Innocent Banter

Chapter Two – Musings of a Refugee

Many things rushed through Tenzin's head at this point in time. She didn't know how or why but she couldn't help but look forward to her meeting with that dashing man. She had no grandiose ideas about the meeting. She had been living in Amestris for years now and she knew from past experience that if you were over twenty-five years old and if you were a foreigner you were, most assuredly, on the shelf. In her mind Tenzin knew that this Alex Louis Armstrong would be nothing more than a friend to her, at least, that was her natural assumption as she certainly wasn't going to diminish herself for no man.

During this time she quietly, but in hurried steps, walked over to the registration desk that was in the center of the room. The receptionist, a thin nurse with sharp features but she had beautiful auburn hair that was tightly twisted into a tight bun that was demurely fashioned at the nape of her neck, was carefully organizing papers on her desk. As Tenzin drew closer she saw that the receptionists name tag read 'Eleanor Blumstein' and Tenzin quietly prayed she could pronounce her last name. At that point the receptionist suddenly looked up and smiled at Tenzin, looking the clearly foreign lady up and down.

"Welcome to Saint Nicodemus Military Hospital, how can I help you Ma'am?" Eleanor asked, her blue eyes sparkling in the brightly light room.

"I am looking for a Sonam Bach." Tenzin answered giving the receptionist a warm smile in return; after all a smile is contagious and for Tenzin it meant building a polite bond with another person.

"May I ask what relation you are to the person you are seeking?" Eleanor asked, shuffling through the papers on her desk, the light ruffling sound showing she was intent on helping Tenzin.

"I am her Aunt, I am known as Tenzin." She replied, once again tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"For security reasons how would you spell her name and what is her birthdate?"

"S-O-N-A-M, pronounced seu-namm, B-A-C-H, pronounced b-A-k. Her birthdate is September 18, 1884. Is there any other questions ma'am?" Tenzin dutifully replied.

"No, that is all." The receptionist replied, picking up a file folder, the little tab on it revealing that it was Sonam's medical file. "Your niece is in room 305b Miss Tenzin." Eleanor said with a flourish.

Nodding Tenzin gave a deep bow of gratitude and then she started to go towards the stairs. Then, realization hit her; she did not know where room 305b was! Turning she hurried back to the receptionists desk, a blush of embarrassment discoloring her tan face.

"Excuse me?" Tenzin squeaked out, not wanting to bother the nice receptionist again. "I am sorry for bothering you again, but how would I get to room 305b?"

At this Eleanor blinked for a second, not many people bowed these days…Shaking her head for a second her cheery smile returned. "You go to the stairs, third floor and it is the fifth door on the right."

Nodding at this information Tenzin bowed curtly again and scampered back to the stairs. Slowly she started to climb them, clutching the full skirt of her dress she moved it out of the way so she could see her feet and she started up the stairs. 'Please don't let me fall…please…oh lha don't let me fall.' she prayed as she hurried up the stairs. Compared to earlier when she was with that Mister Alex Louis Armstrong she was calmer as she wasn't so close to her niece. She felt the need to know how her niece was. After all, Sonam was all that Tenzin had left and although she was good at hiding her worry about her twenty-four year old niece she was ever the worrywart.

That is why when she got the letter about Sonam being in the Military Hospital nearly because Tenzin to have a heart attack. 'First she joins the military, then she goes off to the Ishvalan War, THEN she gets herself shot!' Tenzin thought to herself as she shook her head and twirled her loose piece of hair.

Once she had hurried up the three flights of stairs she hurried to her niece's room, opening the door a look of relief crossed over her face as she saw her niece. Dropping the skirt material from her hands she couldn't help but sag against the door frame. Tenzin's right hand gently rested against her pounding chest.

Slowly she walked over to a chair near Sonam's hospital bed and sat there, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Dark circles where under her nieces eyes, a light scratch marred her upper check, though that was something Tenzin was used to as Sonam, once she got adjusted to the life here in Amestris, took part in most scuffles.

'You are still the same little girl…just grown up.' Tenzin thought as she leaned over her niece and gently brushed away some of the hair from her forehead, her eyes carefully checking Sonam over. 'You always have been the one to get injured. Even when you were young and during the invasion you got injured, I can still remember that fearful look in your eyes when I came into my sister's chambers. I remember all that blood coming out of her tiny body because you had somehow lost your right hand – the man standing over you wielding that sword. Oh Sonam, I tried so hard to save more of our family, I just didn't get there in time.'

Leaning back into the chair Tenzin shook her head and started to gaze out of the window near the bed. She had learned many things as they fled through Xing and over the Great Desert and into this country named Amestris, where they had finally found refuge. She had learned not to rely on yourself for all things as you couldn't provide all that you needed by yourself. You had to rely on your cunning and ability to blend in to receive help from strangers. However, her faith in the people of the world had not diminished because of the invasion of the Xingese into her home country. Ever since Tenzin was young she knew that the peace between Xing and Narayan was tentative, and apparently the Empress of Naryan's internal weakness was the downfall of the Narayan government. 'Choden always was a foolish girl.' Tenzin thought bitterly, sadness filling her, 'If she had kept all her husbands happy then none of this would have happened, if she would have taken that eighth husband…we all could still be alive. However…she did pay the ultimate price protecting what she had often written to me as her greatest treasure, her little one. Besides, what can one expect from a girl who ascended the throne at the age of fourteen?'

Sighing softly Tenzin looked at the busy street, she still marveled, even after all these years, all the beautiful colors in Amestris, the rich blues that one never saw in Narayan. Although in Xing you also saw rich colors, but mostly of the red and purple variety. In Narayan, you mostly saw rich earthy colors like brown, grey, black and if you were a monk or nun you saw orange and violet. It was strange, Tenzin often mused, how the colors of the nation defined the nation in the minds of foreigners.

'In this country, even the people's hair and eyes are richly colored! This is the first country I have seen the color yellow in the hair, not to mention their eyes, their eyes are this lovely blue – like that Mr. Armstrong who had the loveliest blue eyes I have seen in a while also, like my friend Mariam, her eyes are the loveliest red I have ever seen and I dislike the color red!' Tenzin mused, twirling her hair lackadaisically as she listened to her niece's gentle breathing. It was reassuring to be able to think about these things again; as long as her niece was alive Tenzin was happy. However, for some reason the Xingese Invasion was stuck inside Tenzin's mind today, it slightly began to darken her mind as her brows knitted.

'Why couldn't I have saved more of my family? I tried so hard and yet all I could save was Sonam. Why couldn't I have at least saved one of my sisters as well? I moved over the Akar Mountains as fast as I could, but it was winter and most of the mountains were impassable. Should I have used the method by the Great River? But that was also the route the Xingese Army was taking so I would have soon been captured.' A soft sigh escaped Tenzin as she looked back to Sonam, a small smile forming on her face. 'At least I was able to save you Sonam…' she finally admitted to herself.

She had had been through this demeaning thought process before, she had done it often when she was younger. After all she was only seventeen when this invasion happened and through her sheer willpower, ability to think on her feet she was able to outrun an army to save her family, or at least try. That was more than most people had done their entire lives, and that was more than enough for Tenzin. She never wanted to do anything more now that live out her life in Amestris as peacefully as she could, helping bring lives into the world as a practicing midwife in the Eastern Sector of Amestris. Why had Tenzin gone into this profession? She loved children, adored them, and as she had been there for her friend Miriam's first birth experience she was shocked at the inexperience most so-called Doctors had in the area of helping a woman give birth! In fact, it shocked Tenzin that this 'civilized' country really had no idea how to ease a woman's pain during labor or how to help bring the baby into the world.

So during this time period she pushed the doctor out of the room in a fit of righteous exasperation and started to work on saving Miriam's opinion of having children. Since then Tenzin has helped birth at least fifteen children as Giribaz is a very small town but fifteen children is still a lot of children. The work doesn't pay a lot either, not that Tenzin minds as she also subsistence farms and she knows how to dry things and hunt so she never is really low on food. Unlike most of the other a ni in training of Narayan she didn't take a vow of vegetarianism, she saw no point in it. Her simple reasoning was 'if an animal is hungry enough it will eat another animal – I am but an animal so I will eat another animal if I am hungry enough'. It wasn't impressive logic but to be honest Tenzin was very fond of meat in her childhood but her dislike of blood has grown over the years so she eats it less and less as she grows older.

Slowly her eyes closed, a yawn escaping Tenzin as she grew comfy in the peculiarly hard chair. Propping her elbow up into the window she rested her head on her hand and slowly began to drift off, her relief finally causing her stress to ease away. After all, Sonam was safe and all was well in Tenzin's little world.