"C'mon, kid, rise and shine, the Colonel wants to see you in the library."

I opened my eyes, pulling myself out of a deep slumber. These human beds were just so comfortable, soft and squishy; it was hard to force myself up. After a moment I rolled out of bed, managing to stay upright. I headed towards the door, glad to see I was finally getting the hang of walking, but then—

"Whoa, whoa, where are you going?"

Havoc stopped me. I glanced up at him, confused. "You've gotta shower first, y'know."

I had never heard of a shower before. "What?"

He stared at me like I was crazy. "You've never heard of a shower? Y'know, where the water comes out of the wall and you clean yourself?" I shook my head; having lived underwater, I of course had no need to make water come out of the walls.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Havoc muttered, before steering me in the opposite direction, through another door, and into what he called the bathroom.

He pulled the shirt I slept in off of me, leaving me naked. I thought this was rather strange, seeing as Roy had been so adamant yesterday that I not walk around without clothes. I was just about to point this out when Havoc turned a knob, causing water to fly out of the wall with a sudden violence. I jumped.

"Get in, then."

I did as he said, feeling rather at home under the stream. Sure, it was a lot less water than I was used to, and it was warm, but it still calmed me.

"See that bottle in the corner?" Havoc asked. I nodded. "Squeeze it onto your hair, rub it in, and then wash it off.

I tried to do as he said, but ended up with a goopy mess on the floor and in my hair. Sighing, and muttering something about me being an idiot, Havoc took off his jacket, rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, and did it himself.

He took out my braid, which was irritating, considering how long it had taken me to get that done, but when he began to massage my scalp I was pleasantly surprised. It didn't feel so bad, when you did it right…good enough, even, for me to forget the comment about my intelligence…

The water shut off, and Havoc threw me a piece of cloth. "Dry off, c'mon, you gotta be able to do that." And I could, getting most of the water off my body as I ran the cloth over my limbs. Once done, I looked up at him, waiting for further instruction.

"Clothes," he muttered. The same as Roy had yesterday, Havoc buttoned a shirt up on me, and then yanked some pants into place (which, I have to say, was a thoroughly uncomfortable affair).

Finally, he led me down to the library. I braided my hair again on the way down, snatching a string from the sleeve of my shirt to tie it.

"Edward's here," Havoc announced, leaving me in front of the open door.

Roy smiled, and I grinned back. It was impossible not to. "Here, have a seat, Edward." He pulled out a chair next to him.

"You can call me Ed, you know," I said as I sat down.

Again, he smiled, eyes flashing with excitement for some reason. "Alright then, Ed. I know you couldn't talk to me yesterday about what you knew about me being rescued, but…could you write it down?"

My heart leaped. Was it possible? Without responding to Roy's question, I took the instrument he offered me and looked around for something to write on. He handed me a thin sheet of something-or-another, and I set to work.

But the problem was, I couldn't write what I wanted to. I got "I" down, but when I tried to continue, my hand froze up. I looked up at Roy, shaking my head hopelessly. The light in his eyes died down, taking a little bit of my heart with it.

What was I going to do? I had to keep Roy's attention somehow—and then it came to me: alchemy. I hadn't seen anyone up here do it so far, so maybe humans didn't know how. And seeing as I wouldn't have to reveal where I came from to do alchemy, I thought maybe I should give it a shot.

"You know, I can't do that, but I do have another neat trick…" I clapped my hands, then placed them on the table, hoping human wood wasn't too different from the kind we sometimes found floating in the ocean.

Once the light cleared, I knew I had been successful. One corner of the table had been used up, and in its place was a small, detailed statuette of Roy.

I turned to look at the real thing, pleased by the look of complete shock on his face (and glad to see he was not worried about the state of his table). I laughed.

"I take it you can't use alchemy then?"

Roy pushed his hand through his hair, which was very attractive. "Alchemy…I always thought it was just a legend."

I shook my head. "Almost everyone can do it where I'm from."

"So…is it just wood, or can you do it with other things as well?"

I smiled, glad to see he was so interested. "You can do alchemy with almost anything. Most people have to use transmutation circles though."

"Why didn't you?"

I looked away, eyes downcast. "Let's just say my ability is a…sort of consolation prize for a very bad decision I made once."

Roy was sensitive enough not to ask more about that. Instead, he leaned forward, eyes intense. "Can you teach it to me? Alchemy?"

"Sure, I can try. What do you want to use it for?"

"Well," Roy looked about, seeming a bit self-conscious. "I…have a bit of an affinity for fire…"

"Fire alchemy," I mused. I had heard of a few mermen using it before, only above ground of course. "It's very difficult, and we don't really use it where I'm from, but we'll see what we can do. Now, do you have anything that can make a spark?"

By the end of the morning, Roy had managed to do a small bit of fire alchemy, making a flame jump a solid foot before sputtering out. He seemed frustrated that he hadn't done better, but I was impressed.

"It's really hard, I told you that. I didn't know if I could do it myself, so I'm not sure there's much else I can teach you…It's really more of the same, just you learn to exert more control on the flame."

Roy clutched the lighter tightly in his palm, covering the new, engraved transmutation circle with his fingers. "All right, then. I'll just have to practice." He checked his watch. "How about some lunch?"

I nodded, eager and happy when Roy helped me up, keeping his hand on mine for just a moment longer than I thought was natural.