Summary: It is now the year 1916. Amestris has a new constitution and the first elections should take place in July. Mustang and Armstrong are surprised, when it turns out that there will be three parties competing for seats. In Xing things are getting politically dicy. The Regency is being a pain to Ling, but he finds some relief as he and Lan Fan agree to try out being in a romantic relationship after some prodding from his mother. Alex Armstrong and Stephen Cartwright's plans are starting to progress and this makes Alphonse Elric think about a possible change of occupation from just a generic alchemist.
Notes: Happy New Year, this update is late, but given the limited time I had yesterday, I am glad that I have been able to post it with only some delay. The bigger question is if I will have the next chapter of 'Facts of Love' prepared in time. The scenes that start the Ling/Lan Fan relationship were a bit difficult to write in a way I found reasonable. Also I would like to note that the chapter summary does indeed hint to my future plans of having Alphonse be a Professor of Alchemy at Central University, but that will only be in thing after several in-story years.
"Happy New Year 1916 and a good morning, our dear listeners in Central and elsewhere, today we are joined by James Grumman, our country's Führer and President, and Julius Douglas, the Secretary of the State, as Radio Central continues to be the unofficial government gazette into another year," the announcer declared and Grumman's snickers managed to make it on air before someone among the techs could turn off his microphone. "We have only done that around ten times," Douglas argued, but the announcer continued on with a small smile and a shrug.
"Today we are trying to institute a new tradition of the Head of State giving a speech on New Year's Day. This one I suspect will also include that promised constitutional reform you have been teasing for months, right?" "Indeed, I am pleased to present Executive Order 4000 to our fair Amestris." "God damn it," screamed Alphonse Elric back in Resembool as he pulled out a hundred Cen note and handed it over to his brother, who was grinning like an idiot. "Did you bet on the number that they would give it," Winry asked in confusion, and her boyfriend nodded as he claimed his price.
"I told you he would go for it, Al. Grumman likes to make things complicated so they can be prettier than really necessary," Edward said. "And here I thought he was not really paying attention to the numbers and just went along as they were needed, so I was safe enough to be he would miss 4000," Al grumbled. The whole time Douglas had been talking about all the things that changed about the way different titles interacted and how the Presidency was now elected by the Parliament, however the most important part was only coming up.
"The population of Amestris will be called to the polls on 7 July and will have a simple choice from among the parties that will exist by that point," Grumman declared. "All two of them," muttered Havoc as he and Catherine were listening to the announcement at a café, where they had a shared breakfast. "We don't know that," his date snarked, "somebody else might find the sufficient resources and create a third party as well," she pointed out. "Catherine, if somebody manages to outplay Mustang and your sister, then I will be genuinely surprised and might just vote for them out of respect for pulling that off," he promised.
"A political party is created once at least five thousand signatures are presented to the Ministry of Justice, which will validate that each of them represents a real person," Douglas explained. "Once Miss Hawkeye receives confirmation that there are enough valid signatures, she will inform the President and the Prime Minister and afterward make a public announcement that a party has been formed.
Riza Hawkeye had actually already vetted the lists that Olivier Armstrong and Roy Mustang had gathered, and the official proclamations were prepared for Monday. The Wall of Briggs had named her grouping 'The Loyalist Party' and had chosen the national dark green as a party colour. She was joined by Lawrence Henschel, Samuel Dupont, her friend Alexander Spencer, the Governor of the Northern Area and Neil Flit, the Automail mechanic at Fort Briggs and according to rumours she heard Lawrence Henschel's potential successor for the industry portfolio.
Her boyfriend, and did that descriptor still feel weird and not just because they had not gone public outside their closest acquaintances, had called his grouping 'The Reformist Party' and choose a blue colour, which she assumed was based on the Amestrian army uniform. He had insisted it was supposed to be the colour of his girlfriend's eyes until she had told him to quit acting like an infatuated teenager, while internally begging for him to never stop doing exactly that. Besides herself, Fuery, Havoc, Draxler, Honigberg and Badeaux had joined this ensemble of people, which other already claimed was convincing evidence sometimes luck supersedes skill.
Doctor Marcoh had refused to join a party and instead told everybody that he was intending to leave after this Interim Cabinet had run its course. Armstrong had offered another member of the Loyalist Party, Dr. Edmund Bells, as his future replacement, but that was yet to be decided. They had assumed that would be all for a while, but then on 31 January Charles Merchant, the popular Mayor of New Optain, came to the Ministry of Justice. "Good morning, what can we help you with," Riza asked and the sixty-year old politician pulled a stack of papers out of his briefcase.
"These are signatures of individuals from New Optain, who have agreed to sign my petition to form another political party within Amestris," he explained. "Oh," she said after a moment and started looking through it. Sheska leaned in, and they could see that it was indeed a large batch. In the end it was closer to ten thousand than five, which was more than enough to add another page to that politician's career. She now had to make the three officials announcements. "This is the office of the President and Führer," her grandfather answered as he picked up the phone.
"Your Excellency, as Minister of Justice, I hereby proclaim that Charles Mechant of New Optain has gathered the signatures demand by law and has hence become head of a national political party. He has chosen to call it the 'Agrarian Party' and they will use yellow as their party colour," she declared and was met by silence. "I... see," Grumman eventually said. When she made the same proclamation to Mustang, the reaction was quicker. "Excuse me, Riza, the fuck, do you mean, he has gathered the signatures."
"Exactly what we agreed that phrase would mean. He is popular among the citizens of New Optain and has apparently decided to take his politics to the national level." In the evening Radio Central, which by this point might as well have been the government gazette, broadcast the short announcement. That was also the same day that Catherine Armstrong had finally convinced Jean Havoc to have dinner at her family's house. He had managed to not be intimated by the family until Riza addressed the nation.
"The ministry of justice hereby declares the foundation of a new political party," she began, and Olivier turned her head around so quick that Havoc briefly thought something had suddenly broken her neck. That sentence caused the room to fill with such anger, that Havoc almost instinctively fled under the table. "Charles Merchant, the Mayor of New Optain, has gathered 8,634 valid signatures and has thus become head of the Agrarian Party. Their party colour shall be yellow, and he has promised to publish his manifesto in the coming weeks."
Mustang and Armstrong had theirs made in advance. "So, what about that promise, Jean," Catherine reminded him, while watching her sister try to melt the radio with her stare. "That sixty-year-old weak ass with a honey golden tongue," she screamed so much that Havoc thought she turned into a banshee, "has crammed himself in?!" Apparently there was some sort of personal dimension to this. "How does she know him," Jean whispered to his girlfriend, who shrugged and looked to the others. "Merchant was Governor of the North Area before Alex Spencer and he and Livy got along like a house on fire," Strongine told them.
"Good morning, Lord Ling," a familiar voice greeted the Emperor of Xing as he was sipping some of his morning tea during a cold morning. "Same to you, Dear Mother. Did you sleep well?" His mother nodded and sat down. "You however look like you have not," she pointed out, and he took a slight breath. "I had trouble falling asleep. Recently, the Regency has been a huge thorn in my side, and it has been exhausting me to an extent. But do not worry, I am well otherwise," he told her and sent a smile in her direction.
"My Lady," Lan Fan called on her, "that that is one of several phrases that you should never believe, when they are uttered from his mouth." Lady Jiao nearly inhaled her tea as she started laughing. She spit it out and most managed to land back in the cup. "I see you have once again decided that her duties include more than just protecting me from outside harm," he said in a humorous tone, but could not stop himself from being touched by the fact she was that concerned for him. Stop it, you have fifty wives already, he yelled at himself.
"Somebody has to do it for you," she grumbled, and Ling's mother made several nods in agreement. "What is the news in the Imperial Household," Ling asked. "Your actions, or rather the lack of them, are continuing to raise some serious eyebrows," she told him. Qiao Cheng alone out of the consort was aware of Ling's intents toward them, but the other forty-nine had been getting more and more confused with each passing day. "Have they finally become convinced that I am homosexual," Ling asked with some amount of trepidation.
"Some have," his mother answered instead. "Some have questioned," she pretended to cough, "your ability to do what is required." "I would have thought that they be happy that I have not forced them to have sex with me," he argued. "Oh, they certainly are happy, especially those two that are bad at pretending they are not carrying out an intimate romance in private," Lan Fan called out. "Oh, really," he asked and looked around at her. She nodded. "I have decided to let it be as long as they maintain external decorum," Lady Jiao told her son.
"Unfortunately, the several consorts that have crushes on various guys from either the stables, kitchens, or the guards are being more problematic" Ling actually smiled at that. "Let them be. Anything resembling normal life will be good for them," he muttered. "My Dear Son, there is a chance that some of them will try to pursue romantic relationships. Are you sure it is a good idea to just leave it be?" He nodded. "If they happen to give up in their virginities, I will be only pleased. They should do that with someone they have actual attachments to, and not me." She gave him a look like he had grown another head.
"Do you not realise how badly things could go if they get pregnant, or if someone accuses your actual child of being from an affair?" "I do, but I am still not convinced I will actually be able to impregnate most of you without being unable to look at myself afterward. A part of me is an idealist romantic and hates being in a fifty-fold arranged marriage like you would not believe. The fact that we are essentially commanded to have sex against our will is such an antithesis to my views on intimacy that I myself feel physically violated just talking about it.
But sadly, such is my duty, and as such I cannot ever pursue true romance." "Is that really the case?" "What do you mean, Mother?" "I admittedly am not well versed in history, but as far as I know Emperors before and after Xing the Restorer sometimes took mistresses," she said while holding her chin with her right hand as if in thought. "I cannot just take a mistress. I have fifty wives and a duty to uphold," he pointed out. "Those are not contradictory aims, though, are they," his mother argued. "You are trying to make things nice for all your consorts. Why don't you try to do the same for yourself? Do you not have someone you are interested in?"
"Lord Ling has always taken oaths very strictly, and I doubt he would willingly desert his current consorts to pursue a romantic relationship," Lan Fan said as if it was obvious. "His forefather named the people in those positions as 'consorts' and not wives. I and some historians believe that this was on purpose, because he imagined his successor might take a wife separate of his clan consorts. As long as you maintain that any child born of such union would not have succession rights, I would think this would not be explicitly opposed by the clans," she argued.
"But my theoretical crush would be placed in the middle of palace politics and all the danger involved," Ling told her, and a second later realised Lan Fan was already there. "Why did you make certain to point out the crush was 'theoretical' and nothing else," Lady Jiao asked with a toothy smile. "I would have noticed if something like him getting a crush occurred. After years together, I can spot if he is forcing himself to act against his own desires, because we both consider duty superior to personal feelings," his bodyguard argued.
Ling's mother looked at her with a thinking face and then turned back to her food. "Usually a bodyguard romance goes the other way around," Lady Jiao said as if she was just thinking out loud, and Ling genuinely thought she just gave him a heart attack and under her mask his bodyguard blushed, although it was more out of annoyance than her own crush. Ling wondered who else could have done the same, if she managed to immediately clock his crush of Lan Fan. "What are you talking about," he tried to dodge. His mother turned back toward the corner.
"Does being his bodyguard not get tiring," the Imperial Mother asked out of nowhere, and Lan Fan gave her a confused frown. "I enjoy it. Protecting your Son may be hard work, but I consider it worth all the trouble. This way, Xing can have a good emperor for as long as possible." The woman nodded. "And the country needs that in this day and age. However, a part of me does wonder," she began and leaned closer to the bodyguard. "Is there another reason, why you find your work is rewarding?" "That would be most unprofessional," Lan Fan noted.
"Perhaps, but let us not cast unnecessary judgement. I have both begun to wonder if you hold feelings for our young Emperor," she said. She turned a tomato colour, but Ling did not have a mask on his face, so his lesser blush was much more obvious. "From my interaction with her during the admittedly limited, number of times I have seen her in Lord Ling's presence, I would be very surprised if her feelings are purely professional," Lady Qiao commented as she entered the room. "What," Ling said as his mind went on a strike like Lan Fan's had already done. He had to have heard that wrong.
"She has openly proclaimed her own belief that you two are carrying a torch for each other to me," Qiao explained and nodded to his mother, while pouring herself tea. That did nothing to relieve the confusion in the mind of the Emperor of Xing or his bodyguard/crush. "And since you two both look like somebody painted you red, I see that I was correct and you two are idiots. My dear Son, do you want me to go check if you have hope for having at least one fulfilling relationship among fifty-one," Jiao asked.
"I know the nature of Lord Ling, and I am certain that he would not wish to act like that. It would endanger me and bring unnecessary conflict with the clans," Lan Fan tried to argue, more for the sake of her own heart than anything else. "He is also a lonely teenager," Jiao pointed out. "You and my son certainly share your dedication to your work over your life," the Emperor's mother stated. "That is the way of honour, here in Xing. The others either become cold-hearted, cynical and distant or they become seekers of hedonism, which leads them to abandon the position they were assigned. But not all is a necessary sacrifice," she argued.
Somehow, Ling and Lan Fan managed to survive the most awkward breakfast of their lives. Lady Jiao kept teasing them throughout, and the two were still trying to reboot their minds. "Lan Fan," he called after her, when his mother finally left the room, "could we have a talk?" "Of course," she immediately agreed. "Do you want me to leave the room," Qiao asked, but he put his hand in 'cease' gesture and his consort remained. Lan Fan sat down on one of the chairs in her work clothes.
"Do you have romantic feelings for me," the Emperor asked, and she looked down, but no in embarrassment, but rather disappointment in herself. "I do. I have had them for about a year. My Grandfather told me that I should not act on them and try to let them wither, because they would only bring me hurt, because I could not hope to see them reciprocated," she answered, and the Emperor slowly nodded and turned his head around. "I understand Fu's view. However, since that little wine binge, I have realised that I hold reciprocal feelings." He turned to his consort.
"Do you believe it would be tenable for me and Lan Fan to conduct a public romantic relationship without upsetting your fellow consort," he asked Qiao. "Lord Ling," she began, "I am only close to about three of the others, so I cannot estimate what the reaction would be if you did publicly take a girlfriend or mistress. Personally I would think that declaring the children of such a union would not have succession rights would suffice, but over the last few months I learn every week that the one before I was naive, so perhaps my own judgement will change."
"That is not exactly a stellar reference," Ling muttered and turned back to Lan Fan. "Would you be willing to risk this, Lan Fan? I think we could be a good couple, but my position will make it a difficult thing to balance." The bodyguard looked down. "I would be lying if I said I had not imagined a relationship with you, but are you certain you are willing to take me as a mistress at all?" He looked at her with wide eyes. "We just establish we have romantic feelings for each other, and my mother has made it clear that from her perspective my duties do not say I cannot do this."
"That is but one opinion, my Lord," she pointed out. "If I may," Qiao interjected, and after they turned to her continued, "I would not mind if the Emperor took a mistress. However, a more important question is not how the existence of a relationship would affect succession, but the fact that if you were to become a couple now the clans may reassess your reluctance to have sex with the consort," she pointed out. "Yes, that is another thing," Lan Fan agreed. "We are not just any teenage couple, Lord Ling. Each of us have expectations to uphold."
"But you could conduct a relationship in private," Qiao suggested. "Lady Qiao, how long have you lived here," Lan Fan rhetorically asked in reply to her suggesting anything could be private, when it came to the Imperial Palace. "Oh, by the Heavens," the Imperial Mother exclaimed as she returned into the room. "I admire the two of you, but you really need to unwind at least once before you snap like overstretched rubbers," she told them with a tired tone. "Your views of 'duty' and 'honour' are binding you in a way that humans are not made to deal with," she pointed out.
"Then what should we do, Lady Jiao," Lan Fan asked with some anger in her tone. "Act your age and try starting a relationship. You are already friends and close allies, so it would be only natural to take this as a next step. Meanwhile, I believe you can safely ignore the clans for now. We are talking about a romance and not sex here, so the issue of succession rights should not be relevant at this point. Two Emperors since Xing had taken mistresses alongside their consort and as far as I know, those relationships were positive and supportive."
"But we are not them," Ling noted. "That is true, but I am merely bringing it to your attention that a precedent exists. It would be very imprudent to dismiss this without giving it more consideration than just this morning discussion. If you are afraid of others reacting, I can go and check the air, so to speak. Meanwhile, you two should go ahead and think about your own wishes and dreams first and foremost." "Thank you for your advice, Mother. But I still feel unconvinced. I do admire Lan Fan and would like her to be a romantic partner, but I also do not wish more harm on her."
"I can handle more harm, Lord Ling," Lan Fan argued, "I am trained as a bodyguard for a reason. It is the safety of your reign that is most relevant here. If you decide that you are willing to risk a relationship with me, then I will accept you. However, I wish that you make it after rational consultation and not just because we have crushes on each other. We are not a pair of commoners like Edward and Winry, whose love lives are their own private affairs."
The discussion continued for almost an hour. Depending on perspective, it either went around in circles or slowly upwards in a spiral. "I want us to try it," Ling eventually declared, and Lan Fan gave him a questioning look. "If it turns out badly, then we can always stop." "I agree with that as a good choice," Lady Jiao commented. By this point, Qiao had returned to her chambers and had casually suggested that Ling was not having sex with his consorts because he held romantic feelings for somebody to gauge how the consort closest to being her friends would react.
"Then, what do we do, Lord Ling," Lan Fan asked after loudly exhaling and closing her eyes for a few seconds. "One, when in private, you can drop the 'lord' bit. Two, would you mind taking a stroll through the Northern Gardens? Not in the sense of me taking a walk and you shadowing my steps for my protection, but you can of course still do that. It would be something like a date." The bodyguard's face continuously went back and forth between a smile and a frown. "Very well," she eventually said, "let's see if this works."
Ling smiled. "I would love nothing more," he asserted. "Excellent," his mother said with a joyful tone. "You deserve to have some happiness in your life, my Son. And with the lot you have chosen to take up, this will offer you a place to find rest and relief from the stress of the day. I am sure of this." She turned to Lan Fan. "You are a good and hard-working girl, Lan Fan. Please treat our Emperor right, and Xing will owe you for your service." The girls gave a small bow to her. "Thank you, for your praise, but..." "No buts," Jiao told her.
Edward and Alphonse once again visited Central City in early April, while Winry went to Rush Valley, but this time they were not here for research. Izumi Curtis had joined them as she too had been invited to a meeting of alchemists at Central University, which would ideally be the first step in the plans Alex Louis Armstrong had formed regarding the future of alchemy within Amestris. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen," greeted Charles Harting as he took to the stage in the auditorium they were using within the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
The wall behind him was lit with the light from a projector and apart from five State Alchemists including Roy Mustang, who attended in spite of his occupation as Prime Minister, the guests were mostly members of the academia. "As rector of Central University, I welcome you in the Chester auditorium, where this faculty first met after our institute's foundation. Today we will have a less formal gathering than usual," the old academic continued.
"I have called you together to gauge the possibility and willingness to implement a plan that Mr. Alex Louis Armstrong and Mr. Stephen Cartwright have brought to me over the last several months." He made a small circle with his index finger, and a helper put an image on the projector. The Elric brothers gave annoyed groans as they saw a stereotypical image of an alchemist teaching his apprentice – the two characters were dressed in hooded robes and surrounded by a book filled with blocks of text and pictures of complicated arrays.
"Unlike other branches of natural science," Harting continued, "alchemy has not become a subject within traditional academia and instead retains its original nature as a decentralized and private transmission of information. The aforementioned gentlemen believe this is not an ideal state, and we should make the science of transmutation another branch of science, which is taught at an institution of higher learning. They argue that alchemy imposes undesirable limits on itself due to the way it insures its own perpetuation.
The secrecy and lack of desire to present once results, they argue, leads to issue such as repeated discoveries of the same facts and an internal fracturing without contact with its other branches as individual alchemist pursue their own specific hobbies." He made the gesture again and showed a series of newspaper clippings, which talked about various state alchemists, including Ed. "Some of those branches are kept separate for a reason," Mustang pointed out as he noticed one about him and his use of Berthold Hawkeye's fire alchemy.
"That is true, Mr. Prime Minister. However, there is a common saying in science that we simply pursue knowledge, and it is the realm of ethics, which has to make judgement regarding what we gain," he argued. "A low dose poison can be a cure after all," he pointed out. "Regardless of whether that is the case," Izumi began, "alchemists have always conducted themselves privately. State alchemists are a notable exception, and even they are only a partial subversion. You also have the problem of the other side.
If we manage to make alchemy a potential area of research within academia, how can we be sure people will actually want to study it. Take a look around us." She gestured at the small group of alchemist that were present. "You have five of us here and in, with the technical exception of Ed and Al double-timing, we were each our teacher's sole students. That is not exactly a picture one associates with universities. Is this really a tenable idea in the long term, Mr. Cartwright?"
"Actually," the Minister of Education asserted, "I and Mr. Armstrong believe that this will be resolved by the change inherent in this plan. We believe that the limited number of apprentices is a mere consequence of the current state of alchemy and will be easily removed once we make the offer more publicly. A number of subjects in chemistry, biology, geology and other established sciences already border alchemy regardless, so the subject will generate popular interest at least by proxy alone."
One of the other academics put his hand up. "Go ahead, Mr. Brauner," Harting said, and Theodore Brauner, the Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry, stood up. "If you excuse me, I would like to point out a deeper issue I feel has yet to be acknowledged. I personally believe that alchemy will not have too many problems establishing itself, but my own question is how do you plan to introduce the concept of academic rankings to something, which has only ever had two – that of teacher and apprentice?"
Amue Armstrong rose with her right hand raised. "If I may," she requested, and the Dean nodded. "It is my belief that we should introduce alchemy as a subject within wider chemistry and after a few years or perhaps a decade or two make it into a full and separate branch. This would be similar to how the Faculty of Natural Sciences itself was split into its constituent parts in the early 1900s due to exceeding a reasonable size for a single faculty. I believe that it is the choice of teachers, which is by far the most difficult part of our plan."
Brauner gave the middle Armstrong sibling an unconvinced scowl, but withdrew his objection for the time being and sat down. After she did, Harting continued to speak. "Since the issue of teaching has been brought up, does anyone here know of someone that could teach the first students?" "If you want any sort of academic standard, you are barking up the wrong tree," Edward loudly declared. "Aren't you a being a bit harsh, brother," Al asked, but the elder brother shook his head.
"My ways may be unorthodox," their Teacher noted, "but I was teaching you two more than just alchemy at the time. The issue would be prior engagements. Most of us either have established lives or in the case of you two are not yet old enough to enter academia as teachers rather than students without people raising a racket about it." "We are no strangers to the young teaching the old," Harting counter-argued. "And besides, Mr. Elric was made a state alchemist and as such is ipso facto legally emancipated regardless of his age."
"That might be the case," Ed immediately interjected, "but I certainly do not have plans for the future, which would see me being an academic, thank you very much!" Meanwhile, his brother was looking nowhere in particular and seemed to be thinking about something. "You would consider that," Edward asked and Alphonse gave a non-committal hum and after a minute whispered back. "Maybe. It is an interesting idea, and one that I had not really thought about before. I'll need to think about it more later."
Another academic next to Brauner rose. "Mr. Rector, I would like to offer our department as a potential test bed for this," he said, and that got all the alchemists to look at him. "Why your department out of all the others, Mr. Thompson," Amue asked with a hint of familiarity. "Physics seems to be less connected to alchemy than chemistry or even biology." "That is true," Ernest Thompson admitted, "but the current trend in research is focused on the internal composition of matter and there are certain hypotheses that I believe alchemy could be used to test with ease."
"If you wish to go for it, then I will gladly give you approval. What about you, Mr. Brauner," Harting replied. The Dean made a hum of thinking and closed his eyes for a bit. "I will permit this for the time being, but I reserve the possibility of changing my mind," he eventually told the room. "After this gathering ends we will go to my office and negotiate the way in which this testing period will be conducted," the Rector declared. About an hour afterward, a formal agreement was made, under which Armstrong and the Elric brothers would become external consultants for Thompson.