Chapter 6

Clap!

A loud clapping sound was echoed through the air then a bright light radiated in the slight darkness. It was morning time; early morning since the sun hasn't even risen yet. Most people in the nearby area may have been asleep but nature was wide awake.

"That was almost perfect, so let's try that one more time. Okay?"

At first there was no response, only the sounds of huffing and puffing. "Almost? What in the hell do you mean by 'almost'? You said that last time, you little perfectionist!" Rin shouted with venom in her words. She has been doing transmutations for the last half hour and was starting to get tired of it; and to her, it was too early to be doing this crap. "If I hear you say 'almost' one more damn time, I'mma send one of things your way. You got that?"

Taylor just stood there with her arms crossed, unfazed by her sisters words. She promised to support Tarin with everything she does, and this is now one of them. "I know you don't really mean that. Now this time I want you to do it right… And I know you're cursing me again in your thoughts and that means you can do it better anyway." Taylor received a glare from Tarin who restarted her transmuting. Hearing her clasp her gloved hands together, slamming her foot to the ground, and watched the blue light radiate the area, it began again. Crystals shot up from the ground in the most beautiful way. Some of the crystals began to slightly change form and direction of the way they were going. The whole thing was forming into a sculpture. About a few minutes had past when it was completed. It was a big scaled version of a person; more of a child version but it was still a person. Taylor walked up to it and inspected the entire masterpiece. It was well made and shaped beautifully. She then turned to her Rin. "Not quite perfect. The head's not round enough and the eyes are uneven. Rin, do I look anything like this?"

"Ahh!" Tarin screamed in anger and started to stomp off in another direction, away from Taylor. "I'm tired and I'm going back to the house to eat breakfast. You have me out here working on something at like what five in the morning!"

"Actually it's about seven thirty, I think." Taylor had caught up with Rin. "We've only been doing this for about an hour. Uh, sis I think you need to-" Before she knew it, Rin had quickly did her thing and the crystals they left behind went back into the ground. "Never mind."

"What 'we' are you talking about. I'm the one doing the hard work."

"Yeah, but I'm practically your coach. I deserve credit." She looked up at the older sibling and saw that she was barely even paying attention. "Tarin by the way you are acting you aren't even taking it seriously. You have been given an opportunity that maybe no one else has been given. Taking the State test for a second time and then it's privately done. Though you only have until tomorrow it is still a privilege that Fuhrer Bradley would do this for you. He must really have high hopes for you and your abilities?"

"Hey Tayl, do you remember what my dreams to do when I first joined the military?" She didn't hear Taylor respond but didn't have to see her nod. "That I am going to make this a more peaceful country. Have these meaningless wars cease and help start anew. I don't even have to be a Fuhrer or a high ranking General to do so. As long as I have my hopes, strengths, personal beliefs, and dedication, I can make it all happen."

"Yeah. You sound just like her too." Taylor looked at her sister's face and smiled. "You sound exactly like mom did."

"And how exactly did I sound like her?"

She giggled. "Perfectly; just like always."

"That was great Gracia. Thanks." Rin had to her after finishing her second plate of breakfast. After she and Taylor got back to the house they immediately at what was left if breakfast since the others had already eaten. Taylor had left after her first plate while she had seconds. "You're cooking almost in a tie with Grans."

"Well I'm happy you enjoyed it Rin. And I think it's the first time you've eaten my breakfast. I remembered Maes took two cook of my home cooked meals with him after he told me you liked it."

"Yeah, I was a little jealous that he could bring a hot cooked meal to cook everyday from his girlfriend and all I had was a cold sandwich." She up from her chair and took her dirty dishes to the sink. "I'm very happy that he married someone like you Gracia. You're just what Maes needed and wanted. Then you to have such a beautiful, sweet daughter like Elicia."

"I know and I feel happy as well. But you need not to worry Rin. I'm betting that you'll find the person that's right for you. And then you'll get married and have children too."

"Whoa there Gracia, let's take it one stepping stone at a time here. Getting married isn't that close to happening to me. And kids, that's way far out. I at least need to find a sensible man who's not just looking for a playmate."

"Don't worry; I'm sure you'll find him."

Rin then walked out of the kitchen and towards the living room. On her way Elicia had ran past her, almost pushing her down. And if that wasn't enough Lynn ran by chasing Elicia almost faster, almost pushing her over again. She got in the walk way of the room she saw Roy and Maes sitting on the couch.

"Morning Tarin. Come and take a seat with us, will you?" Maes said. She made her way over to them and sat in a chair close to the one where they were sitting at. "Well it's good to see your bright face this morning. You must really be exhausted after your little training session this morning."

"Yeah, I am a little- Wait!" She stopped and started to blush slightly. "How- how'd you know what I was doing this morning? Me and Taylor were far away from the house and left without waking anyone up, we made sure." When Maes started to laugh and Roy chuckled, she got redder.

"That's because we heard you yelling." She got even redder. "I know you woke me up this morning and we all heard you during breakfast. Boy, Tarin, you sure do have some powerful lungs there."

"I'll say." Roy interjected. "What exactly kind of training were you two doing at that time in the morning?"

"Taylor thought that I should sharpen up on my alchemy a little bit. I really haven't used any advance stuff in a long time. Seems I've gotten a bit rusty."

"Un huh. And I hear you use a type of alchemy that deals with the earth elements?" Roy asked. He then saw the death glare Tarin made at Maes, who shook his head. "Don't worry, he didn't tell me anything about it. It was all the General Major."

She then looked between them both of them and sighed. "Well you're somewhat right; I do you use earth-related alchemy, that's how I had the name 'Sub-Terra Alchemist'. Sometimes I'm even called the 'Underground' or 'Stalagmite'. I had different aliases but never really liked any of them. Anyway my technique goes much further than just simply stone and rocks."

"Mind if we can see?"

"Sure. Uh… do either of you mind if I can borrow a couple pair of shoes?" Maes had left the room and quickly came back with at least three pairs of his work boots. Taking them, Rin took each one shook all the dirt and dirt clods from the bottom into a pile on the floor. After that she grabbed a pair of black fingerless gloves with transmutation circle from her back pocket and slid them on her hands.

Clapping her hands together she placed them over the pile of dirt. The dirt seems to have shrunken and come together in one form. When she removed her hands from over where the dirt use to be, there Roy and Maes saw a small crystal laying on the ground.

"And there you go, my specialty." She smiled. Roy had picked up the crystal and studied it. "What? Is it not very impressive to you Roy?"

"No that not quite it. You use the minerals of the sand and dirt and deconstructed them. Then you reconstructed those same minerals to make a crystal. It's almost like you sped up the time it takes to make this, but all you did was-"

"Deconstruct and reconstruct." She finished his sentence.

"Yes." Roy continued thing then looked to her hands. "Can I see you glove?" Rin hesitated but took off the glove and let him hold it. Roy looked the glove over, especially at the transmutation circle. "Did you make this circle yourself?"

Rin scratched the back of her neck. "That one I mostly did myself. I have others that are a little different from this one. It was originated from one of my older ones." She continued to watch Roy stare over her glove. Then something else came to focus. "Uh Roy, where did Maes go?" They both looked around the room and there was no sign of the four-eyed man. "And when did he get away?"

"Hughes!" Roy called out. Then, like a dog, said man popped his head in the entrance of the room. "Where'd you go?"

"Oh, you two were getting so much into your little alchemy talk that I just walked out; you know I'm not all into that kind of thing. And more importantly… I had to go take more pictures of Elicia! She was playing leap frog with Cathelynn and she was so cute. I had to get a picture!" And then he left in a flash.

"He's going to be such a headache once those pictures fully develop." Roy groaned. Rin tried not to laugh.

Later on that night, Rin was in the dining room studying again. Everyone else was somewhere doing something else. Maes was still at work, Gracia had taken Riza with her to go grocery shopping, she hadn't seen Roy since earlier, Jean went to a bar, and Taylor and Lynn went around the town after having it approved by her. That left Tarin alone in the house, quiet and was able to study. She had been so concentrated that she finished the first two books and was half way through the third one.

Throughout her readings she had come across a lot of new things and other founding. In the books there were pages where Roy had highlighted, taken notes, and even doodled on certain pages. Most of the pages had one thing in common: fire alchemy. It wasn't surprising that he would mark pages on the topic it was some of the things in it. There was some much Rin didn't know that she thought she did. It wasn't just fire; there was air, water, even earth, and a couple more she never really knew much about. These books were fascinating in many ways.

"Who would have known that he'd have books like these?" She asked herself.

"I'm a Colonel and I have connections." Tarin let out an eep sound. She turned around and saw Roy standing behind her chair. "Who were you suppose to be talking to? Yourself?"

"No, I mean yes, I meant… Where'd you get these books from?"

"I didn't think you would have to ask." He sat around the table and sat a few chairs down from her. "I got them at the Central Library; they have a wide array of books in there. I checked it out a few months ago I decided to bring them back. But I guess you can borrow them a little longer while we're here."

"Oh, all right." She then went back to reading her book. By the time she finished through a page and a half she began to get irritated. "What is it you want?"

"Nothing."

She didn't look up from her book but she shut it closed. "Then why are you staring at me?" For the past page and a half Roy had indeed been looking at her. He had his cheek in his hand while his arm supported him. He had no real expression on his face, just looked at Rin.

"I'm not staring at you." Roy simply stated.

"Okay, then what are you doing?"

"I'm observing you."

"Didn't I tell you that you can't just watch over a person?"

"Well I couldn't interrupt your reading. You looked so concentrated, and a bit cuter." He smiled while Rin on the other hand frowned. Roy just continued to 'observe' her. "You should be looking in the book and not at me. You only have until tomorrow then your exam starts." She said nothing, just stared and frowns. "The exams now I think are easier now then what they use to be and that I'm guessing you pass the other exams easily you should pass with a breeze. Unless they make you do thing even harder." She still stared. "Why do you seem so mad at me?"

Still not saying a word, Rin stood from her chair and exited the room. Before she got too far she called out, "You're an ass."

"Where in the hell is she?" Roy stood at the front doors of the Central Headquarters. He has for thirty minutes and vaguely he wasn't really happy about it. "Where in the hell are you Tarin?" Yes, Roy has been waiting on Tarin the entire time. It was the day of her exams and he hadn't seen nor heard from her.

When he woke up he went straight to her room to tell her to get ready but she wasn't there. No one had seen her, not even Cathelynn or Taylor. This was getting very frustrating. The scheduled exam began in five minutes.

Roy grumbled loudly. "Tarin, where the hell can you be?"

"Don't get your underwear in a twist Roy. I'm here." Roy turned around and saw Tarin walking toward him. He had to have a double take as she got closer. "Sorry I'm late; I had to run a couple of errands this morning. But I'm ready for whatever you guys have to throw at me." Rin said to him as she got closer to him. She then saw the confused look on his face. "Why are you looking at…? Oh. You're just-"

"Did you do-"

"You know what? I'll just explain it to you after I finish here. Right now we have a meeting with the Fuhrer."

Roy practically let Rin pull him inside the building and drag him through it to Fuhrer Bradley's office. All he could do was stare at Rin from behind.

A/N: This chapter doesn't make much sense. I just needed something to lead up to the day where Rin takes her exams. But do you see what I'm trying to do: I'm bringing the two closer together. Ha ha ha. Like a wise old hermit, I'm slow but smart… Not an old hermit!

Hime Out!