Art cred for this story's cover art goes to arl-phonse on DA. If you're a fan of AlMei at all, I guarantee you've seen and fallen in love with her art. I requested this picture back when I was writing RFD and knew that I would be writing this one. There's a link on my profile to the full thing :)

A sudden squeak echoed around the currently silent hall. Al blinked, confused as to what was going on, when a small white streak came running at him. For a few seconds a knee-jerk reaction, he almost thought he was being attacked. Then the small bear-cat leapt from the ground and attached itself to his shirt.

"She has not forgotten you, apparently," Mei said, smiling slightly. Al glanced up at her before looking back down and picking the creature off his chest.

"Hello, Xiao Mei," he said, smiling himself now. "It's good to see you too."

She almost seemed to grin at him as he lifted her up so that she could perch on his shoulder.

He took a deep breath, then looked back up at the Empress. She really did look quite impressive. The last time that Al had seen Mei, she had been a small 12 year old girl with blood stained pink clothes. Now at 16 she had matured quite a bit. Not only was her face now more narrow, but she seemed taller and had obviously begun to develop more of a shape. Ed's familiar insult of bean girl hardly seemed to apply anymore.

The outfit was nothing short of regal, all different shades of red with gold accents and streaks. The easily most impressive part of the entire outfit though was the crown that sat on her head. The entire apparatus seemed to double the size of her head. The color betrayed it as gold, and Al wouldn't doubt if it was near pure. He wasn't quite sure how she was able to keep her head up, let alone as straight as she was.

"How are you Mei—" he began to ask, but she cut him off before he could even fully say her name.

"Do you have a message for me from the Fuhrer?"

He blinked. "Oh, right! Yes! I do." He cleared his throat, but once again he was cut off.

"Your Majesty," one of the members of the court lining the room said, standing up. To Al's horror the man was speaking Xingese. "With all due respect to Your Highness, must we belittle these ancient and nobles halls with the tongue of foreigners? Some of us cannot speak their accursed language."

"I know for a fact you speak their accursed tongue, as you so call it," Mei responded in Amestrian, something that Al was sure had to be an insult. "After all, it was you that referred to me using its more foul terms until learning that that a brat from the Chang clan would indeed know how to speak it. Besides, wouldn't you consider it similar insult to have him pollute our halls with his butchered version?"

Al winced.

"… Of course, Your Majesty," the man said, smiling so thinly the lines of his lips could have rivaled that of a spider web thread.

"Now, Ambassador, your message?"

"Only this, Your Majesty," Al said, clearing his throat and speaking as loudly and clearly as he could. "That Fuhrer Mustang hopes that you will accept me in your halls as his representative, and that our prospering relationship may continue for many years to come."

"His hopes are recognized. Ambassador, you are of course welcome to reside here as a guest from Amestris."

"Thank you."

"If you wish to familiarize yourself with our customs—"

"I would like that very much."

There was dead silence in the hall following Al's interruption. His eyes widened and he began to turn slightly red, especially when whispering began to break out to break the silence. Mei had blinked, and underneath the makeup brushed across her cheeks, Al could tell that they were reddening slightly.

"Your Majesty," one of the men sitting to the right of Mei hissed, his voice somehow cutting through the whisperings.

"He is unaware, Lien-ti. Ambassador, for your own future reference, it is a capital offence to interrupt the Empress while she is speaking. There will be no punishment on account of your ignorance, but in the future you would do well to hold your tongue."

Al swallowed hard, then nodded.

"Thank you. I will."

"Perhaps your familiarization with our customs should begin sooner than you originally thought."

He managed to smile at the dry comment, even though his cheeks were still burning.

"Hai, are there any more requests today?"

"No, Your Majesty. Do you wish to retire?"

"As long as there are no more requests you wish to bring before me, yes." She locked eyes with the rest of the room, seeming to stare each one of them down. When no one spoke, she nodded.

"Very well, you are all dismissed."

With that, she stood, and swept her way off the throne and down the center of the aisle. Al barely caught her whisper to meet her in her private reception chambers as soon as possible as she brushed past him. Xiao Mei unceremoniously jumped off his shoulder and scurried after her master.

He was more or less left standing there gapping after her as the court gradually began to file from their seats, whispering amongst themselves. The conversations were all in Xingese, so Al couldn't understand more than a few words in most of them.

"Ambassador."

He turned when he heard the Amestrian. A Xingese man stood there, smiling hesitantly. It looked like he wasn't that much older than Al, only a few years at most. Other than that, his only distinguishing feature had to be his white trimmed, black outfit. All of the other noblemen and courtiers were wearing wide arrays of colors, but he was staunchly black and white.

Al sank into a bow at the waist, which was quickly mirrored by the Xingeseman.

"Ambassador, it is so nice to meet you." His Amestrian was halted and accented, but Al could easily understand him.

"Thank you," he responded automatically in his own language.

"I have wanted to meet an Amestrian for some time now."

"Really?" Al asked, frowning. He had gotten the impression that he wasn't too popular around here from the looks most of the Xingese kept giving him.

"Yes!" the man said eagerly. "My father served in the war. Not as a soldier, obviously, but he got to meet several Amestrians. The stories he told me about your people I have always wanted to see for myself."

"… you mean you want to know whether we're actually as weird as your father made us sound?" he asked with a slightly raised eyebrow. The Xingeseman flushed.

"I did not mean to…" he muttered a quick phrase in Xingese before his eyes lit up. "Offend. I did not mean to offend you, Ambassador. I… I just wanted to… perhaps if you want someone to teach you some of the customs of Xing? I would be willing to help."

Al hesitated, not quite sure if he wanted to take the offer from someone who seemed to view Amestrians as little more than an oddity, but he took a glance around first. Most of the people who were looking his way instead of walking past him with their noses up looked mildly offended just by his presence. Or maybe he was supposed to be doing something he wasn't, or he wasn't doing something he should have.

He could endure this man's amusement. It wasn't like he hadn't dealt with people's curiosity before. Apparently having blond hair in Xing was about equivalent to a seven foot tall suit of armor in Amestris.

"Thank you very much. I would appreciate that."

The man's eyes lit up. "Thank you. Or… You are welcome."

Al smiled a bit. "Maybe in return I can help you with your Amestrian. And teach you a few of our customs."

"Yes! Yes! I would like that very much."

"Well here's one right now," Al said, his smile growing. "Usually when Amestrians make a deal, they shake hands." He held out his right hand and gestured for the man to extend his own. Then he grabbed the appendage, shaking it up and a down firmly. A silly little grin crossed the Xingeseman's face at the gesture.

"Now we've made the deal."

"Yes. Now we have made the deal."

"And what is your name?"

The man blinked at him before turning red himself. "I am sorry, Ambassador. My name is Fei Qing."

"It's nice to meet you Fei Qing. Please, call me Al."

When Al finally managed to find the Empress's private receiving chambers, he was forced to wait outside for several minutes while the checked to see if he really was expected. Then he had to endure several minutes while they patted him down to make sure he wasn't carrying any weapons or poisons in to see her.

The room was quite large, probably large enough to host a party rather than just a few private guests. There were probably enough chairs and cushions to host a party as well. But seated in the center of it all at a table that seemed rather low to Al, was the person he really want to see.

"Ambassador," she said politely, smiling. He took that as a sign that he was allowed to approach, so he pulled one of the cushions over to sit across from her.

"Mei. How are you?"

She didn't answer for a moment, instead pouring steaming tea into a dainty china cup and pushing it towards him. Her mouth was held together tightly and her brow was folded thoughtfully.

"Ambassador, I know that we knew each other before." Knew each other? That seemed almost cold to Al. She couldn't at least say that they had been friends? She had had a major crush on him, he had saved her life at least two times, she had helped him commit suicide… Saying that 'they knew each other' seemed like a vast understatement.

"But considering the circumstances, I feel like it would be best if you were to call me Empress instead of by my given name. Though I personally do not object to you using it, others will and if you get used to calling me Mei at all, there is a higher chance of you slipping."

"Oh…"

She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. I wish we could talk to each other as Al and Mei, but unfortunately circumstance… well, it just doesn't allow it. How is everyone?"

"They're all fine," he said, unenthusiastically. Then he forced a smile a smile on his face. "Fuhrer Mustang is obviously Fuhrer. One of the stipulations of the surrender with Drachma was that General Amrstrong was no longer allowed to be a part of the military, so when Fuhrer Grumman died just after the war, he got the position. There are a lot of other people who wanted it, but everyone knew that the Colonel was the best choice. Lieutenant Hawkeye is serving as his personal assistant and bodyguard. She's happy there."

"And she hasn't had any more complications with her neck?"

"No," he answered, finally reaching out for the tea cup that Mei— the Empress had offered him earlier. "It's perfectly fine. She was in the hospital for a week or two, but it healed up fine. Of course it wouldn't have healed at all without you."

She smiled again. Al noticed that she wasn't drinking any tea herself.

"Ed and Winry are both fine. I wanted them to get married before I left, but that didn't happen."

"I heard that Ed was turned into quite the propaganda campaign." Al snorted.

"Yeah. The Fullmetal Alchemist. He was like a circus monkey until Mustang finally convinced the military that going behind enemy lines would be better for moral than selling bonds and campaigning. Even though it was a lot more dangerous, I think Ed liked it better. It was about that time though that Winry decided she had to be a doctor to treat the wounded. Neither Ed nor I wanted her to do it since that's what her parents were doing when they died, but she wouldn't take no for an answer."

"And what about you?" she inquired while Al took a sip of his tea. He was sure it was very good, but right now it was so hot that he could hardly taste the flavor.

"I helped out in a factory."

"You weren't fighting?"

"No," Al admitted, pushing the cup away from him slightly. Too hot. He hoped that that wasn't offensive too. "That was part of Ed's agreement with Mustang. Ed played monkey, and I stayed out of the war completely. It wasn't that hard, what with my medical history."

"Do you know what happened to Mr. Scar?"

"I don't," he had to confess. "The Ishvalan community was really split over the war. Some of them wanted to have absolutely nothing to do with it and let Amestrians kill themselves. Others wanted to help out to prove that they were ready to be allies rather than combatants. As far as I know Scar was advocating staying out of the war so that their people could have a break from the hatred that war spawns."

"Mr. Yoki?"

"I have no idea," Al said, laughing. "As far as I know he's probably still out there trying to convince people that he's got a heart of gold while's he trying to swindle your pocket book."

She smiled back at him, but didn't inquire about anything else so silence fell between them.

"Why did you not pour yourself any tea?" he asked to break it.

"Hmm? Oh, too much opportunity for assassination," she dismissed with a slight wave of her hand. "What are your plans while you're here in Xing? I have a hard time believing that Fuhrer Mustang just decided to pick you for the post of Ambassador."

Al didn't answer right away, still staring at her. 'Too much opportunity for assassination'? With tea that she prepared herself?

"I was hoping that I would be able to study the culture. I was really interested to see if I could learn alkahestry while I'm here."

"I'm sure I could find a teacher that would be willing to take you on. You could try to travel to my teacher, Master Hishu. He's one of the best alkahestrists in Xing, but there is no way to get to his home without traveling for a week on bad roads. And he wouldn't tolerate you leaving all the time to deal with Ambassador duties, nor would he come here to teach you. There are several alkahestrists employed here at the palace, but I could not take them away from their employment here to teach you."

"Is there anyone in the surrounding area that I could contact?"

The Empress paused, placing a single hand underneath her chin. The voluminous red sleeve fell so that her forearm was exposed.

"Hmm. Perhaps I would be able to contact my grandfather in the Chang Province. I was told that my second cousin Rikui has become quite proficient. She has been asking for some time now to come to court. Perhaps this is her chance. I'll contact him and see whether or not she would be willing."

"Thank you, thank you very much."

"You're welcome. Perhaps she will have success where I could not."

Al grinned at the mention of the snow dusted shack. "Omph, right?" he said, grinning and gesturing to his temples. She smiled back at him.