"The Jaegerist who helped us escape the Capitol?" Jean asked in confusion.
"Yes! She told me that she planned on becoming a doctor if her residence here on the mainland was granted. Armin, didn't you vouch for her during her hearing?" Connie turned to him expectantly.
Armin nodded but then frowned, trying to bring back details buried in three years of worth of information. "The last thing I remember was her gaining access to training at the Medical Technology Centre down the street from here. Kiyomi mentioned that she was contributing good things to the world of medicine, but I guess I just lost track of her after that…"
"So now we must convince an ex Jeagerist refugee to not only bribe an incredibly grumpy ex war hero into coming with us on an objectively impossible mission, but also to go with us on said mission, back to the land she risked her life to escape?"
Pieck's words hung in the air as they digested what they would be asking of Arya should she agree. Armin thought about all she had done for them, of her desire to live a free life of helping others and knew what they were considering was too much to ask from one person. He knew that he should shoot down this line of thought immediately, but just as he had known to trust her back then, he now had this feeling deep in his stomach that she was important to this, somehow. That her role in helping them escape Paradis would become a piece of the bigger picture they so desperately needed to see. It was with this feeling that he now addressed to the company.
"Just as you all were, Arya is free and justified in turning us down. You're right in saying this is too much to ask of her, but it's a request we still have to make. There is something at work here that is once again too big for us to understand yet. But if she can be of any help to us, we must try all the same."
Nodding their heads in agreement, Pieck and Connie rose to follow Armin as he made his way out of the room. Jean shook his head sadly. "Armin's famous last words." He muttered, trailing after them.
Despite the thoroughness of their questioning, they were having very little luck at finding any solid information about Arya or her whereabouts. They had made their way four blocks down to the Medical Technology Centre and had been given permission to speak with the personnel, yet even though a great many of the people they spoke to knew of her, no one seemed to know where she had gone. It had been more than two years since she had finished up her training at the MTC, so the truth was that she could be anywhere.
Their search had led them to a wing labeled "Tissue Reconstruction and Prostheses", a sterile set of corridors with large windows that looked in on both medical training rooms and supplies storage. They were about to loop back to check the other side of the center when a metallic flash caught Connie's attention from within the windowed room they were passing. He stopped to examine the strange metal objects that were resting on the top of the table directly under the window.
"Are those what I think they are?" They all stopped and peered inside with a sense of wonder.
"If you're thinking that they are steel-crafted appendages, then you would be correct." A tall, willowy blonde woman was just emerging from the room they were staring into. She smiled kindly at their flabbergasted expressions.
"I know, I thought the same thing when I first saw the prototype for them."
"How would that even work?" Pieck asked, gawking at what was indeed a metal leg built from the knee down and several steel hands.
"Well, without getting into it, it has a lot to do with skin grafts, nerve extensions and physical therapies. It won't operate the same way as a flesh and bone arms or legs, but it would provide significantly better mobility and comfort to a person missing limbs." The woman smiled again. "You've gotta hand it to Halbrand, she sure knows her stuff."
They all whipped around stare at the woman, who's smile disappeared immediately as she took a step back from the severity of their faces.
"Halbrand? Arya Halbrand? You know her?"
The woman, taken aback by their directness, straightened. "Yes, I do. It was Doctor Halbrand who aided in the creation of the pieces you're looking at: took them from simple sketches and theories and helped turn them into practical devices. Why?"
"My name is Armin Arlert, I was the commanding officer of the Allied Forces team three years ago. We are looking for her. Is she here?"
A flash of recognition passed over the woman's face, and she reluctantly answered. "No, she's not. But I do know where she went."
The air felt stale and hostile between the hastily built and shoddy streets of the western-most section of Cirrane, or as people had come to call it, the Mirror City. Directly across the channel from Veritas it acted as almost a reflection of the capital, though significantly less developed. The outer edges were specifically lacking in development, filled with a large number of refugee's still looking for a place to call home since the Rumbling. It was sobering sight, driving home the reality of the world they were in. The doctor they spoke to, who's name turned out to be Emilia, had told them that Arya had relocated here shortly after leaving the prostheses wing at the MTC.
"She finishes training in the top medicinal center of Marly, works on ground-breaking medical equipment, and this is where she goes afterwards?" Jean wondered out loud as they made their way through the muddy trackways between shambled houses.
"A woman of the people." Armin whispered to himself, searching the small storefronts they passed for any sign of a doctor's clinic.
"Oh, this is stupid. I'm just going to ask someone." Pieck said hotly, pulling her boot out of the deep mud hole she had just stepped in. She shook off the dirt and briskly walked over to an older man and woman, who had just rounded the corner in front of them.
"Excuse me sir and madam, I don't mean to bother you, but my friends and I are looking for a woman named Arya Halbrand. Doctor Halbrand? We were told she was here somewhere." Pieck spoke very kindly and softly, though at the mention of Arya's name the older man's eyes widened and he scoffed loudly.
"Looking for the sorceress, are ye? You lot better keep clear of that woman and her ungodly magic if ye know what's good for ye."
Pieck was taken aback, looking over her shoulder at her companions with surprise.
"Ah, don't you go listenin' to my dear husband, he's a superstitious old fart." The woman reprimanded, glaring at the man as he rolled his eyes. "That woman has been very kind to our lot and has help many-a-person here. Just 'cause she heals in a way you don't understand, don't mean she's no witch."
"It aint right, I tell ya." The man muttered as he stalked off down the muddy road away from them. The woman turned back to Pieck with a gentle look.
"Keep going down the road aways and hang a sharp left: her spot is near the end, dearie."
She then continued after her husband, leaving the four of them rather stunned. Shrugging, Armin lead them off in the direction they had been given. The road they were on split into two after a while, the left path dwindling down to not much more than a small footpath that wound between even shabbier buildings than before. Just as their trail was coming to an end near the southern edge of the refugee camp, Connie caught a brief glimpse of a small, brown-haired woman disappearing into the doorway of a home up on the right. He wasn't the only one who noticed, and the team slowly approached the small home. It was better kept than most of the ones around it, yet it was still very plain. Armin was about to knock when Jean grabbed his arm in warning.
"I know this woman did us a huge solid and that you vouched for her," He said in a hushed voice, "and it's obvious she's doing good work out here and staying out of trouble. But what if there is a small chance that she IS still working for the Jaegerist's? We need to think this through."
Armin highly doubted that anyone looking to gain secrets of Marly and report them back to Paradis would exile themselves all the way out here, but he stepped aside begrudgingly. Three of them took off slowly around the edge of the house and out of sight, while Armin grabbed the door handle and turned it slowly.
The interior was well lit by soft candles covering almost every surface. The front sectioned looked to be a waiting area, with a thick fabric curtain dividing the home in two. Making his footfall as light as possible, Armin walked over to the partition and peered around the small gap where the curtain met the wall.
Arya was sitting on a low stool, stooped over a young man who had his leg propped up on a small, padded stand. The man winced at a low popping sound as she rotated his ankle. Sitting up straight, Armin saw with shock that the man's foot from the ankle down was made entirely of casted steel. Not nearly as refined as the specimens back at the MTC, but still well-crafted. Arya smiled at the man.
"There you go, Emery. One of the bolts in the joint had just come loose a bit. You've been overdoing it over at Alexi's farm again, haven't you?" She scolded him gently.
He smiled sheepishly back at her, pulling his pantleg back down over the metal joint. "He lost some harvesters a few days ago; I was just helping him out."
Arya shook her head with a laugh. "You're a good kid, Emery. Try and leave the heavy lifting to someone else next time, alright? Otherwise, you'll be back here again this time next week." This prospect seemed pleasant to Emery judging by the grin on his face. Armin didn't blame him. Her kind face remained as lovely as he remembered.
Just then the young man caught sight of Armin, and his smile evaporated. The second Arya saw his expression change, she rolled on the ground and to her feet, a large hunting knife unsheathed in her hand. The curtain ripped open, and Armin found himself looking directly at the shining tip of the blade directly underneath his chin.
"…Armin?" Arya gasped, lowering her weapon quickly, a beautiful smile replacing her previous intense scowl. He felt his cheeks warm as he returned her smile and once again found himself staring into her unfathomably deep eyes.
"It's been a long time."