A/N: Sorry, just realized now that I had made a note last chapter (a (1) in a sentence), but didn't actually create the note at the end to explain it. So, the note is now there, and was regarding Carbuncle jumping on Veld (the Restrictor) and Verdot's heads. If you want to go back and read the note at the end of the chapter, feel free.

Ties of Energy

After Ishbala's return to the dome (and to whatever else he'd been doing), Ed suddenly blinked and asked no one in particular, "So even though there were some deaths, how many were there? On both sides? Because it didn't feel like there were a lot—I'd have noticed that."

"Um, that's sort of because I was healing and reviving people I could..." Al commented with a wry chuckle, running to Ed to hug him. "Not everyone. But I guess because I was there, they didn't count as 'dead' yet?"

"Okay, that's the Ishbalans—what about the Amestrians?" Ed blinked.

It was Hohenheim who said, "Actually, it looked like Al—i was healing everyone, regardless of their uniform. However, by the terms of the arrays the alchemists here were using, they expected a mass surge of energy...And by the time we had returned to the front here after activating it, people were bringing word that many Amestrian soldiers had simply dissolved off the battlefield in similar lights to the ones an Amestrian soldier apparently once produced here."

Ed blinked, then snorted as he commented, "Ishbala planned a cleansing for the first moment he could activate it. That's fantastic timing, too." At least that answered the question of who had been the sixteenth alchemist—his birth father. The boy eyed the still-angry Priests for a moment as he assessed the cleansing terms, then made his way over to stand in front of them, making them blink and frown warily. "A cleansing," he began in a tone which would carry to the corners of the room, "Automatically dissolves people who are beyond redemption to benign planetary energy—to Ishbala's energy. Maybe you don't realize what it means that you're still standing here."

They blinked at him, then began trading looks, until finally, the one who was right in front of Ed asked, "And what does that mean, Little Avatar?"

"It means, even though you've made some mistakes, you aren't bad people," he told them plainly. "Making mistakes and being corrupt are two different things. You've actually done your best to be Priests, even if you shouldn't have been Priests in the first place. That also means you haven't been forsaken—you wouldn't be standing here right now if you had. You can make the choice now to accept Ishbala's changes or to try to hold on to what you're familiar with, and he already told you what would happen if you didn't accept them. Do you know what will happen if you do?"

"Other than losing our livelihoods, you mean?" one of the other Priests asked bitterly.

"You wouldn't, though," the boy informed them, and their brows furrowed in confusion. In response to their expressions, Ed clarified, "You won't have this job, but this also isn't the only job you were ever able to do." He then smiled as he added, "You'll still have a livelihood, and it'll be one you enjoy once you get used to the change. Even if it's unfamiliar to you and you have to learn it from scratch, I'm sure the former Priests everyone knows will be welcomed into their new positions when a large part of the population will be job-hopping, too. All jobs in a society are valuable. You still preach that. Now, you can practice it, too, which will give your people the courage to follow suit. You can still do something good for your people, something they'll never forget and always appreciate. That's not such a bad deal, is it?"

By then, everyone was staring at him in amazement, even Hohenheim, but most of the Priests he'd been talking with collectively sighed and relaxed. The one in front of him asked in amusement, "Lead by example, you mean, Little Avatar?"

"Hey, I did. I hate titles and being put on a pedestal, but—there are good things about being known as an Avatar, too. I just really wish you would all call me Jed anyway," the boy replied in amusement.

The Priest huffed a laugh at the words and replied, "Unless, of course, we're intending to refer to you as the Avatar, which it is now more than clear you are. I had intended that meaning just now, because you are speaking in his stead, things which are logical and difficult to dismiss. I daresay we all have much to think about now, knowing what you've said about the cleansing and clearing up what our fates will be."

Ed nodded and faced the High Priest, saying, "Maybe give the Priests a few days to adapt before you offer them the Artifacts?"

"That is reasonable under the circumstances," the High Priest agreed, his smile gentle as he looked at the boy. "I had intended to wait a few days for us to clean up after the battle to begin, other than those who choose to come to me of their own accord. If they present themselves personally, the test is theirs. I believe, for them, the process will be easier."

"Probably," Ed agreed—then suddenly yawned, producing chuckles from around the room. "Okay, looks like that's it for me today," he sighed.

Rashad stepped forward and lifted him to hold him close as he said, "Then we'll get you home so you can rest." Ed was already drifting into sleep as the man carried him out of the Temple, followed closely by Shiro. Until right then, he hadn't realized how bloody tired he was, either.

In his exhaustion, he also didn't notice Hohenheim follow Shiro or see his mother join the man not far from Ed's home with Rashad—the women and children had been let out from their shelters as soon as the battle had ended. The boy was asleep before they got home.

FoWD-HC

Shiro was many things, ranging from deceptive to kind, and even to irritating, all by his personal choice to be such. What he was not was a fool, even though he could play the part if he needed to for some reason. Which was not right then, and did not make him an actual fool, regardless.

It didn't take him long to realize the man and woman following Rashad, Ed, and him back to the Warrior-Priest's home had ties to the boy, and by extension, they were likely his parents by birth. Knowing the situation as he did, he found it unlikely Ed was ready for whatever was coming, but Rashad may not mind having them there—to let them into the home was the Ishbalan's decision. However, to let them near Ed when he was unconscious was his, and until Ed woke, he wasn't going to let them disrupt him. In theory, if it had just been his mother, it would likely have been fine, but the boy had been very clear that Hohenheim's energy was abrasive to him.

By the time they reached the door to the home, he was sure Rashad also knew the two were there, and the thought was affirmed as the darker man turned to look at the couple for a moment before opening the door. Shiro's brow rose slightly as the Warrior-Priest left the door open after Shiro stepped inside it, then waved a hand to indicate the living room before heading down the hall with Ed. However, it did tell Shiro what he wanted to know—Rashad didn't want them near the boy just then, either—so when Hohenheim tried to follow them, Shiro blocked the hall.

"He's our son," Hohenheim pointed out with a furrowed brow.

"And your energy is abrasive to him, which will not help him sleep," the Japanese man replied in a flat tone. "That you have even been allowed into this home as a stranger to its owner—Warrior-Priest Rashad—is more than my people would have given you just now. Please sit down in the living room, as Rashad bade you."

The woman took the blond man's arm and said quietly, "Let's just sit for now, and see what happens when we talk with the Warrior-Priest, please? It would be easier than making him—them—angry with us." Shiro was thankful the woman had sense. Then again, they usually did.

After a short pause, the man sighed and let her pull him over to one couch (though it wasn't strictly like an Amestrian couch, it was obvious enough what its purpose was), where she sat, leaving him space to sit beside her. As he was settling, Rashad rejoined them, so Shiro moved to let him pass. Usually, once the Ishbalan had sat across from his visitors, Shiro would have also joined them, but in that case, he felt like he wanted to stay standing at the corner, so just leaned against the edge of the wall.

"So, Von Hohenheim and Trisha Elric, yes?" Rashad asked quietly, voice calm but gaze intense.

"Yes," Trisha agreed with a startled blink—though Shiro's brow quirked as he noticed her apparently staring at the Ishbalan. "Sorry, but other than Hohenheim apparently somehow being 'abrasive' to Ed, is there another reason you won't let us—either of us—sit with him?"

For a long moment, Rashad just gazed back at her—and that was when Shiro noticed the Ishbalan was staring at her, too. Apparently, Hohenheim also noticed, and his gaze traveled between the two several times in something like wary confusion.

Finally, the Ishbalan said, "Maybe you don't realize this, but there are some things around him—energies, mostly—which cause reactions from him. Some of those are a comfort zone because of people who have specific ancestral blood, but others are caused by other kinds of energies. You have that 'ancestral blood', which always triggers a response in him every time he meets a new person with that blood, and because I'm supposed to be the only one around him with it just now, he'd wake to see who it was."

There was a short pause as Rashad sighed faintly, then said, "As much as that would have typically been a positive reaction in general, he's had a rough time of things since just before the attack, and I don't want to wake him with it. However, in Hohenheim's case, the reaction is very negative."

"Ed's still holding it against him that he left us for awhile—he saw it as Hohenheim abandoning us," she offered readily.

"For a typical child, that would even be true," Rashad agreed in a way. "But no, he's actually not really holding that anymore. I'm sure you know your husband isn't an ordinary man, but I'm also sure he hasn't told you the whole of what makes him different from others, has he?"

She blinked and looked up at an alarmed-looking Hohenheim for a moment before asking the Ishbalan, "Does it matter?"

"It matters when it's the very thing which makes him different which also makes his presence abrasive to Ed," Rashad answered, turning his gaze to the blond man. Shiro noted how the expression was actually sad and kind—an expression which caused the man to freeze as he was about to say something. "He told me about what happened to you and Xerxes, and about exactly why that energy is so abrasive. If you're willing to share with your wife—both Shiro and I already know—I can explain that to you?"

"I know it's negative energy," Hohenheim sighed sadly, looking down and away.

"Now, if that was true, you couldn't be a good man at all," Rashad replied dryly.

Hohenheim's gaze returned to him in surprise, then turned to Trisha for a long moment before he sighed faintly and asked her, "You've always known I was older than I looked, but not how much. Weren't you ever curious about that?"

"Of course I was, but it really didn't matter that much to me, so if you weren't ready to share it, I didn't feel a need to push for it," she answered with a small smile. "Now, it sounds like it's actually important, and I'd rather hear it from you than from someone else, even if you're sitting here, too."

His eyes closed as he sighed, that time more heavily, then he gave a nod and opened his eyes again to look at her. "Back before Xerxes was destroyed, I'd been a slave in a prominent noble's household..." he began, and while her eyes widened in surprise, she gave his arm a squeeze, encouraging him to go on. He told her the whole story about the being in the jar, the King, and the array—the same one they were trying to stop—and how he'd become the form nominally known as the Philosopher's Stone. Shiro noted both how it was the same story Ed had told through Carbuncle (where had it disappeared to, anyway, and when, for that matter?), and how it was now being told with more details.

When he finished, Trisha blinked twice, then asked, "Is that why it took you so long to warm up to me? Because you didn't think you were human anymore?"

"I'm not, though," the blond man answered her, looking quite depressed.

"Yes, you are, otherwise you couldn't have actually gotten a woman pregnant because your living, human, bodily functions would have stopped working," Rashad cut in, sounding amused. Both of the Amestrians looked at him in questioning surprise, so he went on, "It isn't as though your body actually changed—it just got a whole bunch of extra soul energy shoved into it. That soul energy is what's repairing your body so you just keep living, but you never died or became something other than human. The problem with it is how it was done by force, with an energy not planetary energy."

Hohenheim's brow furrowed in confusion as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"You recall Ed pointing out our souls are held in our bodies by arrays, right?" Rashad asked in reply.

"Yes. Your Ishbala also affirmed that, and when I think on it, that actually wouldn't surprise me overly much," the blond man agreed.

The Ishbalan nodded and informed him, "Souls originate with a 'source' energy which is ultimately a much larger energy cycle, usually on either a universal or planetary level. I gather most races' soul sources are on the planetary level, so the energy of the planet itself breaks off from the whole in small portions which then affix to our bodies. The energy of those souls is an independent energy until the person dies and the soul is released to return to the whole. When the thing in the jar used the souls of the people of Xerxes to make you into a Stone, it also forcibly seized multitudes of bits of independent energy and compressed them into one small space—you.

"Most of those people had no idea what had happened to them, but they were still whole and independent souls—apparently also all still aware?" Rashad paused to raise a questioning brow at the blond, who nodded, then the Ishbalan went on, "It's exactly because they're still aware, are still those independent souls, which makes them abrasive—making a Stone that way is intrinsically an act of cruelty to those people. The people are good people, but what was done to them is equivalent to torture, and the torture of people—souls or otherwise—creates an intrinsically abrasive energy."

"But he didn't have an issue with me until after I'd returned..." Hohenheim pointed out, still somewhat confused.

"But Trisha noticed the abrasiveness, too," Rashad smirked faintly. "And effectively pushed herself on you so she could ease it."

The older man blinked, as did Shiro (this was new data for him, too), then turned to stare at Trisha, who had turned very red and commented, "I'm not sure I knew there was an abrasive energy I wanted to soothe by those terms, but I know I just really wanted to be around him..."

Shiro had to huff a faint chuckle at that as Rashad smiled and replied, "That comes down to your ancestral blood." He then looked at the blond man again and asked, "Hohenheim, in your memory of Xerxes, do you remember trading with a group of people who had largely uniform brown hair and uniform green eyes?"

"...Yes..." the man blinked, dragging the word out. "I believe they called themselves the Cetra, and eventually settled in the Eastern area of Amestris."

"Yes," Rashad agreed. "Trisha is a descendant of their people, which also means Ed and Al have that same blood—hence why Ed could even be sent to Gaia, which was Minerva's world before now. On her world, the energy was exceptionally dense and people who didn't have Cetra blood stood a high likelihood of dying. What we are to Ishbala, the Cetra are to Minerva, and she even interacts with them like Ishbala does us, assuming they aren't just shutting her out. In some ways, the Cetra are even closer to her than we Ishbalans are to Ishbala. Ironically enough, apparently Minerva and Ishbala are nearly identical types of planetary sentiences, and both intrinsically aim for healing and peace."

Hohenheim's eyes widened as Trisha asked curiously, "Is that why I never liked it when people fought and tried to diffuse it when one started?"

"That's probably part of it, but some normal people do that, too," Rashad smiled. "But this is more about your energy than your behaviors. Cetra energy tries to heal others—people, animals, the planet—by nature, just by being there. Ed also told me he used to think 'Healers' of the Cetra meant things like growing plants or more traditional healing, but now that he's met one of their 'Energy Healers', he thinks that's what you may be. Unfortunately, you're not trained, but even without that training, by your very nature, you want to heal the energies around you of harmful emotions and influences."

"...So I was so attracted to Hohenheim because I could somehow sense the tortured souls and was instinctively trying to fix that?" she blinked in surprise. Shiro wondered if he would just leave it there, since it theoretically would have been true.

"At first, yes," the Ishbalan man agreed. "I sincerely doubt you would have willingly had two children with a man you hadn't formally married unless your bond ran deeper than that and you truly care about him. After all, by Amestrian standards, that would have made you a 'whore', whereas we take you as a married couple by virtue of having children together and not looking elsewhere."

A long, startled silence followed the words, until Trisha slowly nodded, then asked, "So is Ed also an Energy Healer, or is he a normal Healer because that same energy is abrasive to him?"

Actually, Shiro was curious about that point, too, especially when he saw Rashad turn highly amused.

"Neither, actually," the Ishbalan answered, still sounding amused. "The Cetra fall under three categories—Healers, all sorts, Sentinels, who protect the Healers, and an exceptionally rare skillset called Terraformers. By his blood and genetics, Ed is a Sentinel—a protector—and neither they nor Terraformers actually react that way to such energy unless a Terraformer finds some bound to a space of land. However, when Ed got set into the cycle of returning to age sixteen in each new dimension on Gaia, some of the people who tortured him ended up doing him the favor of replacing his blood with raw planetary energy. The result effectively made him all three categories of Cetra.

"When he got dropped back here—when he was sick last year—Truth made sure his younger body's blood was replaced with raw planetary energy again—but both Ishbala's and Minerva's this time. By having his blood replaced with raw planetary energy in liquid form, those aren't independent souls and the energy isn't the result of torture—it's completely benign. It's the benign planetary energy in his body which finds the tortured energy of the souls abrasive by nature. The Cetra blood bond is otherwise what he would react to, and apparently both Roy and Riza also have it (1), so I wouldn't let them close to him right now, either."

The words were actually as surprising to Shiro as they were to the two Ishbalans, though to him, the entire discussion was interesting. Even though he'd known some of the data—a fair bit of it—the way Rashad was presenting it was intriguing, and the new details answered a great many questions.

His thoughts were interrupted by Hohenheim suddenly asking, "Maybe this is somewhat off-topic, but if he's shared so much with you, has he shared what the 'Turks' are? He seems to trust them, but if they aren't an existing skillset of your people..."

"I suppose your closest equivalent would be spies or the Military's Intelligence Division," Rashad offered, making all three of the others' eyes widen in surprise. "But despite some of their morals being questionable, Ed describes them as people who are so honorable that they'll suffer in others' places if it means those 'others' will be free and unharmed thereafter. With their current leadership, like the one he calls Lady Shinra, that's even more true than it had been, and she's been very accepting of Ed's eccentricities—she was even the one who finally made sure most of the torture and experimentation damage he'd suffered could be fixed. Since she's the actual leader of the Turks—and of all their people now—and she prefers to make peace than war..."

"The world needs more strong women," Trisha smiled.

Shiro blinked in surprise as Rashad's brow furrowed and he asked, "Do you think you're not strong, Trisha?"

"I'm not, though," she replied evenly and without any bad feeling, though it was interesting to note that Hohenheim apparently seemed surprised by the response. "I'm a housewife. I don't work, and don't especially want to, in order to bring in money, and I absolutely am not a warrior of any sort."

"But neither of the things you don't want to do define your strength or lack thereof," Hohenheim pointed out, gaze somewhat worried as he looked at her.

"Don't they?" the woman blinked in surprise.

"Trisha, how well has Hohenheim been handling all of the strange things Ed does?" Rashad asked her, sitting back with his hands not-quite-clenched on his thighs.

She blinked in surprise and commented, "Well, that's a bit hard to judge when it's not like it has a scale, but overall...I think not all that well?"

"And how are you handling those same things, or ones he doesn't even know about—for example, he told me about how he made his desk 'grow'?" the Ishbalan asked her.

Once again, she blinked, then asked, "Was I supposed to be 'handling' that somehow? I mean...They're my children, both Ed and Al, and—" She then just stopped talking for a long moment, blinked again and looked at Hohenheim for a long moment, then turned back to Rashad and said, "I just accepted it, other than the initial moment of a sort of 'They really just did that?' state of surprise. That's just them, and that was all that mattered. Just like right now with Hohenheim."

Rashad nodded and told her gently, "Trisha, your mental strength actually exceeds the strength of virtually everyone I know. Lady Shinra and I are the next closest to you who I'm aware of, and we're not far off, but even we need processing time. You apparently skip right over the need to process in the majority of cases. And that's only one thing which makes you strong. If you ever thought it didn't take strength—all the kinds you need to have—to raise children, and to do it well, you missed something important in the 'value' of 'family'. You don't need to work or fight to be strong."

She tipped her head to the side like she was looking at something strange, then asked, "Are your women taken as 'strong' because they spend most of their time raising children, then?"

"That's part of it, though men notably don't want to call attention to that—it would mean they'd need to start spending a lot more time with their children if they openly acknowledged that as one of strength's many forms," Rashad told her in amusement. "But I'll tell you this. My wife died in childbirth and my son with her. That nearly destroyed me, and I cut most of my ties to people after that. And then, Ed shoved his way into my life and before I realized it, I'd become attached to him—and it was only by raising him that I began to truly heal from my losses and move forward in the right way. So, you tell me—is raising children 'strength'? Doing so certainly gave me back mine."

As shocked as the two Amestrians were by the admission, Shiro was also surprised—he hadn't previously known much about Rashad's past, but he had to admit, even if it was a fairly short speech about strength, it was potent. It also looked like Trisha was taking it to heart as he gaze became thoughtful, and Shiro was of the opinion that it was good for her to do so—she desperately needed to realize her own strength. He did wonder how she'd actually not felt any ill will about her supposed lack of strength, though—most people weren't so wholly accepting of such 'short-comings'. Then again, if one of her intrinsic traits was easy acceptance of strange things...

"Thank you for your advice, Warrior-Priest Rashad," Trisha finally said after a minute. When he nodded, she diverted the topic to ask, "Do you think Ed will wake sometime today, or should we go back to the hotel?"

"I would guess he won't sleep right through the night, but when he'll actually wake, probably to eat because he hasn't since supper last night, I can't actually tell you," the Ishbalan man offered. Both Amestrians blinked, so he said, "You should probably just go back to your hotel for now, and come back in the morning. He should be fit for company by then."

"We'll do that, then. Thank you," Hohenheim agreed, and somehow, both Shiro and Rashad knew the man was thanking the Ishbalan for talking with Trisha about 'strength'. The two then left quietly, and both men sagged onto the couches for some rest of their own.

Notes:

(1) Yuri's and/or Sarah's Cetra blood (and Winry's by extension) are so far into a recessive state they're really not showing in anything but their desire to be doctors of some sort. With the lack of energy flow, this Ed (who doesn't know anything about the Salvation's Hands variant of the story) has no idea Winry and one or both her parents are Cetra as well, though that may be noticed more once Minerva's been there for awhile. For now, Ed's only references are to Roy (active alchemy) and Riza (the intrinsic protector, who spends so much time with Roy his energy started activating hers). Even though they stopped in at Ed's often, Roy didn't spend much time with people like Trisha, Sarah, or Yuri for any further activation to potentially happen.