Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Legend of Korra

Ayana

She appreciated Ed's concern, but she didn't see any other options. They simply didn't have time to wait for Dominic to go the long way. She dove off the cliff and bent the air around her glider, sailing up into the storm.

The wind was stronger up here; it buffeted her around and whistled in her ears. It was a challenge to fly straight, especially with her injured shoulder aching. Lightning flashed dangerously close, and her eyes were momentarily blinded.

Her initial idea had been to find the doctor and fly him straight back. But now, she realized how bad this storm really was, and she knew she had to think of something else. The poor doctor would probably have a heart attack if she tried to fly him through this.

She flew around the mountain and down the pass, gradually descending into the valley where the village sat. As her altitude decreased, the intensity of the storm also dwindled, which made it easier to control flight. She finally reached the town itself and skimmed a few feet above the ground, not caring if anyone saw her. She scanned the shop signs for a doctor. Finally finding one, she dropped her glider, skidded to a stop, and burst through the door.

A doctor and a nurse were there, and they looked up from their work with surprise at her abrupt entrance. "Please, I need help. Up at Dominic's house, Satella is having her baby!"

The doctor's eyes widened. He quickly turned to gather some instruments into a bag. His nurse moved to help, but he waved her away, instructing her instead. "Go get one of the horses ready." She nodded and hurried out one of the side doors. Ayana paced, mentally willing the doctor to hurry. He finally closed his bag and turned to her. "Lead the way, young lady."

She hurried outside and picked up her dropped glider. The nurse was standing there waiting for them with the reins of a chestnut mare in her hands. The doctor mounted quickly and looked down at Ayana expectantly. "Where's your horse?"

"Don't need one." She stated simply. "Follow me." Lifting her glider, she flew into the air and glanced back to see the doctor's horse galloping after her. She couldn't see the man's face, but she was pretty sure he'd never seen a flying teenage girl before. At least he was able to put his surprise aside and follow regardless.

The trip back took much longer than her descent had, since she had to fly lower and slower to guide the doctor. Staying closer to the ground had the advantage of less wind, though, so it was easier to bend the air. Eventually they came to the chasm with the broken bridge. The horse skidded to a stop, unable to move forward. She spiraled down and landed next to the dismounting doctor and folded her glider.

"The bridge is out." He said worriedly. "How are we going to get across?"

"I see two options, and you probably won't like either of them." Thunder cracked loudly above their heads, causing them both to instinctively duck and the horse to whinny nervously. "I can fly you across on my glider, or I can ferry you across on a boulder. Either way, the horse will have to stay here."

The doctor stared at her for a second, then shook his head, laughing nervously. "I'm not going to ask how that's possible, but I believe you. I'll take the rock option, thank you." He turned to the horse and led it to the nearby mountain wall, where he tied the reins off on some exposed tree roots. Grabbing his bag, he came over to stand next to her.

Seeing him nod his readiness, she swept her arms down and thrust her palms sideways, cracking the rock to separate the portion on which they stood from the cliff. The doctor gasped and grabbed her arm as the ground beneath him shook. Pulling her arms back, she turned and thrust her hands again, pushing the earth up and over the canyon. They landed safely on the other side. The rock crumbled from the impact and the doctor stumbled forward slightly. She held him steady to prevent him from faceplanting. He looked startled but otherwise okay.

The house stood in front of them now. The doctor recovered himself and rushed inside, and she followed him swiftly. What they found was not what she was expecting.

A bright, happy baby sat crying it its mother's arms, and father and grandfather were beaming with joy. Al and Paninya stood next to them and Winry sat with Edward in the hallway. Winry looked exhausted. While the doctor moved over to examine the mother and newborn, Ayana walked over and sat on the floor across from Edward and Winry. She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes, rubbing her sore shoulder. She was soaked but didn't really feel all that cold. She could feel them eyeing her.

Winry finally addressed the elephant in the room. "So, Ayana. Mind explaining how you can fly?"

She opened her eyes and met her gaze. She opened her mouth to respond, but Winry continued. "Actually, it doesn't matter much how, that was a dangerous and reckless thing to do! You could have really hurt yourself! You had us worried sick!"

Ayana smiled despite herself. "Sorry, Winry. I should have told you back when we visited your house a few weeks ago, but you were working so hard I never got the chance." She thought about how to word it. "I have some unique abilities. One of them is controlling the air currents. I didn't mean to worry you."

Winry looked surprised. "Really? Wow, that's pretty cool!" She looked like she wanted to continue, but stopped, having remembered she was supposed to be scolding her. "I'm just glad you made it back safe." She managed a small smile, then stood and walked into the bedroom, probably to talk to the doctor.

Ed was looking at his feet. After Winry's departure, he looked up and met her gaze. "I'm glad you're back safe, too." His face didn't look it, though.

"Is something wrong?" His demeanor didn't match his words.

He paused, then responded. "No, everything's fine." He forced a smile to his lips.

Edward

The train ride to Dublith gave him time to think. He knew Ayana was capable of taking care of herself, but that hadn't stopped him from worrying as he'd watched her disappear into the storm the other night. More concerning to him was the fact that he had been concerned in the first place. Why was he so worried about her safety?

Why was he reading into this? It wasn't unusual to be concerned about a friend's safety, right?

He looked over at her. She and Al were meditating again. He wished he could get the hang of it; they made it look so easy. It probably was easy for Ayana; she'd been doing it for years. Al most likely picked up on it so quickly because, frankly, he was halfway to the spirit world already, living as a bonded soul.

He decided not to think about it. He should be spending this time figuring out how they were going to explain their bodies to Teacher. Assuming, of course, she didn't kill them first.

Ayana

"Hey Sig." Edward greeted the giant man who'd answered the door. "Long time no see."

He was intimidating, and the bloody knife in his hand didn't help. She gulped. She'd hate to be on this man's bad side. He had a similar physique to Major Armstrong with huge, bulging muscles that made up pretty much his entire body. Contrary to him looking menacing, though, he greeted the boys by patting their heads gently. But still. She'd hate to see him angry.

He led them around back and talked to someone through the window. The three of them milled around by the back door, waiting. Suddenly the door burst open with a kick, which sent Edward flying across the yard with a footprint embedded in his face.

"Hello, my stupid pupil. I've heard you've become one of the military's dogs!" Their teacher stepped out onto the stoop, cracking her knuckles. Seeing Al, she reached for his hand in what looked like a handshake, but instead she grabbed him and flipped him up and over onto his back, where he lay stunned. "You both have gotten rusty."

"Teacher," Ed panted. He was still in the process of pulling himself up off the ground. "This is our friend, Ayana. Ayana, this is Izumi, our alchemy teacher."

Izumi turned to face her, and her demeanor changed instantly from angry teacher to pleasant housewife. "It's nice to meet you!" She said with a smile as she extended her hand.

Ayana didn't want to be rude, but she wasn't falling for the same trick poor Al had. Instead of accepting the shake, she resorting to placing her right wrist to her left palm in front of her chest and bowing formally. "It's nice to meet you as well."

Izumi's eyes twinkled. "Well, you at least seem to be a bit sharper than those two." She jerked her thumb toward the boys, who had finally collected themselves and were back on their feet. "Let's all go inside."

She ushered them in to the kitchen and poured tea for everyone, including Al. Neither of the boys said anything about that, so Ayana didn't either. They didn't waste any time in asking Izumi what she knew about the Philosopher's Stone, which turned out wasn't much. She mentioned an alchemist she'd met in Central a while back who seemed to know about it, and Ed's eyes lit up.

"Do you remember his name?"

She thought for a moment. "It was an odd name. I think it was… Hohenheim. Right dear?" Sig nodded his confirmation.

Ed's face fell. His hands started shaking in anger. Izumi noticed and asked, "Someone you know?"

Edward simply muttered an affirmative sound. Al said aloud, "He's our father."

"The one who ran out on you?" Izumi asked in shock. Ayana was surprised too; she never heard them mention their father. She'd assumed he wasn't in the picture but hadn't thought about it beyond that.

"Yeah. So, that bastard is still alive." Ed growled.

After a moment of silence, Al asked his teacher, "Did our father say anything about the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Something about a lifelong dream coming true. That was pretty much it."

Al's eyes fell. Izumi stood up suddenly and announced that it was time for dinner.

The meal was uneventful, aside from Ed and Al having to think up an excuse on why Al wasn't eating, and afterwards Sig showed them to a bedroom with four small beds. Ed threw himself on one, and she sat on one opposite. Al sat on the floor and leaned against the wall between the beds. They didn't waste any time getting ready for the night, and soon the only sound was Ed's soft snores.

The next morning when she woke, she was alone in the room. Yawning, she stretched her arms above her head and instantly regretting doing so when her shoulder twinged. She dressed quickly and descended the stairs, looking for breakfast. She heard voices in the kitchen and stopped halfway down the steps, listening. It was Izumi's angry voice.

"I cannot accept your actions. You are expelled. You are no longer my students." Some more words were spoken but too softly for her to make out. El and Al rounded the corner and stomped up the stairs and past her.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"We're leaving." Ed replied shortly.

She followed them back upstairs to grab their things. Ed and Al were silent, but she could tell they were upset. Shortly, Ed lugged his packed suitcase over his shoulder and opened the door only to find Sig standing there. He was shaking his head in disappointment.

"You two are so busy sulking, you can't see what your expulsion means." They all looked up at him. "It means your teacher/student relationship with Izumi is over. You are free to speak to her as equals now." He crossed his arms. "Unless you're too chicken to try it."

Ed lit up. "C'mon Al, we haven't done what we came here to do." He threw his suitcase back on his bed and pushed past Sig. Al followed close behind.

Sig called after them, "Don't let her kill you!" He shot her a brief glance before heading down the stairs himself.

She waited a few minutes, unsure of what to do. Finally she decided she was still hungry, and wandered down to the kitchen. Izumi, Ed and Al were sitting at the table, discussing something about the Truth. She had a vague idea of what the Truth was; it was what Ed had described had given him the ability to clap transmute. Izumi shot her a curious look when she entered the room but said nothing. Ayana grabbed an apple from the counter and took a bite.

The conversation had paused, so she asked the boys, "Do you want me to leave?"

Ed waved her down. "Nah, it's ok. We know all your secrets, its time you learned some of ours, right?" Izumi raised her eyebrow at that. Ayana took another bite and leaned back against the counter.

"Anyway," Ed continued. "We only paid for the Truth we saw with parts of our bodies. Al paid with his entire being. He had to have seen a lot more of the Truth than we did."

Izumi considered, resting her chin in her fingers. "We need to get Al's memories back. I have a friend who may be able to help. I'll give you his contact information." She stood and walked over to a closet. She extracted a broom and threw it towards Al. "If you're planning on staying, you need to earn your keep. Let's put you all to work."

She sent Al outside to sweep the sidewalk in front of the store, and put her and Ed in the back, chopping and wrapping different meats for customer's orders.

She thought about what he'd told her about the Truth. "This Truth sounds almost like a portal."

Ed considered her statement. "It may be similar, but I know it's not what you're looking for." He glanced over at her and flashed a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. We'll keep looking. We'll find your spirit portal eventually."

"What's this about a spirit portal?" They both froze as Izumi entered the room. Ed looked over at Ayana, waiting for her to say something.

Deciding that lying to some as perceptive as Izumi would be a bad idea, she went with the truth. "It's a long story." She put down her knife and turned to face Izumi. "The quick version is, I need to find one. I know they exist, even if no one here knows where or what it is. You don't happen to have heard anything about one, have you?"

Izumi had her eyes narrowed and looked slightly suspicious about the vague answer. "I know there's more to this that you're not telling me. But I suppose I don't really care. The only instance I can recall of ever hearing someone talking about a portal was when I was speaking with Hohenheim." Ayana perked up at that. "I didn't understand what he meant, though. Something about a rare stellar event, some kind of convergence."

Ayana's mind nearly exploded. Harmonic Convergence. How would someone in this world know about that? Her face must have shown her surprise because the suspicion left Izumi's face. "You know what he was talking about?"

"Yeah. It's why I need to find a portal. He didn't say anything about the location of one?"

"No. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Thanks anyway." She sighed and bowed her face to try and hide the disappointment from them. "I think I need a break. I'm going to take a walk."

She walked out the front door of the shop, not really sure where she was going. She wandered a few streets randomly as she contemplated how someone like the boys' father would know about Harmonic Convergence. If he knew about that, maybe he knew where the portal was.

She was startled out of her thoughts by Al's voice. He sounded like he was in trouble. Picking up her pace, she headed toward the sound.

Edward

He and Teacher watched Ayana shuffle out of the kitchen sadly. After she was gone, Teacher turned to look at him with her eyebrow raised. "Did I hear her right? Did she say, 'Harmonic Convergence'? What does that mean?"

Ed shrugged. "Dunno. She's never mentioned it before." It upset him to know that Hohenheim was now the only lead they had on Ayana returning home. He never wanted to see that bastard again, much less ask him for help. "Whatever it means, it doesn't sound like a good thing."

Teacher nodded and changed the subject. "When you finish up packing that order, how about you find your brother and take him down to the store to buy some supplies." She put a rather lengthy list on the table and walked away.

He finished up as instructed. Pocketing the list, he walked out the front door to look for Al. His brother was nowhere to be found, but he did find the broom laying in the street. That was odd; something must have happened to him. Maybe he's chasing another stray cat. Cursing, he headed down the street to start searching.

After looking for a good half hour, he'd found no signs of his brother. He mumbled to himself in annoyance. He's a seven-foot-tall suit of armor, how is it possible for him to go missing?

"I can tell you where your brother is." Ed turned and raised his fists in defense. He saw a creepy looking, bald shorty staring at him from the alley. "I'll take you to him, if you'll tell me his secret." Ed felt his anger bubble up, and he stomped up to the stranger and punched him straight in the jaw, sending him sprawling.

"How about you take me to him now, or get another punch? And this time I'll use my automail hand." He raised it threateningly.

The stranger recoiled. "No! Please don't hurt me. I'll take you to him. Follow me."