Summary: There are large scale movements happening in Amestris. While Edward and Alphonse head home as the latter is being released into home care, the Ishvalan nation is driving the railway network to its limits as their large scale reverse exodus continues.
Notes: There have been slight alterations to Chapters 2 and 3. An extra paragraph is added to provide context for Douglas' "Are there any dissenting votes" question and Lawrence Henschel is now correctly referred to as a "Lieutenant General" in the radio announcement. In this chapter the Elric brother are first forced to undergo physical examination before allowed to leave the hospital. Later on we get some Ishvalan worldbuilding, when Miles provides context for the apparently intense wave of his people's migration.
During Saturday evening the doctor, which he had physical therapy with over the previous week, came to give Alphonse a physical exam as a formality before release into home care the next morning. After hearing that Edward had not had his in two years, he strong-armed him as well. "Since you have not been to one for several years, we will perform the entire suite to ensure I don't send you back home without absolute assurance everything is either fine or known. We will first start with vitals.
Please pull up your left-hand sleeves as high as you can to make this easier. We can do this part for both of you at once." They did that and the doctor got out an aneroid sphygmomanometer and took his stethoscope out of his pocket. He first took Edward's left hand straightened it out, put the stethoscope into his elbow pit and put the cuff so it just touched it above. "This is always slightly annoying, but the pressure is necessary," he said and started pressing the bulb.
Once he heard the flow of blood stop under the pressure applied by the cuff, he turned the nozzle next to the bulb and a near silent hissing was heard. "Hold on," he added as the flow restarted, and he added a bit of pressure back. "Looks like high 120s systolic. Slightly elevated, but within standard limits. Now let's see about diastolic," he announced and hissing continued for a second before he took the stethoscope out his ears and declared "Somewhere around mid 80s. Not yet concerning, but I will note it down just in case."
"Now even an adult, but you already have hypertension," Al teased, and the doctor gave an annoyed click with his tongue. "That is not hypertension, Mr. Elric. It would have to be at least in the mid 130s and remain there consistently. If we wanted a proper measurement, we would have to do it several times a day." He took the cuff off and reapplied it to Alphonse to repeat the process. "It's something like 120 systolic for you. And...
Sounds like 75 diastolic. This is exactly where I would expect a fourteen-year-old boy to be," the doctor noted. "Well, at least one of us is normal," Edward muttered and Alphonse snickered. "Yeah. Everybody knows how normal I am!" They both smiled as the doctor put away the sphygmomanometer and took out a stopwatch instead. "Your left hands palms up, if you would." Both brothers had heart rates somewhere around 80. "Honestly that vital is so variable on the scale of second, that you would need machines to keep up," the doctor explained.
"Now we get to the most boring part," he added, and pulled out two mercury thermometers. "Fortunately for the two of you, these are meant for the armpit." Both snickered. "Truly a saving grace," Edward said. "Well we could always get the rectal ones," the doctor sarcastically suggested and got quick head wagging from them both. "No, please. I do not want you to shove anything up my butt," Alphonse quickly refused. "I have a special kind of hate for them after having to endure it every time I got sick."
"Fine with me. You two will now have to stay in place for five minutes straight, so enjoy it, while I prepare the tools for your other exams," the doctor answered and started pulling out various instruments. "Up next, I will listen to your heart and lungs directly. Then we will have some of the more specialised test like asking you to read off cards with letters, numbers and shapes in different font sizes I will hold at a distance." "No little hammer," Edward asked.
"No, you will get the reflex hammer. If that reaction isn't quick enough, then there are some potentially serious issues. Also, you get to enjoy these annoying bits," he said as he pulled out an otoscope and a rhinoscope. "They look more intimidating than they have any right too, but they are not pleasant either. Unfortunately, this is the only way I can hope to see your nasal cavities and ear drum, because the human body isn't optimised for this."
Finally, the stop watch reached the five-minute mark. Edward had 36.6°C and Alphonse 36.9°C. "I am slightly suspicious of that temperature. We will have to measure it again before you leave," he explained to Al. "We do not want to send you home with a fewer. It's late March and that is not a good time to walk outside with one. Now I want each of you to look somewhere close to this lamp, but not directly at it," he requested as he turned it on.
He then looked in their eyes. "The retinas are fine. So now, let's see how good your vision is." He took several cards, which he made sure were pointing down, and walked to the other end of the room. It was slightly different from the chart of Herman Snellen, which the reader may be familiar with. Each card had only one trio of symbols. "I want each of you to read the characters in turn as I raise another card. They all have three signs that will slowly shrink in size." After seven triplets, things started to get difficult.
"I think that's a heart, a P and an eight," Ed answered for the eighth card. "Isn't that a tea cup instead of a heart," Alphonse argued. Edward looked again and slightly frowned. "Oh yeah, there is a slight gap. It is a cup." "Well, we are already pass 20/20 vision, so making that mistake is not unexpected," the doctor noted and swapped for another card. "That looks like a six, a star and an N," Al replied.
"Actually that letter is an H, but at this point the print thickness might genuinely be a problem. I am satisfied. You both have normal vision and don't need glasses. It's definitely better than our new Prime Minister. He started having problems by the third card and couldn't tell an F apart from a P due to the way they are printed," the doctor told them and showed the relevant card with an F printed to have a small line hanging on the right side of the top bar to potential blur with the bar in the middle."
"How much is that in diopters," Al immediately asked. "It means he needs about one and a half for proper myopic correction. Walking outside without them is basically impossible. There are signs hanging on high posts that would still be blurry if he stood directly at the base. You got to 20/15, which is off the scale since negative diopters would indicate you have hyperopia, which is rarer, and you would notice it promptly since your own body parts and text right in front of you would blur."
"Now we get to enjoy the more directly physical parts," he continued, and took his instruments to check their ears and noses. "All is well. Now, that hammer everybody thinks of, when they hear physical." The rubber hammer test also went well, though Edward did almost kick the doctor in the jaw. "Sorry!" "Actually, that is a good thing. It indicates either fast reactions, good state of muscles or both," the man said after he had failed to even slightly flinch.
"Next up I will examine each of you in turn, since this will require you to be completely naked as it includes a check of your skin." "Want to go first," Alphonse asked as he turned to his brother. Ed shrugged. "Don't really care," he answered, and Al walked outside. "I see someone takes his exercise regimen seriously," the doctor said as he started the exam. "Actually, it used to be a lot stricter a few years ago. Most of what you see is passive gain," Edward explained as the doctor checked his abdomen.
"You're telling me that you don't train to maintain a firm six-pack at sixteen," the Doctor responded with mild surprise. "Doc, if you had to do everything I had to do in a day, you would not need to exercise. A part of me is afraid of how long this physique will last now that I am technically entering retirement younger than most people start work." The man continued to his side and tried to check Edward's spleen and liver for signs of swelling.
"Well, that all seems good now. However, that scar is something," he said as he moved to the various extremities. "You do not want to know how I got that," Ed immediately rejected any chance of further discussion. "I have been involved in a ridiculous amount of stuff over the years. If the amount of distance I travelled since becoming a State Alchemist was put into a straight line, it might reach the Sun." "Given your legend, I'd believe it.
There is no swelling in any of the pits either. Now it's time for the last truly physical exam." He moved back beneath his abdomen. "Really," Edward asked with a raised eyebrow as the doctor checked his testicles. "All guys should actually do this frequently. Testicular cancer is not a joke, and any lump may be indicative. Just be glad general exams don't go further than checking for signs," he added as he checked for signs around his penis. "Some medics actually suggested a full test for pubertal development."
"How is that different from what you are doing now," Edward questioned, as he was starting to get really annoyed from the constant checking around his foreskin. "It would ask guys to show ability to perform by self-excitement," the Doctor explained with a look of mild disgust. Ed gave him a look that was both blank and disgusted at once. His mouth was open, and he was lost for words. "Exactly! I am not making that up, and they were not joking. They wanted to have assurance that our people were fertile."
That statement made Edward realize the actual reason why that was suggested, and he had to suppress a groan. Of course, Father wanted to know his sacrificial herd was capable of reproducing at the best possible level. The asshole would probably send guys with substandard 'equipment' to get killed in his wars, so they could be 'more useful' or whatever shit he would use to phrase his assessment. He was still disgusted as he swapped with Alphonse. "That bad," Al asked at his frown. "No. I'll explain later."
Things went well enough. "I have to say, Mr. Elric, whatever caused your malnutrition had a truly odd way of going about it. Normally it would have a dozen after-effects caused by the body trying to give nutrients to all parts without a centralized effort, but your body seems to have done everything to ensure your long term health." "Well, that's a good thing, isn't it? Means I won't, I have long term issues for suffering that as a teen."
The doctor snickered at the slight voice break near the end of that sentence because he swapped to the last exam. "Apologies. It's always difficult to estimate what hurts and what doesn't" Al gave him a grumble. "Is this why my brother seemed annoyed? Because this is a part of the exam for some reason?" "Trust me, Mr. Elric, there are worse exams for us guys that you will need to undergo as you age," the doctor said with a hunted look replacing the previous smile.
It fell to Riza Hawkeye, as the new Minister of Justice, to oversee the legal part of Ishval's restoration. Ever since Tuesday's announcement, there had been news from all over Amestris that the Ishvalan people had begun migrating back to their homeland en masse. The railway system had repeatedly sounded alarm bells, and Lawrence Henschel had been swamped with letters reporting that the entirety of it was close to collapsing from strain.
"Mr. Miles, I understand that this is a joyful moment for your people. But why are they all moving back now and so quickly," she asked as she watched a long line of horse-drawn carts carrying still more Ishvalans drive along the road outside the Parliament building. "A very symbolic Holy day for our people is close at hand. The night between next Sunday and Monday will be the first full moon of April, and in our calendar that marks the start of a new year.
The rainy season in Ishval is oddly placed, as you well know from your time there." Riza nodded and also slightly winced at that reminder. "Late March and part of early April are part of the minor harvest, and it is traditional to both give the public access to your fields to eat of the first fruits of the year and to invite them to feast inside your homes as well. Of course this will not happen this time, but the Holy Day also has renewal symbolism."
"I think I remember seeing something like that. I was once sent to spy on one of the few agricultural settlements that survived deep into the war. They piled the inedible parts of their plants on the side, burned them, and then the priests appeared to bless the land with the ashes." Miles nodded. "That is part of it. The priests sprinkle the ground with ash to restore its fertility. The fire is seen as a sign of cleansing, so it is associated with a similar ceremony for our people, where the sins are symbolically covered with ash."
"What will the people actually eat, if there is no one there with a ready harvest," Hawkeye suddenly thought. Miles gave her a smile. "The Ishvalan diet is meat heavy for a reason. Many of our people are pastoralists, because it is much easier to follow the water sources with livestock than plants," he explained and gestured for her to follow him to the meeting that Grumman had called for today. "We ate lamb with your grandfather for a reason. It is considered meat for special occasions."
"Because slaying young lambs is handicapping the future of a flock?" "Indeed, Miss Hawkeye. Frequently, having lamb meat is considered a kind of conspicuous consumption within our culture, because you are showing off your wealth by indicating killing the young will not affect your flock all that much." "What about the cheeses I heard your people indulge in?" Miles shrugged. "If you herd goats and live in a desert filled with caves, eventually somebody will start making cheeses from all the goat milk."
"Mister Governor General, Miss Minister, the Führer is asking after you," a clerk interrupted them. "Thank you, tell him we will meet him as soon as possible," Hawkeye answered, and they started walking slightly faster, while the clerk ran back to the main room. When they entered, most of the others were already in there and Grumman was discussing something with Armstrong, while they both looked at some document.
"Ah, you two are here as well. Good, we can now call start this meeting properly," the Führer noted as he raised his eyes from the page. Armstrong went back to the benches, and this time they were not all sitting on the same one. Storch had called upon a group of cleaners, who were waiting outside the room after the previous meeting concluded, and they had come in and started the proper cleaning. Parliament would not be in session often, if all was going well, but it would take about a year to make the meeting hall fully presentable, without requiring careful angles for photos.
Hawkeye had already agreed to release funds for a general reconstruction of the entire building. Grumman once more gavelled them in and then passed the lead role to Douglas. "The ministers of our Government have come to present requests to your vote, Members of Parliament. I invite Miss Armstrong to speak first," he announced and struck the table. Olivier rose and they switched places.
"In light of our unified control over powers usually given to the High Command, I request a vote on allowing amendments to the Defence budget to halt unnecessary expenditure for offensive capabilities at the expense of defensive ones. The homunculi may not have given a shit about manpower, but the fights with Aurego and Creta have shown that this is untenable." She turned to look at Riza specifically. "If the Minister of Finance wishes, she may consult my document. The Führer has given preliminary agreement."
Hawkeye got up and took the files. Everyone else tried to find something to not get bored, while she consulted the documents and sometimes asked Armstrong for clarifications. "I also give preliminary agreement," she eventually declared, and Douglas took the stand again. "Everyone in favour, please raise your hands," he said, and when everyone did, he wrote 'unanimous' into the session minutes. Henschel's request came next.
"I ask for the release of funds required to properly reform the diplomatic corps. I have sent requests for contact to the governments of Aurego and Creta, and they have shown conditional willingness to discuss matters with us. It is currently my belief that ceasefires if not peace treaties are possible within the timescale of months, if proper support is given." Riza gave her approval once she assured herself it was not an unnecessarily large amount of cash. The vote was once more unanimous.
"The final suggestion regards the events of the 21 March, and as such falls under the auspices of state secrecy. As such, I and the Master of the Seal as individuals not given to such knowledge will leave this room until the vote is called," Douglas explained, and both man left through the door. Mustang took the stage with several papers in his hand. "Ongoing research, conducted by allied elements within military police, has revealed dangerous realities within our military structures.
Although the military at large has accepted our ascension to power as a fait accompli, the corruption induced by Father and his underlings remains. Discounting the constant rivalries within the military, of which we are all aware and complicit in out of necessity, there are indications of a large amount of separate backroom dealings on every level. As of now, it is unclear what course we should take, for speed and effectiveness are mutually opposed goals due to the potential danger of upending our defence structure."
Armstrong loudly scoffed. "We'll just wait until Henschel gives us breathing room, and then we will jump all of them at once. Effective commanders might get dragged down with the rest, but we all know that the military cannot be subjected to a civilian government as it is. The mere fact we have managed to get this high indicates the problem the Homunculi have left us. And yes, Mustang, I am aware this makes us both hypocrites."
"We will see if the others agree. In the meantime, we have the annoying duty of deciding how to conduct Bradley's funeral." There were several groans in the room. "Yes, I know," began Grumman. "Everyone here would like to have him cremated and scattered to the winds, but unless you want to find a way to explain that to the public, you will have to grit your teeth and pretend we are all really sad that monster is dead."
"Let's give him the most basic funeral we can," Henschel loudly proclaimed and everyone nodded. "I will try to make it as cheap as possible without making it too obvious," Hawkeye promised. "Mrs. Bradley will want to be in attendance and I really do not want to explain that to her," she added and suddenly Marcoh raised a question of his own. "Speaking of her, what about Selim?" At the reminder, everyone looked to her.
"Nothing seems to have changed. I have allowed her to keep some of the income normally granted to the First Lady, and she has employed a woman named Rosemary Frederickson as a nanny. The boy himself appears fine, though he has grown significantly faster than normal for newborns. It appears his body is trying to catch up to what is should be. There is no indication that Van Hohenheim's observations were incorrect at this time."
"Keep a look-out anyway, Riza," Grumman firmly ordered. "While I trust the judgement of the Elrics and their father in most cases, this is much too important to not keep a constant eye on." Everyone else in the room nodded. Ultimately, Douglas was let back in. The vote that they described as being with regard to 'internal army corruption' was the first split one. Armstrong, Henschel and Miles agreed, while Hawkeye, Mustang and Marcoh refused to commit either way, so it technically passed by plurality.
They gave Hawkeye a unanimous mandate to structure Bradley's funeral and finally Grumman asked for a vote, that Douglas and Storch could be present at, regarding the Grand Court Martial. He got five votes agreeing with his suggestion, but Marcoh did not commit himself to either side, due to declaring himself as lacking sufficient knowledge to understand all the details. The others agreed that it was fair enough.
"I dissolve this meeting until, hopefully, the introduction of its new membership after the general elections next spring. Long live Amestris and its People," Grumman declared as Douglas gave him the gavel back and that was a wrap. Mustang approached him. "It feels great to know, that we are a part of Amestris' great rebirth," said the Prime Minister. "But this all felt oddly wooden and soulless." General Armstrong scoffed. "Are you looking for truth and openness in politics? You really are a naive idiot, Mustang." She walked out of the room with a flourish, because Armstrongs have to be special at all times.
Edward and Alphonse found out exactly what issue the rail network was having as they arrived at Central's main station on Sunday morning. "I was expecting to see some Ishvalans travelling to their homeland, but this is a bit ridiculous," Ed grumbled as they finally found the end of the line for the ticket office. It was over a hundred people long and almost came up to the front door into the building.
"I didn't even know there were that many Ishvalans still alive," Al whispered back as he slightly moved his crutch to get better support. "Well, yeah, most of them had gone into hiding. What I am surprised is that they have the resources to buy train tickets to carry them all the way to the South." "Do you think we'll actually be able to get the train at ten? If all of them are heading in the same direction, it will probably have no empty seats."
"At this point, I am seriously considering buying a ticket for a seat just to make sure we get a place for you, Al," Ed admitted and shook his head in annoyance. The line was moving absurdly slow and at one point the station staff came out and separated it from a different queue so that everyone buying a ticket elsewhere could bypass them and go to windows that continued to sell those, while the original line was now for those travelling south only.
Out of boredom, Alphonse started looking around to keep his mind occupied. There wasn't much of interest here, however. The station was almost absurdly plain and lacking in interior decor. The target of his sight flitted around like an overexcited fly for a while before finding an interesting sight. After about a second delay, that notion finally made it into his actual mind, and he blushed heavily and looked away. It was not an object, but a person – specifically a black haired girl about their age.
Well, that part of adolescence came quickly, Alphonse thought and tried to force his eyes to not look at her. Yes, she was cute, but he didn't even know her. He was failing to convince his eyes to not stare, so instead closed them and slightly shuddered. "Are you okay," Edward asked, and as he opened his eyes again he noticed the concerned look he was on the receiving end of. "Yeah. It's nothing important," Al answered and was unsure if that counted as a lie.
His eyes then briefly turned to the side, and he looked at her again. At this point, he closed his eyes again and took a deep breath. "It's not a health issue. I am just having trouble keeping my attention from wondering," he added, and hoped his brother would not ask for more. He was not telling him he was currently enjoying the delights of an emerging sexual attraction. The feeling of his body's blood flow altering was already making him want to loudly groan. Edward had been right, this was the most awkward part of adolescence by far.
Fortunately, she was in the faster queue and vanished up ahead. His body decided that was enough drooling over girls for one day, and he really hoped this would not get worse as his body caught up. The fact that he did not feel as much embarrassment at checking her out made him more annoyed. "Are you annoyed because you can't see her or because you did that," Ed suddenly asked, their line finally moved so they could pass through the door into the ticket shop.
"What," Alphonse almost yelled aloud and he heard that question. "You were not being subtle. I admit she is not a bad choice, but maybe try to not be so obvious in checking out her butt," Edward whispered back and gave Al an evil smile as the latter turned crimson. "Don't worry; I had to learn to live with the intermittent sudden reminders that I have sexual attraction, and it thinks that the girl looked good too. You'll learn to not openly drool in time," he added and patted Al's back.
"Did other people notice," his brother whispered in horror. "Don't know, and you shouldn't care. You are now a horny teenager like the rest of us," Ed answered and got his back slapped by Alphonse for that phrasing. "Excuse me! I..." As he stuttered, Edward looked back at him with an unimpressed frown and rolled his eyes with a head wag. "Look me in the eyes and say that you would not like it if she came up to you and asked to make out." Al didn't even try, since he realised that he would. The tomato look was enough of an answer for his brother.
"Just accept it and try to channel it rather than suppress. We might be a particularly smart and social species of animal, but we are ultimately still a part of the kingdom Animalia and have to deal with those urges. Not having lustful feelings for people at least sometimes is the exception not a rule once you grow up," Edward told him with a tone closer to non-judgemental, given he would be a massive hypocrite to be judging. Even having a crush on Winry did not outright override the attraction, since it was mostly a hormonal and instinctual reaction.
He did however realise at some point that Winry was the only one, who had a component of romantic attraction. All other girls and women had just the sexual one, and that seemed ever so slightly odd. Then again, it did not matter if he was going to go and try for a relationship with her. Finally, their turn at one of the window came up. "Good morning, how may I help you," said the clerk, who was sipping a large cup of coffee and looked ready to fall asleep at his desk.
"We would like two tickets to Resembool with one reserved seat," Ed requested, and the guy looked at him with something between contempt and questioning his sanity. "The earliest train heading for East City, for which you have any chance of finding a seat you can reserve, leaves at five in the evening," he told them and massaged his closed eyes for a moment. "The only chance you have at finding something earlier is taking the long way around.
You either need to take a train that passes through Dublith and change for a train on the Rush Valley – East City line before you reach it, or go up to New Optain and hope there aren't as many Ishvalan heading through there. Though from what I heard, you've basically got no chance there either." "When is the next train towards Dublith then," Alphonse asked as he moved his crutch by small increments to get himself closer. "In half an hour."
Edward started pulling out his wallet. "We'll take it," he decided, and the clerk started calculating the ticket price. "I can give you all three tickets for the part of your journey, or I can give you two to get you to the border between the South Area and East Area, because frankly you are probably better off taking another manner of transport from that point on." Ed gave him a dismissive wave. "Give us all three." "Your loss," the clerk muttered. "It comes out to 770 Cens."
Edward pulled out five coins and took the tickets in return. "Thank you for travelling with our railways," the clerk said, while trying to suppress a yawn. Ed checked just in case he gave them the wrong ones, but nope, those were the right tickets. "It's not even ten yet. Imagine how knackered he's going to be by lunch time," Alphonse noted and made a slight head turn back in the clerk's direction. "On the one hand, I get that he is swamped, but he sounds emotionally unfit for the position," Ed replied.
"Now let's get to that train before somebody takes your seat, and we have to kick them out. I always hate, when they start arguing about how they were there first like the reservation means nothing. I really hope it doesn't get worse. It would be great if we could actually make it back home before sunset." "At this point we might have to be content with 'today,' brother."