Number of words: 1,245

Published date: December 18, 2013

Began chapter: December 11, 2013

Finished chapter: December 18, 2013


Chapter 30: Rain of Sorrows

The storm wound down sometime through the night so that, come early morning when everyone emerged from the mansion to survey the damage, the rain had stopped, the clouds had passed, and the wind had petered off. Except for the chill that remained in the air and the sodden, muddy ground underfoot, it looked like the day would be as bright and sunny as any other, with no hint of the weather that had just passed.

The damage wasn't too severe, all things considered. Selim had brought the loose items, such as the flower pots and bird feeders, into the house before the storm began, saving them from being lost or blown about in the fierce winds. The forest that surrounded the mansion was young and healthy and grew tightly packed together and, with the exception of some stray branches and a modest percentage of foliage, it did not appear too battered. Unfortunately, one of those stray branches had been thrown into a living room window, shattering the lower pane and leaving glass sprinkled on the carpet. Even that could have been worse, for it seemed the damage had been done in the wee morning hours after the heavy rain; the carpet under the window was only a little wet.

Selim enlisted his sister's help in fixing the window and from the way he babbled on about the various points of concern in transmuting glass (the earth square and fire triangle both played a role since glass was made from melted sand), Lust worried for a moment that Pride knew of her illicit studies. It would have been just like him to make the hint so subtle that she couldn't be sure, and it was only when his babbling became more sedate and distracted – as he flipped through two reference texts and sketched some transmutation circles in a notebook, muttering to himself about fixation and overlay – that she realized he had asked her to help mostly to show off. Most likely he was still embarrassed about his failed attempt to demonstrate Xingese alkahestry and hoped to make up for it with a transmutation significantly more impressive than the stone fist he'd used to beat Greed.

She didn't mind this, Lust mused, as she helped her eldest brother pick the shards of glass off the carpet and place them on his finished transmutation circle. There was something childlike and innocent in such a simple display. Pride had always wanted praise, much as he had tried to hide it. He had pretended to be so self-assured that he needed no approval or admiration, but it had been obvious – to her at least – that this was a farce and that others' opinions mattered to him very much. So to see him admitting to wanting praise and in such an open manner felt strangely nice. Honesty suited the child he had chosen to become.

Although, Lust also thought, once he completed his work and the window nestled happily in its proper place, Lily has spoiled him if he expects me to sing of his greatness at such a menial chore. The boy looked disappointed when she made no comment on his finished product. The Elrics did far more with a mere clap of their hands. No alchemist worth mention should have trouble with fixing a broken window. He went off to find his mother with the palpable intent of obtaining the praise that Lust was withholding.

Besides the broken window and despite Ms. Bradley's assertion from the night before, the power remained off. Greed volunteered to walk down the road to see if he could find where the line was damaged, but by the time he made it to the bottom of the driveway, fighting the entire way to keep from slipping in the muddy ruts and sliding to the bottom of the hill on his rear end, he gave the task up as not worth the effort and came back through the forest. As far as he could tell, whatever was causing the power loss was located closer to Dublith, for nothing was touching the line between the road and the mansion that hadn't been touching it before the storm.

Notwithstanding the fact that the damage caused through the night had been less than it could have been, it was hard for Ms. Bradley to be thankful, for her garden was what suffered the greatest toll.

The dahlias, tall as they were, had been completely blown over even on their poles. Several had snapped from the weight of their flower. The blue delphiniums as well had been blown to one side, the plants on the edges so much so that their roots were now exposed, while the hydrangeas had lost most of their petals. The flowers closer to the ground, rather than being pushed over by the wind, had simply drowned in the heavy rain or been beaten into the mud. The vegetables hadn't fared much better. The majority of the tomatoes and string beans had likewise been knocked over and, if the ground didn't dry out quickly, the carrots ran the risk of rotting.

"You see?" Envy asked (taunted was how it sounded) as Lily knelt down and mournfully cradled a broken plant. "I told you, didn't I? This is exactly what I meant! All that time and effort straight down the drain! You want to say that 'nurturing life' is so great now?"

Her shoulders hunched defensively. Greed cuffed his brother soundly across the back of his head, telling him not to be such an ass, and Envy scowled and shut his mouth. In his own way, Envy hadn't meant his words to be mean, for he had started to warm up to Lily – just a bit, of course! 'Tolerate' was the word he would have used – and he hadn't really been trying to upset her. If pressed, he would have said he was giving friendly advice and yet, having never had the occasion to be kind or empathetic before, the words twisted in his mouth and came out completely wrong.

"No, it's alright," Ms. Bradley allowed in response to Greed, her voice hitching and betraying how upset she really was. "Things… Things like this happen. It's not the end of the world. I'll just have to start over, is all." She wiped at her eyes before turning around.

Selim and Gluttony both looked sadly over the garden along with the old woman, and Sloth echoed the sentiment in mind though not in face. Lust remained aloof (the roses which she favoured had come through with negligible harm), and although Greed could empathize over the loss, he had little interest in plants.

Envy praised himself for his self-control in not exploding at the stupidity and stubbornness of the human when nature had just proven quite emphatically that her efforts were a waste. His body, however, seemed determined to make some kind of protest:

Instead of words, he sneezed, then shivered, then sniffled.

As a reward for not speaking his mind, Ms. Bradley chided that he shouldn't be outside in bare feet, especially not when it was wet and muddy and cold.

"Aw, mind your own business," he muttered, swiping a hand at his nose with no little disgust at his new human body and ignoring her advice to go back inside or to put shoes on.

By the next day, it became her business.

He really did have the worst luck.


Author's Notes:

Selim wanting praise: I spend very little time with kids, but I've learned from my Pokémon club that children can be shameless braggarts and show-offs. Every child I've played with has spent most of the time telling me about every single card they own (and clearly wanting me to be impressed) and every piece of trivia they know (again, wanting me to be impressed).

This was meant to be a postscript-style chapter and I intended to post it a few days after the last one, but due to being moved into a new position at work, I have been unusually busy and stressed the past few weeks. I don't think the effect is as nice with the delay, but oh well. And the next chapter will be the third part of this little arc.