Ishbala

It was as they were reaching the edge of the city—which was as over-grown as the rest of the open land in the area—sometime around mid-morning and the sounds of battle had nearly died out that Armstrong asked slowly, "It's Amestris they intend to turn into that Stone this time? That's what the array this nation has been made into is for?"

"That's right," Marcoh agreed quietly, sounding tired suddenly. "I had no idea how deep that actually reached before. Did you know this back at your home in Resembool, Ed?"

"Yes," Ed agreed tiredly. "If my father wasn't such a bloody coward, I might even have told him just how much I know, but he knows I was aware of the First Homunculus. I'd been keeping the truth about his form hidden because there are definitely people who would misuse it—on several levels—but I'm sure no one here just now will."

"The Armstrongs have been protecting the people of Amestris for generations!" Armstrong suddenly burst out, and there was obvious fury in his stance and expression. "For so long, we did everything we could for this nation, only to—to—find out it was all in support of the nation's utter destruction! This will not stand—the Armstrongs will all grant you any support and assistance we can, once I tell them what happened here. And with our legacy, that's a great deal. Perhaps I should begin with Olivier..."

"She's needed to keep Drachma out of these lands, so leave her at Fort Briggs," Ed told him, opening his eyes and turning his head to look at the large man. "You can tell her the situation, but you need to tell her to keep that border secure, because Amestris just lost—a lot of people. We can't afford to lose that already-vulnerable border right now."

Everyone blinked in surprise at the boy, then blinked again in amazement as they realized what kind of tactical leap of logic he'd just made. "Ed...is that from knowing the future or because you're just that good of a tactician?" Maes asked in quiet amusement.

"Both?" the boy blinked. "I'm more of an in-the-moment strategist than a tactician. But living for nine thousand years means you learn to see some rather blatant problems with certain situations. For hundreds of years, we've had to defend Briggs, and the one time we didn't, Drachma decimated the whole Northern region of the country before we got them out again. And that's probably one of a very few incidences the First Homunculus didn't arrange. Briggs is non-negotiable, and Drachma is always a threat. It's not even knowing the future which tells me that, it's from knowing the past, and knowing how often Briggs still, to this day, has to repel Drachmaran attacks."

"Fair enough," Armstrong agreed. "As soon as I'm able, I'll let the family know the truth, and the plan, then. Thank you."

"By the way, where are we headed to, Ed?" Roy asked curiously.

The boy sighed and said, "You still have to call me Jed when I look like this. As for where—the Temple."

"Why there?" Riza asked in surprise. "They wouldn't want a child underfoot just now, would they?"

"They probably already have several of them," the boy chuckled. "As for why there, both my fathers will be there, probably."

Roy and Maes traded surprised looks over his head as the woman blinked and asked, "The Ishbalan who took you in is a Priest?"

Ed gave her a wolfish grin and replied, "Warrior-Priest. And if they aren't around, the High Priest will take charge of me."

"Why?" all of the Amestrians asked in surprise.

"Did you all somehow miss the fact that the boy is the Avatar of Ishbala—and therefor, the High Priest's to teach?" Shiro asked the others in amusement.

Silence fell for a long minute before Roy and Maes sighed and Marcoh rubbed his forehead like it hurt. "You mean to tell me the Führer's reasoning in thinking you wouldn't be harmed was actually right?"

"No," Ed snorted dryly. "His attack on me only didn't hurt me because I'd had the sense to call for Carbuncle on the way, so Carbuncle could shield me." Carbuncle giggled at the words, and Ed just grinned at it before going on with what he'd been saying. "Of course, I'm sure he thinks it's an automatic response to me—and now my protectors—being in danger. But, I am actually registered as an Avatar of Ishbala the way their society recognizes such a person, and Ishbala does talk to me. Probably, he's been talking to Al, too. It's going to be a lot easier for him to do it now that Ishbala's out from under that stupid wall—and Doctor Marcoh, you should try using my form of alchemy. Roy did, and you saw what kind of inferno he created in the process."

"So wait, the results I was getting really were because all the pressure went away suddenly?" Roy asked in mild surprise. "That was the wall coming down?"

"Yeah, that," the boy agreed mildly, leaning against him again as he closed his eyes.

"That was quite the powerful form of alchemy," Armstrong threw in thoughtfully.

"I'll try it with the healing I'm sure will be needed after the battle," the Doctor agreed.

"Auntie Sarah and Uncle Yuri will appreciate the help, I'm sure," Ed grinned faintly, not opening his eyes.

"Wait, how many of you are out here now?" Marcoh asked in sudden surprise.

"Everyone except Granny Pinako," the boy informed him in amusement, and Riza, Roy, and Maes all chuckled. "Even my father."

"Now that you have two of them, you should probably start specifying which father you mean," Shiro commented dryly. "Particularly as you only address one of them as such in public, not at all times."

"So, exactly who is this—Shiro?" Riza asked suddenly, gaze on him curiously.

"A new Ambassador from Japan, sent to answer the Führer's request to know what was happening here with several strange events all tied to one young boy," Shiro informed her in amusement. "By your traditional way of introductions, as we skipped all but the most basic form of them earlier, I am Shiro Mori, one of what my people call an onmyouji. We have a wide range of skills across many fields of study—not only supernatural ones—and in this case, Amaterasu—our version of Ishbala—wanted this situation seen to and resolved. For all the trouble surrounding young Jed, I have no regrets in coming."

"Good to know," she replied with an amused expression, then levered her rifle up and pointed it at the corner of a nearby building. "We know you're there," she called as the rest of the group stopped and faced the same corner.

After a short pause, a very angry Basque Gran stepped around it (Ed wasn't sure of his current rank, and his uniform was so damaged the rank marks were only half visible) and snarled at Marcoh and Armstrong, "You filthy traitors!" A moment later, he launched himself at Marcoh, who pulled back in surprise—

Only for a shield to spring up and force Gran back from the Doctor—and the soldier shouted in alarm as Carbuncle landed on his head and cheerfully announced, "Don't forget about me!" Gran began flailing, trying to grab the small Summon, only to keep missing as it hopped up and down on his head, avoiding his hands with every pass and laughing cheerfully. "I love it when they react like this!" Carbuncle grinned.

The comment made Ed snort and ask, "How many besides Veld and Verdot did that to you?" (1)

Without missing a beat, the Summon answered, "Nearly all the SOLDIERs, the Infantry, the mercenaries, the students—though, it was as much a game to them, too—the Weapons people—oh, Scarlet was fun, but I only ever get to do it once before she makes sure I can't! Who else? Oh, the Slums criminals, too. Corneo tried to shoot me, then wet himself when it didn't work." By the end of the list, Ed had returned to laughing (so hard he cried, actually), but at least it was normal laughter, not his somehow being stuck in 'giggle mode'.

Realizing what was happening, the man suddenly stopped, then snarled and activated his alchemy to lash out with his multitude of weapons (effectively transforming himself into a gun turret with dozens of guns in the process). Before he could start shooting, Armstrong hit him full-on in the face with an alchemically-charged fist...and sent the other man, weapons and all, flying several streets away, where a small patrol of Ishbalans immediately jumped on him to subdue him. Not that it was hard, since he was unconscious from the force of Armstrong's blow.

"Hmph. Fool," Armstrong muttered, flexing his fist.

"You're not Ishbalans!" one of the men shouted in surprise and alarm. "Little Avatar!"

"It's okay," Ed called back. "The Amestrians tried to kidnap me, but these people got me back from them. We're going to the Temple now. Is my father there, do you know?"

The man paused to rub the back of his neck as a few of the group approached, then glanced back to where Gran was being carted away for a moment. When his gaze returned to them, he said, "I think he should be by now. He said Ishbala warned him through you of the attack so we could prepare?"

"He did," the boy agreed. "But if I had been at the Temple, everything the army had would have been directed there, so I couldn't just stay."

The man blinked, then paled. "It was a distraction to grab you, Little Avatar. That doesn't bode well."

"How many were hurt or killed?" Ed asked suddenly, gaze worried and pained.

"Not as many as if we'd had no warning, for certain," the man sighed faintly. "It couldn't be avoided entirely, but—you should head for the Temple to see for yourself."

"That was the plan," Roy agreed, looking past the man to the structure visible above the building roofs. "If you don't have anything else to discuss, we'll get going again, Little Avatar?"

"Yeah," the boy agreed. "Thanks," he added to the man, who nodded. The group kept going, and once they were past the Ishbalans, Ed told Roy in annoyance, "Don't call me that! It's Ed, or Jed while out here!"

Almost the whole group laughed at the boy's statement, but Roy said, "As much as we're good with that, Jed, in front of Ishbalans, it's a lot better for us to treat you with the 'proper respect' due someone of your station. We don't want to make enemies of them, after all."

"That's just an excuse," Ed glared. "I get it from them, sort of, but even they still just call me Jed sometimes. The only real benefit we get out of it is that half the time, I don't actually have to buy anything from the market anymore, because the shop-keepers just shove stuff into my hands and tell me to go ahead and take it. It's way more annoying than it's worth, though. If they never called me just Jed, I'd start hitting them."

"And I'm pretty sure they'd let you get away with it, too," Maes commented in amusement. "But Jed, we're not Ishbalans and they're wary of us, even with your support. Deferring to you as their Avatar helps ease some of the tension and wariness. For our purposes, that makes everyone's lives easier, so it's best for you to let us go along with it until we're in a better place here and they trust us at least a little bit."

As annoying as that was, Ed found he couldn't argue with it, so just sighed and frowned—or, what the others saw as a very cute pout.

They kept walking at an easy pace, and soon came to the busy area around the Temple, where word of their arrival with Jed spread quickly in the direction of the Temple as well as the surroundings. Soon after, as they carefully made their way through the press of people, one of the two acolytes who had known Jed's name ran up to them.

"Jed! Thank Ishbala you're safe!" the acolyte said. "There are injured—several dozen, though not many civilians, thankfully. The children and women all had time to find safe places. The alchemists also activated the array they had been working on, and—let's just say you really don't want to go inside the Temple just now. Your father is trying to placate some—well, several Priests and the alchemists. So, if you can wait a bit, find something else to do, maybe that would be best?"

"Where are the injured?" the boy asked of the acolyte curiously.

"I'll show you," the teenaged acolyte offered, and led the way to a nearby building which would normally have been used for storage. The space had several linked rooms, but they were large and in a single row, and the boxes had all been moved to the outer edges of the rooms to make space for the injured. The boy recognized most of them as Warrior-Priests, but also knew some were civilian men. As he'd said, there weren't any women or children, so Ed was glad of that. And, Sarah and Yuri were working diligently with some of the Priests to tend injuries.

Marcoh sighed faintly and approached the two to ask, "Doctors Rockbell, could you direct me to the worst-injured patients? My skills might have better luck."

The two blinked up at him in surprise for a moment before Yuri smiled and said, "We'd appreciate the help—we don't have nearly enough supplies as it is. The worst ones are the ones in the next room over, but we've done as much for them as we can. If you can do more..."

The older Doctor gave a nod and immediately headed for the room, and Ed jumped down from Roy's arms to follow him. The others traded startled looks, then followed Ed, but they stopped at the door as Ed made his way to where Marcoh knelt by the first patient of several. After doing a quick count, the boy found there to be eleven, and most of them were fevered and wracked with pain. These were indeed severe cases, and one of them was a Warrior-Priest Ed recognized as a casual friend of Rashad's.

The wounds the first man had were around his torso, and his entire mid-section was wrapped with blood-stained bandages. "That's a lot of damage," Ed sighed faintly. "Probably you'll need Full Cure."

The older man glanced up at Ed, then nodded and said, "I'd been thinking it would be that, or the Cure Three level with Esuna. But, I'm not so sure this one can be instantly healed that way, so I'd rather try Regen with Esuna to allow the damage to heal with at least some small time delay. Internal injuries this extensive wouldn't take well to a sudden change."

"Huh," Ed blinked. "Try it, then. You're the doctor, after all."

Marcoh smiled faintly, then held his hand forward to cast the required spells—and they both took, easing the man's pain as the wounds began gradually healing. They moved on to the next, and the next, and so on, until all eleven had been tended, though none of them were aware enough that night (or early morning) to know they were healed, let alone how. The others waited by the door, watching curiously while staying out of the way, and when Marcoh was done, he stood straight and released a deep breath.

"So, how do you feel after casting so many of my spells?" Ed asked with an impish grin.

"Shockingly energetic," the Doctor replied with an amused smile. "I see now why you said your method would one day be the world's mainstay—it's truly impressive and stream-lined for active use. Let's go see how the patients in the other room are doing."

"You can," the boy agreed. "I'm going to the Temple, because if anyone will actually defuse the argument going on there right now, it'll be me."

"How's that?" the acolyte blinked in surprise.

"Because of my stupid 'Avatar' title," Ed answered flatly, gaze annoyed. "And I've been talking with Ishbala for a long time already, so I doubt he'd stop talking to me now." Minerva chuckled into his mind, showing that she was paying attention to him just then.

The others seemed surprised, but followed him as he left, though Marcoh stayed with Sarah and Yuri to keep working with the injured from the battle. Ed and the acolyte led the way up the stairs to the main entry of the Temple, though the latter looked nervous and Ed was just tired. Shiro and Roy followed most closely behind them, with Riza, Armstrong, and Maes behind them, and Carbuncle jumped over to land on Ed's head, making the boy reach up to poke it in the belly—which resulted in a giggle from the small creature.

"Don't sit up there. If you want to attach yourself to me, use my shoulder," Ed told it.

"Your kid shoulder is too small," Carbuncle replied in a sing-song voice.

With a sigh as the others chuckled, the boy led the way into the Temple, but the acolyte dropped back to walk beside Roy and Shiro. Ed soon saw why when he saw many furious-looking Priests facing the alchemists—including Hohenheim, Al, and Zahur and Nasima. Winry was hiding at the back of the group, giving the Priests the stink-eye, and Rashad (a very exasperated Rashad) was doing his best to keep them back from each other. At the far side of the argument were the High Priest, Priest Ishan, and a few others who were more mild and open-minded—probably the ones who had been tested with the artifact the High Priest had given Ed.

And above all of them was a white light filling the dome above them, but it was a very annoyed white light.

"You were supposed to do something useful, not destroy all our roads and create a light show!" one Priest bellowed furiously. "Foolish, evil alchemists!"

"Yeah, you realize you're calling me foolish and evil, too, right?" Ed cut in flatly before anyone could reply. All eyes turned to him. He then pointed up at the dome above them and said, "And in case you didn't notice, Ishbala is annoyed with you. And it is with you Priests who are so closed-minded you shouldn't be Priests in the first place."

"How dare you—" one of the other Priests began at a yell.

Instead, Ed looked up at the dome and called loudly to be heard over the shouting Priest, "Ishbala, you're going to have to appear and make your position very clear!" He also directed those words at Ishbala mentally so the sentience would know he was serious.

A startled pause followed the words, then the light dropped down from the dome above and formed into the general shape of a larger-than-life, androgynous being with lightly tanned skin, red eyes, long, white hair, and a green robe decorated with blue, wave-like patterns. The robe appeared to be slit up the sides to the waist—a warrior's robe—with white pants underneath, and he obviously had brown leather wristguards and a pair of silver and gold daggers at his waist, held by a brown leather belt. Like Minerva, he was showing himself as both a nurturer and a warrior, and somehow, that made Ed happy to know this was the sentience he had a bond with.

Ishbala nodded to Ed and spoke directly into the minds of everyone present without opening his mouth, :Thank you for calling upon me directly, Chosen. While I had intended to address this issue once a few other things had been done, it appears this cannot wait as long as I had hoped.: Everyone gaped at the entity, and Rashad quickly backed up until he was standing beside Ed. Ishbala then turned to face the alchemists and said, :Thank you, all of you, for releasing me from behind that barrier. You have done a great thing. Never allow anyone to tell you otherwise.:

There was a pause before Zahur managed to get his voice working enough to say, "Thank you for your support, Ishbala." The being nodded again.

Finally, facing the Priests, the sentience told them plainly, :Not once, in any of my words to you, did I ever say alchemy was evil. It is not; it is merely a skill like any other. It is made dangerous only by those who use it and how they choose to do so. What I cautioned you of was to be careful with its use—caution my young Chosen has learned well and manipulates expertly. Those of my people, or of other nations, who study the basic building blocks of the world are to be equally as respected as all other walks of life. Those were my instructions to you. Why have you not followed them?:

"But—alchemy is unnatural, making one thing into another without—" one of the Priests began to say in pleading alarm, and Ed snorted, cutting the man off.

"Yeah, like I told the acolytes not long ago, you do realize there are alchemic arrays holding everyone's souls inside their bodies, right?" the boy asked derisively.

Everyone gaped at him, but Ishbala inclined his head and agreed, :That is very true. It is that way because we, as the sentiences of this world, realized we needed a means of keeping the energy of the soul tied to a physical form, and the complex arrays which bind the two are basic requirements for all of you to be alive at this moment.:

"Also, if you actually think there's something unnatural about the way an alchemist can make random clay into a jar or re-shape stone, you obviously never got the memo saying that you can move around molecules if you know what substance you're starting with and what substance you're making it into," Ed added. "You need one type of metal to make another type of metal, you can't just use anything. If you have stone, there are always little bits of metal in stone which an alchemist can pull out and use—but only by knowing what metals and in what quantity are in that stone. There's actually nothing mysterious about it. Assuming you chose to learn about it instead of hiding your heads in the sand."

Everyone was silent as Ishbala eyed them for a very long moment, then said, :The growth in this area was also something I informed you of. The data is recorded in your writings, so you all should have expected it upon my release. Have you read that information?: No response came, and Ishbala's head tipped to the side. :Have you been using the artifacts I left you with as they were intended to be used?:

Again, no one answered, so Ed threw in, "The answer to that is 'no'. Most of the men decided they liked the idea of their sons following in their footsteps, so ditched anything which would have prevented that outcome. The Priests also refuse to be tested by the artifact indicating their place in society. The ones currently standing with the High Priest are the only ones who have been legitimately tested and placed as Priests."

Several of the Priests shot Ed angry glares, but with Ishbala's gaze on them directly, they obviously didn't dare move. :I see. This becomes problematic. My instructions to you were not ones you were intended to disregard merely because the whim struck you. I had thought your predecessors more honorable than that. And I had felt they had learned the benefits of living the way I taught you. I suppose once others had taught you greed, that became a thing you felt could somehow exist amongst my people without causing undue harm. That must be corrected. Now.: Ishbala paused, then faced Ed and asked, :Have you any idea of the time before Minerva will arrive, Chosen?:

"Uhm...A couple more weeks at most, maybe? Maybe only one or less?" Ed blinked. "Not long. Wait, you don't really grasp time the way we do, either, right?" When he sighed faintly, Ishbala smiled faintly in amusement.

:I grasp enough, though perhaps not as well as you little children do,: the sentience replied. :Her arrival will be welcome, particularly if her children intend to develop a society which follows my original teachings, which are also her original teachings. And I have preparations to make to ease her arrival.:

He then faced the others and said in an intoned voice Ed was sure echoed around all the lands known as 'Ishbal', :All of my people are to be tested with the Artifact of Essence. The tradition was not a tradition, it was a requirement of a functional society. Those who wish to make their homes with my people must also be tested by it. As such, all Ishbalans must now return to the Temple to be tested, if they are of an age to choose a means of supporting the community. Any who wish to discuss the results with me may do so through the Artifact of Communication, which now functions as it should.:

"Does someone who was already tested have to be tested again?" Ed asked suddenly. His eyes then lit on the acolyte who had said he'd be disowned for not being a Priest, and he quickly added, "And what about people whose families will disown them for not being able to stay in their current job?"

Ishbala's gaze moved to Ed in something like alarm as he asked, :This happens?: Ed nodded, so he said, :It cannot. The father—or other specific member of the family—may resort to avoidance, but the entire family is not to follow such a thing should they disagree. Any whose places in society will now change should not find themselves disowned or without family. In this case, only one whose test results are widely known need not be tested again.:

"Okay, but the problem with that is how husbands make the decisions for the whole family—and women and their other children have been compelled to abide by that. Even if you say the family shouldn't disown someone, if the husband says he doesn't want to see his son again, the rest of the family will be compelled to obey," Rashad suddenly threw in.

For a long moment, Ishbala's eyes closed, then opened again as he said, :This is not right. This is not a trait of my people. Family is too important to disregard so easily.: He paused, then looked at the High Priest. :You shall provide both the Essence and Communication Artifacts to each person to be tested. My discussion with them will be private. However, anyone who would abuse another in any way to achieve a desired result must be separated from those they would harm. If that means a good many men are sent into exile over a change in a child's place in society, then so be it. This negative habit will stop. One way or another.:

All of the Priests who had never been tested with the artifact stiffened and Ed's sharp gaze moved to them. That was clearly a problem in the making, and he was sure he'd have to ask the Turks to police them.

"So, wait—Minerva's people have job types our people here don't," Ed suddenly blinked at Ishbala, who looked back at him curiously. "And her people and ours are going to be—pretty much sharing space. Does that mean her people's job types, like the Turks, are now options for Ishbalans? Since her arrival means those jobs are now a thing for Ishbalans, too—there will be someone to train them?"

:Turks?: Ishbala asked. Ed sent him everything he knew of them in their current incarnation, a silent exchange which left everyone puzzled. Then, Ishbala's gaze became amused and he agreed, :Yes, those will also be options now. Hopefully some of them will eventually no longer be necessary in the truest sense, though many of their functions would remain useful in society at large. It means results never seen before may appear. You will need to observe the Essence tests, Chosen, to inform them of what the Artifact is indicating.: He then gave a nod and said, :If that is all, I have other things to do while I await discussions with those being tested.:

He then vanished, leaving everyone staring after him, even as the dome above began glowing softly again, but this time without agitation.

Notes:

(1) Just so everyone knows...Carbuncle and Veld (the Restrictor) met properly for the first time three dimensions after the one in FoWD, and yes, he did the same thing as Verdot did in FoWD, just not in circumstances involving Lady Shinra. And he did that same thing upon first meeting Carbuncle in every successive dimension, though normally only the first time. Ed had no idea how many other people Carbuncle did that to, though, because Carbuncle wanders off for long periods of exploration on its own as long as it has nothing else to do, and unless Carbuncle actually gets sent into recovery, he doesn't really care what happened during that time. He was only present in a few of the incidences regarding Veld and Verdot.