Two days later—evening

Making her best effort to forget the alchemist she'd met, Rosaline tried doing other things to take her mind off him for the sake of not being stressed but that flower she continued to wear in her hair was a constant reminder of what happened. Yet, she refused abstinently to throw it away against her own wishes. But when it began to wilt she had no choice but to keep it at home in a glass of water.

She sat quietly at the desk in her room picking at the plate of food in front of her. When she couldn't eat anymore, she scooped the left over dinner into a trash can and relaxed her head in her own arms on the desk, staring at nothing at all before she caught a glimpse of the flower again.

Alchemy… is it in itself evil? Or are there just certain people who have chosen to use it that way… why haven't I thought of that before. What I did two days ago was completely stupid. I know now that I'll probably look back later after I've gotten over this, that Ed and Al probably were just trying to help… but pride sometimes kept me from seeing the truth. That guy never did anything to me, but I… and then after that he was still nice about it. I wish I could've at least apologized correctly. If I were to meet him again though he'd probably think I was crazy. …but alchemy. If it could create something this beautiful, it can't really be as bad as everyone says it is. Maybe I'd want to learn it myself. Maybe that guy would have helped me, but it's so obvious he was a wanderer that it'd be a miracle to find him again.

She shut her slipping eyelids giving them the sleep they wanted right there in the chair, falling dormant for the night.

--next morning

The sun wasn't out yet, but the low murmurs coming from downstairs were loud enough to wake Rose upstairs from her sleep. Her mahogany eyes flickered in annoyance first and then curiosity. Knowing that the shop didn't open until eight and that her mom usually didn't have visitors over, Rose kicked the sheets off of herself and started for the stairs slowly but surely, sporting only her evening gown.

"Mom?" she called quietly walking down the steps. The murmurs now could be heard in full conversation as Rose peeked over the railing.

"--Sure you can, and thank you again for—"

"Rose?"

There was a man standing beside her mother but his back was turned until her heard her tiptoeing down the stairs. When she saw who it was, she ran back up the stairs into her room embarrassed.

"What in the hell is he doing here?" she yelled in the privacy of her own room. Her hair was frizzled, she was in her underwire, and on top of all that, he'd seen her.

Be careful what you wish for right?

Rapidly, she pulled on some appropriate clothes and ran back to the stairwell.

"Oh Rose, this is Mr.—""

"—Nagasa—" he finished, smiling when he saw the spastic girl, with the clothes she wore yesterday wrinkled and being worn again.

"Yes… he found your basket and returned it here. Isn't that nice? Anyway, I'm allowing him to work here for the week he'll be in town. He needs to make some quick cash before he goes out again."

"…We've met…" Rose started, "I just never got his… name" she said in spread out intervals panting from the hustling she did.

She stood stone still in front of young man looking up at his face, not wanting to bring up past incidents again.

"Not to be rude sweetie but can I have your first name too?"

"Uhh…" he murmured uneasily.

"Sorry if you're uneasy about it you don't have to tell me." Ms Kayser said.

He then turned back to Rose who couldn't speak. Ms. Kayser started back toward the stairs watching quietly wondering what was going on.

"… Rose right?"

"Yes that's right… How come you ran off yesterday without even telling me your name?" She laced her own hair and fidgeted distractingly, trying to quickly change the direction the conversation was going into.

"You didn't ask? Really I don't tell anyone my first name. As you can see I only told your mother I assume, my last name. But I'm far from a Mr. ha. But was there anything left to say… We were complete strangers."

"I didn't get a chance to apologize properly, and-- Well why don't you?" Rose inquired.

The young man sighed lightly for a second, and then looked up at the clock.

"Well we have an hour before its time to go to work, and you seem to have a lot of questions…"

Rose pulled up a couple of chairs and smiled gently up at his face which was scrunched up a bit, before he got that dull look in his eyes again. Emotionless. Lacking in luster and that which showed the evidence of humanity completely. He carefully slung his jacket and cloak over a chair before neatly slouching into the chair conveniently beside him. Everything about him seemed automatonic.

"So. What do you want to know?"

Rose clasped her hands together ecstatically before speaking.

"First… When did you become a State Alchemist?"

"Two years ago."

He was quick brief and to the point.

"Okay… What's your special name they gave you when you became one?"

"Dark Wind Alchemist. They gave it to me because I specialize in motions involving the wind though I've learned to control other elements as well."

Rose now brought the wilting flower from behind her back, and picked at the petals for a while before looking back up at the dark haired yet still somewhat stranger.

So mysterious…

"You did this right?"

He then smirked at his handiwork with brevity, but even his interest in that sequence of events dissipated soon and he became monotone once more.

"Yes, I did."

"Well could you fix it… I wanna see."

The stranger took the flower from her hand before looking up at Rose while she smiled, staring intently on the movement of his hands. He bent over and collected the dead petals from the floor. Then he crunched the white rose up inside his fists, making sure everything was destroyed.

"Hey… why'd you do that?"

"Shhh…"

Rose got quiet again and watched as he drew some weird sort of mark on the floor consisting of a star and a circle and a few triangles.

"Watch." He insisted as he scattered the broken flower inside the circle.

Next he pressed his hands down on the circle. What followed was a strange golden glow covering the circle riddled with stray sparks of blue electricity. Rose stared in awe when he pulled the new flower from the chaos and put it back in her hair .

"That's what you wanted right?"

Rose glowed brilliantly in silence for a minute before saying thank you timidly. The clock finally struck eight, and the young alchemist started to stand from his chair.

"Well that's our cue to get to work huh?" he stated as he started to walk out of a door with a delivery cart, leaving Rose alone next to the chairs.

"Hey wait! Why don't you tell anyone your name?" she asked before he left.

"An important rule of the State Alchemists is to not become emotionally attached to anyone. While this may seem silly I find that anyone I give my name to without the purpose of doing business always get attached…"

Wow isn't this guy conceited…I only asked his darn name-- she thought as her eyebrows furrowed slightly and her arms crossed.

"..so I haven't given my first name to anyone in two years. Only my alchemist name. Ever since I …"

He paused a second and looked down. Then he started to walk away again.

"But aren't we doing business Mr. Nagasa? She replied coyly. "You basically work for me and my mother. And I already have your alchemist name." she declared with her hands now on her hips.

The nameless man turned around once more giving the girl a light smile before answering.

"My name is Tai… Nice to do business with you Miss Rose."