A/N: This round of exams are done. Next round's from end of October so there'll be another break from updates from then till mid-end November. The good news is that we'll be out of Xing by then and back into more familiar canon. Which means I should dust off my FMA episodes too, hehe. Enjoy!

Flame and Fullmetal
Chapter 35 - Grand Tour

Somewhere along the line, they'd forgotten May Chang was a child. After all, children in Amestris didn't get anywhere near firearms (except any unfortunate friends of Elicia Hughes that found themselves needing to be threatened by her father…) and May had been training quite diligently with one under Riza's watch – and that wasn't to mention her alkahestry practice, kunai practice, swords practice and several other things Roy couldn't recall off the top of his head.

They remembered when they became unwilling accomplices to her mischief.

Not that they could really blame her, at the time. Roy found himself going stir-crazy within months and he could only imagine how it was for a child to grow up in the palace, almost constantly under supervision and always training. He'd been lucky in that respect at least. Madame Christmas had allowed quite a bit of freedom growing up – and she was a firm believer in allowing them to get into trouble so they'd learn from the results.

Riza was more patient, if only because she'd spent much of her teenage years closed up in her house as well, with her ailing and alchemically driven father. But she was sympathetic as well, because childhood was really the time to be running wild and learning by doing and when one got older and their bodies began to slow, they could exercise their mind with such books and scrolls. But it wasn't as though May loathed her training. She loved her country, and her family.

Still, the child soul in her wanted some fun and freedom, so when she got up to mischief, someone was always dragged alone.

This time, it just happened to be the two of them, if only because Riza wasn't going to leave Roy all alone in the palace.

It began with another sharpshooting training session. May's attendant was watching carefully, but the rest were watching Roy throwing knives at a target nearby. This was definitely not one of the things he'd be mentioning to the military without going through Fullmetal first (and he was fairly sure, with how Fullmetal spoke of alchemy and the military, that it wouldn't be getting past their little department). But it was interesting. And very useful in a combat setting. If he could get it down pat, of course.

For the moment, he was learning the new skill of throwing knives. And wishing he had signed up for that in the military academy instead of focusing purely on the gun. And alchemy, but the military academy didn't teach alchemy. They just watched you blast your opponents with it when you were outmatched in every other way. Those who passed as State Alchemists would then learn the art of battling with it through experience. And the harshest of those lessons was Ishbal.

They'd seen enough of the military now to visualise what must have occurred, what was buried in the shining medals and ranking stars of Amestris' best, what separated the alchemists like Edward Elric from ones like Zolf J Kimblee. Xing was another matter: new country, with them as guests having seen so little…

Not that their little misadventure gave them a full picture either. But it did give them a bit more, as, first, Roy created a colourful distraction (the fruits of his earlier homework from Fullmetal) while Riza and May slipped out. Then he followed when the others sent him off in their panic.

He found Riza easily enough, and still with Riza was May Chang who'd decided it would be more fun with playmates and co-conspirators (or safer, perhaps). 'This way,' she whispered, leading them up a tree they both struggled with (because they were in no way as agile as a Xingenese warrior, no matter their military training) but survived. Leaping over the wall turned out to be much easier, though Roy found himself stumbling a few steps afterwards before he got the feeling back in his feet.

May Chang skipped straight to an alleyway and a box at the end of it. Roy squinted. There was nothing but the box – but surely something left in a box in a back alley wouldn't reliably stick around.

Except it seemed he was wrong, because May Chang came back out, and this time with an odd looking cat. 'This is Xiao-Mei,' she introduced, sounding more like a child than a bodyguard in training. 'But I'm not allowed to have a pet, so I have to hide her out here.'

She pulled strips of meat from her pocket and offered one to the strange little cat, who made a happy noise and nibbled at it.

'Don't worry,' she added, seeing her companions still looking apprehensive. 'Xiao-Mei will only attack if someone's in trouble.'

'Hmm,' said Riza, but made no move to get closer. Roy offered a gloved finger. Xiao-Mei sniffed at him and went back to her meal.

.

'Xiao-Mei is a panda,' May explained, as they walked through the town. It was very different from the palace: dusty and crowded and cramped while the palace grounds were wide and spacious and oh so yellow and white. The range of people differed too. They dressed differently, and their clothes varied from fresh and new to worn. Like East City, where the rich military mingled with the poorer commonfolk, even if that was a simplistic way of looking at things.

'Panda?' Roy repeated. 'What's a panda?'

May stopped walking and just stared at the two Amestrians. Riza shrugged; she didn't know either. 'You two have never heard of a panda before?' she asked. 'Just where do you live?'

'Amestris,' Riza reminded. 'We have a different animal population there. And plants, for that matter. Xiao-Mei looks like a cat to us.'

May snorted. 'That's a cat.' And she pointed at a skinny four-legged feline fighting an equally skinny child for the half-loaf of bread she threw their way. 'Life in the palace is fine, but outside's pretty much a matter of luck. It kind of sucks, since we're all inter-related and all.'

They understood that much now. The ones who lived in the royal palace were the closest blood relatives to the current emperor, so the clan he hailed from had the highest representation. But all the people of Xing, minus the rare immigrant, were part of one of the original fifty tribes, which meant most families had very little presence in the palace and made their luck outside. And outside was a typical case of the strong and useful surviving and thriving.

'When the current emperor comes closer to death,' May continued, 'each clan will put up their heir for the throne. I'll probably wind up staying in the palace even if my eldest brother loses, but my cousins will be cast out. Or, if my eldest brother marries and has children and they're old by the time the choosing comes, then there'll be no need for me to be a body-guard. I'll make my fortune as a huntress that way.'

She continued on, leading them past the rows of dusty shops and dusty houses, and where only the sand blew and the plains rose into slow-sloping mountains. 'There's a forest there,' she explained, pointing into the distance where they could only make out vague shapes. 'I met Xiao-Mei there. And there are lots of animals. Lots of pandas. Tigers too. Once upon a time, there were dragons, but no hunter's seen one for hundreds of years. And that's where we get most of our meat. The higher you go, the fatter they get. Xiao-Mei is far too small, so she was pretty much in the desert when I found her.'

She didn't go further though. 'Only hunters are allowed in the forest, and only during certain times,' she explained. 'It's to make sure none of the animal species that live there are entirely wiped out, and that all the clans have a fair shot at the best meat. Of course, that means the clans only send out their best.' She smiled a little sadly. 'I've got alkahestry on my side. Not everyone can do it, even if everyone learns to read the dragon's pulse before they know their letters.'

'And you gave me such grief over not getting it immediately,' Roy muttered.

Xiao-Mei and May Chang both pouted at him.

.

They were worried about what May's punishment was going to be, but it sounded like more of a scolding and extra work than anything else. 'If one of my older brothers shirked their duties, they'd get far worse,' she explained to them afterwards. 'It's less important for me to learn because I'm further away from the heirship, see? So my guardians are more lenient on me, as well.'

Though the next time they snuck out together, they found out the older siblings probably had bodyguards following them despite their best escape attempts, because they bumped into a prince from another clan with a black shadow they all felt, rather than spotted.