Epilogue

The day after Roy's unexpected return home, the following ad was placed in the personal sections of all the periodicals that circulated in Eastern City:

"Roy my darling, back then even home was paradise. Your own sweet girl waits there still, lonely but safe and sound. Will you ever explain what's wrong in her wanting more time together, secured by this message?

Fondest love, Ms. Gaunt"*

Two years later

News of his son-in-law's death did not reach Major General Grumman until several weeks after the fact. Infuriated by the oversight, he would've liked to be able to simply drop everything and rush out of town citing a family emergency. But that would draw unwanted attention and raise questions he wasn't ready to answer. A cryptic letter from Madame a few days later only inflamed his agitation, and had him adding an extra leg onto the trip he was planning. Quietly, he arranged a few days of leave, making sure to clear up the more urgent matters on his desk and eliminate the weak links in his intelligence network before he left.

He wasn't really surprised to find that everything had been taken care of long before his arrival. His granddaughter was growing into a fine, responsible young woman, after all. Finally meeting the girl face to face, and talking to her, brought him such an unexpected rush of pleasure that Grumman had a hard time walking away without simply spilling everything and begging her to come home with him. But her best interests had to remain his top priority, and so instead he found himself advising her to seek a career in the military. Once he'd boarded the train to Central, leaving his granddaughter behind, he had plenty of time to question his decision and run through all of the possible outcomes.

By the time he arrived at Madame's, Grumman was mentally and physically exhausted. Chris spotted him across the room and gave the willowy blonde bartender a nearly imperceptible signal. Juliet, he believed she was called, slipped into Chris's office as Grumman settled at his usual place at the bar.

"It's very good to see your face, my friend," Chris said, smiling. Juliet reappeared with an unopened bottle of a very expensive brand of scotch, which she set in front of her boss as she passed.

"Well, it's lucky I had some leave time coming up," Grumman replied with a tight smile. "Your message was rather cryptic, even by our usual standards."

"Yes, I know. There's been a development I thought you might be interested in," she replied with an amused lilt to her sultry voice. Playing along, Grumman grinned.

"Don't tell me...your nephew, having fallen head over heels in love with my granddaughter, has finally decided that he's through pining from afar, swept her off her feet, and now they're eloping?"

Chris's laughter was low and musical, and more than one of her patrons turned to look at her in surprise. She very rarely exuded such delighted energy.

"Oh, that would be quite the development," she said, eyes twinkling. "Don't let's dismiss the possibility entirely, hm? But no, that wasn't it."

"Damn," he sighed. "Ah well, an old man can dream. I missed so much of my Tereza's life. I'd hoped I'd live to see her daughter marry and have children one day, at least. All right then. What was it that you needed to tell me?"

"Mm, it's not wholly unrelated, as it happens. You remember when I told you that my boy wanted to sign himself up at the Academy after he left your son-in-law's tutelage?" Grumman nodded. "Well, he graduated just a few months ago, and he's accepted his commission."

"Well, now, that's a surprise," Grumman said. He leaned an elbow on the bar and regarded Chris with genuine interest. He'd always assumed the boy would tire of playing solider after some time at the academy and find himself another alchemy tutor until he was ready to set up his own private practice. "I thought he had his heart set on being an alchemist?" he added.

"He still does," Chris replied.

"Oho," Grumman breathed. "So he's going to sign up for the State Alchemist Exam, then? My, my..."

"I didn't want to say anything sooner in case he didn't make it...but he's actually already passed the exam," she replied with a smug little smile. The old man inhaled sharply.

"That's—well, that's quite an accomplishment, my dear," he said in a slightly strained voice, mind racing. How on earth had the boy progressed so quickly without a tutor? "You must be very proud. Tell me, have they assigned his title yet?"

"Oh, yes. He'll be known as the Flame Alchemist," Chris answered softly. Their eyes met and held.

"I see," he said.

"I thought you might," she rejoined. Grumman frowned.

"Although, I must confess I don't understand how...when he left, Berthold still hadn't taught him any…" he began to say. And then the penny dropped. "My granddaughter. You think she helped him, somehow. Is that it?" Chris just smiled.

"The brat hasn't given me all the details, but I'm certain she was involved."

"But she doesn't know any alchemy, I'm quite sure of that," Grumman said, still frowning into his scotch. "So I can't imagine how…"

"Even if she doesn't know alchemy herself, she's the only person with any insight into the inner workings of that man's mind."

"Of course…she'd know exactly where to look, which books and notes he used, and possibly even which codes he employed to conceal his progress. Yes, yes, that would make sense," Grumman mused.

"On top of that, she'd know exactly who she could trust with the information, among the various students that passed through her father's hands over the years," Chris added, clearly having thought about this a great deal herself. Grumman raised his eyebrows.

"You know, I think it's high time I made the acquaintance of your charming nephew, my dear," Grumman said at last.

"I agree. Keep an eye out for him, won't you?" she said lightly. Though she'd basically just told him that her nephew was a valuable resource that he might want to cultivate, the request to look after her nephew was equally implicit.

"Of course. A favor I'm happy to undertake for an old friend," Grumman said, patting her hand. She relaxed a fraction and then fixed those dark eyes on his.

"And have you seen the girl, since her father…?" A shadow passed over Grumman's eyes.

"Briefly, though I didn't tell her who I was.** I don't want to force myself on her, you understand. She's such an independent little creature." And making demands and ultimatums had certainly never worked with his daughter. He was determined not to let the past repeat itself, if he could possibly prevent it.

"I see," Chris said softly. "So what did you tell her?"

"Did you know the girl's a sharpshooter?" Grumman asked, seeming to ignore the question. "I stumbled across her targets while I was reconnoitering at the house."

"You're kidding. I wonder whether Roy knew; he never mentioned it. She any good?"

"She's a damn prodigy, Chris. You should have seen those targets; she'd be a rare asset in her own right. I just might have one of my progeny follow in my footsteps after all."

"Isn't she a bit young to join up, yet?"

"Only by a bit. She could enlist right this minute with the right forms signed, but I'd rather she waited until her eighteenth birthday at least."

"You offered her a plan for her future, then," Chris realized. "How'd she take it?"

"I honestly don't know. Your boy wasn't kidding about her being tough to read," he sighed. "She'd make a beautiful sniper, though, with that kind of stillness and focus. She did say that she'd think about it."

"What will you do when she joins?"

"You think she will, then?" he asked, surprised.

"I'd be willing to bet on it," Chris replied calmly. "I think she lacks a purpose in her life, now that she doesn't have anyone to look after. She'll want to be doing something, looking after someone or being useful in some quantifiable way. It's a part of who she is."

"If she doesn't join the armed forces, though, her varied education would certainly qualify her for teaching. That might be a good outlet for such a nurturing nature, no?"

"No, I don't think so," Chris mused. "She's not the type to be happy as a private tutor to a bunch of snot-nosed brats, in my opinion."

"How on earth can you tell, Chris?" Grumman demanded.

"Oh, I've simply come across her kind before. Rare breed, that: observant, intuitive, smart, quiet, capable of great devotion. Look at her father—she practically lived for the man, little as he did to deserve it," Chris said. "That girl did everything in her power to make his life more comfortable, cooking, cleaning, protecting him from things she thought he didn't need to know, all to ensure their livelihood. She doesn't trust easily, that's clear. But as soon as she does, it's for life. She gets set up under the right CO, she'll be his most valuable asset—true as steel and loyal to a fault. She's the sort of woman I'd like watching my back, anyway," she added slyly, glancing across at her friend.

"Now that is saying something," the older man replied softly.

"It really is too bad she wouldn't think much of my kind of work," Chris sighed. "She'd be too honest to really enjoy all the subterfuge. But I still think she'd be a good woman to have in one's corner," she added. A slow smile spread across Grumman's face, and Chris smirked in return.

"Well. We'll just have to see what happens, in these next few months, won't we?" Grumman said, steepling his fingers together.

"I look forward to it, old man."

A.N. Oddly enough, this epilogue was one of the very first things I had written for this story. And I only had to tweak a few minor details for it to still fit with the other 34 chapters :D

* My poorly written skip code reads: "Roy back home. Your girl still safe. Will explain in more secured message." (Skip code: first word, then every third word). See, I like to think I'm all clever, but using a simple code like that was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. (Seriously, if anyone can come up with a more coherent paragraph using these words, feel free to PM me!) Oh, and 'Ms. Gaunt' is an anagram for Mustang.

** For what happened between them, see chapter 3 of "Infinite Arms."

xoxo Janie

P.S. I just noticed that it's been exactly one year since I started posting this story. How's that for serendipity? :D Happy Anniversary, Espionage!