I pretty much have nothing to say about this chapter. Thank you for the positive reviews~
"Ai! Wake up!" "Mmmmmmm." Winry pulled the blanket off Ai. The brunette curled into a ball to try and stay warm. "Ai, you have to get up!" Ai slowly opened one eye and glared at the blonde. "The masters will be up soon. You can' be late! Don't you want to make a good impression?" Ai un-curled and stretched. "I already made a bad impression on Master Edward…" "Well, let's fix that shall we?" Winry threw a dress onto Ai. She got up while rubbing her eyes and stumbled to the bathroom. After taking a shower and drying her hair she got dressed, then realized she was over and hour late.
Ai slipped on her shoes and ran as fast as her legs would let her to the kitchen. "I'm sorry I'm late!" she announced when she got in the room, catching her breath. "This better not become a habit." Ai looked ahead of her. There stood the tall woman with her hair tied up in a bun. Lady Harris. "Of course not! I'll be ready on time tomorrow, Lady Harris." She glared at Ai then walked off to do her "work" which was pretty much just yelling and observing the other maids. Ai really didn't like her.
Ai got to work right away, not wasting anytime. She was stuck with the dishes again. That's what you get for being late. After all that work of preparing breakfast only Master Alphonse came downstairs to eat. The maids ate with him as the young master enjoyed talking to them. After Ai ate, a tray was forced into her arms again. "This time don't blow it." Ai frowned at Winry, "Thanks for the words of encouragement." She understood that Winry was asking her to bring the tray to Master Edward, which contained his breakfast. Ai remembered that he was up quite late last night and that's most likely why he didn't come down stairs.
Ai took a deep breath and knocked on her Masters door. She was gripping the tray with both hands this time, and watching were she stepped at all times. "Mmmmm, come in." Ai heard quietly, and she slowly turned the door knob.
The Masters bedroom was covered in darkness with only cracks of light peaking out of the curtains. It was obvious that Ai woke up her master which made her feel quite bad. She blushed when she looked at Edward. He was surrounded with blankets, with his long golden hair flowing down his back that was tangled from tossing and turning all night. "I-I'm sorry for waking you," Ai said quietly, "would you like some breakfast?" Edward rubbed his eyes, "Mmm, its fine. Sure, I'll take it." Ai walked quickly towards her master and set down the tray on the table next to his bed. He stared at it and frowned. Ai was worried she did something wrong and asked "Is everything okay, master?" Edward looked at Ai, displeased. "Can I get some tea rather then this god awful substance? The brunette looked quickly at the tray. There sat a glass of cold milk. "Yes, of course." Ai bowed and walked out of the room with the milk.
"You didn't give him THAT did you?" Winry looked worried. "What's so wrong about milk?" "Did he say anything?" Ai poured hot water into a teapot. "He asked me to get him tea." Winry sighed in relief. "Master hates milk." "I realize that now Winry." Ai seemed rather annoyed. She grabbed her tray and carefully went upstairs.
By the time she reached Edwards room he was already dressed and done half his breakfast. She carefully poured his tea and set it down beside him and she successfully left the room without tripping.
Ai did plenty of jobs that day and worked as hard as she could. She cleaned the kitchen, dusted every room in the mansion and swept the grand stair case. It was late afternoon once she was done her work and sat down for a rest, but once Winry saw her sitting she gave her another job to do. "Get off your butt!" Ai jumped off the sofa, "If you finished your work you're supposed to report to me or Lady Harris to get another job!" Ai didn't like it when she was yelled at and rather dramatically said "I'm sorry Winry! Give me another chance! I'll do better!" Winry sweat dropped "Don't worry about it. You can erm... clean the library. Our masters don't really clean up after themselves in there…" Ai did what she was told and proceeded to the library.
So. Many. Books.
Ai thought she died and went to heaven. There were shelves and shelves of books. Alchemy books. It seemed every book in that library was about Alchemy. But, she had to get to work. She couldn't get distracted. Ai began to pick up books from the floor and place them back on the shelves. The fourth book she picked up was entitled: "Alchemy and People: Human Transmutations". Ai was interested. She couldn't let herself put it on the shelf. What if she never found it again? She had to read it. "One book won't hurt… I'll only read a few pages." But those pages turned into chapters, and those chapters turned into books. "Are… You interested in Alchemy?" a voice said quietly. This scared Ai and she quickly stepped back and tripped on her own two feet and fell to the ground. "Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." A hand appeared in front of Ai offering to help her off the ground. Judging from the glove on the hand it was Edward who scared her, but she looked up just in case. Sure enough it was. She blushed at took his hand and soon she was standing again. "I-I'm sorry, Master. I'll g-" Edward cut her off, "You didn't answer my question." Ai stared at him blankly for a few seconds, not because she didn't' know the question he asked her, it was just that he looked to attractive in that pony tail. She quickly caught herself zoning and answered him. "Y-yes. Well… I study it actually." Edward fixed his collar and a cocky smile appeared on his face. "Well, I was once a state alchemist." He looked accomplished and proud. "Oh really? How did that go?" "Well." There was awkward silence for a few seconds. "I was offered an entry into that exam, but I decided not to take it." Edward no longer seemed proud. "Well, you aren't easily impressed are you?" He smiled at Ai. She didn't know if she was supposed to say anything to that so she just blushed and continued to clean.
"You know… if you would like, you can use this library when you have free time." Ai's face lit up. "Really?" The blonde was amused by how excited she was. "I could care less." "Thank you." Edward nodded; got the book he was looking for and left the room. I seemed like forever until she stopped blushing. She couldn't stop thinking about her encounter with Edward. Realizing the time, Ai finished her work in the library and left for the maid's quarters for another night of chatting.