Al didn't know what to do with his brother; the way he was acting in front of their host was embarrassing. Every time he tried to talk to Ed, all he got was silly mumbling as if a bee flew into his mouth and stung his tongue.
Dayna looked a little uncomfortable with this as well. For five minutes, no one said a word until something caught her eye.
"What is that on your arm Ed?" she asked and Ed snapped out of la-la land.
"What? Oh this," he replied, lifting up his right arm "it's just automail, my left leg is made out of that too, see".
Ed moved so that he sat on the edge of the bed so that both his right arm and left leg were shown, they shone in the morning light that was streaming from the window.
Danya had another uncomfortable look on her face.
"What's wrong?" asked Al.
"Oh nothing. Listen, I've got to make a stop in town, you guys can have anything you want in the kitchen, if you're hungry. I'll be right back"
Dayna turned and ran out the door. Ed and Al stared at the door and then at each other and shrugged.
"Did she seem nervous for a minute there Brother?"
"Yeah. Maybe the automail startled her. Let's find something to eat," said Ed as he got up and put on a white shirt over his blue boxers.
They headed towards the kitchen and started to look for something to eat. Ed and Al checked all the cupboards and all the drawers and found nothing.
"Where's all the food?" Al asked.
He turned to Ed, who had just opened the beat-up, rusted fridge. Al saw Ed look in and was confused by the cringe that his face had on it.
"What is it?"
"I found some food, but I think I just lost my appetite"
Al looked in the fridge and saw half a tuna salad sandwich in the fridge; it had just started to grow blue-greenish mold.
"EEEEWWWWWWWW!" Gross!" cried Al, picking up the sandwich with a nearby fork and tossing it in the garbage.
Al turned to Ed and saw that he was still looking in the fridge.
"What is it Brother?"
"That's all she had to eat. In this whole house, that was it. Also, some of the bite marks on that sandwich looked recent too. She took us in, even though she had nothing for herself. She gave me her bed and her only blanket; wrapped up my cuts with a pillowcase and offered us something to eat. Why should a person like her live like this? What did she do to end up with this?"
"Brother."
The door opened and Dayna came in the house. She didn't see Ed or Al anywhere, so she figured they must have been in the kitchen.
"Guys, I'm back. I just had to get some water from the stream nearby. Ed, I hope your feeling better."
She came in the kitchen, but was not expecting for what she encountered. Ed and Al were sitting at the table, looking upset about something.
"What is it? Did something happen?"
Ed looked at the table, then his hands and then at Dayna. He had such a sad look on his face, like someone had died. Ed sighed and asked,
"Dayna? When was the last time you had anything to eat?"
"What?" Why are you asking me something like this?"
"We just want to know. To tell the truth, we want to more about you and this is our first question. When was the last time you ate?" asked Al.
Dayna looked at the brothers and figured that she wasn't going to get out of answering this question, so she just gave in.
"Three weeks. A while ago, I had a bite of that sandwich in the fridge and got sick afterwards. I guess it was because it was starting to go bad or because I'm partially allergic to tuna. It was the only thing to eat, I didn't find a time to throw it out."
Ed moved his head to look at her. In the light, he could she her a little more clearly. She was really thin and had faint rings under her eyes. Her nails were dirty and her shoes were worn, but then Al noticed something different.
"What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?"
Al leaned forward, "You have bandages on, and you didn't have any cuts on your body when you left".
Dayna tried to cover up the bandages with her hands, but she wasn't doing a good job, plus her face was red at the same time. For the first time since they meet, Dayna seemed to not want to even look at Ed and Al.
"It's nothing, I just wish that I could make your stay a little bit better"
She turned and started to head for the doorway out of the kitchen, feeling like a fool for hiding things from the friends that she had just made.
"Do you have anything nice to wear Dayna?" she heard Ed say to her.
She turned around to face Ed and said that what she was wearing was the only thing she had to wear.
Ed got up from the chair and walked over to Dayna. With his automail hand, he took hers and smiled at her with his cute, toothy grin.
"I hope you are hungry, we've decided that you need a good time. We're taking you out to lunch".
Dayna's sad face became a glowing smile.
"Thank You Ed and Al"
Dayna showed Ed and Al the sights of the town where she lived, Mirrengard. As she described it, the town was famous for the glass sculptures, which were made by hand. She showed them the historical sites, even thought she couldn't remember most of them and all the restaurants, which had the best food around.
"I should know, I usually wait by the back door for them to get rid of the food that didn't get served that day and the leftovers".
Ed tried to ignore this and grabbed her hand.
"Let's go here, this place looks nice".
"I can't. They won't let me in there; they have this policy rule about people like me. They won't allow me to set foot in there".
Ed looked at Dayna's face; it looked like she was about to cry. Al then leaned forward beside Ed and whispered into Ed's ear.
"Why don't we make her look nice? We could fix her up and pass her off as your date"
Ed's face went beet-red and started to talk gibberish again. Al rolled his eyes and wondered why he put Dayna and date in the same sentence around his brother anyway.
Al then took Dayna's hand and led her to a nearby shop that he spotted. In the windows were some pretty sundresses, Dayna looked at them as Al walked into the store with her.
"Pick whatever one you want, my treat" said Al.
Ed waited outside the store, when he heard Al come out. Ed blushed yet again when he saw Dayna come out of the store. She was wearing an Eggshell white sleeveless dress with a blue stripe at the bottom and at her waist was a silk ribbon that she tied into a knot.
"Whoa, you look great," said Ed.
It was Dayna's time to blush; she could feel the heat rise in her cheeks. She didn't even realize that she blushed every time she looked at Ed or when he touched her, until this point. Ed came around to her left side and took her arm in his.
"Ready to go and eat?"
"Yeah, I'm starving"
"Brother, can I tell her the other surprise?"
"Sure Al"
"What 'other surprise'?"
Ed smiled at Al then turned to her, then Al said "Ed and I have decided to stay at the Mirrengard Hotel and we want you to join us for the rest of the time we're here".
They ate at the restaurant and Dayna was never happier. The smell of the food and freshly baked bread filled her nose with delight and she ate until she was full. As she was eating dessert, Dayna noticed that Ed was staring at her with his arm supporting his head.
"What? Do I have something in my teeth?"
"No"
"Then what are you staring at me for? Do you want a bite of my pie?"
"No, I'm just happy that you're happy"
She blushed again. Then Dayna noticed something different.
"Al? You didn't eat anything, are you ok?"
"Um…yeah, I'm fine. I just wasn't hungry".
She looked at Al, as if he wasn't telling her the truth. Neither of them was, she didn't know a lot about Ed and Al, just the fact that that Al constantly wore a suit of armor and Ed had an arm and a leg of automail. The she thought of asking them about it when she caught a glimpse of something by Ed's lap.
"Ed? What's that by your lap?"
Ed looked down to see what she was asking about and moved his arm down to bring it up.
"What this? It's just my silver military watch"
"You're with the military, but you're so young".
"To put it better, I'm a State Alchemist. In East City and Central I'm known as the Full Metal Alchemist."
"Full Metal? Is that because of your arm and leg?"
"Yeah, everyone who becomes a State Alchemist is given a second name"
Dayna seemed fascinated by this, she wanted to ask more questions when Al said that they should get going if they wanted to get a room at the hotel. They paid for their meal and headed down the street towards the hotel. They looked at several vendors on the street and all the tourists, but when they passed down one alley, Ed felt Dayna shiver.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. Are we there yet?"
They arrived at the hotel and walked up to the front desk.
"Room for three please, put it under the name Edward Elric."
They were just about to take the key for the room when they heard a call from across the room,
"Edward! Figured I would find you here. I heard that you were headed to this city and thought that I'd drop by"
Ed turned to face the voice and started to swear under his voice. Dayna looked at the source of the voice and when she saw where it came from, she leaned over to Al.
"Hey Al, who is this guy?"
"That is the person in charge of the Headquarters in East City, Colonel Roy Mustang. The Flame Alchemist."