Chapter Three
Ed stamped his way back into town with Al looking like a shambling snowman behind him. Over sixty centimeters of snow had fallen overnight and more was coming. It had made searching the hills nightmarish. The snow was already close to being up to his knees and Al had rescued him from three drifts by noon. Wet to the knees, with ice balls forming everywhere, Ed could no longer feel his living toes. His automail was so cold that it knifed into his core and he wasn't sure he would ever be warm again. They had come across several hunters and people skiing. Worse, even with Al toting a gun, tourists kept coming up to them to ask the way to the best trails to ski or where the best game trails were. Ed was fairly sure if there was a place to make a red stone around here it sure as hell wasn't in those highly trafficked woods.
"This is pointless," Ed raged.
"You have to learn to be patient, Brother. We've barely had time to cover just a little bit of the forest. We probably need to go in deeper," Al said placatingly as they entered the Dew Drop Inn. Sabrin was back behind the bar. She waved, welcoming them in with a wide smile.
"That's the problem, Al. It's too big and we don't know where to begin."
"Well, that's what we're back here for. Dr. Endymion said..." Al looked around to see if anyone might overhear then decided to err on the side of caution. "You know what she said."
Ed nodded, Halia's warnings about trusting locals in his ears. "She's over there with Winry."
The brothers went over and sat at the table with them. Winry's eyes raked over Ed's red, wind-burned face as he sniffled because his nose was beginning to defrost.
"No luck?" she asked.
Ed sluiced the slush off his hair. "None."
"It's early," Winry said and changing the subject, " It's been a crazy day at Dr. Endymion's office. I don't know how you do it, Halia."
"It'll be insane for days. The first snowfall always brings a plethora of injuries," Halia said, somewhere between regretful and happy at the prospect of lots of interesting cases.
"Her patients have been very understanding about me being there. It's amazing how much gossip flows through a doctor's office," Winry said, her eyes wide with surprise at that fact.
"Anything we can use?" Al asked, eagerly.
"Unfortunately no but Zak's friends are supposed to meet us here," Winry replied.
"Not to interrupt but there is only a half menu at lunch. Those meat pies you liked are only sold at night," Halia said, pointing to the menu placard on the bar.
"Damn, well I guess stew would be good," Ed scowled, disappointed. "I can't feel my feet. I need to warm up."
"Do you mind me asking, how cold does it get around the docking ports?" Halia whispered, tapping the back of his hand.
Ed looked at his glove-covered metal hand then over at Winry who shook her head. "How did you know?"
"Practiced ear. I can hear the subtle hum of the mechanisms." Halia flushed slightly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried. I can't curb my medical curiosity."
"It's okay. And the answer is very cold . The metal drills the cold right into me but it's better than being in the desert where you can accidentally fry yourself on your own limbs," Ed said wryly, memories of accidentally frying his own torso with his arm while in Liore dancing in his mind.
"I haven't seen a lot of automail. I've never thought about that. You didn't mention that sequella, Winry," Halia said.
"That's because she's a huge automail freak. She thinks the stuff doesn't suck," Ed said then yelped as Winry's foot found his innervated ankle.
"You know Ed, if it's so terrible, I can always take the automail back and we can prop you in a corner and use you as a coat rack...no you're not tall enough for that." Winry glared at him.
"No need to be mean," Ed pouted.
"She has a point, Brother," Al said.
"No artist likes to have their creations denigrated, Edward," Halia said, with a cluck of her tongue.
"I know. I didn't mean it that way. Sorry, Winry." Ed pulled a long face. He hated hurting Winry. He needed to learn to think before he spoke. "I just...I just wish I didn't have to have automail."
Winry reached over, tapping his hand. "I know, no one really does." She glanced up. "Here comes the waitress."
Talk of automail and investigating the woods silenced when outside ears grew near. Winry ordered a pot of tea, seeing Ed could really use it and both put in an order for stew.
"Are Zak's friends here yet?" Ed looked around. He saw a few kids in the restaurant having lunch, but none that seemed interested in him or Halia.
"Not yet but they will be. There's been no word about Zak," Halia said, remorse shining in her eyes.
Al's head tipped up. "Sheriff Leatherby just came in."
Ed's gold eyes canted towards the door. He scowled, seeing the large man with his young military liaison had spotted his table. "There's not going to be any avoiding them, is there?"
"Not now, I'm afraid." Halia twisted a lock of hair around her finger. "You're not getting out of it this time without raising suspicions that you're avoiding him."
"He's coming over," Winry whispered.
The waitress beat the sheriff and his military hanger-on to the table, setting out the tea tray. Leatherby glanced at Dr. Enydmion, his eyebrows raising as if he expected immediate introductions. "Afternoon, Doc. I noticed you have some guests. Here for the snow?" Leatherby asked, looking at Winry a little too long for Ed's comfort.
"No, this is Winry Rockbell, an automail expert here consulting with a few of my amputee patients and her cousins, Ed and Al Rockbell. They're here for the hunting," Halia replied, gesturing to the boys. "This is Sheriff Leatherby and Second Lieutenant Dance."
"Nice to meet you, sir. You have a very pretty town here," Winry said, nudging Ed's toe, hoping he took that as a hint to let her talk.
"Thank you, Miss. Will you and your cousins be in town long?" Leather asked, his eyes raking over Al, obviously taking in both the armor and the hunting rifle prop. Dance kept her mouth shut, her hazel eyes boring into Edward until she made him very uneasy.
"Oh, I don't think so, probably no more than a few days, sir," Winry said and the waitress came back with their food. "I have patients of my own to look after and, with all due respect to your lovely town, I'm not into winter sports."
"Not even hunting?" Leatherby smiled but it wasn't warm.
"Even me and Al aren't much on hunting, just trying to reconnect with Dad. He liked it," Ed lied, barely keeping a straight face as he poured more tea for everyone. "But we don't ski at all and I'm not good at sitting still so we needed something to do while we were here with Winry." Ed rolled his shoulders.
"Brother really is bad at sitting still," Al offered and Ed glared daggers big enough to puncture armor.
"I was wondering why hunters would come back so early." Leatherby's brow creased, his gaze going back to Al. "Aren't you cold in that armor, son?"
"I'm good," Al said, sheepishly. Ed tried not to wince. It was never good if people got too interested in his brother.
"I'm afraid to know what you think you'll find in the woods dressed like that," Dance said, breaking her silence.
"My brother is afraid of bears," Ed said, with a hint of a smile. Winry's head jerked up at that but she held back her surprise.
"Oh. Well, that could be a problem here. We do have them. That's probably what got these missing people," Dance replied, an ominous tone to her voice. She glanced at the doctor as she said it.
"Missing people?" Winry asked, innocently.
"The good doctor didn't tell you?" Dance sounded surprised.
"My brother and I haven't spent much time talking to Dr. Endymion," Al said.
"And we've been so busy with the medical talk, there's been no time for anything else," Winry added. She saw just a flicker of relief in Halia's eyes at not being implicated in anything.
Dance and Leatherby gave them suspicious looks. "The doctor's been worrying about a few people that have gone missing," Leatherby said in a tone that suggested all the worry was for nothing. "The forest can be a wild and dangerous place. You boys should be careful."
"We'll keep that in mind," Ed said, digging into his stew.
"Well, we'll leave you to your meal. Do come back tonight. This is the place to gather and talk in the evenings," Leatherby said, resting his hands briefly on Ed's shoulders. The boy jerked away.
"So I've told them Sheriff," Halia put in. "If the weather's good, we'll probably be here."
Leatherby and Dance moved back to their table but the frequent looks they gave everyone suggested that they were unconvinced of Al, Ed and Winry's motives. The teens shifted around uncomfortably, eating in silence. Ed knew Leatherby had to have felt the metal docking port in spite of the thick layers of clothing he wore. The young alchemist was almost disappointed when several kids bounded in. Now Leatherby would really know something was up.
Halia got to her feet so fast she nearly upset the table. "Rona! Look at you, You have a feverish look." She clamped a hand to the forehead of the nearest girl. "Let's all go to the clinic just to be sure this isn't catching." The doctor whirled around to face Winry. Ed hoped the flabbergasted children could keep their mouths shut. "Winry, you can come back to the clinic later when you and your cousins are done with lunch."
"Okay. Try not to work too hard," Winry replied, breezily.
"I'll try." Halia herded the kids out.
"That was close," Ed hissed. "It was dumb to meet these kids out in the open."
"We didn't think that out well, I guess," Winry said, looking relieved that the kids hadn't blurted anything out. "Hurry up and eat. Let's not leave food and give them even more to wonder about."
Ed nodded and forced himself to not bolt down his food. He could tell the sheriff was far too suspicious already. Still, he and Winry finished fast and, together with Al, headed to the Clinic. Halia had the kids in her office, working their way through her stash of ribbon candy.
"Sorry about all of that," Halia said, worry evident on her pale face. "We should have met here from the beginning but I was afraid to have them come straight here."
"We don't blame you, Doctor Endymion. You might disappear, too...but now it looks like the kids have a real reason to be here," Al said, acutely aware that the kids were staring at him, more than a little afraid.
"It's okay, kids. Al won't hurt you," Halia said, interpreting the looks. Ed knew that only made it worse from the way Al's armor softly clinked as he hunched in on himself. "Tell him and Ed what you know about Zak."
Rona, the young girl Halia had singled out for a 'fever,' stepped forward. "We don't know much. Zak was spending a lot of time near Hollow Creek. A lot of the crystals he likes wash up there."
"Crystals?" Ed broke in, unable to help himself. He knew there was no chance that a Philosopher's Stone would just wash up but he could always hope.
Rona pulled a chunk of rock out of her pocket and dropped it in Ed's hand.
"Quartz," Halia said. "The mountains here are riddled with it and some semi precious stones, too. The kids like to rock hound."
Ed nodded and gave Rona back her treasure. "I see. Thanks for showing me, Rona. What else do you know?"
"Zak saw a building out near where he was collecting stones but it was getting dark so he came back home without looking inside. He went back the next day." Rona's eyes clouded.
"That was the day he went missing," Halia interjected.
"I was supposed to go with him," a ruddy faced boy said, a forlorn look in his sage-green eyes.
"Given what he found in that building and that he disappeared there after, I'm very glad you didn't go, Tyler," Halia said, giving him a quick hug. "And I've already told you what Zak found inside that building."
Ed's face molded into a grim mask as he nodded slightly. "Do you think anyone would be able to tell me how to get to the building?"
Tyler sucked in his bottom lip then bobbed his head. "I'm sure I could. Zak told me where it's at but I'm too afraid to go out there."
"Maybe you could draw us a map. We don't want you in any danger," Al said, spreading his big hands.
Ed's eyes sliced over to his brother angrily. He knew Al was right, of course but he didn't want to waste time trying to decipher a map of the forest. "That's a good idea."
Several minutes and one map later, the kids dispersed and Halia walked Ed and Al out of the clinic, Winry trailing after them. Edward scowled, seeing Leatherby heading their way but the sheriff's eyes were on the doctor and not him.
"Doc, there's been an incident. Three cross country skiers hit some bad snow and have gone missing." The man's hard eyes flicked to the brothers. "We could use all the help we can get to find them. A big storm is on the way."
Ed's shoulders slumped as Winry and Al's eyes turned to him. "Of course, we'll help." He ran a thumb over the pocket where the map rested. Who knew? Maybe the search area would take them past Hollow Creek.
"Al, we'll lock up your hunting rifle in my office and I'll grab my medical kit," Halia said, taking the gun.
"I'll wager this is far more than you were expecting on your vacation," Leatherby said sardonically.
Ed rolled his shoulders. "If we can help, I'll be happy enough." He struggled to keep his dislike of this man off his face.
"You three might want to stay close to Halia out there," Leatherby suggested. "The snow might be unstable and you don't know the land."
"We'll keep that in mind," Ed replied grimly, wanting away from this man. He set off every alarm in Ed's head and probably would have even without Halia's warnings in his ears. He was just as glad to be heading back to the woods with his brother, Winry and Halia, leaving Leatherby going off on his own trajectory. Ed shivered as his wet, wool-stinking clothes started frosting back over. There was nothing to do for it but to ignore his discomfort and join the search.