Pride & Humility

XXVII

"Do you remember who you are?" Elizabeth asked, and that got a nod. "Do you remember how to walk?"

A flicker of hesitation crossed over his face and he gave a reluctant shrug. His brow was furrowed in clear concern.

At a glance, it would appear that the damage to Maes' brain had locked away some of his functional memories. He physically could speak, but he couldn't remember how. He understood Elizabeth—which really was fantastic—and could even go so far as to answer questions.

"Can you count with your fingers?" Elizabeth asked, and Maes held up his hands to stare at his fingers. His eyes were narrowed in concentration before he started to put down one finger at a time. After all ten fingers were down, Maes gave a slow nod to confirm.

"How old is your daughter?" she asked next, judging how far his amnesia would stretch.

He held up two fingers, and Elicia let out a huff. "No! I'm three. This many, Daddy."

Elicia held up three fingers, while Gracia anxiously fluttered around.

"Losing just one year isn't bad," Elizabeth soothed a startled Maes. "Considering how bad it could have been, this is good progress. You won't be able to retain all of your memories, but you can relearn language. Now, I know this is sudden and might be overwhelming, but the sooner we get this taken care of the better off your chances are at a full recovery. I've been in contact with a doctor in Xing..."

They would be moving out in a week.

(óヮò)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Elizabeth spent the rest of her day making arrangements for the Hughes family. It was an expensive ordeal, but Elizabeth valued her precious people significantly more than she valued her family money. She would miss Maes quite a bit, but it was important for him to recover. In a few years they could meet up again. He might even be able to move back to Amestris and rejoin the military! Things could fall back into a comfortable routine.

Elizabeth truly and sincerely desired that. So while, yes, she would miss him, it would be worth it.

She had so few precious people in her life. She didn't want to lose any of them.

Even if that meant she would have to say goodbye for now.

She knew she would get to say hello again.

Come evening Elizabeth returned home, surprised to find that Papa wasn't home yet.

She checked up on Selim in his room, finding her dear friend absentmindedly playing on the piano. She crossed the soft blue carpet and took a seat on the piano bench beside him. Selim didn't acknowledge her presence right away, gently tapping on the keys as his attention roamed elsewhere.

He would behave this way whenever his shadows were focused far away from his container. Elizabeth didn't want to bother, or intrude, so she kept him silent company.

The lullaby-esque music came to a halt as Selim turned his head toward Elizabeth. "You're moving the Hughes family out of Amestris?"

"Yes," Elizabeth answered, unsurprised Selim had been watching her all day. "Is that an issue?"

"Not really," he said, dark eyes narrowing in thought. "Ellie, have you talked to Wrath about the fungi being ready?"

"I was going to tonight, but he's not home yet," Elizabeth admitted. If there was a hint of reluctance in her tone, neither commented on it. "I passed by the office on my way back from the hospital but I didn't see him there, either."