Chapter 21: Peanuts and Penguins

Lloyd sighed as he walked down the sunny sidewalk, past a small bench that looked awfully cozy. Even though it was just a normal wooden bench. Yet his desired rest soon slipped from his fingers, as his hand was taken up by a little set of fingers down at his left side. He looked down, and saw Anya staring up at him, a bright smile on her face, as she was pointing to some other exhibit.

"I wanna see the penguins!" the little pink haired girl shouted, pointing at a sign that showed a large black and white bird with short flappy wings. He had heard of these creatures, flightless birds from the far south. They swam instead of flew, and ate fish.

'They also naturally live so far away,' Twilight thought, 'How is it possible they were brought all the way to Central, a landlocked city in a land locked country hundreds of miles from the nearest sea, that would allow them to be picked up and brought here?'

And just as though he had heard them, his "Family's" "Guide" stepped into the picture, posing strangely as he slide into view.

"Ah yes, the penguins," Alex Louis Armstrong flexed as he pointed towards the sign with the flightless birds, "A fine choice young Anya," the muscles of his biceps reflected the rays of light off to give him a shine, "That family of penguins is a third generation, after two dozen of the birds were brought up to Amestris from the great frozen south by my Great Uncle, Julius "Storm-Cutter" Armstrong, one of the greatest zoologists in Amestrian history," he then changed his pose, allowing more light to relfect now off his pecs, "They are one of the many animals that my family has provided to this establishment," he laughed loudly, sparkles seeming to emerge for every word he said, "That is why, after all, this is known as the Armstrong Central Zoo. This place has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!"

"...why did he take of his shirt?" Twilight heard Gracia Hughes whisper to her husband, who gave off a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head, making sure to avoid little Elicia sitting on his shoulders.

'I see now,' Twilight just looked up at Alex Armstrong, who continued to pose as he pointed towards the penguins, with all the members of their party staring at the massive aristocrat with large beads of sweat rolling down their heads, 'I see that I owe Handler an apology. Instead of Maes Hughes, Armstrong could have been my next door neighbor.'

It had all started yesterday when Lloyd Forger asked his daughter what reward she would like for passing the exam to make it into the Fuhrer's educational program. She, listening to the radio, had remembered an advertisement for the Central Zoo. Honestly, Twilight had at first been thrilled. A reward that was relatively cheap, with the benefit of also being educational? Perfect.

But then, when they had been leaving for dinner the night before to go get more Hamburger Steak, they had run into the Hugheses as they had been returning home on that Saturday afternoon from the park. And before Lloyd could manage to get away from them, Anya had told Elicia they would be going to the Zoo. Upon hearing that, Elicia had declared that she'd like to go to the zoo too, and before long, Maes had invited his family along, and Lloyd Forger couldn't say no, because Maes had offered to pay for all the tickets and snacks they would have. Twilight couldn't afford to turn down such a generous offer, not if he wanted to keep any extra suspicion off himself, so he had been forced to agree.

That had been bad enough, but he had thought it would be something he could handle. Just pick up Yor from the train in the morning, go with the Hughes to the Zoo, and then be done with it. Not too much, not too little. But while there to pick up Yor, they had also run into Edward and Alphonse Elric. There, he had had the displeasure of informing Ed that the library that was his goal had just burned to the ground. After a few moments of discussion, Edward and Alphonse were able to get a car to go with two other lower level officers, Lieutenant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Brosh, two go speak with the head librarian to see if there was any chance the records he was looking for weren't in that library.

The reason it was those two lower officers was because, during the discussion, Anya let slip they were going to the zoo. The massive major who had been guarding the brothers suddenly revealed that his family was one of the major benefactors of the zoo, and thus offered to give a guided tour, at a discount. Remembering that Maes and Alex were coworkers, and would likely talk about him turning down such an offer, Twilight had had not choice but to accept Major Armstrong's generosity.

So now he was here, in a zoo, still trying to recover from his exhaustion from the past month or so of constant movement. With his two least favorite people in the country.

"So your uncle discovered these penguins, huh?" Maes Huges said, trying to pull his colleague out of his flexing and posing. This proved futile as, even while walking, Armstrong was able to strike another pose with his left arm.

"Quite right," Armstrong answered, "Though again, it was my Great Uncle, Julius. He was the third son, born in 18-" Twilight pushed the converstion out of his head as he, Anya and Yor followed the Amestrian Military Officers towards the enclosure. Yor herself seemed quite tired, and Anya was being quite accomadating as she snacked on a package of peanuts.

'Had you told me a month ago,' he thought to himself, remembering his spray of coffee on the train, 'That my daughter and wife would be the least stressful people I'd encounter while assigned to Operation STRIX,' he then stopped, and looked down at his daughter, 'Then agai...oh come one Twilight,' he scolded himself, 'After how well she managed to do on that test, you should give Anya a break,' he he shook his head, 'That girl did better than hundreds of other children with only a three weeks of studying. You couldn't ask for more.'

Twilight blinked when he saw Anya skip a step, a big smiled on her face. Then he felt his face fall, when she began coughing. He got down, and slapped her back, causing the girl to suddenly cough up a peanut shell. She looked down at it for a moment, before looking back up at him with a bit of a dumb look.

"Anya, what have we said about skipping and eating at the same time?" Lloyd said aloud, and Anya finished coughing, and shook her head, "You don't want to choke on your food."

"Ye-yes Papa," she coughed, before reaching up her hand and grabbing it. Lloyd sighed as he turned around, and started following the rest of the party. Doing so, however, he saw Yor look at him with a smile.

"You are doing a very good job with your daughter," his "Wife" said, before getting on the other side, and grabbing Anya's other hand, "Ms. Anya, may I hold your hand as well?"

"Yes Mama."

'Well,' Twilight inwardly nodded to himself, as they continued over to the large pool like structure with several dozen massive birds swimming through the water, 'At least we manage to look like a family.'

"So," Maes Hughes said, watching his wife, daughter, and the Forger family looking out over the penguins, "That's the conclusion I've managed to arrive to," he kept his eyes on Lloyd Forger, who had allowed his daughter to take a seat on his shoulder to get a better view of the exhibit, "What do you think?"

"Hmmm," Alex Louis Armstrong rubbed his chin, contemplating the theory, "This Lloyd Forger is possibly investigating the loyalty of the parents in Selim Bradley's school," instead of his usual bombast, he had only said this at the level of a whisper, "That makes a good deal of sense. There were rumors that Isaac McDougal was able to get into Central with help from a major benefactor, so perhaps Central Command is worried about that benefactor possibly attempting a more covert attempt at a coup?"

"If that was what got Roy to be investigated," Maes added, trying to further explain his logic, "Then it likely means that's why he was brought on in the first place."

"Yes," Alex nodded, "I do believe you have a point."

Maes smiled. Even he knew he didn't have the most professional reputation in the Military, but he also knew that he was one of the best men Amestris had in intelligence. He took a great deal of pride in figuring out the machinations of the plotting that went around Central, from covert foreign operatives like Sylvia Sherwood to internal struggles between departments.

"Do you have any idea who they might be interested in then?"

However, major political families weren't something he was quite as familiar with. He needed a source who knew how upper society in Central functioned if he was going to be able to figure out exactly what Lloyd's assignment was, and how best to keep an eye on someone who might try and oppose he and Mustang in the future. And he had a guy right in front of him who had been part of the uppercrust of Amestris for generations. Better to take advantage of this opportunity before the school would start on Tuesday.

"Well, it shouldn't have been obvious who was getting into the school," Armstrong admitted, "That examination was very difficult for young children, so the idea of any specific families making it in should be hard enough," he then shook his head, "Though if I had to guess, I'd say he is probably going to be investigating Donovan Desmond."

"The Parliament Member?" he'd heard about Desmond, "He's one of the biggest critics of the Fuhrer in polite society," before adding with a bit of dismissiveness, "for all that parliament is considered polite society," the weakness that parliament had experienced in the past half a century was something of a joke to the members of the military, "why would he even be trying to get his kid in the same academy as Bradley's son?"

"The family Desmond is nearly as ancient and wealthy as my own," Armstrong continued, "And Donovan has a keen sense of his own place in that history. His family has been near the top of Amestrian Society for centuries, and he likely sees that having his son develop a bond with the Fuhrer's son will be another way to maintain that grasp on power into the next generations."

"I guess that makes sense," Hughes remembered the Desmond speech he'd heard only a few months, "but still, for a guy who hates the military to be trying to ingratiate himself with the Fuhrer-"
"Remember, he doesn't hate the military," Maes could hear a bit of exhaustion in his voice, "Donovan hates the Fuhrer. His party has a platform that believes that the military is being wasted," He paused and sighed, "I'm sure you remember his speech on the same day as Order 3066?"

"That was him?" Maes shook his head as he remembered listening to the radio from an Eastern supply depot, ""Why use the power of God to slay ants when we could use them to slay bears,"" he felt himself shiver at the thought of that, "He wanted us to invade Drachma. Thousands more of us would have died invading that barren wasteland."

"As I told you, no dove," Armstrong rubbed the bridge of his nose, "He opposed the Ishvalan Extermination campaign mostly because he thought it a waste of supplies and soldiers that could be better used on greater conquest," he then looked down sadly, "Still, only man in parliament to offer any criticism of Ishval at all. Rest were either for it, or too frightened to oppose the popularity of Bradley."

"Maybe his warmongering with other nations put him above reproach," Maes offered, before continuing, "But how would they know that Donovan's son was going to get into the school?"

"Donovan's first son, Demetrius, is a genius currently studying to become a State Alchemist," Armstrong added quickly, causing Maes's eyes to widen, "Donovan himself actually has a military record, he served in the south during the second Southern War, so he expects his sons to live up to his ideals of service," Maes felt his stomach drop, as he absolutely wanted Elicia no where near the front lines, "And it has been widely accepted that his second son Damian, would be nearly as smart as well. That was proven correct, as he managed to pass that test."

"Results have already gotten around about it, huh?" Maes whistled while thinking about the gossip networks that must exist in throughout Central's upper society.

"Yes," Major Armstrong then smiled, "But it makes sense, have an agent on standby as a parent to investigate anything Desmond might be planning, and perhaps serve as a way to see if he was behind the McDougal incident," he then added, "There has bee no proof that he could be the one, but he is at least one suspect."

"Yeah," Maes noticed that the Forger family was about to finish up with the penguins, "Still, I wish there was a way I could keep an eye on Lloyd to see if that is actually what he's doing," Maes shook his head, "I just feel like something is staring me in the face about him, and if I could just get all the pieces together, it'd point out what this guys all about."

"Well, maybe I can offer some assistance," Armstrong offered.

"Oh really?" Maes gave a quick look up, "How so?"

'Glad that's over,' Twilight laid down on his couch, placing an icepack on his head. Just across from him was Yor, who was resting her arms and legs against the chair as she sat down, nearly completely exhausted as well.

They ultimately spent over three hours walking around that massive place. They saw everything, from lions to tigers to bears. The pure number of animals they had seen had only been surpassed by stories from Major Armstrong on how each animal was one that had been captured and provided to the zoo by his illustrious family. Then, after that, they had gone to the shop on the exit, and bought both Elicia and Anya massive toys, an Elephant for Elicia and a Penguin for Anya. Twilight was simply glad that Armstrong had been able to get them half off, because the price for them had been astounding.

Then, after they had finished up there, they had all gone to dinner out at a restaurant. Well, they and the Hughes had all gone out, as Armstrong had admitted he needed to get back to his office to fill out some paperwork. That had at least relieved some of his stress, as he wasn't continually assaulted by the sight of the man's massive pecs, but that had meant he had been forced to more or less speak with an intelligence officer and his wife for another hour and a half. With how much he had been going, adding yet another meal where he could tell that Maes Hughes was subtly grilling him for information had only been more exhausting. Even after that, because they were next door neighbors, they had taken the same taxi home together to save money, and that had only added another fifteen minutes of being observed by the enemy.

Now, he was at home, and he was again feeling the overwhelming weight of his exhaustion covering him. He could only lay on the couch, and hope tjat everything would be over soon.

'How is it that parenting is the hardest job I've ever had?' he asked himself, 'I've infiltrated military bases, climbed up sheer cliffs, and swam across flooded rivers, but I've never been as itred as I am right now.'

He looked over at his "Wife" who looked equally as tired. He looked at her bandages around her arms and legs, and inwardly groaned.

'What are you saying Lloyd,' he chided himself, 'Your wife clearly has had a rougher few days, and yet you are acting like you've been hit by a truck,' he looked her over, 'Though...I wonder if that's what happened to her,' he studdied the cuts along her legs and arms, 'just falling down into some gravel wouldn't be enough to cut her up like tha-'

"Papa," Lloyd was cut from his thoughts by a small voice. He forced himself up on his elbows so he could look over the arm rest of the couch to see his daughter, night cap and pajamas on, staring at him, "I'm going to bed now."

"That's great Anya," he remembered sending Anya to go get ready for Bed, and seethed slightly as he realized what was expected, "Let me," he seized for a moment, as a shot of pain erupted through him as he tried to force himself to his his feet.

'Have to make sure I put her to bed,' he thought to himself as he tried to push past the pain, 'If I can't put her do-'

"It's okay Papa," she said, patting his shoulder for a minute, smiling at him as she walked over towards his head, "I'll go to bed, you don't need to come put me down," she then leaned forward, and placed her lips on his forehead, before pulling back, and finished up by saying, "I love you, Papa. Good night."

...

'Did my heart just skip a beat?'

While he was trying to regain his composure, Anya had run over to Yor, and hugged at her leg. She then smiled, and declared, "Love you Mama. Goodnight."
"Any-" Yor seemed to be caught off guard by the affection as well, trying to push herself forward so she could kiss the little girl on the forehead, before stopping, sighing, and laying back down, "I love you too, Anya."

"We both love you Anya," Lloyd finally said, trying to keep himself cognizant, "Good night. See you in the morning."

"Bye!" Anya was quickly off, and after only a moment, Twilight heard the sound of a door closing from down the hallway. He let out another exhausted sigh, before looking back fully at his "Wife". She looked absolutely flabbergasted by the whole show of affection from the little girl.

'Honestly,' Lloyd thought, 'I can't even really blame her.'

"So," Lloyd spoke up, "Been about a week of married life," might as well try and get a review of the process while it looked like she was in her best mood, "How is it treating you so far?"

"It's been," Yor seemed to consider everything for a moment, trying to place her hand under her chin, but freezing, and placing it back down after some discomfort, "It's been...different," she then stopped, and sputtered for a second, "It's been good! Very Good! You're daughter's great," she then stared down, "But...It has been making me do things that I normally wouldn't."

"Like the zoo?" Twilight had seen a glimpse of exhaustion when she'd been told they were going straight to the zoo instead of back home from the train station. Clearly her Saturday hadn't been easy, and the thought of walking around with a daughter for a full day hadn't been that enjoyable for her. And Yor confirmed it with a nod, and Lloyd could see the exhaustion all over her face, though he could also almost detect some guilt.

"I like the zoo," she said, somewhat absently, "Though, I was kind of hoping that I'd have a bit more time to rest after the job this weekend," she looked away for a second, a bit of a blush on her face, "It was really difficult, and I needed some time to think about it."

"...Anything you can talk with me about?"

'Might as well offer while we are stuck here,' Twilight thought, really not wanting to move a muscle. Yor looked at him, before shaking her head.

"I don't think you'd understand it too much," she laid back on her chair, "I was just given a difficult assignment, and I don't know if I succeeded or not. I don't guess I'm just questioning my worth a bit," she groaned, "I mean, not only did I fail at my work yesterday, but," her eyes seemed to wander next door, "I guess...I just see the way Gracia just seems to glide through being a Mom, the cooking, the planning, the constant presence and control," she looked back down, "And I can't help but feel..."

'Inadequate,' Twilight finished for her in his head. Honestly, it should have been obvious that she was comparing herself to Gracia, the only other wife and mother she'd ever really interacted with, what with being an orphan and all. Yor was experiencing natural anxiety, and that shouldn't have been too much to worry about, 'I'll just try and help calm her.'

"Yor, there is no need to compare yourself to Gracia," Twilight said aloud, catching Yor up and getting her to look at him instead of at the floorboards, "Gracia has been a mother for two years, you haven't even gotten to your second week. I understand that it's a bit of a confusing situation I've put you into, but you are doing great so far. We wouldn't have them as friends if it wasn't for you," Twilight thought about how if he had had another wife, he'd probably have had to be neighborly to Hughes, but to have actually ingratiated themselves with the information officer's family wouldn't have happened, "And Anya adores you. You are still learning to cook," he could hear Yor wince, as "learn" was probably a bit too generous a description of how Yor was doing with cooking, "But no mother is good at everything. You just need to keep trying to learn and grow, and you'll become a better mother than you already are."

He could see Yor relax the further he went on. Her eyes seemed to dilate slightly, and the tension in her shoulders seemed to release. She let out a sigh, and then pushed herself up from her chair. She stretched her arms above her head, trying to push out some of the stress in her body, before smiling at him, and walking over.

"Do you need help getting to bed?" she asked, offering a hand to him. Lloyd smiled back, and took her hand, and she firmly pulled him to his feet, "Upsy Daisy," she almost laughed, catching him before her surprising strength could put him off balance, "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure," Lloyd Forger smiled, as the two of them got to their feet, and walked towards their separate bedrooms. Lloyd was thankful they didn't share a room, having some space to think would be a good way to just let himself space out in privacy for a bit. Just as he was about to open his door to privacy, however, he heard a small cough. He turned back, and saw a blushing Yor, whose hand was firmly on the door knob to her own room.

"Lloyd...do you reall-I mean, do I loo-" Twilight blinked. Finally, the woman just sighed, before saying, "Never mind, it's a dumb thing to ask anyway."

"Whatever it is," Lloyd answered, trying to maintain his mind from his exhaustion, "I'm sure remember what it was soon."

"It's not that I'm forge-"she stopped and tapped her bottom lip, "Huh, I think I am forgetting something," she stared at the ground for a moment, trying to think of what she had forgotten, before sighing, and saying, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure if I can't remember it now, it wasn't anything important," she then opened her door, and quickly pushed her way into her room, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Lloyd answered, finally pushing his way into his own room, and soon, into a restful sleep.

"Good morning Maes," Captain Focker said as Maes Hughes wandered into the intelligence office. Maes couldn't help but smile as he waved at the dark skinned man. They'd been working together for over two years now, and they'd both more or less adopted one another's work schedules. Both up bright and early, both out early and often. Maes never pried on why Focker acted this way, but it was ultimately a good base for a work relationship.

"Morning," Hughes sighed, before picking up his coffee, sitting down, and reading through a report, "Anything on that Twilight case?"

"Nothing really," Focker sighed, clearly as frustrated as Hughes was, "Last check was he was in the East, but we haven't heard about anything in particular in almost a month," Focker sipped his own coffee, "Sly bastard just won't give himself away to us."

Maes groaned. One of the reasons he'd gone out East was to try and dig up any intel on that Crestan spy, yet with everything with the Elric Brothers, Scar and Lloyd, he'd never had any time to really investigate Twilight. He'd been run ragged by the different balls he was having to juggle, and he was beginning to worry he was letting a fox hang out in a hen house.

'And yet...,' he thought, 'something's changed in his pattern,' he looked down into a file he had on Twilight, almost all of it only on the missions he had completed, rather than anything about his appearance or personal history, 'His behavi-'

"Ah, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, Captain Focker," a young voice cut through the room, and Maes felt himself smile. He looked up, and saw one of his favorite subordinates, 2nd Lieutenant Yuri Briar, entering the office after taking a week of leave for extra training in the South. Only in the military for eighteen months, he was a hard worker, who had adopted Maes's schedule in order to advance as quickly as possible. The sort of go getter who actually was competent, rather than just using energy to push himself up the ranks for their own sake, "How are you doing this morning?"

"Doing fine," Focker said, and Maes nodded in unison. Yuri, his eyes widening, caught the file in Maes's hand.

"Sir, any breakthroughs in the Twilight case?" and Maes just sighed, shaking his head at the question, which caused Yuri's expression to fall.

"Nothing really," Maes flipped through it, "Just feeling like I had the guy, and yet, he's changed up the pattern," he said aloud, and got looks of confusion from his colleagues, so he elaborated, "Twilight is probably the hardest working Crestan I've ever seen. The man just won't stop working, it's insane. A week couldn't go by without him blowing up some supply depot or stealing security communications. And yet now, he's been quiet for almost a month," he shook his head.

"Think he might have been caught and just shot without anyone figuring out it was him?" Yuri offered, "It's not like anyone knows his name. Maybe there was just someone that a random guard or citizen thought was a thief, and they shot him themselves?"

"I wouldn't bet on it," Maes shook his head, "No...more than likely, something big is coming up," he stared at the file, "I just don't know what it is..."

"Well, I just hope it isn't in East City," Yuri growled, "My sister is there. I'd hate for her to get caught up in one of Twilight's schemes."

At that, Maes blinked. He looked over at Yuri at Yuri, and could tell from the younger man's expression that his face was showing some kind of disbelief. After catching himself, he looked Yuri in the eye.

"Don't you remember?" Maes asked, "Your sister moved here with her husband and daughter."

Maes could tell from the way Yuri's eyes first constricted into prinpricks, and then bulged almost out of his skull, that he had just said something very, very wrong.

"MY SISTER'S MARRIED!?"