"I can't believe I'm even saying this, considering the lack of logic, but thank god for cooling charms!" said Edna irate.

Alphonse snickered.

Over the past six months, Edna and Alphonse had been secretly learning magic. Alphonse had been skeptical of his sister having another voice in her head, but had accepted that she wasn't going crazy after he got an explanation for the book.

Much like Edna, he was relieved that they hadn't inadvertently made their mother suffer more with the thing they created.

Edna wanted to try for the State Alchemist program right away. There was, however, a small issue.

Namely that the exam wouldn't be for another six months (Alphonse had asked Mustang), and there was the small issue of their age.

No sane military would want to hire children unless there were special circumstances. Bradley was already disliked enough because of his warmongering habits, never mind the State Alchemist program.

Which meant they would have to wait a few years, minimum, before they could join the program.

Or they could bring something to the table that made them more attractive as applicants for "Investigative State Alchemists" as Mustang called them.

Edna was the one to find it, after using something Angel called a 'translation charm' on the books they could never make heads or tails of.

Alkahestry.

It was rather similar to Amestrian Alchemy, with one big difference that would look rather appealing to the military if they could pull it off.

Long-distance alchemy. Considering most circles required you be in close proximity to them in order to work, this seemed like their best bet to being admitted early.

Edna, being an alchemy nut through and through, was eager to find out if that claim was true.

There was just one teeny-tiny problem.

Alkahestry was only taught in Xing, which was across the Great Desert, and that was a major No-No for someone just getting used to a new set of automail. Besides, Edna was still growing and would require adjustments eventually.

Which was why they spent the better part of a month and a half learning temperature control charms, water-producing charms, and location charms.

Edna didn't know whether she should bemoan her lack of a wand (why use an easily broken stick?) or be glad she didn't have one (because again, easily broken stick that was difficult to replace).

Still, they had made it into Xing more or less...and the only thing Edna wanted was a place to sleep that didn't have sand or rock on it.

Unfortunately they had very little luck finding anyone willing to teach two outsiders alkahestry, even the theory of how it worked.

A month after reaching Xing, they finally had a stroke of luck.


Some time later...

Edna was exhausted. In between learning alkahestry, being taught the correct way to speak the local language (don't get her started on the writing), and learning new martial arts skills on the side, her schedule was more or less full.

On the plus side, they could practice their language skills and learn how to read the squiggles (as Edna called them) while babysitting the children for the adults who were busy in the fields. The adults were more than happy to let them, as it meant a few experienced hands were now free to help with the harvest.

However there was one thing that Edna was learning that Alphonse had zero interest in. Instead he would spend his free time speaking with the resident princess, which Edna found adorable.

(She found their budding crush and possible romance cute and was more than happy to encourage it.)

Edna was learning how to dance, mostly on a throw-away comment that their lessons in how to fight the way the locals did was rather similar to the few dances they had seen...which had caught Edna's interest.

Even she knew that sometimes her brain needed a chance to learn something for the fun of it, not because it was educational. And the look on their teacher's face when he saw her using those same dance moves to evade her opponent was openly hilarious.

Angel was right...dancing was not only fun, but the added grace to her steps made her much harder for Alphonse to openly beat in a fight because she was more agile. It felt nice to just let her mind wander once they were set to practice, and she always slept better after.

Even more amusing was the way they finally solved their "lack of wand" issue. Apparently the kunai they used for their attempts at alkahestry could also double as the needed focus...their ability to use and cast spells had shot up exponentially, and best of all they could easily replace one if they had to.

Without even realizing it, a year had passed with the Chang clan. It felt surprisingly like home, even if the language was different. Apparently having two pre-teens show up on your doorstep but more than willing to ask intelligent questions and wanting to learn about your heritage without once being snide about it was an ice-breaker, in the words of Angel.

The fact Alphonse was naturally personable and Edna (despite her hot-headed nature) was very patient with small children and let them coax her into games most of the bigger kids would find beneath them eased the way.

(Even if the adults couldn't make heads or tails of how to use alchemy, they at least took solace in the fact that they had students who wanted to properly learn something without getting distracted.)

Hard to believe that almost a full year had passed and that she would soon be twelve. Now if only she could get the hang of alkahestry, she would be happy. She knew it involved "flowing" energy, but the water analogy went right over her head.

It wasn't until Angel made a throw-away comment about how she would have had difficulty until she changed the water analogy and used 'sensing intent' as an example.

Edna liked her wind example far more than the water one they used. Wind flowed like water, but it wasn't as restrictive as water since it didn't need clearly set paths to flow. It had nothing to do with the fond memories of flying Angel was more than happy to share whenever she sensed Edna was about to have a nightmare of that night.

And she was sticking with that story.

"I really wish we didn't have to leave soon," said Al.

"Al, even the kids have noticed I've been limping pretty bad. We have to meet up with Winry at Rush Valley to get an adjustment since there aren't any automail mechanics within a hundred miles," said Edna unhappily.

Edna was a growing girl, and unless she had an adjustment soon she was going to have a difficult limp. As much as she would love to stay and learn more about alkahestry, the simple fact was that the adults were starting to ask some rather awkward questions regarding her health... most of them had been quite alarmed when she finally caved and showed them her automail and explained that she lost her left leg in an 'accident' but was unwilling to go into any real detail.

She was still surprised that Winry had decided on her own to visit Rush Valley, which was said to be full of automail nuts. Edna didn't know what Granny did, but she somehow made an acquaintance of hers take Winry in before they left.

Alphonse looked at their small cabin (made from alchemy) dejectedly.

"I'm really going to miss this place...it was almost like home."

"I know," said Edna tiredly. "I actually like it here and the people remind me of Resembool even if we had a difficult time getting the hang of their language and we still have trouble with their writing."

Sure they could use alkahestry now (Alphonse in particular took to healing, though Edna learned the old fashioned route which sounded suspiciously like potions), but that didn't change the fact that the Chang clan felt a lot like home did.

Leaving was going to suck, even if the travel time back would be cut down since they finally had a focus to work with.

"Do you have to go?"whined May.

Edna bent down slightly to come to eye level with her.

"You know how I've been limping badly for the past couple of months, but I'm not hurt?"

She nodded.

"Well I need to get my leg looked at by the one who made it. Think of the bad leg as clothes you've outgrown and need to replace, since they don't fit anymore," suggested Edna.

Seeing she got it, May still looked uphappy. She had taken to Edna as an older sister like all the other kids in the village, and had a huge crush on Alphonse.

"Will you come back?" she asked.

"Not right away. See we have something we want to do back where we came from, but we were too young for the adults to allow it. Now that we're bigger we have a higher chance of being permitted to do grown-up work," explained Edna. "Besides, it would be pretty silly to come back only to leave when the new leg became too short again, now wouldn't it?"

May looked upset at that, but agreed that did sound silly. It wasn't like they had anyone who could fix Edna's leg.

Edna tried to think of a way to make the parting less painful...until she remembered what Angel said about owning an owl once.

While Angel didn't know the specific spells used to ingrain the locator magic into the owls, she did know that any animal raised or spent a lot of time around magic tended to develop a higher degree of intelligence.

Perhaps if Edna found a bird's egg or a baby chick that had lost it's parents, she could find a way to replicate the messenger owls and sent May letters.

It was something to look into, and at least birds were generally low maintenance and could follow them easily enough compared to a cat or a dog. Never mind how much easier it would be for them to sneak the animal in.

(Alphonse, unsurprisingly, was all for the idea since they couldn't own a cat.)

Edna managed to hold back happy tears until they were both out of eyesight when she realized that the small clan considered them one of them, instead of friendly outsiders. Alphonse was equally misty eyed, though you couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces.


The two of them made the long, boring trip back through the desert...this time a lot less awful since they were able to cast magic properly (which Edna thanked heartily for because of her automail leg)...only to finally hit civilization in a tiny town that sounded familiar for some reason.

"Ugh...this is killing me! I know I've heard of Youswell somewhere before..." said Edna annoyed.

Angel was too busy snickering to be of much help.

Alphonse looked at the coal, before it hit him.

"Ed... didn't Mustang mention Investigative alchemists are often sent to do inspections...like the yearly inspection of the Youswell mine that supplies most of the domestic coal?" said Alphonse.

Edna stared at him, then she face-palmed.

"That's where I heard of this place," said Edna. "Come on...let's find a place to crash and clean up. With any luck they'll have a train schedule."

(On an unrelated note: by the time they left Youswell, Angel was in absolute hysterics over how Edna tricked the idiotic Yoki into basically handing over the deed to the mine and town, which she then turned around and used to "pay" for their stay at the inn they ended up at until the trains left for Rush Valley. Edna was rather proud of her accomplishment. Mostly because Angel highly encouraged anything that had to do with proper prankster behavior, even if she couldn't remember why.)


Winry was thrilled to see them, and even happier when they built a better bridge to the house she was staying at. She eyed Edna's leg with a professional gaze, before forcing her fellow blond to sit down and let her take some measurements.

Edna could hobble around on a temporary until the new one was ready, since her old one was actually three inches too short, which surprised and delighted her since it meant she wasn't as short as before.

No wonder she had such a nasty limp and had to keep bending slightly to keep it level.

Late one night...

Edna had woken up and was in the mood for something sweet. Unfortunately there wasn't anything in the cabinets and she was too awake to fall asleep.

Irritably, she started looking at what they did have, before Angel took notice of what was there.

Since Winry was staying at the guest house, they had free reign over the food and she had hit the store the day before they arrived.

"You know she has all the ingredients to make a cake. Not sure about the icing though."

"I can work with cake," said Edna, perking up. "Do you have the recipe?"

Angel grinned, and the two of them went to work sorting out ingredients and doing minor prep. By the time the cake was done, Edna was in the mood to go back to sleep after she ate the first slice. They had made a lemon cake with powdered sugar and some lemon shavings on the top.

Edna put the cake out of mind once her craving for sweet went away, but she never expected the enjoyment she'd get out of it's sudden appearance.

Specifically the fact Winry and Alphonse both looked baffled as to where it had come from, once they finally noticed it was there. And since Edna woke up after both of them, they dismissed her as the culprit.

"This is really good. Where do you think they bought it?" asked Al.

"No idea, all I know is that she was adamant she didn't bring a cake over this morning before breakfast," said Winry.

"Morning," said Edna yawning, though inwardly she and Angel were laughing.

"Morning Edna," said Winry. "Did you see who brought over the cake?"

"The cake fairy, maybe?" said Edna flippantly.

"Oh ha ha, Ed," said Winry rolling her eyes.

Edna, in a fit of mischief, made a point to create three extra cakes before leaving and a pie she knew Winry loved that Granny Pinako used to make for her.

She had to keep from snickering at the baffled expression every time Winry looked at the food, and the suspicious looks Alphonse kept giving her in the process.

It wasn't until they were on the train for the Eastern command that Alphonse spoke up about the matter.

"You're the so-called cake fairy, aren't you?"

"I was in the mood for something sweet and not tired enough to try going back to bed, so I decided to test my luck with her kitchen. By the time I finished it and had my snack, I was sleepy enough to go back to bed and forgot all about it until I saw Winry's reaction," admitted Edna.

Alphonse blinked, before he snickered. Winry did have quite a few amusing reactions to the so-called 'cake fairy' as Edna flippantly called it. He would even swear he saw her trying to leave out offerings of milk before bed one night.

(Edna barely tolerated milk and absolutely hated needles with a passion. The only reason she didn't avoid the liquid entirely was because of all the recipes Angel said it was in, most of which were her favorites. That and Angel introduced her to the concept of flavored milk, which didn't taste nearly as bland and awful.)