Well… the guy wasn’t exaggerating the shop isn’t exactly hard to find. It’s a hot pink building with creamy lemon-yellow accents. On the front, there is a large sign with Atelier Garfiel emblazoned upon it and a rose punctuating the end.

Edward almost looks embarrassed to be waiting outside the place. “Wenry’s working here?”

Looking at the odd customer going inside, the place is obviously popular, a lot of the other stores in the area have some sort of outside sales to passersby while this one can continue based purely on a storefront. The automail of the ones that go inside are all either artistically crafted or are simple in design but still have a sort of artistic flair. Likely different models or some early work from Wenry now that she has a proper teacher and workshop.

With a sigh, I just start walking towards the door. After getting there and neither of them moving to follow I call out. “Well, are we going to wait out here all day or go in and see her?”

“R-right! Come on Al let’s see what her new teacher is like.”

When I enter the shop the first thing I notice is the inside is much less pristine than the outside. The walls have several small cracks, machines and parts are lining the walls. There are one or two design models but it seems like this is both their workshop and sales floor.

A man wearing a tight-fit purple shirt, lipstick, and short haircut with curled sideburns walks out from the back. He seems to pause for a moment eyeing all of us up for a moment before settling on Zig’s biceps. “Mmmm Welcome to Atelier Garfiel my name is Garfiel… now what can I do for you?”

I can see Zig’s eyes widen for a moment under his mask, clearly not used to people immediately addressing him.

He looks between me and him a few times like he’s pleading me to say something but when I don’t he finally adjusts himself. “H-hello, we require assess-help with finding ssssome automail.” He’s normally so gruff it’s probably good for him to talk a bit more with strangers.

Edward chuckles off on the side before receiving a glare from Garfiel. “Little boy, if you're going to laugh at someone do so out of earshot. You can take your business elsewhere.” He looks Edward up and down again. “Which is a shame because you look like you could need it.”

Edward just stares at the guy for a moment. Not really catching on to what he said before his face morphs into a mixture of shock and anger. “Who are you calling-” not letting Edward finish Al quickly covers his mouth. “Sorry about my brother… he’s uh just really out of it because of missing his arm and leg. Well, we actually came here to meet a friend of ours.”

He quirks an eyebrow at that looking between the two groups. “You’re all together then? Well… I suppose I can let that slide for now. Who is this friend you’re meeting?”

Right as he asks this the back door opens up to a grease-covered Wenry. “Garfiel what is taking you so long? I’ve got 3 repair jobs back… Oh, guys!” She sees all of us there and smiles.

“It’s great of you to visit! Gran called and let me know you were stopping by on your way but didn’t give me a…” Her eyes finally find Edward who at this point is slightly hiding behind Al using him as a shield.

“What did you do?” She slowly grabs a wrench off a work table nearby.

“W-wenry! It’s nice to see you again. U-Um that old ha- I mean Granny mentioned that you had spares made of my automail for the next time I well… broke them?” At this point, Garfiel is smiling from the side watching the drama unfold.

He gets a bit closer to look at Edward behind Al. “Oh? Is this that childhood friend you mentioned dear? He’s not nearly as good-looking as you made him out to be.”

Wenry’s face immediately starts turning red. “S-SHUT UP!” She throws the wrench at Edward who takes it right in his remaining arm.

Edward snaps back. “Why the hell are you throwing it at me! He’s the one saying stuff!”

“URgh! Mr.Garfiel can I please talk to them for a bit? Those three jobs still need to be done…”

He smiles at her. “Of course dearie, your allowed a bit of a break. You’ve been working nonstop for a while now. Just introduce me to your big friends there and we’ll call it even.” He has a bit of a glint in his eye as he looks at Zig.

Zig immediately looks uncomfortable as the man gives him a wink and heads towards the back room.

Looking over at Wenry I can’t help but ask. “Should I be concerned?”

She lets out an exasperated sigh. “No, he’s not usually that bad. I told him about you guys while working here. You’re not exactly nondescript he’s probably just messing with you.”

Zig relaxes at that.

Seeing him relax she makes a bit of a guilty face. “At least that’s probably the case. He’s still a bit of a flirt with some of the customers but not nearly that badly and only with those he knows he can get away with it.”

His shoulders slightly slump and he just walks outside to wait.

Edward slightly nervously hobbles out from behind Al. “Hey Wenry in all seriousness it’s good to see you again. You got a teacher and everything! You’re on your way to being a master automail mechanic.”

She smiles brightly at that but then it becomes cramped as she looks at his destroyed limbs again. “Yeah, you gave me plenty of practice over the years. With how often you brake your automail it’s no wonder I’m getting so good at it.”

Edwards's smile cramps too. “Well, if you did a better job maybe they wouldn’t break so easily.”

Wenry looks genuinely hurt by that comment and just walks back towards the back room.

Edward might be dense but even he sees that he screwed up there. “W-wait, it was a joke I didn’t mean it your automail is great. It’s the only reason I’m still alive!” He hobbles after her as she storms into the back room.

Al just shares a glance with me. “So what should we do while we wait for them to finish?”

I just walk over to one of the machines and automail models and touch it to my forehead. “I might as well learn a bit while I’m here. This is probably a rare opportunity to see the work of some of the best automail engineers in the country. I might as well see how they are made.”

Al nods but then looks around a bit awkwardly. Fiddling with a machine until he accidentally turned it on for a moment before quickly turning it back off. Glancing my way every once in a while to see if I’d noticed.

I’m half tempted to let him know I did but I also don’t want to give him too hard of a time.

Eventually, Wenry comes out from the back wiping off some oil with a rag. “Where’s Edward?”

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She lets out a long sigh. “Hah, he's back there celebrating that I'll need to adjust his new automail for his new height." She smiles ruefully. "Used to be I'd tower over him but he's catching up fast. Whatever he's been eating he should keep doing it."

She looks towards the door in the back that smile lasting a little longer. "If only he'd learn to shut the hell up and not piss people off when they first meet him Garfiel is going to give me a hard time for weeks after this. Haaah anyways, he gave me a bit of a rundown on what happened. Thanks for saving him, I know that thing whatever it was said it didn't want to kill him but I've already got my hands full making him an arm and a leg I don't need to add any more limbs to his usual order."

True, I guess I didn't consider it only needed him alive. It could have just crushed his other limbs to make him harder to carry. I'll need to plan a bit more in the future, I can't have that sort of thing happening again. If I'm going to have to face monsters like that I'll have to stop playing fair. Something about her thanking me sparks that there was something I was supposed to tell her. My mental self starts searching around the desk until he finds the small post-it note. Right! I should have done this last time.

Wenry walks over to one of the stools and gestures for me to follow. "Let me take a look at your automail while you're here. No reason not to give it a check-up since I already have to deal with Ed's." Sitting down next to her and taking off my shit she starts looking it over. there is a long gash in the paint leading up to my shoulder. I might have been able to fix the metal but I haven't spent the time to fix the outer layer.

She frowns a bit seeing where the streak leads. "Alright, I might need to disconnect this to make sure nothing broke beneath the skin. You've already scarred over but there's there are delicate connections inside." She's not wrong if not for using alchemy it likely would have disconnected fully. But thanks to my patch job it's all connected the same as before.

I shrug and wave her off. "I'll be fine. I already fixed the connections with alchemy. I need to tell you about something I learned when I first came to this country."

She gives me a curious look dropping my automail arm and sitting cross-armed in front of me. "Okay shoot."

Mentally searching for the right wording. "When I first walked across the desert I came across a town. Inside were the remnants of the Ishvalin. Your parents were doctors, right? The Rockbell's?" Her eyes widen in surprise.

She looks a bit flustered at the question. "Y-yes, they died during the war... we were told that the ishvalin killed them and their staff for helping the soldiers... do we really need to talk about this?"

I wave her off. "That's not the full story. When I was there I met the survivors of the war. Most of them only survived because of your parents. They helped anyone that came to their tent. Amestrian or Ishvalin. They asked me to thank you for them if I ever met someone from the Rockbell family."

Her eyes glaze over a bit, lost in thought. "B-but then who killed my parents? If it wasn't an attack from them?"

Right... I should probably give all the details rather than just one piece at a time. "They were killed by a patient they treated. The other Ishvalins tried to stop them but they managed to kill them both before they could be subdued. He didn't realize he was being treated, he likely thought he was a prisoner or still on the battlefield. He had been taken in unconscious from the battlefield after all. He had a big scar on his face from an explosion. So he might not have been able to see well either."

Aaaaand she's crying... I'm not the best at this, am I? Shit uh... Al is in the corner of the room watching but isn't coming to help either... shit. Is there a religion here? I know there is that Leto guy but anything else. I start trying to remember anything from their house... nope.

Just gotta shoot in the dark here. "W-well I'm sure they are watching over you in the afterlife... They saved so many lives that day. I'm sure they are proud of you too. You save lives in your own way with your automail." She sniffles a bit but at least looks up at the mention of automail.

"Y-yeah I guess... I just... did they have to save them? I... I just wish they had just come back home instead..." She looks a bit guilty after saying that.

That's a lot more honest than I was expecting. "There's nothing wrong with wishing that. But your parents were doctors... from the looks of it pretty good and honest ones too. Do you think they would have let those people die even if they knew they were in danger?" She gives a small shake of the head and a big sniff.

"Come on... let's talk about something a bit nicer now huh? I'd like to hear about what you've learned here so far. Anything groundbreaking? Any improvements? Looking at a few of these models I noticed that they use a different Alloy for different components and the overall internal structure is different. There are also a few gimmicks that one over there." I point to one near the back of the shop. It's less artistically designed than the others but it has a small storage compartment.

She gives a weak smile, clearly seeing that I'm just trying to distract her, but she seems to welcome it. "Yeah, I've learned a lot. Most of it is just general design stuff though, increased efficiency or small tips and tricks that help make daily upkeep more practical for your average customer. You're lucky you know a lot of my earlier models had to be oiled every hour. Ed had to wear black just to cover the stains then he just never switched back." Her smile this time is a bit more genuine as she reminisces in an old memory.

When she shakes out of it she points over at the model I'd pointed out. "As for that model, most people that buy it only need a functional working limb. Most people around these parts are looking for strength, durability, artistic design but every once in a while we get someone that just wants something that works. While it has a compartment and is well made it's still a bit weaker than a lot of the others because we had to thin out some parts to save space otherwise it would be too bulky for practical use."

Makes sense, automail needs to relatively fit the body size of the person. Otherwise, the weight might throw their balance off or cause back problems. But I'm sure I can have some small adjustments...

"What about just a few extra layers of metal? Not too bulky but enough to hide a knife or small gun?" It's not really practical but you can have a tiny .22 that fits into a buckle.

She just looks at me for a moment before finally cracking up. "pfft you're better off just carrying the gun around. A knife can fit fine. You probably don't even need me to adjust your automail for that though it's just a casing adjustment. That one is sealed tight and needs to be easily adjustable because we have customers coming in with complaints about getting food stuck in it. Something tells me you won't have that problem."

The perfect smuggling tool and yet. "Of course, that's what people stick in it. I also noticed someone out there having an automail eye, know anything about those?" She gives a slightly sad look. "No sorry, my teacher is pretty great but he works on limb automail. I can ask him but from what I've heard it can take years to get it implanted and they say they don't work quite the same."

That makes sense... "Thanks... While I can get around without it I'd still like to learn my options." Besides, I might be able to add a little something to it... I wonder if I can set up a light? Lasers aren't a thing yet... I'll have to figure something out if I go that route.

"Well, I'm sure I'll come up with something. Since I'm here do you mind walking me through the mixing procedure for the nerve binding agent?" She cocks her head a bit touching her chin with still slightly covered in oil fingers. "I guess, Garfiel switched to my formula so it's not like I'd be giving you any of his secrets. Come on back and I'll walk you through it, I need a new batch anyway."

We spend a bit of time working through the different parts of the automail and after she adjusts Edwards Automail a bit we are shooed out so she can get back to her other orders.

Edward is strutting around with his back straight as he tries out his new leg and arm. "Man it's crazy seeing her working on so many different things. Back in our hometown, she'd be lucky to get maybe one or two jobs in a year beyond checkups and me. Now she's getting orders from so many people every day!"

Al speaks up. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure your recklessness and constantly breaking your automail has kept them afloat. Now maybe she'll get some people working that will actually appreciate it."

Edward smacks Al's helmet a bit. "Oh shut up, I appreciate it. It's not my fault every enemy immediately moves to destroy my automail. We even took steps to fix it this one was just strong." With that, we poke our heads in a few shops but there isn't much here besides automail and food. I found the place to get an automail eye... it's expensive and barely functional. The biggest problem is the wait time. The installing process is six months then tweaks and small adjustments for two to three years before it might fully function. If not for a few people walking around with them most people would probably assume it was a scam. I guess without Alkahestry and Chi my arms would take two to three years to fully function... Something to consider, but I'd rather not risk using Alkahestry on something in such a delicate place.

Eventually, we get to the train yard. Wenry stops by to say her goodbyes as well. Edward and Al laugh and try to stay for a bit longer but I drag their asses onto the train.

Edward just pleads with me without putting up much of a fight. "A-are you sure we need to go now? I'm sure our teacher is busy we might be able to wait a little bit longer right?"

Wenry smiles from the side. "Just go Ed, thanks for coming to visit guys. I know you didn't have much of a choice with that idiot breaking himself every other week but it's nice to have a bit of home in this new place."

Ed stops struggling and stands up a bit straighter then smiles widely. "Next time I'm back we'll both have our bodies back. That way you can't complain about us only coming by for automail."

Wenry blushes slightly. "Good luck Ed... Oh and Jiang?" She looks over at me. "Please make sure he doesn't die. He's an idiot but he still has one or two people that care about him."

And with that, the train departs and we begin our journey to Dublith where Ed and Al's teacher lives... despite their protests.