I wandered around the small city for maybe twenty minutes before I had to get something to eat. I jogged back to a clean looking restraint. It didn't have very many waiters, and thankfully I didn't have to wait to be seated. I was so tired. I picked up my bag wondering it I'd put my wallet in there too. I found it just under my coat, but my id was gone, and in place of the money I'd been saving were several bills the likes of which I'd never seen. This was too much; I put my head on the table and started bouncing it up and down, hitting my head with the table.
"Excuse me, Miss?" Asked a young man, standing of to one side of the table, "What are you doing?"
I lifted a hand, waving it in his general direction, but I didn't pick up my head. "Oh, you know, I'm trying to see if trying to knock some sense into yourself will start a fire." I was extremely sarcastic today.
"Well, uh… Could you not do it on our tables? People are beginning to stare." I looked up at him, half aware of the red mark on my forehead. He was younger then me but already looked like he'd been working hard for most of his life. He tried to smile at me, "Can I get you something?"
"Yeah I guess," I sat up leaning against the back of my chair. I ran a hand through my hair, "How much is Water?"
He laughed a little, "It's free, Miss."
I resisted the urge to glare, "Fine, I want a large glass of water, and toast and jam, if you have any."
He nodded, smiling kindly, "We have the best home made Jam this side of Central. That'll be two hundred Yen."
I pulled out two bills that had hundreds on them and gave them to him, "Is that enough?" I'd never felt as stupid as I did now
He nodded again and left to get my food. I put my head back on my table, Thump, thump, thump, I hit my head again. The guy probably thought I was a freak. "Are you trying to set fire to your head and the table again?" He'd come back surprisingly quickly.
I looked up at him, he gave me a pitiful look, and I lied, "Yes." He smiled and put the food on the table, I took a deep breath I was about to embarrass the heck out of myself. "Can I ask another favor of you?"
He looked at me confused, "All right."
"Can you explain this money system to me?" Yep, that was the look I'd expected. He looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "Let's just say I'm not from around here."
He nodded, "Ah… OK. I'll come over when the rush hour's over."
I settled into my chair as he walked away, spreading the jam on my toast. At least I wasn't completely lost now. I pulled my hair back and secured my boot dagger to my bra strap. I made me feel better to know if someone got too close I could pull it on them. I nibbled on my toast until the young man joined me at the table
"That's interesting, Major," Mustang's voice said over the phone. "I just had someone check with the records, there's no woman currently under the government's orders. The last one retired six years ago." There was a pause, "Now you say that even thought this woman…"
"Young lady, Colonel, she couldn't have been out of her teens," Armstrong told Mustang.
"Right, Young lady. You said, even though she had this watch, she didn't even try to use alchemy as Scar attacked her?" Mustang said the sound of papers rustling was audible under his voice.
"Yes sir. But as I also said she seemed very distressed, she mentioned that she didn't know where she was," Armstrong answered.
"I just had Hawkeye check the records. There are no young female state alchemists, currently," Mustang sighed. "Well, it could be a mistake, but I want you to bring her up here any way. We can at least clear this up, and explain the laws about State Alchemists' watches." Mustang said sounding tired. "In other words arrest her."
"Yes, sir, and if she resist?" Armstrong asked.
"Handle it, that's an order. Good Day, Major Armstrong, I'll see you when you get to East City." The Colonel hung up and Armstrong sighed placing the phone back on the receiver, He'd hoped to only have to tell the Colonel, and then leave the girl be. But he had no choice, he had his orders. Now for the hard part, finding the young lady.
He turned around on the stool he'd sat on at the bar of a restraint. "No, no, no. hundred Yen are never called bucks, and a Yen is the lowest about you can get. It comes in coins." Said a young man said to a girl with her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, on the top of her head. It took Armstrong a second to recognize the girl, as the young lady he'd run into earlier. He decided to wait until the boy was finished teaching her… what ever he was teaching her.
"OK. I get it no need to yell." I said to the boy. All my money sat between us. I pointed at the smallest coins, "So these are Yen," I pointed to coins the size of quarters, "These are fifty Yen," Next was the bills, I pointed to each in turn, "A hundred Yen, five hundred Yen, ten hundred Yen, and there are also two thousand Yen but I don't have any." He nodded finally pleased with what I'd learned.
His father called him then, and he ran off, I slipped an extra two hundred Yen under my plate. I got ready to leave, not knowing where to go next but I was going to go.
The tall, muscular man, with a blond mustache and a single curl of blond hair on the front of his head, stepped in front of me, blocking my path. He was the one who had saved me earlier, "Excuse me young lady, Do you recognize me?"
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Yeah, you're the one who helped me get away from the freak with the scar."
"Well, then I'm afraid you're under arrest." He said, pulling out a pair of handcuffs.
My jaw dropped, "Huh?" He repeated what he'd said, asking me not to resist, and cuffed my hands, kindly in front of me instead of behind. The two of use then proceeded, to catch a train to some where called 'East City.' My head ached, this was too much, and all I wanted now was to go home.