Whoo... Chapter 2 is here... This chapter is a bit longer, I think. This chapter is also done in Riza's point of view. Disclaimers are still the same... What else? Oh, well. Just start reading the story already.

As Riza followed Noelani out of her office, she called, "Get back to work, sir."

Noelani continued to lead her on, and Riza started to think about the night Noelani first appeared. Roy had called Hawkeye about something he wouldn't say. Riza was sure it was something stupid, but she went over anyway. She ended up finding a girl in Roy's house. Of course, Riza became a bit defensive and scolded herself for it later. However, she agreed to take Noelani home. Luckily, Riza's house wasn't too far away. As they came up to the door, Black Hayate's barking could be heard. Hawkeye opened the door, and Hayate immediately sat down and stopped barking.

"I hope you like dogs," Riza said as they walked in.

"I love animals," Noelani replied.

Hawkeye turned around to see that Noelani had sat down and was scratching behind Hayate's left ear, "You can take a shower if you want," she finally told Noelani.

"Thank you," Noelani said as she got up.

Noelani was led to the shower. She was given extra clothes to sleep in and to get dressed in tomorrow. Only then did Riza realize how tall Noelani was. Noelani was just as tall as she was and would fit into her clothes, if they weren't too small. After that, Riza went to Hayate and said while petting him, "You behave yourself." Hayate yipped in affirmation. Black Hayate was a black and white puppy, likely a Shiba Inu, but he was in the in-between stage. He no longer chewed everything in sight, but that was taken care of almost as soon as Riza adopted him.

"What rotten luck," she said in an affectionate voice, " Roy decides to slack off even worse than usual, and then this girl seems to fall out of the sky. Better yet, I have to keep her," her voice became more serious, "I wonder who she is… what happened to her… Well, I'm going to sleep," She put a blanket and pillow on the couch, hoping Noelani would see it.

That night, Riza's sleep was restless. Dreams plagued her mind. She heard animalistic cries, explosions and other forms of fighting, and voices of her comrades. The next morning, she found that she was halfway hanging off the bed. Riza was happy it was a day off from work. Groggily she got out of bed. She went into the room where she guessed Noelani slept. The couch was empty, but Hayate was curled up on the pillow. When Riza looked closer, there was a note with flowing handwriting on the blanket. It read:

"I went to find my horse. I lost her last night. I'll be back before noon."

Riza hoped she misread the note, because she totally did not understand it, "'Horse'?" her voice cracked from lack of use. Riza simply shrugged and fixed herself some tea.

After walking the dog, it was around ten o'clock. Riza decided not to go anywhere after that, because she didn't want to be gone when Noelani came back. She just sat at the table with Hayate. " Roy owes me," she thought. Well, he owed her more was more correct. She kept him on track, saved his life, and many times, kept his will burning. It wasn't an easy job, especially since she felt a distance between them. He never came to her for help, she went to help him. Was he really the playboy we all know and loathe? Or is he trying not to let her become attached emotionally to him? Well, it was a bit late for that-

In the midst of her thoughts, someone knocked on the door. Riza opened it and found Noelani. Noelani looked a bit tired, but in a good mood. She asked, "I hope you don't mind if I tethered Arabia out front for a while, do you?"

"What?" Riza asked as she looked behind Noelani. Sure enough, a beautiful white mare was standing there, tethered to a stake. Strange tack unlike the ones Riza had seen and packs lay on the ground. Why was Noelani so bold all of a sudden? Riza shrugged and said, "Fine, but if the police come and say we can't keep her there, then that's that."

"Thank you, Ms. Hawkeye," Noelani said cheerfully. She ran back and started picking up her stuff. Hayate followed her and stopped short of the horse. Both dog and horse stood frozen, staring at each other. Then Hayate slowly approached, and noses made contact. Noelani was about to take in her saddle but stopped to look at the scene. After some sniffing, Arabia blew in Hayate's face, and the dog was blown over. Noelani laughed, and Riza couldn't help smiling.

Over the following days, Riza and Noelani came to know each other. Even if Noelani wouldn't tell her about the night she appeared, Riza still learned a lot. Noelani was from a desert clan, but not Ishabalan. Her clan practiced alchemy and kept their distance from the Ishbalans. Her people, decades ago, weren't of the desert. They used to live in an area surrounded by mountains to the north and the desert to the south, but an endless drought forced them to move to the desert. They had no choice because there was no way through the mountains. Her clan was a nomadic group, moving their cities every time their wells ran dry. However, her people only moved two or three times in her lifetime. Her horse, Arabia, was a purebred desert horse. Her clan used the fastest horses in the world to travel and sometimes fight. Every now and then, bandits, sometimes even claiming to be military, would attack her clan. However, Noelani knew that they were probably just rogues looking for an easy heist. Never has her tribe been successfully raided. Often, Noelani would be gone for a day or two and never slept in Riza's house. She would say she was just "getting fresh air". Riza supposed that was how her people got out and about. Arabia was never tethered at Riza's house after that first day.

In turn, Noelani learned a lot about Riza. She talked about her military career, her friends, and even Roy's aspirations. She even told Noelani about Edward and Alphonse Elric searching for the Philosopher's Stone. Noelani said she was familiar with the Stone, and heard the horrible stories about it. However, she never looked for or researched it. She wasn't too interested in the Stone to begin with. Noelani told Riza about her alchemic skills. Basically what Roy could do with fire, she could do with water, ice, and air and was mostly skilled with using air. She could instantly change them into one of their two other forms too. She loved to use ice to make sculptures, and she could make paintings instantly. Noelani also carried a sword hilt to put ice swords in. Also, Noelani could make things, and herself, fly through the air.

Soon enough, Noelani and Riza became friends. Riza saw that Noelani's personality wasn't all too different from her own, except Noelani was a bit shy and quiet and not quite so calm and collected, but calm and collected nonetheless. The next day, Noelani was invited to meet the others at HQ. Introductions were a bit awkward. Riza saw that Noelani wasn't the best socialist, and Noelani left before lunch. It would be a while before she would next come to HQ and ask Riza for a favor.

End of chapter 2.

Sorry it's still short. I'm still in the intro phase and I know that most of you have something better to do than read around 2,000 words. Anyways, I hoped you're still enjoying it and would be happy if you reviewed.