Chapter 21

Danika peered between the slats of the new goat pen. It had been sturdily built with spare lumber, tree branches, and a lot of optimism. Fortunately, the optimism paid off. Late the night before, Havoc, Dejan, and Sergeant Benjamin returned with a truckload of goats. It created quite a stir, but Scar was so tired he would have slept through a stampede.

Scar lifted the girl up so she could stand on the slats and look over the top, and she let out a soft "ooh!" of wonder as she looked down at the hairy animals milling around in their enclosure. When Scar asked her earlier if she wanted to go see them, Danika was hesitant. Then he told her that Mika had reported that there were some babies, and that settled it.

Danika turned to her mother. "Mama, you wanna come?"

Rada looked at her daughter's hopeful face, and she seemed to shrink a little. When Scar brought Danika home the previous day, Rada didn't ask about any details of the incident at school, as if she'd rather not know. For the rest of that evening, Scar kept Danika engaged in conversation, getting her to open up even more. He asked her about what she had learned in school and discovered that she was paying more attention than either Naisha or Vesya thought she was. He dug deep into his childhood memories to tell her stories that his mother had told him when he was her age. Her blue eyes grew wide and so did her smile, completely captivating Scar by displaying a pair of dimples. She certainly didn't inherit those from the Crimson Alchemist. All this time, Rada watched with increasing wonder as her little girl seemed to blossom in front of her. At one point, Scar turned to find her wondering gaze directed at him, and for fleeting moment, he thought he caught a light in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a very long time. But it didn't stand the test.

"M-maybe tomorrow," she told Danika after several moments of hesitation. Scar was tempted to tell her that he would hold her to that, but he decided not to push it. At least not yet.

On their way across the headquarters compound, Danika walked with her head up, or at least a little higher than when she would trail after Mika. Scar, after all, cast a broader, safer shadow. Although he was touched by the eagerness with which she ran to catch up with him, he patiently slowed his customary stride to match the little girl's pace. After all, the closer she got to him, the farther away she got from Kimblee.

The enclosure had been built about five feet high to prevent the goats from being able to jump or climb over it, which Zulema warned they might do. They had panicked at first, but tubs of fresh water and a couple of salt licks were already set up in the pen. Once some alfalfa was tossed in, they settled down as if the whole thing had been their idea. The old woman squinted critically between the slats at the goats. She pointed to one of them.

"That one's limping!" She turned an accusing look at Dejan. "What did you do to her?"

"That one's limping?" Dejan shot back. "When you were handing out your expert advice, baata-Zulee, you should have mentioned that these damn things' heads are at groin level!" He shifted onto his left foot to take the pressure off his sore right hip, sucking in air through his teeth. "I'm gonna make a new bagpipe out of that animal's ratty hide! Damn thing butted me right in the nethers and into a prickly pear."

Danika gave him a curious glance out of the corner of her eye. "What's nethers?" she asked.

Scar was hastily trying to figure out how to field that question, but Dejan tousled the little girl's hair. "That just means Uncle Dejan sat on a cactus. Don't give it another thought, little blackbird."

Danika's brows furrowed thoughtfully as she took in the new nickname, then she gave a little nod and turned her attention back to the goats.

"Oh! Speaking of birds!" Dejan brightened and looked at Scar. "While we were out there, we saw a silver hawk!"

Even Zulema raised her head with renewed interest. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! It stooped down and snatched up a rabbit that Havoc was just about to pop with Benji's pistol. Flew right off with it."

"That could mean it has young to feed," Scar remarked.

"What's a silver hawk?" Danika asked.

"Ah, they're beautiful creatures!" Dejan told her. "They live on the cliffs in the eastern mountains, and you used to see them flying over Ishval. They don't go much further west, so they're special to us, you might say. But they're shy, and the war scared them off. It's the first one I've seen since I was a kid." He grinned. "Seems like a good omen to me."

"From your mouth to God's ears," Scar replied.

Miles walked up to the enclosure and leaned his forearms on it. Beside him was Sergeant Benjamin, whom Scar recognized as one of the sentries he'd met the night he found the Halik. The sergeant nodded to Dejan.

"Getting around a little easier?" he asked.

"I'll live," Dejan replied wryly. "I just hope I can still father children and they don't end up looking like goats."

"Where did the hay come from?" Scar asked quickly as Danika was opening her mouth to ask what might have been a tough question to answer. "Did the government loosen its purse strings?"

"No, it was donated," Miles replied with a slight grin. "Before they left, Sergeant Benjamin radioed Resembool and talked to his father about sending some feed, saying he'd try to pay him back for it. Seems that word got around and a couple of benefactors said they'd cover it until the Ishvalans were able to take care of it themselves."

"Yeah, I thought that was damn generous of those two boys," Benjamin said.

Scar looked quickly at him. "What two boys?"

"The Elric brothers," Benjamin replied. "These two kids that grew up near my folks' farm." He grinned and shook his head. "I remember them when they were just little squirts. I don't remember their old man much, but it turns out he left them a fair wad of money when he died."

After a moment, Scar asked carefully, "Did you speak to them?"

"No," Benjamin replied. "But my dad passed on something Edward said. Something about throwing an Amestrian pebble into the sea of Ishval, whatever that means."

Scar nodded with a very faint smile. He supposed he should not have been surprised. It must have been as much a gesture of defiant pride as generosity on Fullmetal's part. Scar spent only a brief time with Hohenheim, but he could see that Edward accepted his father's help about as graciously as he accepted his. The boy was unlikely to spend his inheritance on a life of leisure.

"How are they doing?"

"My dad said they're doing pretty well. They're staying at the Rockbell place. He said Alphonse looks a little underfed, but Miss Pinako and Miss Winry are taking care of that." Benjamin gave Scar a curious look. "Do you know them?"

"We met."

"You weren't mentioned, by the way," Miles said. "By either of your names."

"Uh, yeah," Benjamin added. "I kind of figured you didn't want any…publicity."

Scar glanced at him and met a pair of honest, shrewd green eyes. "I appreciate that, Sergeant," he said.

A few other people had gathered to inspect the new arrivals, among them Saahad Bozidar. He smiled at Danika.

"It's good to see you out and about, little one," he said.

Danika gave him a shy look and Scar whispered into her ear. "Thank you, Saahad Bozidar," she replied softly.

"What do you think about the goats?" Saahad Bozidar asked.

Danika considered the animals for a moment. "They're all hairy," she observed.

"Yes, they are, aren't they?" Saahad Bozidar looked over at Zulema, whose forehead was visible over the top slat of the pen. "You may have raised some of these very goats, baata-Zulema," he said.

Zulema craned her neck to look across the top slat at the old priest. "It's hard to say. They would have been kids then." She made a disapproving tsk-ing sound. "They're in a dreadful state, but at least their undercoats haven't grown in yet."

"When do you shear them?" Benjamin asked.

Zulema eyed him critically. "We don't. They have sensitive skin and the guard hairs protect them from the sun. We comb the undercoat when they begin to shed in the spring. That was my family's trade. We combed, carded, and spun, then the yarn was sold to the weavers. Your family, young Attar," she said to Miles.

"Have any others from your trade come back?" Miles asked her. "Anyone else from your family?"

The old woman shrugged. "One or two, I think." She paused, then added quietly, "From my family...no one."

Danika gave a little gasp and pointed into the pen. "There's babies!" she breathed.

Two goat kids trotted alongside their mother, keeping tightly inside her shadow. Saahad Bozidar touched Scar's arm. "I would like to speak to you for a moment."

Scar sighed quietly. He knew what this would be about. "Dejan, will you stay with her for a few minutes?"

"Absolutely!" Dejan moved closer to Danika and put his arm around her. She accepted this arrangement quietly. "I'll tell her all about the Great Goat Roundup of 1915."

Without too many sordid details, Scar hoped as he followed his old master.

They walked out of earshot from the pen and Bozidar turned to regard his former pupil sternly.

"It's in one ear and out the other with you, isn't it?"

"Saahad?"

The old priest shook his head. "Don't 'Saahad' me. If Stanno can't take the moral high ground, then you must."

Scar's brows furrowed. "Why should I have to make up for his deficiencies?"

"Because that's what I taught you."

"He's a yaakhtai!"

Bozidar raised a startled, disapproving eyebrow. "You certainly have embraced the secular life."

Scar let out an exasperated breath. "I'm sorry."

"Stanno is a bitterly unhappy man."

"Then he only has himself to blame."

"Perhaps. The war drove many to acts of desperation, of which you are aware, my son." Saahad Bozidar spoke quietly and without reproach. "Stanno told me what happened between him and Rada."

"He—" Scar stared at his old master. "What did he tell you?"

The old priest shrugged. "His version." He raised his hand as Scar was about to speak. "I counseled him against anger as best I could and told him to speak no more of it to anyone. I want no more confrontations between the two of you." He lifted his hands in exasperation. "Aside from being too old to punish, you're too big!"

Scar managed a half smile. He took the old priest's hand and touched it to his forehead. "Forgive me, Saahad. I swear to you, I'll keep my temper."

Bozidar nodded and gave Scar a long, thoughtful look. "When emotions run high, there are always two sides to a story."

As his master walked away, Scar's smile faded. He lifted his hands and gazed at them for a moment. Brother, I may have to truly put this gift you've burdened me with to the test.

Laughter came from the direction of the goat pen and Scar looked up, realizing that he'd nearly forgotten about Danika. She seemed comfortable with Dejan, but Scar didn't want her to become too anxious and he headed back.

"…and if Havoc hadn't found those needle nose pliers in the truck, I told him he'd have had to pull the spines out with his teeth!" Dejan was telling Miles. "He said there wasn't enough beer or money in the world. Ah, there you are!" he said as Scar came up beside Danika, who seemed amused but wasn't quite sure what they were laughing about. Dejan grasped the tip of her chin and turned her face toward Scar as she giggled. "Look at those dimples! Who knew?"

Scar smiled. For a few moments, at least, the dark thoughts that were plaguing him vanished and he swung the little girl into his arms. "I knew."