a day of traveling through dense forest, Ed found himself a bit shocked when the sun's light suddenly pierced his back. There were no trees here, no plants. Under his feet, the ground abruptly smoothened to a dark stone, cool despite the sun's ruthless beams.

But what caught him the most unprepared was the small building-like structure before him. Its sides were carved all in the same stone, save for small spheres of blue crystalline, and it was hardly large enough for a man to pass through, width and heighth on all sides. Above the door there were carvings--letters, he thought. Approaching the door, he pointed to them.

"What's that?"

She didn't have to look up to answer. "Vinyesti ka Bloch.

Hierra squeezed herself between Edward and the door and wrapped her hands around the handle. Opening the door only slight way, Hierra poked her head around and peered inside. Swallowing she turned around and nodded to Ed, who followed her inside. When the door was shut, the whole tiny room was darkness. Although if he reached out his arm, he could touch the far wall with his elbow still creased.

Hierra suddenly grabbed his hand. She pulled him to the center of the building and whispered a quiet word. Then the sound of a lever being switched was heard and he felt the floor beneath him begin to shiver.

Looking down, Ed saw the outline of his boots silhouetted by a strange blue light. The light carved a circle in the black and shadowed surroundings. Then, with a slightly sickening feeling, the floor that gave off the blue light sunk in. Slowly downward it brought Edward and Hierra--the whole way wrought in darkness, save for the cyan light they stood upon.

When the floor stopped its descent, Ed heard Hierra slowly open the door. Only faint light spilled in; but compared to inside the walls of the tiny room, it was painfully bright. Squinting his eyes Edward slowly moved his head to look through the small opening and saw a narrow hallway, dark in its depths. Small blue glowing stones were set sparsely upon the wall's sides.

Hierra heaved a great breath then swung the door wide open. She stepped out and waited for Ed to do the same; her eyes constantly darting back and forth. Cautiously, he did so. Behind him Hierra pulled the inside lever and quickly shut the door to the small building with as little noise as she could manage. When she turned, her eyes were upon Ed's own, and her brows creased with obvious worry. It almost seemed as if she would start crying.

Edward returned his gaze to the long hallway and began to walk when Hierra grabbed his arm again and stopped him. She put her small hands over her eyes and repeated the gesture. Ed, perplexed, but knowing better than to just stand there, did the same. What didn't she want him to see?

Hierra's small arm locked around Edward's elbow then she began to lead him. Behind his hands Edward heard Hierra's tiny sniffles--she was crying. Slowly, and hopefully unnoticeably, Edward peeked through his fingers. The walls weren't solid around him. They were barred windows, and looking through them, he saw many people of Hierra and Rose's appearance--some old, some young and frail. Each bore the mark Hierra had branded upon her forehead. And each looked at him in a mixture of hopelessness and sadness that made his heart jutter.

Rose, finally alone in her room, leapt upon her bed and buried her face it its covers. There she lay, weeping. Through her tears she narrowed her eyes and frowned in disgust at her own weakness. But she couldn't cease her crying. And she knew the woman Sloth and her boy were listening outside, laughing at her torture. Frustrated, she slammed her fist down on the bed and enclosed the blanket in her hand. She had resolved to escape this place herself, but how? Those homunculi were always around her, and there was only one door in the room.

She remembered the faces of the townspeople as their eyes looked anywhere but at her. At her approach they all bowed their heads and halted whatever they were doing until she passed. It irked her to a point where she felt like slapping them across the cheek. But she did nothing.

And here she was, trapped in this room, crying.