Though the night was really started to get exciting and the party atmosphere around him grew, Roy no longer felt like celebrating and walked further on. Eventually the clubs and bars grew fewer and fewer and the lights became intermittent. Finally, they stopped altogether at a flat expanse of ground. It had been a park once but the grass was gone and the trees were burned and bare. Mustang found an undamaged park bench just beyond the circle of illumination cast by the last streetlamp and sat down. Though the place was silent except for the far off sounds of other soldiers celebrating, Roy gradually came to notice he was surrounded by Ishbalans. They moved slowly and quietly in the darkest shadows and watched him the whole time and Mustang realized the simple presence of himself, one soldier had interrupted whatever life, conversations, and business had been taking place in that park. Though he tried not to let it show, it unnerved him that as he sat there, dozens of Ishbalans watched him from the shadows.

He had been watching a group of them sitting in the shadows out of the corner of his eyes when one of them got up and started moving slowly away from the others. At first he thought the person was simply going on their way and would soon vanish in between buildings, it quickly became apparent that they weren't heading towards the safety of another shadow but were coming out into the open, towards him. He moved his hand what he thought was slowly, behind him to his holster but the figure stopped. It unnerved him even more to realize that the person was watching him that closely as they approached him. Curious to see what would happen, he slowly, and very subtly brought his empty hand back around and placed it and his other in front of him, open and palms outward. The figure seemed to get the message and begin moving again, this time with less trepidation.

As he got a closer look, he saw that the person was draped in heavy robes covered with several capes and shawls. The hood was drawn far over the face and they still moved with enough slowness and hesitancy that he couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman. Roy Mustang very slowly moved to one side of the bench, opening up the space closest to the figure to sit down on.

The person remained silent, and finally when they were only a few feet from the bench Roy was uncomfortable enough to ask "What do you want?" Though he tried to say the words quietly, in the silence of the park they seemed to threaten and fill up the whole air. The figure stopped but said nothing. Despite the heavy robes, Mustang could gradually tell the person was trembling. Relying on a gut instinct that told him it was safe, Roy said, more quietly and sweetly, "It's OK, come and sit down. I'm not going to hurt you if you won't hurt me." He flashed a crooked smile and was rewarded when the frame of the person seemed to relax and moved to sit down.

Neither said anything for a couple minutes and Roy finally said, "So what's up?" He said it with a coolness and relaxed demeanor he didn't feel at the moment but he hoped it would open the person up.

"Would you like some company, sir?" The figure finally spoke after a couple minutes. The voice surprised Roy. It was a woman-no a girl-and compared to the tough talking broads from Central it was like day from night.

Roy relaxed further, though his instincts still kept him on edge, ready to kill the girl at a moment's notice. "Well, you have me at a bit of a disadvantage. You've seen my face but I haven't seen yours yet. How about we talk face to face?" Roy sensed the girl finally trusted him and she reached up to pull back her hood.

Roy was amazed. Her hair was uncombed, dirty and tangled with the ends split and her face was smudged with dirt. It almost seemed as if she worked hard to make herself look ugly but she failed completely. Though she tried to hide it, the girl was simply the most beautiful person Roy Mustang had ever seen. She was nearly a woman, possibly was and her features were flawless. Her red eyes were a mixture of sadness and pure naivety and her face was utterly perfect except for a small scar running along her left cheek. Even the scar, though, seemed to have been enchanted by her and forced to add to her beauty, lending an air of strength and resilience. Right there, sitting with her body concealed under heavy robes, her face scarred, her hair in ruins and her face dirty, she could still put the most beautiful models anywhere in Amestris to shame.

And she was offering herself to him. Roy felt almost guilty at the idea, that he was not deserving of someone so beautiful especially since she was an Ishbalan and he had murdered her people. Someone like her should be romanced and fallen in love with, not taken as a common whore. Still, having lived in the desert around so much ugliness and death without any pleasure at all, the urge was almost unbearable. He wasn't sure if he made the excuse or it was real. However, he invited her to come to his room with no obligation to get her (and himself) out of the danger and to talk.

There were fairly strict rules against any sort of fraternization with Ishbalans. However, they were made by stuffed shirts in Central who only cared about avoiding a scandal and embarrassing the military. Among the rank and file, the practice was done "on Bradley's right side," so to speak, and the military turned a blind eye to it. However, the practice was still taboo for officers, especially those of Roy's stature. Thus when they snuck back to his quarters he started a small fire in one of the closets on the other side of the building to distract everyone else.

The quarters were Spartan but clean, and coming in from the streets of Ishbal City they were almost luxurious. There was a much more steady water supply than out in the desert camp and so there was no water restriction.

For a moment they simply stood in the middle of the room facing each other. Roy resisted the urge to take off his jacket or move towards the bed. He was an officer in an occupying army, with a young Ishbalan girl alone in his room. He realized he was in total control and even the slightest suggestion of sex would be an order for her. Finally, without consciously realizing it, he heard himself asking the question that had been on his mind during the whole journey back from the park.

"Why did you come with me?" he whispered.

"Because you asked me to."

"Yeah, but you came alone with a soldier you'd just met. What would you do if I tried to take advantage of you or worse?"

"I offered myself. If you tried to take advantage of me, it would only be theft, taking without paying. Besides, I'm not as helpless as I look."

"I'm more dangerous than I look."

"You looked alone and out of place. You walk with the stiffness of an officer but you look too young and hesitant to be comfortable." She saw the surprised look on his face. "When your life depends on reading someone's intentions, you get good at it. Everyone else is dead."

Mustang looked at the floor. The whole moment seemed surreal, standing in a room alone with an Ishbalan girl after he'd murdered her kin not 2 weeks ago. She completely taken control of the conversation and had wisdom he couldn't see himself ever acquiring anytime soon. He was helpless.

"What's your name?"

"Roy, Roy Mustang. What about you?"

"Kalina." They stared at each other quietly. Roy was still transfixed by her beauty and with a soul that seemed far more complex than anyone he'd spoken to in a long while, he was enchanted. "Before we do this, is it alright if I take a shower. I don't think I've showered with clean water since the war began."

Roy stared at her, mouth open at his own selfishness. She seemed to take it as outrage at her brazenness. "You can deduct it from my fee if you want."

"Shower, please, you need it." He gasped and covered his mouth. "Wait, I mean, I don't mean you don't not need it. I mean, wait that came out wrong." She giggled at him and he felt himself blushing like two school kids. He tried to recover his composure and put some depth in his voice. "Please," he said with a fake depth that made her giggle even more and him blush even more. "I, I'll go try to find some clean clothes for you." He started towards the door when he noticed her trepidation. He took his gun out of the holster and handed it to her, handle first. "Just in case."

"Thanks, Roy."

Roy Mustang chuckled as he rooted around in the laundry looking for a set of bra and panties. He realized that he didn't feel the slightest bit ashamed or guilty as he was going on a panty raid. Perhaps it was because compared to how much Kalina already made him feel like a pervert, this was nothing.

After the nation had been sacked, plundered and ruined, Kalina was the very last treasure remaining in Ishbal. Grace, innocence, intelligence and a radiant beauty all stunned Mustang. He sure as hell didn't deserve her. He wondered where she came from, what her story was. If she had come from the eastern cities, it was likely he had killed someone she'd known.

He was grateful he still didn't have to ask anything of her as he gathered some clothing for her. At least at the moment he was doing something for her. However, after a couple hours and two or three close calls to being discovered, Roy decided to face her.

He opened the door gingerly and called out "It's me!" in the hopes he wouldn't be shot. When he heard nothing, he opened the door to his room, went in and locked it behind himself.

Even though he'd been away from her for several hours, the change was still stunning. Pieces of dirt and scabs that he'd assumed were there to stay had disappeared. Only the scar on her cheek remained, but it was only a thin white line. Her hair was completely untangled, brushed and fell about her shoulders.

She lay on his bed, naked. Her figure was as surprising as her face had been the moment she'd first thrown back her hood. The bulky robes and dirty rags she had covered herself with had done a perfect job of hiding a gorgeous, trim, figure.

One of the bags of clothing he had carried in loosened in his grip and fell to the floor breaking him out of his trance. He shook his head after he realized he'd been staring.

"You…are the most beautiful sight I have ever seen."