Title: Legacy
Author: Kristen Sharpe
Date: December 30, 2017
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Disclaimer: "Fullmetal Alchemist" belongs to Hiromu Arakawa, Square ENIX, Studio BONES and various other parties.
Author's Note: Any continuity, set pre-series.

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           Pinako Rockbell wondered if she should find an apprentice.  After all the work she’d put into perfecting her skills it wouldn’t do to let them - and the Rockbell Automail name - fade away.  And, while she wasn’t anything like old, she wasn’t getting younger either.  Her son was grown already with a child of his own.

           And, for all she was proud of the boy, he wasn’t a mechanic.  A doctor, yes, and a good one.  He had deft hands, sharp eyes, and a sharper mind.  He’d been a good assistant.  But, the spark, the creativity a good mechanic needed simply wasn’t there, and he’d gradually drifted to the place where he excelled.

           Good for him.  She’d been a bad fit for her father’s apothecary too.

           Well.  She could contact Dominic in Rush Valley to put out a notice for her.  Stubborn goat didn’t want an apprentice of his own, so he could send applicants to her.

           “Granny!”

           Pinako turned at the excited squeal to where her three year old granddaughter, Winry, had jumped down from the waiting room couch.  The child had been so quiet Pinako had almost forgotten her.  She’d claimed a few, small tools to play with like always and made barely a peep since. 

           Now, blue eyes bright, she was waving her doll in the air.  “Look, Granny!”  Winry took the doll in both hands and held out one spindly arm.  Most of it was wooden, but from the elbow down, it glinted where a crude wireframe of scraps formed an arm and hand with thin wire fingers.

           “Susan broke, and I fixed her!”

           There had been no crying, no upset.  Winry had simply gone to work, confident she could put things right.

           Well.  Time would tell, but Pinako might have already found her apprentice.