Housing

While Ed had a vague memory of waking sometime in the evening to eat, it wasn't until sometime in the morning that he actually 'woke', and by the light coming in through his window, it was around mid-morning. There were voices in the living room or the kitchen (or both, for that matter), and at least one of those was a woman's, making him blink in surprise. Since he was feeling a lot better by then—and had to grin as Carbuncle fluttered in through the window to land on his head—he got up to get ready for the day.

"Did you have fun exploring?" he asked the Summon.

"Much!" Carbuncle agreed happily. "These people are interesting!"

"Are they?" Ed asked in amusement.

"They like color, but they're plain, and they're a lot like the Cetra, but also not. It's fun to watch them," the small being answered happily. It then paused for a moment as the boy finished dressing before asking, "When are you going to show them what you really look like?"

"When either Ishbala or Minerva tells me it's okay to," Ed replied. "Some people already know, like the High Priest, and he doesn't mind."

The Summon just gave a small hum as Ed finished up with the bathroom and went to join whoever was in the house just then. As he was coming up to the kitchen and living room, he heard Rashad say, "The sooner you can get a home here, the sooner he can move back with you." What stood out about the words was that the man seemed so sad—and he was wrong anyway, regardless of him saying it to Hohenheim and Trisha. All four of them (Shiro was still there) were sitting at the kitchen table with what looked like tea in front of them.

"Sorry, no," Ed cut in before either of his parents could say anything. Everyone turned to look at him in surprise, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, unless all three of you plan to move into the same home. Otherwise, I'm staying with Rashad and you two can move into a place nearby."

That made everyone stare at him, but it was Trisha who asked, "Ed...Why? And what's that thing on your head?"

"This is Carbuncle," he said, lifting one hand enough to point a finger at the creature. "It's a Summon, one of the ones from my book, and specifically, it's a defensive type. I called it when I was kidnapped yesterday, and shortly after we got back to town, it went off to explore. It just came back around when I woke up." He paused for a moment, then went on, "As to why I'm staying with Rashad, it's not something that really has a definition, other than that he's easily as much my father as you're my mother. And, he doesn't really have anyone but me, while you two have each other. So, either all three of you move into a home or I stay here and you live nearby."

Since even Rashad looked surprised by that, Ed just gave them all an annoyed look and began looking for something to eat—only for a sigh to sound as Rashad's hands stopped him from reaching for something in one cupboard. "Go sit at the table. I made enough for you, it just needs to be warmed," the man told him gently. Ed looked up at him in surprise for a moment, then reached up to hug him for a moment before going to sit at the table.

"Ed...Is this really what you want?" Hohenheim asked quietly.

Blinking, the boy tipped his head to the side. "Honestly, I'd prefer you all live in the same home so I don't have to choose in the first place. Al and Winry have been living in other homes nearby for months already and are used to it. Some homes here might even be big enough for all of us—Al's and Winry's new families, too, or even just for us and Al's. There are options, and I want to use them, not create lines where they don't need to be. And when Minerva gets here, my family, our family, is going to get a lot bigger, because I was effectively family to a lot of them. Get used to it now, because I'm Minerva's even before I'm Ishbala's, and that's where I'll stay."

Hohenheim's gaze lifted to Rashad as he asked, "And what about you, Warrior-Priest? Would that be an option you'd actually take seriously?"

"It might well be," Rashad agreed as he heated the food he'd set aside for Ed. "There are homes large enough for three or four families to live in comfortably, though I think it would be limited to that size. Winry's two sets of parents could easily find a home for two families, or three if any of your other associates would be staying with them. Ours would be three, with me, Al's parents, and you. Those would also be single buildings, not homes like the one we're in now. But justifying how you're 'family' would mean it would have to go to the High Priest and Priest Ishan, who know the justification already."

"I just thought of something," Ed frowned, brow furrowed. "Off topic, but it's important. Ishbala did the purification before the fight with Envy and Wrath, and kept it to a certain area around the Temple—probably just enough to cover most of the battlefield, which also meant most or all of the town by its area to cover the battlefield. That means Basque Gran was inside the area of purification when it happened, but he wasn't reduced to pyreflies. Since I'm sure he was all for turning Amestris into a Stone, how did he survive purification to have attacked us on our way back into town?"

The others stared at him in surprise for a long moment, then Trisha asked, "Maybe he didn't actually know?" When Ed gave her an annoyed look, she explained, "I'm sure there are people warped enough to think that would be okay, but there are a lot of ways to turn words so they sound like one thing but actually say another. They may have told him the plan in a way which made it sound like they weren't trying to destroy Amestris. For that matter, maybe none of them actually knew the thing in the jar just wanted its own power and had no intention of letting them live, either, even if they knew the rest."

The boy blinked at her as Rashad put the plate of heated food in front of him and commented, "She has a point. We won't know unless we ask him, though."

"And that leaves the question of who will ask him," the boy replied.

"Obviously, that's in my jurisdiction. You stay out of it—try to just be a child for a few days. Please? We've had enough excitement to last us for a lifetime," Rashad told him in a teasing tone, and Ed just groaned.

"You do realize that's a pipe dream, right? There's always going to be some sort of excitement around me, to greater or lesser degrees, just because 'someone' decided I was going to attract trouble, whether or not I went looking for it," the boy pointed out dryly. That produced several sighs.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Trisha asked, "Um, if you're just going to run off to this 'Minerva' person—god?—in a week or two, is there a point in us all finding a home together here or would it make more sense to wait for Minerva's people to establish homes we can move into?"

"Oooo! She's as good as Lady Shinra! They'll get along really well," Carbuncle said from Ed's head, ears waving happily as virtually everyone at the table went cross-eyed at the question, including Ed.

"Um...Who's Lady Shinra?" Trisha asked in confusion.

"The nominal leader of the people who are left of Minerva's previous world," Ed told her with a grin. She was still peering at her son curiously, so he thought seriously about her question, then grinned again and said, "Actually, yes, that's perfect. Ambassadors are good, and you and Rashad and Shiro can fill that role. And if you're taking me with you, they'll also know you're really not enemies."

"Then that's a good way to do things?" the woman affirmed.

"Yes," the boy agreed. "That's actually the sort of expedience, in a good way, that Lady Shinra comes up with. It also saves us having to explain to anyone why we're all family when you and Rashad are clearly not related. You should still get tested with the Artifacts, though."

"Why? We won't be staying here," Hohenheim answered.

"Because chances are, either they'll also belong to Minerva and her people, for the same reasons, or she'll make her own versions. No surprises that way," Ed answered in amusement with a shrug.

:As a matter of fact, my Ancient Sentinel, both are correct. Until I am present on that world for a time, I cannot make such Artifacts myself, so until I am able to, Ishbala has agreed to allow my people use of his. And yes, the results will be largely the same for both, with only an added function to indicate a preference to myself or to him. You would activate both of ours,: Minerva told him, her voice sounding amused. In the background, Ed could hear Aeris giggling.

He laughed suddenly, surprising the others, and told them, "Yes, Minerva just told me the plan is for her people to use Ishbala's until she can make her own. So yeah—you'll have to get tested anyway. It shouldn't tell you anything you don't already know." For some reason, though, that made everyone except Rashad sigh, and he blinked in surprise.

Before anyone could say anything, though, a knock came on the door and Rashad went to answer it. Because the kitchen was near the door, they could hear the man outside ask, "Could the Little Avatar come to see the results of a test of the Artifact? We've never seen it before, so we don't know what to make of it."

"Someone's being tested already?" Rashad asked in surprise.

"A foreigner who intends on staying wherever our Little Avatar will be," the man outside answered.

Since Ed was still eating, he hurried to finish as Rashad said, "We'll join you soon." He then returned to the room to watch while the boy finished eating.

"Should anyone else go with you?" Hohenheim asked.

"By what Ishbala said yesterday, I don't think that will be necessary," Rashad shrugged. "You can do as you like for awhile or join us—this foreigner is likely one of your companions."

"I don't doubt that," the blond man agreed, then faced Trisha. "Shall we go look around the town a bit while we wait? They have a surprisingly rich culture, and access to some very interesting things I'd like to look more closely at."

"Of course," the woman smiled, and they both rose with Ed as the boy finished his meal. While the two stepped outside, Ed put his dishes in the sink, then joined Rashad. Shiro fell in a step behind the two of them as they headed for the Temple again.

"Do you have any idea which of the Amestrians it would be?" the Warrior-Priest asked as they walked. Carbuncle fluttered from Ed's head to Rashad's shoulder.

"I'd guess Roy or Maes," Ed replied dryly. "Especially if they don't recognize the result of it, since I'd already pegged Maes as a Turk. And even if Roy's an alchemist, he actually fits in the category of a Mage, or a Sentinel, of Minerva's more than he'd just be an alchemist here."

"And those would show differently," Shiro filled in, to a nod from Ed. "But you don't suspect the Doctors or the Major of doing so?"

"All of the Doctors would show as Doctors, or as Healers. Those are both already known to the Ishbalans. The Major would either show as any other alchemist here, or he'd show something he'd recognize as an Amestrian version alchemist. Riza...Would probably show like one of the ones Roy or Maes would get. So those three are the only ones which should show differently."

"What do you think your parents would show as?" Rashad asked suddenly.

"Mom would show whatever indication is for a housewife and mother, and Hohenheim...Probably would be the same kind of alchemy as Ishbalans tend to study, which is closer to alkahestry, which is the variant of alchemy he taught the Xingese," Ed shrugged. "So, an alchemist."

Rashad chuckled. "And we'd also recognize both of those. Which really leaves only the three younger ones who came out here."

"Yup," Ed agreed, sounding very amused.

Soon after, they arrived at the Temple, where an acolyte waiting at the stairs led them up and to the High Priest's office. There were several people in the room, some of those Ishbalans, but Maes, Roy, and Riza were already there, and everyone was staring in confusion at the shape of the pole in Maes' hands. Except it wasn't a pole anymore, it was black and white with a look a lot like a very familiar PHS. As soon as Ed saw it, both he and Carbuncle began giggling, which drew everyone's attention to him.

"I'm guessing you do indeed recognize this?" Maes asked in amusement, lifting his hand and the 'PHS' a bit.

"Do the buttons work?" Ed asked in reply, still looking very amused. "If so, hit the 'Address' button and tell me what comes up."

Maes raised a brow, but pressed the button for a moment—and lifted his finger when a list came up. "There's...I guess they're names and number lists? Lady Shinra, Rufus, Tseng, and Sephiroth are at the top." His brow then creased as he asked flatly, "And there's someone named Genesis in here, when that's not a name, as though 'Sephiroth' wasn't bad enough?"

Ed giggled again and said, "I was right, you're a Turk. And yes, Genesis is one of their names, and it wasn't even the name his birth parents gave him."

The now nineteen-year-old lifted his gaze to Ed's and asked, "How does this list tell you I'm a Turk?"

"Because the Turks wear black suits with white shirts and have devices just like that, called PHS's, or Personal Hand-held Systems. Every one of them. With all of those numbers in them automatically," he grinned. "Once Minerva's here, you'll have to come with us to meet them. So you know—they're investigators first, and they're really good at putting together abstract clues. You already showed you could, so you're a Turk. And you'll love their work, too," the boy told him, still grinning. "Are you two getting tested, too, Roy, Riza?" he asked as his gaze moved to them.

"We were planning to, since we're not really needed anywhere else for anything," Riza agreed. "But then Maes went and got an option no one knew what to make of."

"I'd have been more surprised if he hadn't. That's why I asked Ishbala about it," Ed told her with a grin.

"...I see," she sighed. "Roy, you were next, now that we know what Maes' is. Are you staying, Jed?"

"For you three for sure," Ed agreed, then looked at the High Priest. "How is handling new results from the Artifact recorded, High Priest?"

"For the moment, with its general shape, color, and function, if it has one, and with the meaning it would be paired with, if we know it," the High Priest said. "With your help, we know it. The device is not one we need to name, only give a general description to, and no one would recognize the initials 'PHS'. I had already written down the description while we waited for you, and to know the key is the 'Address' button and several names on that list is also useful. I need only finish writing the meaning of it." He was silent for a few minutes as he finished, then nodded and said, "You may pass it on to the next, then."

Maes offered it to Roy, who took it curiously. After a few moments, it blurred and reverted to its ordinary pole shape, which it remained as for a few minutes before it began to shift. That time, it turned Summon Materia red and produced an array so obviously from Minerva's world Ed had to snort again in amusement—Genesis' 'Apocalypse' Limit Break array. When the others looked at him curiously, he asked Ishbala, :Is that how you decided to represent one of Minerva's Sentinel-Mages?:

The sentience looked through his eyes for a moment, then gave an agreement and indicated what applied to what. :Tell the High Priest to find the Artifact of Communication. It was to be given with the Artifact of Essence. Regardless of whether I have need to speak directly with the one holding it or not.:

"First—where's the Artifact of Communication?" Ed asked the High Priest.

"It was put into storage long ago and we are currently searching for it. Hopefully we will have found it by tomorrow morning," the High Priest replied, and Ishbala sighed into Ed's mind, but gave agreement.

"Okay, so next, that's how Minerva's Sentinels and Mages are going to show up—that's got to mean you have Cetra blood, since it's the only way you can be a Sentinel—and you use heavy alchemy—not the same as either alkahestry or alchemy here. The pole color is the Sentinel part and the array is the Mage part," Ed explained.

He then paused for a moment before going on with more details, "If what Ishbala said is true, a Sentinel could get any Materia color, probably in the color of their primary skill. All of them will have that odd glow, and there are five colors, green, blue, purple, yellow, and red. Because a Sentinel's primary function is to protect Healers or people who are in danger, they aren't all going to be people like me or Genesis, who create new spells or arrays on a regular basis. The array specifically is that you do so."

"But if I'm reading this array right, it's an array for judgment," Roy commented with a furrowed brow. "By what you've said, I'm not judging anyone."

"It's also an array unique to Genesis—even I can't make that one happen. And you're pretty much a duplicate of him, right down to your obsession with fire," the boy told him in amusement. "Specifically, it's actually him using his energy to call on Minerva to judge everyone in range, assess if they're good or evil, and attack the evil. Yes, it really works exactly that way. But, it's as much a devotion to Minerva and her judgment of others as it is something unique to Genesis, so if I re-read it that way, she's judged you as a worthy Sentinel and a Mage."

Roy's brow rose, but he slowly nodded before asking curiously, "Does this have something to do with my arrays for fire?"

"That's probably part of it," Ed agreed.

At that, the man looked up at the High Priest to ask, "So, how much more time do you need to write this one down, High Priest?"

"A few minutes..." he replied absently, still writing. After a pause, he finished and looked up with a nod. "You may pass it on."

Once he had the okay, he passed it over to Riza. Once again, after a pause, it blurred back to the pole, and remained that way for several minutes before it re-shaped. That time, it took the form of the black and white PHS, but with bands of brightly glowing yellow and buttons in yellow. She pushed the 'Address' button and shared the same list as Maes had gotten, then asked, "What's the yellow, then? Maes' didn't have that."

"It's Command Materia yellow," Ed filled in. "Sentinel, but not Mage-type, Turk-type. And in this case, 'Command' doesn't mean taking command of people, though you could probably do that, too, if you wanted. It's a type which refers to skills you can learn to use, like you could get out of specialized training. An example would be someone learning to be a thief, and 'Steal' is one of the Command Materia names and skills. If someone already knows how, the Materia for it does them no good, but if they don't, it's a way to get valuable items off enemies."

"And a so-called good entity would think that was a good idea?" Maes asked in amusement. "When stealing is wrong?"

"In theory, it was supposed to be used against monsters, not humans," the boy shrugged. "And the monsters on Minerva's world raided human facilities, hijacked the goods, and carted them off to their caves or dens or whatever. That means they also did things like hijacking medicines or gear we actually needed a way to retrieve. Steal allowed someone who didn't already know how to be able to do so, maybe without having to fight. And yes, they did actually take some really strong medicines, which they had absolutely no use for. It's like how ferrets steal anything shiny and hide it in a stash. Money and jewelry does it no good, but it takes them anyway."

"Are animals so dangerous?" Shiro asked in surprise.

Ed's look turned sardonic. "If we'd only had animals, it wouldn't have been an issue. I called them monsters specifically because her world had a definite split between what was an 'animal' and what was a 'monster', and the latter were intended to prey on humans and human goods. They also had abilities no animal ever had, and one single monster of some of the stronger ones could have obliterated Central in less than an hour. Trust me, they weren't the kinds of things you could kill with just one bullet or just one stab, and they in turn could kill hundreds in a single attack—and if you attacked them with just the wrong thing, you could create an even worse retaliation."

Everyone was silent in horror for several long moments, then Roy cleared his throat and said, "Then maybe it's just as well they were left behind and she can start over here without them."

To that, a wryly amused Minerva gave him an answer, so Ed told the others, "Actually, she has no intention of leaving them gone, though she'll find ways to largely keep them restricted to her area and not have them running around the world at large unless another entity here requests they be allowed in their area. As to why, since I know you'll ask, many of them have parts which are useful in things like making medicines and crafting, and her world can cure some illnesses and diseases the people here can't yet. Malboros, for example, can kill you with their breath because it's so toxic, but they're also responsible in whole or in part for three quarters of our medicines. Including a few which can cure illnesses here."

"But if we don't have a way to fight them—" someone else began in alarm.

"But all of Minerva's people do know how to fight them, don't they?" Maes asked suddenly, tone shrewd as he leaned back a bit and crossed his arms. "They've had to live with them for who knows how long, and if they didn't want to be obliterated, they had to've figured out ways to fight and kill them—you couldn't use their parts effectively any other way. Am I right?"

"There's definitely that," Ed agreed with a grin, making many people blink. "People like the Turks could—and did—fight them regularly. About...maybe fifteen or twenty percent of the population had skills of the sort to be fully capable of fighting and killing them. For the most part, they didn't attack full towns, they attacked travelers and very small towns, or, say, a small farm, and most of those, knowing the danger, often had ways to repel the dangerous ones. Monster hunting was also a legitimate job there. The only time they really posed a danger was when a large group of them tried to attack a large city, and that was normally the result of monsters going insane in climates they weren't designed to live in."

"Does that mean she's going to keep all of them, or only ones with useful parts?" Rashad asked suddenly. "On the one hand, if they were part of your general ecosystem, I'm not sure any could technically be left out, but if they weren't, she could be more specific..."

"They were part of the ecosystem, and now that the negative entity originally driving them has been removed from the equation, they shouldn't be quite as aggressive," Ed nodded to him. "They're most dangerous to humans, who actually aren't part of the ecosystem, but are generally no more dangerous to normal animals than normal animals are to one another. And they'll all need to be transplanted because of that."

"Hence her wanting to find ways to keep them within her territory. In the middle of a land-locked nation," Shiro replied in a surprisingly flat tone.

When Minerva started chuckling into his mind, he blinked, but asked her, :I guess that means you have an answer for him?:

:I do,: she agreed in amusement. :And there are two very obvious ones I shall be enacting before I begin restoring them.:

As she told him about them, he told the Japanese man, "She says to tell you there are two obvious solutions she can use. One of those is perfectly ordinary, but requires a lot of terraforming in the sense that she'll have to create things like high cliffs or bodies of water they can't cross. Those are just features of the terrain she can manipulate once she's here. The other is to create specific monster-repelling barriers in places she can't put other kinds—and yes, she can do that, because she has Materia specific to both luring and repelling monsters. All she has to do is make a variant of the latter. She won't let the monsters out until she's made the area as secure as she can."

"And people living there will be in danger from them?" Riza frowned.

"You'll be learning how to kill them for yourself, so they won't be a serious threat to you, anyway," Ed shrugged at her in amusement. "And for the most part, anyone living in a larger center of population won't be in danger often, and when they are, they'll have people to protect them. The death toll by monster is exponentially lower than the death toll by human, so kindly get your priorities straight."

The others blinked at him, then the High Priest said in amusement, "As educational as that was, Jed, I only need one more thing from you before you go off and play for awhile now."

For a long moment, Ed just stared at him, then shrugged and said, "Okay. What did you still need?"

"You've told us the meanings of Command—yellow—and Summon—red—as far as indicating a Sentinel, but not the other three," the elderly man said. "The other three meanings would be useful to know."

"Oh, right. Green is 'Magic', though that would be more like active combat, healing, or effect casting. Magic was just a nominal name to call something that comes across a lot more like an instant-cast spell than an alchemic array. Blue is 'Support', which would boost the abilities of Magic, Command, and Summon Materia or give them new uses—letting something that hit a single target hit all enemies in range, for example. Purple is 'Independent' and functions as a boost to your own skills in some way, and it's always in effect as long as you're wearing that Materia. Long-Range Attack will let you hit an attacker outside your blade range with a dagger or sword, for example," Ed readily explained.

"Good, that was what I needed. You may go now," the High Priest agreed as he rapidly filled in the data on his sheet. "We will ask for you again if another such odd thing turns up."

"Sure," the boy agreed, turning to go. As he left, Roy, Maes, and Riza followed him, as did Shiro, but Rashad was called back, and Carbuncle chose to stay on the man's shoulder for that.

As much as Ed wondered why he had been, he wanted to see how well the rest of the city had fared in the attack, so went to look around with his honor guard of now four. Which he'd gladly have done without, but knew he couldn't get away from, so just sighed and largely pretended they weren't there. Apparently, that also amused them.