As Ayonn's understanding of Amestrian grew, Edward found – to his surprise – that the blind girl was an impressively constant source of entertainment. At headquarters she didn't even seem blind. She had tried to explain why she could navigate so easily, but it had devolved into kicking the wall.

Still, she was up for almost anything, and had seemed to accept Al as a part of life. Ed hadn't seen her shoot fire like that first night again, but then he didn't know how to ask her. Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes had offered to take her in as well; once she understood the offer Ayonn acquiesced rapidly.

Now he watched her as she checked her plate with her chopsticks to find any food. Exasperated, she rapped the ceramic plate sharply. Whatever she'd done seemed to reassure her that there was nothing left. "Ed?"

"Yes?" He looked up. Edward was accustomed to hearing his name, but somehow he thought that he'd never heard it the way Ayonn said it before.

"More…more of…" Ayonn's voice trailed off, and she used her hands to shape a wedge in midair.

Al interrupted. "Quiche."

She nodded, blank eyes lighting up. "Un, quiche! Um, please." Hughes scooped up another piece and put it on her plate. She turned to him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The words were simple and easy, words that she knew. She was progressing awfully quickly, capable of holding simple conversations. He turned back toward Al, trying to disguise the feelings that leapt in him when her blind eyes skated over his. Ed wasn't even sure he could put a name to the swirling emotions in his chest.

Later that night, Ayonn's laugh sparkled in the room as Elysia tried to duck her touch. Al observed quietly that little Elysia was losing to Ayonn by a good margin. Ed couldn't help but agree even as he watched the blind girl navigate the room astoundingly quickly – stepping exactly where the child had.

Ayonn stopped for a moment, turning her head from side to side. She ran her hand over the wall, scowling, looking lost. Elysia poked her head out from the kitchen and laughed. The sound brought a smile to the older girl's face, but Ed noticed that it was shaky and uncertain. Getting off the couch, he extended his hand to her.

"Hey." Ed said it quietly, but she whirled to face him anyway. "Do you need a hand?"

She looked embarrassed for a moment, then swallowed the emotion and nodded. "Thank you." He extended his hand, and she took it with a grateful smile, positioning herself behind him and to his side, placing her hand on his shoulder. Ed paused for a minute, recognizing the unusual vulnerability, before they set off to the living room.

It was only a few seconds, but it felt like a voyage to Ed – one of those adventures that would be told and retold, something life-changing. He was more aware of his surroundings than he'd ever been before. Every step, every slight motion, brought with it a host of considerations. Would Ayonn, trailing behind him, crash into something? Was that bump on the floor something she might trip and fall over?

"You will not break me," she assured him dryly, perhaps sensing his trepidation. Ed blushed and sped up a little, careful to remain conscious of the area around him. As they walked into the living room, Ayonn released his arm and slipped forward on her own, striking out toward Hughes and his wife, seated on the couch. She slid her feet on the floor, Ed noticed – it made her gait into something light and graceful. Perching on the nearest open cushion, she smiled at Ed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The next words were an impulse, something Ed never had any intention of saying, but they popped out regardless. "Will you teach me?"

Ayonn cocked her head, birdlike. "Teach?"

Ed flushed again as he realized his error. She knew lesson and learn, she knew a multitude of other words that she couldn't quite string into phrases and sentences yet, and she was a surprisingly quick learner – but Ed and Al had never brought up the word teach. He paused for a moment, finding a way to explain the word. "Lesson time. You learn. I teach."

"Teach." She mulled it over, silently shaping the word on her lips. "Te-ach." Ed sat patiently, waiting for the inevitable breakthrough. "Teach!" she shouted, face lighting up. "Oshieru!"

"Um, yeah. Oshieru." Ed smiled. "Will you teach me?"

The puzzle on her face was obvious. "Teach what?"

"How to be blind. How to move in the dark." A dark burst of worry blossomed inside of him. Would Ayonn think he was mocking her? Laughing at her disability?

The strange hitch in his breathing eased as she smiled at him. "Yes. I will."

Al was confused as to the entire point of this exercise.

Ed had barged into their room, where he'd been sitting and thinking (he did that a lot since he'd lost his body). Hollering something about how Ayonn was going to teach them to be blind, his older brother had pulled Al off the bed and into the living room. Ayonn had, indeed, been standing there with two blindfolds.

Ed had taken his eagerly, tying it around his eyes. Al had watched as Ayonn had moved around behind him, delicate fingers brushing his head as she searched for the knot. When she'd found it, she had untied it, silently offering Ed a thick, folded-over cloth to place beneath it. "I can't see anything," Ed complained.

"That is the point," Ayonn retorted. She'd quickly developed a dry, acerbic sense of humor, Al noticed. She offered the same pad-and-blindfold combination to him, waiting for the boys to obstruct their vision completely. When the blindfolds were on securely, she began her instruction.

"You should not step," she said firmly. "Ed – that is a lesson for you. Al, you should not step high." Al imagined her brow furrowing as she contemplated her next words. "For Ed, it will hurt if he hits his legs. It will not hurt Al, but he will break things if he steps high. You need to slide your feet."

Al did as ordered, and his brother's feet next to him made a shushing sound across the wooden floor. Ayonn's hands gripped his arm lightly, and she brought it up to waist level, stretching it out. "You are close to the wall," she said. "You need to be careful, or you will run into it and be hurt."

"How do you know?" he asked, curious.

He could hear the faintest trace of a laugh in her voice. "I ran into it and was hurt," she replied. "I know it will not hurt empty-you, but when you are not kinzoku yoroi, hitting walls will hurt."

A yelp from Ed, shuffling somewhere nearby, proved her point neatly. The pressure of her hands on his arm released, and she moved away with quick, padding footsteps, leaving Al to wonder what exactly kinzoku yoroi meant.

The notepad lying on Roy Mustang's desk held eight small words, four of them the same. Chikyuu mage, kasai mage, ea mage, mizu mage. He contemplated the list, Riza's explanation spinning around in his head. "She has some sort of elemental ability," his lieutenant had reported. "It's not alchemy – there were no transmutation circles involved with her demonstration. It seems to be innate."

Riza had hesitated before continuing, before confiding her deepest suspicion to him. "I believe she may be able to control someone's body. She is certainly aware of where people are; in my apartment, she was disoriented and confused, but she was able to track my movements. If she can sense where someone is – if she can control water – there's no reason to think she can't control blood."

Mustang leaned back in his chair, implications and uses of this potential new weapon falling into place.