"Okay, let's see."

Ed held up the map Kirina had drawn.

"We left from Central yesterday. Then the railway suddenly stopped a few miles back and we had to get off at the last stop. We've been walking for a couple of hours. So . . . where are we?"

"Brother, don't you have the map upside down?" Al asked.

"Ack!" Ed quickly turned the map sideways. "Okay, I think it's good now."

"Now it's sideways."

Ed turned the map one more time. "Okay, now. Where's Central?"

"That's it, isn't it?" Al asked, pointing to a large dot on the map.

"And what direction are we walking towards?"

"Hmm . . . looks like north." Al pointed to something hazy in the distance. "Those look like the Briggs Mountains, don't they?"

Ed plopped down on the ground. "Ah, no wonder the railways suddenly stop. No one can get across the Briggs Mountains."

"But how are we supposed to get to Beyond the Door? According to this map and Kirina's directions, the village is somewhere in the mountains."

"Uh, let me think."

Five minutes passed. Then ten. Then twenty. Then thirty. After an hour, Al asked, "Brother, exactly how long does it take you to think?"

Ed looked with annoyance. "Don't you have anything better to do?" he snapped.

Al shook his metal head. "Not really."

The sat in silence for two more hours. Finally, Ed stood up.

"I guess we should just find some place to camp out for the night and figure out how to get to the closest town," he said as he brushed off his pants.

"How far away is it?" Al asked.

Ed looked at the map again. "About three miles, I think." He grabbed his suitcase and started walking. "Okay, let's go."

Al was about to follow, but something stopped him. It was the sound of laughter.

"Brother, did you hear that?" he asked.

Ed stopped and turned around. "Hear what?" he asked.

Again, the sound of laughter swept the area. It was definitely a child's happy giggle.

"It sounds like it's someone laughing, doesn't it?" Al asked. "Like they're really happy."

Ed raised his eyebrows with confusion. "Al, are you getting a little unstable or something? I don't hear anything."

"But there's someone laughing!" Al protested. "I heard a little kid's laughter twice."

Ed scratched the back of his and nodded slowly. "Right. Okay, I believe you. Now let's go."

Al was about to protest, but followed his brother quietly instead. The sun was setting. The shadows of various plants and trees painted the dirt road. Three shadows were also walking. Ed's shadow, Al's shadow, and---Wait, that didn't add up. Al looked to his side and saw a pair of enormous dark brown eyes.

"Aaaaah!" Al shrieked.

Ed turned around with annoyance. "What is it? Did you see a spider or something?"

"Brother, look!"

Ed's eyes grew round. "It's an eye monster!" he shouted. "Run!"

Before both brothers could run away, the eyes started to laugh.

"Baka!" they giggled.

Al looked at the eyes closely and noticed other features. Dark eyebrows, long, wavy brown hair, a tiny nose, a smiling mouth. They huge eyes actually belonged to a young girl!

"Brother, it's not an eye monster," Al said with relief in his voice. "It's just a little girl."

Ed walked toward the girl. "Whoa, it is a girl," he said. He looked up at Al and grinned. "We're a couple of idiots, aren't we?"

The threesome laughed. The girl's laughter was the loudest. With a start, Al realized the sound was very similar to the one he had heard only moments before.

"Are you lost or something?" Ed asked the girl.

The girl shook her head and said, "Nee-san."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "Uh, what?"

"Nee-san. Nee-san."

Ed looked up at Al. "Any idea what she's saying?"

Al sat down so he and the girl could see eye to eye.

"What's your name?" he asked.

The girl smiled. "Nee-san!" she chirped.

"Your name's 'Nehsan'?" Ed asked and scratched his head.

The girl shook her head. "Nee-san!"

"Brother, nee-san means 'big sister'."

"How come you can understand her?" Ed asked.

Al shrugged and turned his attention back to the girl. "What letter does your name start with?"

"Nee-san?" the girl said with confusion in her voice.

"Does it start with the letter a?"

The girl shook her head and said in a subdued voice, "Nee-san."

"The letter b?"

Another subdued "Nee-san".

"C?"

"Nee-san."

"D?"

"Nee-san."

After a really long time, Ed took out his pocket watch and opened it. He growled with annoyance. Al had just spent forty-five minutes quizzing the girl on what letter her name started with!

"Al, can we go now?" he asked. "This is pointless!"

Al held up one figure. "Just a minute, Brother," he said and turned his attention back to the girl. "X?"

"Nee-san."

"Y?"

The girl's eyes lit up and she smiled. "Nee-san! Nee-san!" she said excitedly.

"All right. Now, what names start with the letter y?" Al thought about it for a moment.

"Yolanda?"

The girl shook her head and said in her negative tone of voice, "Nee-san."

"Yamane?"

"Nee-san."

Ed threw his hands up in the air with frustration. "Not again!" he shouted.

"Yasuko?"

The girl grinned and started laughing. "Himitsu nom!" she said. "Nom de nee-san, hermanita, Mamochka, et moi."

"What language is she speaking in now?" Ed asked with exasperation. He sat down on his suitcase and rested his head in his hands. "Does she switch languages every five minutes or something?"

"So that's a secret name?" Al asked.

"Nee-san!"

"All right. So does your name start with a z?"

The girl laughed and shook her head. "Nee-san! Bocal!"

"Oh, a vowel! Okay. Is it the vowel a?"

Ed stared at the twosome. There was something strange going on. How could Al understand her jumbled words? When had he learned the girl's language? It couldn't be that he just understood it from the girl's tone of voice and body language, could it?

"An e?"

"Nee-san! Nee-san!" the girl said cheerfully and clapped her hands.

"Okay. Now, what can it be? Is it Emily?"

"Nee-san!" the girl said gleefully and threw her arms around Al.

Al turned to Ed. "Her name's Emily!" he said.

Ed blew a stray strand of hair off his forehead. "Great," he said, clearly bored. "You've spent about an hour and fifteen minutes trying to figure out what this girl's name was. Can we go now?"

"Espera!" Emily said. She stepped towards Ed and asked, "Comment tu t'appelles?"

Ed looked up at Al. "What'd she say?"

Al laughed and stood up. "She's asking you what your name is."

"Oh. I'm Edward Elric." He pointed to Al. "That's my little brother, Alphonse."

"Edward," Emily said and pointed to Ed. She turned around and pointed to Al. "Alphonse." She turned back to Ed and said in an amused voice, "Chibi frere mayor."

Ed frowned. The look on Emily's face was the look many people got when they were making fun of him.

"She better have not called me short," he said and started walking. "Let's go."

Emily grabbed Al's hand and said, "Vamonos, Al-nii!"

"Huh? Emily, I'm not your brother."

Emily pouted and put a hand on her hip. "Al-nii!" she insisted and pointed towards Ed. "Ed-nii!"

"What's her problem now?" Ed asked.

"She thinks we're her older brothers," Al said helplessly.

"She what?!" Ed asked. He marched up to Emily and said, "Look, kid, we're not your brothers. We don't even know you. Leave!"

Emily's lower lip trembled and tears cascaded down her face. She let go of Al's hand and plopped down on the ground. "Malbado!" she shouted and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"That was mean!" Al exclaimed.

"We have nothing to do with her," Ed said. "We don't even know who she is. Al, she's not like some stray cat. She's got a home and her family somewhere. And we don't. She can't come with us. We're looking for something dangerous and can't afford to have some little girl tagging along and holding us back."

"But look at her!"

Ed glanced down at Emily. The girl was a pitiful mess with many tears running down her face. She was sobbing very loudly and it didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon. He noticed that her dress was very dirty and her hair a wonderfully tangled mess. Her overall figure was sort of gaunt. Despite himself, Ed felt sorry for the girl.

Sighing, Ed squatted down in front of the girl and said, "I'm really sorry, but you can't come with us. It's too dangerous. Go home."

Emily stopped sobbing momentarily and looked up at Ed. Her eyes looked even bigger now and they were very sad. Emily clasped her elfin hands and gazed at Ed with a look of pure sorrow.

"Por favor?" she said in a tiny voice.

Ed didn't want to make this any harder, so he shook his head and said in a clear, end-of-discussion voice, "No."

Emily buried her face in her hands and started crying again. Ed stood up and grabbed his suitcase.

"Let's go, Al," he said.

Al didn't budge.

"Al?"

"I don't want to leave her here, Brother," Al said softly. "Couldn't we just take her with us until we get to the next town?"

"But, Al---"

"Please?" Al begged in a sad voice.

The sadness in his brother's voice and the little girl's sobbing was too much for Ed. He had to give in.

"Fine, but only until we get to the next town," he added quickly. "So don't get too attached or anything."

"Yes!" Al turned to Emily. "Did you hear that? Ed said you can come along."

Emily immediately stopped crying and looked up at Al. A smile slowly lit up her face. "En serio?" She stood up, grabbed Al's hands, and laughed happily. Al laughed with her and both of them started spinning around in a circle.

Ed smiled a little. His brother sounded so happy.

"Okay, you two," he said in a slight scolding tone. "Let's go. We have a lot of stuff to do."

"Hai, Ed-nii!" Emily said and she and Al stopped spinning.

"Race you," Al said to Emily. "Ready, set, go!"

Laughing, the boy in the suit of armor and the strange, fairy-like girl ran towards Ed.