Just a Convo

Burne noticed Buccaneer scowling at him— which made sense as he defeated the man without much of an effort. Buccaneer was pissed but Burne didn't care. He saw some of the soldiers having a similar expression like Buccaneer while the rest seemed amused. 

The only person whose expression he wasn't able to read was Mira. The woman had the same emotionless face that she wore at the beginning and while she had a few flickering emotions during the match, Burne didn't notice them.

"You are better than I expected." Burne said, extending his hand to the man who swatted it away. 

"Those were some petty tricks you pulled." He scoffed and Burne figured that he was talking about changing the terrain.

"Alchemists can mould the terrain according to their will. Since we are not as skilled as you guys from the military when it comes to hand to hand combat, we need to improvise." Burne tried to explain politely but Buccaneer wasn't pleased. Yet there was nothing Buccaneer could do about it, so he begrudgingly nodded. 

"That was a good duel." Mira said with a little smile. "Maybe you are from Drachma and they sent you here as they believed in your ability."

Burne immediately denied the claim. "If they did, I would have made better plans than to burge inside the altar... just for me to get caught."

Mira smirked. "Or you wanted to get caught so that you could gather intel about us from inside."

Burne paused as what Mira said made sense but he shook his head as he realised she was not being serious. 

"Possible..  but I wouldn't dare to pull something like that in front of people trained to take down alchemists." He shrugged. 

Mira nodded as Buccaneer got off the ground and swatted the dust from his clothes. 

"Buccaneer, come with me to the office." Mira said as she made her way out of the hall. "Bring the report with you."

"Yes, ma'am." He said. 

Mira left while Buccaneer looked at Burne. "I am not going to lose the next time."

Burne grinned. "We will see about that."

__________

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Burne was allowed to move around the fort as long as he didn't barge into any of the restricted areas. So he walked to the roof of the fort as it had been over an hour since he fought Buccaneer and thus he wanted some fresh air. He stood at the roof and stared at the border. Despite the biting cold, soldiers were guarding the place without even flinching a muscle. Burne respected the soldiers but not the ones at the top. He hated the leaders. 

He had heard stories from his grandfather about the battles that took place each time a new leader took control. 

"Didn't expect to find anyone here." He heard Mira's voice, and as he turned around— he found her walking towards him. 

She was in her uniform like all the other times that he saw her. The only visible difference was the scarf around her neck. 

"The soldiers keep watch from the edges so this place is left pretty open." She said, staring at her soldiers keeping watch over the border. "Even in the harsh weather, they keep watch without fail."

"Respectable." Burne nodded. "So you are here for fresh air as well?" He asked. 

"You don't get much air in this cold and height, but it is still relaxing." Mira breathed out. "At least the view is decent."

The snow and fog covered most of the mountain range but it gave the place a mystic look that seemed quite beautiful. 

The two remained quiet— enjoying the view of the frozen lands. For once Burne wasn't thinking of alchemy and was enjoying the scenery instead. The cold was not very pleasant for him as he belonged from a tropical area but despite the chilling weather— he felt refreshed. 

He had been rushing a lot to advance his alchemy and he had reasons to do so. War was going to destroy the seven alchemic wonders and he wanted to visit the places that were the most prone to getting destroyed before the war broke out. 

The sudden transfer of the altar to Amestris was one such occurrence. 

As he stared at the frozen mountains, he heard Mira sigh. 

"I apologise that you have to stay here. I already know that you are not a spy, I had people track your history and they found no links with Drachma and if you were from Drachma, I would have known. I have fought countless Drachman soldiers before." She sighed once again. "But I cannot let anyone leave the place before the meeting takes place."

Burne had already figured that the order came from above and not even Mira could refuse it. So, there was no point in blaming her or Buccaneer. 

"It's alright." He said. "Times are tough and it makes sense that you are being careful about the situation… anyone would have done the same in your place."

Mira smirked. "You are quite similar to another alchemist that I know. He is talented but quite cocky— maybe most alchemists are." 

He found her statement quite assumptious but he didn't say anything. 

"Have you ever thought of becoming a state alchemist?" Mira asked. "With your skill, you can easily get a high rank in a few years."

"I like my freedom. I am an explorer— not a fighter." He replied. "Getting paid and given respect for your services sounds nice… but it just isn't for me. We all have different goals, and I believe you had your reasons for joining the military as well."

Mira nodded. "I have." Saying that, she smiled. "At least you don't consider the state alchemists to be dogs of the state."

Burne chuckled. "That is indeed what a lot of the alchemists call the state alchemists. But everyone has reasons for what they do. Maybe they want money, maybe they want fame or maybe they want the knowledge of the countless alchemy books stored in the libraries of the state. So I don't think that joining the state is necessarily bad."

Mira smiled at his response. "You are a better person than I thought. I am not very fond of alchemy but I can respect people with an admirable goal." 

Burne noticed her beautiful hair flow with the wind as she stared at the horizon with a smile. Burne accepted the fact that she was beyond gorgeous the moment he saw her. Her strict personality kept the annoying people away from her which Burne found funny yet admirable. She was beautiful and rich but she didn't use them to climb the ranks— and even if she did, she seemed to have the ability to maintain her rank. 

Most of the women he had met before who were a little close to her beauty— either used it to gain popularity or gain money. And the female alchemists mostly used their beauty to scam the men for their resources. He was approached by such women and he can't say that he wasn't scammed in the past. But now he was experienced to know when a woman's trying to screw you over or when she genuinely means the things that she says.

"Do you think the peace will last?" He asked.

"No." Mira replied with a sad smile. "I would have said that it would have lasted like two days ago, but now… sadly the chances of maintaining the peace is slim." 

She said, surprising Burne. He expected her to say yes, even if she didn't mean it. So her answer came as a surprise to him. 

"Why?" He asked which caused Mira to lose her smile.

"Reasons…" She sighed, Burne didn't notice the slight frown she had. "Well I have to go, the reports are still left to be read."

She turned around but made sure to leave one jab at Burne before leaving.

"Remember that you are still a prisoner, boy." She said which made Burne roll his eyes.

"Of course, I am."

__________________________________________________________________________

[A/N: Just got back home from France, so couldn't upload yesterday. (Packing and shit)

Anyway… Hope you liked the chap. Nothing much just a light-hearted chapter.

Like always, leave paragraph comments next to errors and mistakes for me to fix them later.]

[Discord Link: https://discord.gg/DXwDzxSAED]