Chapter 15

Riza

I think something's wrong with me. For one, I'm smiling too much. I actually laughed when Winry-chan dunked Edward-kun! Secondly, I think I was playing in a river.

HOW EMBARRASING!!!

What will the colonel think? Oh no, wait. We're undercover as civilians…I have to call him Roy-san.

…

Okay, that feels so weird.

I spooned another mouthful of the flavorful stew Sophie-san made. It was quite good…though a bit burnt. But that was Co- I mean Roy-san's fault. He left in on the fire for too long.

Sophie-san was still giggling over what happened.

"You should have seen your face!" she chortled, "Didn't it ever occur to you that the handle would be hot?"

Roy-san sat fuming. He hadn't eaten a bite. He just held onto his hand. The hand he burnt attempting to move the pot from the fire.

"I've never done that before." Roy-san griped.

A look of understanding flashed across Sophie-san's face.

"Probably not, nice try for your first time." She said.

"Yeah, Edward would have probably spilled the soup and stomped on it." Winry-chan said laughing.

Edward-san poked his tongue out at her. Sometimes I forget he's just a kid.

Sophie-san had disappeared into the cave, now she came back out carrying a small white cloth bag. She crouched in front of Roy-san, pulling open the bag as she did so.

"Come on, show it to me."

"What are you going to do?" Roy-san asked suspiciously.

Sophie-san sighed, "I'm going to bandage it, you imbecile." She said impatiently.

Roy-san chose to ignore the insult and simply extend his injured hand. Then Sophie-san said something while tending to the burn that completely shocked me. She said it so quietly that the others didn't hear and that even I had to strain to hear it.

"You helped me out before," she whispered, "Now we're even."

Roy-san? Help? That just didn't seem right. The Colonel never helps someone out unless it will benefit him. It seems like everyone's personalities were getting mixed up…mine included. Or maybe I was always like this and I just never noticed.

…

My head hurts…

"There's a small settlement of Nadraks…Nadraks are one of the clans of the Old World, no one really likes them because they were descended from the Angaraks, but they are getting better. Anyway, the settlement is situated outside the barrier that separates the Old World from yours. They act as sort of a buffer for those adventurers who go past that last village we passed. We'll have to get past them to get to the passageway to the Old World."

"And?" Roy-san prompted when Sophie-san paused for breath.

"Okay, I'll be honest with you. I don't want my presence known just yet. I'll have a hard enough time bringing you all into the Old World without anyone recognizing me."

"You're in trouble with the law?" Edward-san said shrewdly.

Sophie-san frowned at him, "Of course not! I'm just a little bit famous there. After all, there aren't many sorceresses in the world, Old or otherwise."

"Ah."

"So you're saying that we're going in disguise." Roy-san said, getting straight to the point.

Sophie-san nodded brightly, "You and Al are fine but Ed-kun has to dye his hair."

"I can do that." Edward-san said.

"What about us?" Winry-chan asked.

"Well, all Nadrak women need owners..." Sophie-san began.

I blew up, "Owners? You mean we're going to be slaves? I won't permit it!"

"You're not a slave." Sophie-san said patiently, "Nadrak women are the freest people in any of the worlds. Just because they have owners doesn't mean they have to do what the owner says. No one can force them to do anything they don't want to do. In fact, I think they have more rights than the male owners. They get half the price every time they get sold and can go anywhere at all and if any man makes any rude advances, the Nadrak woman's owner is honor bound to beat up the offender."

"I don't like feeling defenseless." I protested, "How am I supposed to know if my owner's trustworthy?"

"You're not defenseless and you don't trust your owner." Sophie-san said.

I will admit I was confused.

"You have these to support your position."

She presented me with four daggers. They were made from slightly blued steel, very well made and they shone brightly.

"Girls always bring one or two of these lovelies around, or all for actually, they wear two at their waist and two in their boots."

"Wait…what about the owners bit?" Roy-san asked, "Who's going to be your owners?"

Sophie-san gave him an amused look, "Why, you boys of course."

"WHAT?!?!?" Edward-san, Al-kun and Roy-san exclaimed together.