Olivier Mira Armstrong needs you...

I give a very firm knock on the large metal door, anything less the general would consider weak.

"Enter!"

As I step into the office I can't help but feel intimated. It's completely bare, everything is grey concrete aside from a large ornate wooden desk at which the general sits, her sword at her side. Her eyes are as cold and blue as the Briggs mountain sky. I take only the briefest second to marvel at her beauty, no matter how many times I see her I can't help but take that second, I know it's wrong though, a second is all it takes to get killed out here.

"Report Lieutenant."

I nod "I have done an in depth review of the central development departments research as you instructed, my findings are heavily detailed in this pack."

I place the thick yellow envelope on her desk, she stares at it with dead eyes for only a moment before throwing it in the trash.

"I said I want a report Lieutenant, not a rambling research paper."

I nod, I anticipated as much "May I speak candidly sir? (She gives a stern nod, I take a deep breath before speaking) It was a bad joke... It was wildly disconnected from reality, it's equivalent to reading an alchemist trying to dissect every note in a great harmonies symphony... I'm sorry to say but these doctors are well out of their depth and ill informed, to put it lightly."

She nods "I suspected as much, the southern doctors minds are as soft as their bodies... Very well... (She grips her sword tightly) Do to things beyond my control I am being **** to take a week long sabbatical by fuhrer Mustang himself, he worries for my well being or some such nonsense... Regardless he has instructed that I have my past injuries tended to, as well as my sleep disturbances studied... I refuse to waste this much of my time only tending to such trivial matters though. Your new orders are to prepare a 1 week program in which you will demonstrate every single skill you accrued in your past profession, both from your grandfather's knowledge of xing and your own experience... What remains of the Shin Lou spa will be renovated according to your specifications for this very reason."

I'm flabbergasted, I thought this research was to aid one of our comrades, not the general herself! The spa my grandfather built is a ruin at the top of a mountain, to restore it would take countless engineers. The day I left for the military I was sure I would never see it again, that I would never again read a person's chi, never again submerge myself in another's being...

"General with all do respect I sincerely believe you don't understand what you're asking for... I can surely help with the rehabilitation of your past injuries, that is something I'm well versed in and is very straightforward... But to show you every technique that was passed down from my grandfather, as well as the ones I created myself? That is something on a whole different level. Everything from the physical to the mental strain of such things is unimaginable, not to mention the intimacy required for some of the techniques is quite... Extensive... I implore you to reconsider."

She rises from her chair slowly, her body is ridgid but vibrates with the fiercest chi I have ever felt "You wish to condescend to me? You think me weak? Draw your weapon if you wish lieutenant! Draw now and let nature decide! If you think your skills can overwhelm me, be my guest! otherwise fall in line and do as I command."

She puts her gloved hand on her hilt, her blue eyes look more fierce than I've ever seen. Like any sane person I bow my head in respect, I know the generals power and have the utmost respect for it. She sits back down and leans on her fist.

"Very well... Now start planning the regiment at once, your allocated resources will be considerable so I expect nothing but perfection... In my week of rehabilitation I will bare witness to every bit of knowledge you contain... EVERY BIT... understood?"

"Yes general."

Just like that Olivier Mira Armstrong's body and mind was put into my hands. I immediately feel the weight of my responsibility, my brain is buzzing with everything that must be done, with everything I will have to make the general do.

I vowed to never do it again for a reason.

But...

The general needs me.