17 April 1925

The idea had been simple.

After an all-time low crop turn out, they wanted to boost morale. It had been one of the Elders' idea and Mei had grasped at it. Protests were getting worse and they were starting to get death rates back from the provinces. Very few were actually dying of starvation, but illnesses were ravaging an undernourished nation, particularly the southern provinces who depended most heavily on the crops turning out. New crops had been planted, but as it was still only April, there was still a ways off until they would be able to reap the rewards of the new season.

The Elder had proposed they hold some sort of celebratory event. The palace would pay for the party and at the same time make a show of strength, because there were still several nations knocking on the door looking for money. Al wondered how paying for an entire city's celebrations would help a problem that had to do partly with debt, but he knew that if he voiced such a concern that he would be ignored. Mei would probably pay attention to him, and maybe even Ling, but both of them had been too engrossed in the problem to be paying attention to an Ambassador that wasn't even really supposed to be privy to the subject matter.

Many ideas were tossed around about what they could do that would be a celebration, feed the people, and show strength all at the same time, and eventually they had come to the conclusion of a parade.

He wasn't entirely sure of everything that would entail at first, but he came to discover it mostly consisted of hiring a lot of dancers and entertainers to walk through the city gathering people until they reached the palace where there would be a feast provided. The Elders had not anticipated Mei wanting to accompany the procession, and indeed tried to convince her not to, but she insisted that the actually see her. In the end they had to agree because what better show of confidence than to appear in public? They did win the concession of having several others with her so that she wouldn't be an easy target.

Al was chosen to be one of the people accompanying Her Majesty, though Al wasn't entirely sure why. He suspected that Mei had something to do it and she wanted him near her, but he also supposed he could have been chosen on account of his skill with alchemy, alkahestry, and martial arts. That was perhaps the more logical option, but then again he was in Xing so who knew? Al loved the Xingese, he really and truly did. The nation had completely captured his heart, its Empress regardless. But sometimes he simply could not fathom the people.

He just wished that he wasn't having so much trouble with his horse. Someone was supposed to have gotten it ready for him, but he had been added onto the list of people to accompany the Empress late enough that they didn't have the proper regalia available for him. When the mistake was noticed, a servant was sent off to fetch the proper attire for the horse and Al left to stand there holding the horses' reigns hoping he didn't look ridiculous because he didn't know what he was doing. Which was entirely likely, he realized as he noticed a noble from the Lee clan walk by, snickering. In fact, likely.

There wasn't much else for him to do though, really. He couldn't release the horse lest it run away and he couldn't mount it because it wasn't wearing the proper regalia. Plus he wasn't sure he even remembered how to ride horses. He had learned once before, surely. Somewhere. Sometime. He couldn't remember when he exactly but it had to have happened

Maybe.

"Are you having difficulties, Ambassador?" Al glanced up at the figure that had just approached on her own horse, on the whole a magnificent creature that was arrayed as only the Empress's horse could be.

"They didn't have the right uniform for the horse," he mumbled, mostly because he noticed the several other people behind Mei. Two elders, three guards, and a handful of her allied siblings. Al was actually rather surprised that Ling was not among them. He resolved to ask the Xingeseman why he had chosen not to be a part of the parade. Al had actually been hoping that he would so that Al wouldn't be left alone. Mei wouldn't be able to pay attention to him because she would be the focus of the affair, which would leave Al with no companionship.

"I assume the error is being corrected?"

"The stable hand is fetching the right one now, Your Majesty."

Mei did not respond so they waited for another minute and a half before the stable hand came running back towards them and more importantly the horse. The boy couldn't have been much older than 16 and immediately began blushing when he realized his audience. He then immediately set to work on the quickest dressing of a horse that Al had ever witnessed and, afterwards, bowed so low to Mei that his body was at a 90 degree angle.

"Join me, Ambassador." Al blinked in momentary surprise, but then nodded. Joining her would mean that they would ride side by side, at least to the parade, and the rest of their party would be obligated to back away to a distance that they could not overhear them. He eyed the horse then took a deep breath and suck one foot in the stirrup then heaved himself over the side of the horse. It was far from graceful, but he made it in on the first try which was an accomplishment enough for him to be satisfied with.

"When was the last time you rode a horse, Alphonse?" Mei asked as he managed to convince the horse to walk forwards, side by side with hers.

"I'm starting to think never. It was a long time ago. There was a horse back in Resembool that our neighbor would let me, Ed, and Winry ride sometimes. But he was always leading it by the reigns; we were just sitting on the back. Horses didn't like me much as armor. Fei might have taken me out riding at some point. But from the evidence, obviously I don't remember much of anything."

"You just need some time to get used to it," she said reassuringly.

"How long have you been riding?"

"I first learned to ride a horse side saddle when I was six years old," Mei said, initially cocking her head to the side slightly to think.

"You've been riding since you were six years old?"

"That is actually quite young for a princess. I know the Han princesses are first placed on a pony when they are four."

Al whistled, deeply impressed. "That's pretty crazy."

"Says the boy who began to learn alchemy at the age of four."

Al grinned at her. "I never said I wasn't crazy either. Now that Ed has actually had kids he's convinced that Mom was crazy to let us try alchemy at all, let alone as unsupervised as we were. And I have to agree with him. When Benny turned 5 and I realized that I had already started learning alchemy at his age? I was blown away. I couldn't believe it. It seems like it was so long ago…"

"Well it was nearly two decades ago."

"I don't feel that old."

"I don't think it's a matter of you being old, Ambassador. I'm pretty sure it's a matter of you learning at such a ridiculously young age."

Al laughed, probably louder than he should have, making him blush and glance guiltily at the entourage following them. When he looked over at Mei and saw her holding her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing at him, though, he decided that it had been worth it.

Or at least it would have been worth it if it hadn't been for the sharp voice that came from behind them.

"Empress!"

Both Al and Mei turned to look at the man, Xiong, who had spoken. His face was even sterner than usual, this time mixed with a heightening color that clearly conveyed his displeasure. "We are approaching the beginning of the parade now. Do you mean to continue to disgrace the honor of this event by joking with the Amestrian throughout the whole affair?"

Al watched as the smile she had been repressing was wiped clear of her face, replaced by the Empress mask.

"Of course not, Xiong. Ambassador."

Al bowed his head, all merriment gone, and tugged on the reigns enough that the horse fell back to join the mass of Elders, courtiers, and guards. They all gave him looks he wasn't entirely sure how to interpret other than 'unfriendly'. Xiong rode ahead slightly and began to speak to Mei in low tones, but from the sound of their voices floating back on the wind Al could tell that he was chastising her.

He pursed his lips. He wanted to do something to protect her against the Elder and his words, but there was nothing he could do.

He wished that they didn't have to do this. That 'they' weren't forbidden and scandalous and he could just make her laugh without someone complaining about the impropriety of it all! But as had been astutely pointed out by Ling… they were stuck in limbo. No way forward and no way back. Simply… there.

And there was nothing they could do about it.

29 July 1925

Mei thought that she wanted to spend every single day for the rest of her life exactly like this. There were no courtiers. There were no politicians or dignitaries. There were no debts. There were no riots, no protests, no problems whatsoever. The only thing that existed was Al.

They were lying on her couch, Mei tucked up against his side. She didn't worry at all about falling off the side because of the arm he had pulled around her, one hand rubbing circles on her back. It wasn't exactly a massage but it was more relaxing than she ever could have imagined. In turn, she was resting on his chest, tracing idle patterns on his shirt.

After the day she had had, honestly, she needed this. Which had been part of the reason Al had insisted on it. She had been forced to listen all day about how most of the crops in the southern clans had been destroyed by another brutal batch of moonsoons. She had felt so utterly helpless. There was nothing she could do to control the weather. She couldn't make crops return. She wanted to send food to the people, but there simply wasn't any. They were discussing agreements with Amestris and Aerugo to purchase some, but those probably would not come to fruition for a while yet.

In the end there wasn't much of anything she could do. And she had been planning on going to her room and staying up until the next morning studying what her predecessors had thought to do when Al had interrupted and told her that he knew what she was about to do and that he wouldn't stand for it. He had let her stress herself out too many times; this time he was going to nip it in the bud. She wasn't allowed to think about it.

Not for the first time, Mei felt her heart swell with how much she loved this man. She couldn't even fully describe it with any of the languages she knew. And the more she thought about everything he had done for her the more she felt like she needed to cry and laugh and kiss him until neither of them could breathe—and then she couldn't stand it any longer.

"Al…" Al made a confirming noise in the back of the throat to show her that he had heard her, but he didn't his shift position. "Let's get married."

This time he did move. He physically jerked and Mei took that as her cue to raise herself up, elbow on one side of Al, hand on the back of the couch. That way she could look him in his shocked golden eyes.

"What?"

"Let's get married Al." He frowned.

"But… Mei—"

"Lets just get married!" Mei exclaimed, dropping so that she could bury her full face in his chest. "Let's get married and spend every day like this and not have to worry about if we're going to get caught or only get to spend a few hours together. Let's just get married," she finished in a desperate whisper.

"But… how can we?"

"It usually involves being pronounced man and wife by someone with authority—"

"No, I… how can we?" he stroked the back of her head which encouraged her to lift it enough to look at him again. "The treaties and… Mei, I'm an Ambassador. And an Amestrian to boot, how can we…?"

They shifted position so that he could sit up straight, though he still kept a hand on the small of her back. "I don't care. I just don't care anymore. I love you and want to be married to you. I want to be able to spend the rest of my life with you without having to hide or pretend like we're only friends. I want to have children, Al. Don't you want that?"

"I... I mean I do. I would love that. But Mei, you can't… are you serious? Do you really mean it?"

"Yes. I'll tell the Elders tomorrow. I'll tell them that it's strengthening ties between our countries. I'll let them have some of their pet projects. I'll tell them whatever I have to. Do whatever I have to do. I don't care anymore Al." She smiled at him and put her arms around his neck. "We're going to get married."

"We're going to get married." His grin slowly began to grow.

"We're going to get married." She leaned in to kiss him, but he let go of her waist and got off of the couch they had been cuddling on. "Al?"

"If we're going to get married, I feel like I should do this properly," he said in response to her question. He dug in his pockets for something and then clapped, touching his hands to whatever it was he had pulled out. Then he got down on one knee in front of her.

"Mei Chang, you are more than just the Empress of Xing, you're the Empress of my heart. I love you and if you're going to give me the chance to spend the rest of my life with you I'm going to take it in a second. And even though you've already asked… Will you marry me?"

He held up the ring he had just transmuted from a spare gold coin he had tucked in a pocket.

"Of course," she responded, smiling. He slipped the ring on her finger before kissing her hand, which only made her smile wider. He then used his grip on her hand to pull her off the couch into the standing position he had just taken and began to kiss her.

The kiss last longer than their usual kisses and Al took advantage of the fact that Mei had taken off her crown a while ago to bury his hand in her ample amounts of hair. She loved moments like this. When there wasn't any Empress or Ambassador or Xing or anyone caring about what they did or didn't do… It was just the two of them.

"Ed is going to go crazy when I tell him."

Mei grinned. "I thought you said he liked me now."

"I said he doesn't resent you for stealing me away all the time anymore. And he'll never let me live down having married an Empress. And I doubt he'll give our children any slack just because they're Princes or Princesses."

"We'll have to invite them, obviously. And all of our old friends from Amestris. Dr. Marcho, Mr. Scar, Yoki, I guess inviting the Fuhrer is a given."

"Of course." Al loved seeing her grin like this. It was something so rare. She was also so stressed and worried all the time that this genuine excitement and happiness only came once in a blue moon. "We will have to invite all the politicians and dignitaries."

"I don't care. They can all see how much we love each other. We're going to get married."

"We're going to get married," he repeated, matching her grin with one of his own and then even surpassing hers. "Mei, we're going to get married!" He laughed and then grabbed her by the waist, picking her up and spinning her around. Mei laughed with him as he spun her around, around and around until he was so dizzy he tripped over his own feet and they both fell down on her massive bed. The only result thereof was to laugh some more while trying to detangle themselves from each other.

"I love you, Al," Mei said as Al pulled away from her. He paused, then took her hand.

"Mei. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone. And I… I never thought that we… I mean I always hoped but I never wanted to say anything because I knew it was impossible but Mei… The only thing I want more than to be married to you is for you to be happy. And if marrying you will make you happy then there is nothing in this world that will make me happier."

"There's nothing that would make me happier."

"Then we're going to be the happiest couple ever."

"We already are."

Al laughed and bent to kiss Mei.

"Yes. We are."