Katsuma and Ed had made their way to the street just outside of the military building. Katsuma sat on the curb while Ed stood and tried to flag down a taxi. Katsuma sighed,

"Um… no offense or anything, but… do you think they can see you? You might want to stand on a bench or somethi-"

"WHO YOU CALLIN A SHORTY, MIDGET, HALF-PINT, PIPSQUEAK!" he screamed. Katsuma put her hands over her head,

"I'm SOO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN TO INSULT YOU! And I didn't say any of that stuff… Plus, you're a bit taller than I am, so…" he looked down at her and sighed.

"I'll get a taxi, just wait a minute…" he continued his gestures. This went on for about twenty minutes. Then, Katsuma stood up, tired of waiting, and flagged down a taxi instantly. Ed's eyes widened in amazement. He looked over at her,

"How did you…?" She got in the car and smiled. Edward shook his head and stared at his feet. He then got in and sat next to Katsuma. She promptly looked out the window, determined not to look at him. It was hard not to though…. Ed rested his chin in his hand and leaned his elbow against the windowsill. The taxi started up as the driver turned the key and took the small vehicle out of park. He then turned to face them, putting one arm around the seat next to him to twist himself around,

"Where'll it be?"

"To the house of Lieutenant Colonel, Maes Hughes." Edward replied, still gazing out the window. Katsuma looked at the back of the chair in front of her thinking,

'Just don't look at him and it'll be fine…' Ed noticed her silence. He turned to face her.

"Hey, what's with the silence? Come on, let's talk about something." Katsuma started and turned and looked at him. She blushed and tried to say something, but couldn't.

"Um… When did you start learning alchemy…" her voice trailed off. She clenched her fists, angry at herself for asking those sorts of questions in such a stupid way. Edward frowned, trying to think.

"Well, I started when I was about six and my brother, Al, started when he was five. What about you and your friend? When did you start?" Katsuma tried to remember. It had been so long since… then…

"We started at different times. I don't know when Raven started…. I never asked her… I started when I was four for... reasons that I prefer to keep to myself…" Edward nodded in understanding.

"I see… how old are you? I'm fifteen, by the way." said Edward.

"I'm fifteen as well. Raven's fourteen. We met each other when we were six and five and we've been by each other ever since." Katsuma sighed.

"Your name's Katsuma, right?" he asked, bluntly.

"Yeah, but you'll hear Raven call me Kat." She said shrugging. Ed nodded and looked back out the window. It was nice for him to be able to talk to someone besides Al. Normally, they could only talk to each other. Everyone else was either an enemy or someone from the military.

"So….. judging by your tone, you've had a pretty rough past…" he said smiling sadly and watching Katsuma. She nodded and frowned.

"We both have…"

The two groups met up outside a tall, Victorian style home. Hughes and Al and Raven had arrived first. Ed opened the taxi door and waited for Katsuma to get out before paying the driver. The two walked side-by-side to the door where Raven and Al were waiting.

"What took you?" Raven asked raising an eyebrow. Katsuma laughed.

"Well, uh…. We had a little trouble getting a taxi…" she said. Ed laughed, although not in a very happy way.

"Hughes already went in. We wanted to wait for you two, though." Said Al, opening the door. A little girl with brown pigtails on the sides of her head and a little blue dress on was walking through a tall, white hallway leading to stairs. She stopped and waved at the travelers walking in the door. She didn't look any older than four.

"Daddy! Everyone's here!" she ran into another room to the left of the hallway and out of sight.

'I guess that's Elisia.' Raven thought to herself. She and everyone else walked through the dining room, following the path of the small girl ahead of them. The girl changed directions by a doorway and raced upstairs. Everyone went through the doorway. It opened up into a gigantic kitchen where a tall, brown-haired blue-eyed woman was cooking. She wore a yellow dress that went just past her knees and a white apron over that. She turned to look at them and smiled.

"Welcome! My name's Gracier, I'm Maes' wife. Hello Edward, Alphonse. And you two girls must be Raven and Katsuma. It's a pleasure to meet you!" she bowed and then turned back around to continue her cooking, "Maes should be down in a minute… Honey! You're making our guests wait!" she cried. There was a loud stomping noise and Hughes came running into the kitchen.

"Sorry about that! I was making the bed, rather quickly I might add…" he looked quite proud of himself. Katsuma rolled her eyes.

"Thanks again for having us. We really needed a place to stay." She stated, scratching her head lazily. Maes laughed.

"It's no problem! We don't have guests very often, so there's only one bed!" he said. Raven was taken aback,

"Where did that come from…?" she asked. Ed nodded in agreement.

"You got to get used to it. This is how he is all the time…" Katsuma and Al looked at each other and shrugged. Elisia walked swiftly into the kitchen,

"You did a bad job on the bed daddy! Then I had to fix it up! You know that it has to look nice for guests!" she said with a frown. Maes started.

"Daddy's busy Elisia…." He said, laughing nervously. Everyone laughed.

"I can see why he did it fast…" Katsuma whispered to Raven. Raven laughed again. Elisia ran over to Gracier and hugged her. Gracier hugged her daughter back with a smile. Then she looked over at the group of people gathered around her in the kitchen.

"Please, allow me to show you your room. Honey, could you watch this for a little bit?" Maes nodded and took over cooking. She let go of Elisia gently and made for the stairs. The four travelers followed and went up the narrow, wooden staircase and into another hallway leading to three bedrooms, a bath room, and a small linen closet to the immediate right of the top of the stairs. The hall was L-shaped and went back beside the staircase. There was a master bedroom at the end of the hall and a guest bedroom facing the stairs. Elisia's bedroom was between the two. Elisia had been trailing the group and waiting to get up the stairs. She sped past Ed and Al who were standing side-by-side and went to her room. Ed smiled as she shut the door. She was shy, and he could definitely tell. He turned to look at Katsuma. She was smiling as well. Raven was standing next to her. She looked completely exhausted. Al had noticed during the car ride. Gracier walked over to the white door in front of them and opened it. It was a small, rectangular room with a twin bed in the back running along the wall. It had white, mussed sheets. Raven noticed small hand prints in them that were obviously made by Elisia.

"One of you can stay on the bed. I don't think there's enough room for two people. So, three of you will have to sleep on the floor. I apologize." Raven shook her head.

"It's no problem! We're just thankful to be able to stay somewhere." She turned to look at the tight knot of people standing behind her, "So, who's sleeping where?" Katsuma shrugged,

"I can sleep on the floor." Al nodded.

"So can I." Said Ed. Raven turned to look at him. She knew he was going to take the floor. He looked over at Raven. "You can take the bed. I don't need it after all the crap I've been through." He said putting one hand on his hip and holding the other one out, palm facing up. Gracier gasped all of a sudden.

"That's right! One of you can sleep on the couch! I forgot, I'm sorry. I seem to do that a lot." She giggled softly. Ed looked at Katsuma.

"You can take the couch. Me and Al will take the floor." He said.

"You sure? Because one of you could take it…" She replied, frowning. Ed smiled.

"No. You take it. I'm good." He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Trust me, I'm used to it." She giggled and Gracier took her and Raven's things. She put them on the bed and straightened it. All of a sudden, they heard a scream from downstairs,

"AAAAAHH! IT'S ON FIRE!" Everyone sprinted down the stairs except Ed. He found it easier to jump over the railing. They found Maes flailing his arms around trying to put out the fire that had erupted from the stove,

"Get out of the way!" Ed pushed him aside and turned on the sink. He clapped his hands together and used alchemy to make the water flow onto the fire. It sizzled, then went out. Ed wheeled around to face Maes.

"What the hell were you doing? You could have burnt the house down!" Maes laughed innocently.

"Well, there was a spot on the wall and…" Everyone's jaws dropped.

"YOU STUPID NUTCASE!" Ed screamed. He sighed and shook his head, "Well, don't do it again. Pay attention next time, you hear?"

"Yeah…" Maes said, wiping sweat from his brow. Raven chuckled quietly to herself. Gracier pulled out a rag from one of the drawers under the countertop and started wiping the burnt spots off of the counter. Raven and Al did likewise. Katsuma was in conversation with Maes.

"By the way, do you think we could maybe use your backyard to practice our alchemy? Raven and I haven't gotten much practice during all of our travels." She said casually.

"Of course! The back door is in the living room. I'll show it to you now!" He walked toward the door leading out to the living room. It was tucked into the left corner of the kitchen. Katsuma was at his heels. After getting to the living room, he took an immediate right. There were two double doors with three windows going down each of them. They were white around the edges.

"It's almost always unlocked so feel free to go out side at any time." Said Maes, smiling down at Katsuma. She nodded in approval.

"Thank you very much. I don't think we'll need it tonight. It's already getting dark and Raven and I are exhausted." She said.

The two made their way back into the kitchen. Ed, Al, Raven and Gracier had finished cleaning everything up. Gracier had started cooking something else. Ed and Al, sitting on stools facing the counter, were talking with her and Raven. When they noticed that Katsuma and Maes had arrived in the kitchen they stopped chatting. Ed got out of his chair.

"Do you want help setting up your bed, Katsuma?" He asked politely. Raven and Al shook their heads and rolled their eyes behind his back.

"Sure. I've never been very good at doing that kind of thing…" she smiled