The bump and sway of the carriage as it climbed over each stone on the unpaved road was soothing, like a familiar lullaby as the depths of sleep began pulling me into its softly spun web. The back wheel then caught some kind of large rock and jounced the carriage, causing my head to fly up and smack down hard on Rolland's unsuspecting shoulder.

My eyes flew open as his squeezed shut in pain.

"I'm so sorry!" I whispered sleepily, exhaustion numbing all pain that the rickety road inflicted upon my healing shoulder. My eyes were dry and sore after so much crying and there was very little I wouldn't give for a long, hot bath.

"God, you have a hard head." I could barely see the outline of his sleepy, smirking face through the darkness.

I smiled and was about to lean my head against his shoulder once more, but then thought better of it and sat upright. Most railways had been shut down, and the few trains that were still operating were full of Drachma soldiers that were exported from Central to be stationed in different parts of the country.

Which is why we were being smuggled into the country in a vegetable wagon-we had to cram into a hidden compartment (almost like a false bottom) beneath a scarce layer of nearly rotten turnips. Charming, I know. Beside me, Rolland groaned quietly, "I swear I'm never going to be able to unbend my legs again."

I giggled softly, and pulled my legs in closer to my chest in an attempt to give him more room. To my right, Alina was fast asleep with her head gently bobbing against my knees. I stroked her short black hair with great sadness. It was hard to imagine that she was the same terrified child that I saved just two days ago-the poor girl who was forced to watch her mother die.

"Has she said anything to you?" Rolland whispered and I blinked in surprise-his face was closer to mine than I had expected. "No," I shook my head, brushing a strand of hair away from her mouth, "not since she told us her name."

"Poor kid."

"Yeah," I murmured, "I know."

Mustang mumbled an incoherent bit in his sleep and my eyes flickered over to them. He had one arm protectively wrapped around his wife, who was asleep across his chest. I'd learned that the woman from the hospital with the short dark hair was named Ava. She was wedged between Mustang and Rolland, her arms and legs wound up tight as if she were afraid of her body touching theirs.

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

Rolland shifted against the wall, "Are you alright?"

"I will be," I replied softly. I titled my head, about to rest it on his shoulder once again, when I noticed that Ava's head had bobbed to the side and now occupied his other shoulder (something he seemed to be oblivious to).

Something sparked somewhere inside of me-something that, in that moment, told me to stop. That little voice which prevents you from getting close to anyone-a kind of natural self-defense when there is even the slightest possibility that the other person might break your heart.

And so I straightened and turned my gaze back to Alina, running my fingers through her thin hair as the rhythm of the wheels gently lulled me back to sleep.

It wasn't until we got to Resembol that I realized how much time had really passed.

It's almost been a year and a half…

I took in a deep breath, my lungs, er…lung, filling with crisp morning air as we stretched out our aching limbs. The vast blue sky above our heads was dotted with mere wisps of what were once large, treacherous storm clouds.

"Have a nice trip?"

"Winry!" I smiled as she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling away in surprise but a heartbeat later.

"What's wrong?" Riza asked, coming to greet her.

"Who's this?" her kind blue eyes rested on Alina. I hadn't realized that her arms had been wrapped around my leg, her bitten-down nails digging timidly into my skin. When Winry's eyes flickered back to me, they landed on the dark blue sling around my arm. And then, as if truly seeing us for the first time, she studied the scratches and bruises and bandage-covered patches that marked us all.

She looked over at the carriage and then narrowed her eyes, "What happened? What's going on?"

Mustang nodded to the man who'd driven us and with that he whipped the reigns, the warped wooden wheels leaving a cloud of dust in their wake. He then took a step forward and sighed, "Let's walk back to your place instead, we have a lot to explain."

The Rockbell residence was just as I remembered. I closed my eyes and stood in the steamy bathroom for one more moment before opening the door. Immediately, I was hit with a blast of cold air from the hall.

"Is no place sacred?"

"Huh?" I turned to see Rolland leaning against the wall in dark pants and a plain white T-shirt, his black hair unruly and dripping.

"Everywhere we go you hog the bathroom!"

"Do not!" I frowned, rubbing my hair dry with a towel. "Why is your…" I was about to question how he had managed to be so clean when both bathrooms had been taken, but then it hit me. My face broke out into a bright smile as I pointed childishly at him, "No! You were really so impatient that you showered outside?"

"I don't like being dirty and the wagon was so gross!"

I laughed, hanging the towel on a hook behind the door.

"It's not funny!" he scowled.

"You're such a girl," I giggled, beginning to follow the enticing smell of something warm and edible. "Oh!" I turned back to him after a few steps, "where's Alina?"

"I think she's been in the guest room since we first got here, b-" his casual tone was interrupted but a quiet, feminine cough. The two of us glanced, unsuspecting at first, down the hall only to be struck by surprise.

It took me a moment to pick my jaw up from off of the floor. Rolland stood frozen, staring as if she were a work of art. Ava stood before us, clad in the world's smallest towel. Her sleek black hair clung to her flustered, blushing face. I had never seen her in anything but a military uniform, her hair wound back in a tight bun. This is probably why I was nearly catatonic when she stood before us-nothing but breasts and legs and water droplets sliding down her tanned frame.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think of this beforehand but…I don't have any spare clothes, would I maybe be able to borrow some until I came wash my uniform?" her voice was much higher and softer (kind of like fluff) than I remembered it.

"Um, yeah, sure, I…" I took a deep breath and composed myself, "let's go down to the guest room and we'll see what we can find."

"Thank you." She smiled, looking genuinely grateful. I cringed as she turned around and trotted down the hall, the ample curves of her butt swaying with each step. I elbowed Rolland in the ribs as I passed by, causing him to jump out of his fantasy state.

"What?" he grumbled, sorely rubbing where I'd hit him.

"Down, boy."

He threw me a look before bumping passed me as we went our separate ways.

Self-esteem had never really been a problem for me. It wasn't that I was conceited, I just never cared. As far as I was concerned, we are who we are, why fuss over something we're not? But simply being in the presence of Ava was causing me to doubt my image-philosophy of seventeen years.

When we got into the guest room, Alina was sitting dutifully on the bed, staring at the wooden floor. When she glanced up, her eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Oh, sweetie," I bit my lip, having forgotten that she was in here, "why don't you go downstairs and help Winry with lunch?"

She was rigid, her mauve-colored eyes gazing at me with uncertainty. Ava stood shivering behind me. Alina held out her hand and I took a few steps closer, still slightly confused. She beckoned me to come closer and soon I was kneeling beside the bed as she brushed my damp hair aside and whispered into my ear, "I can't go downstairs."

"And why is that?" I asked, purely out of curiosity. She kept her hand up, covering the small space between her lips and my ear, "They won't like me. "

"Of course they'll like you." I smiled, hoping to somehow boost her impaired morale.

She shook her head, "No, no, when I was in school there was this girl and she was all alone and Minna said…Minna said that no one likes girls who don't have mommies."

Excess water glistened in her eyes although no real tears formed. She hopped up off of the bed and stood in front of me so that we were face to face. Still trying to get over the initial shock of her confession, I pulled her into a slightly awkward one-armed hug. "Sweetheart," I sighed as she squeezed her small arms tightly around my torso, "I know that we're strangers, but I need you to know that under no circumstances is that ever true. You are so special, don't let anyone try and tell you that you are not liked-or loved, even!"

She nodded and sniffled quietly, "but…but I can't cook."

I let out a small laugh and pulled away slightly, "It's a good thing that you've got the best chefs waiting downstairs to teach you how."

A small smiled crossed her face, "okay."

Alina, the happiest (although still fairly gloomy) I'd ever seen her, shuffled out of the room and closed the door behind her. I fell back onto the floor and leaned against the bed with a sigh. Only to remember, upon opening my eyes, that Ava was shivering in the corner, her towel soaked and dripping water onto the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" my eyes grew wide and as if upon instinct, my hand flew up to cover my mouth.

"It is fine," she smiled, "that poor girl…"

"Yeah." I nodded and hoisted myself up onto my feet so that I could rummage through the closet for bits and pieces.

"You two seem very close, are you related?"

"No," I replied softly, "I saved her just last week…when Drachma invaded…her mother was killed on the spot."

Ava gasped, "That's terrible!"

"That's war." I was even surprised by how dark the sounded coming from my lips but it rang true all the same. The closet was beyond eclectic, ranging from Winry's baby booties to Pinako's grease-stained aprons. At the far end was a small basket where I kept my own clothes-a couple of things I'd accidentally left behind when visiting for a few days during my alchemy training.

"Um, what sizes are you?"

Ava plopped down on the bed, looking far too comfortable with this situation. "…because I think this will fit but I don't think I have a bra for you…"

I tossed her a thong, which she studied for a moment before throwing the towel to the floor and standing up to slip it on. My eyes were suddenly glued to the clothes on the floor of the closet.

"Fits like a glove," she smiled and I couldn't help but feel like I was the only one who thought of this as weird. "I'm a 36C," she stated and I could hear the springs of the bed squeal as she sat back down.

I could feel the color draining from my face. I glanced at my remaining A-cup bra that was half buried under a night gown and tried to laugh it off, "I definitely don't have that size…but I can check with Winry to see if she does."

"Oh, no! It's fine, I don't want to be an inconvenience, I just won't wear one."

"Of course not," I muttered, hating myself for feeling so cynical. I tossed a shirt and pants over my shoulder and stood up. Waiting until she put them on to turn around. "So," I began, "are you a state alchemist? I saw you at the exams…"

"Right! That was you! I remember because you were the youngest and that creep of a bioalchemist was amazed that you were so young."

I laughed uneasily, "Right, the young one…that's me."

"Of course because of that terrible accident they told me they 'were unable to properly assess my abilities' and that I would have to come back." I could hear the disappointment in her voice as she zipped up her pants.

"I'm sorry to hear that, so you're just a member of the military?"

"Mmmhmm," she replied before quickly changing the subject, "so that boy, Rolland? You two sure seem close."

"We're friends." I shrugged, turning around just as she was pulling the shirt down over her stomach. "Good, I thought so," she said with a smile, swaying to get a good look at herself in the mirror. I raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Oh," she let out a small laugh, looking slightly embarrassed, "I just meant that it would be weird since you're so young."

"We're only a year apart," I commented lamely.

"But don't you think he's…such a stud?" her eyes were aglow with admiration and I had to fight back the giggles that were quickly rising in my throat.

"Rolland? A stud?" I sounded a bit too incredulous.

"Well, yeah. First, he's so hot and second, he's accomplished, I mean really, it his first year in the military and already he's heading his own sector?" Never before had I heard what someone else in the military thought of Rolland or even what I thought of him…he had always…just been there.

"And his father is obviously a candidate for Fürer when the times comes-a good family is always a must when husband hunting."

"When what?"

"Husband hunting," she repeated casually, "it's what most military women call it. We look around for a suitable man to start a family with. The military is nice and all but it isn't a proper future for a lady and we're not getting any younger. You better start looking as well, just to be prepared."

"How old are you?" my eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Ava looked old enough to buy a drink but too young to plan play dates. "Twenty." She smiled, adjusting the hem of her shirt.

"Huh," I murmured, taking a moment to glance in the mirror as well. And just like that, my self-doubt returned. I stole a glance at Ava and then peered back at the mirror and then, with a sigh, realized our one big difference-she was a woman.

Even in baggy cargo pants and a wrinkled orange shirt she had curves. She was tall and slender, her black hair fell neat and straight just above her shoulders and framed her luminous eyes. And then there was me, in a pair of black shorts and a loose red sweater-short with knobby knees and my arm stuck bent in a sling. My fair hair was long and unruly and had more split ends than I ever cared to admit-and in no way did it frame or illuminate or do anything to my slightly golden, hazel eyes.

I was just a child…the young one, that's me.

I blinked in surprise as knuckles lightly rapped against the door.

"Hey," Rolland peeked into the room without a response from either of us, "lunch is ready."

"Great." Ava smiled and brushed past me so enthusiastically that she nearly lost her balance. "Careful," Rolland warned, placing a hand on her back to support her.

"The floor is a bit slippery is all." She grabbed his arm as if for stability and tugged him down the hall. I plucked her tiny, discarded towel from the floor and threw it into the laundry bin with a sigh, "it's going to be a very long day."