-and LOL at Fuhrer Hawkeye. That would be a twist and a half.

Turdaewen--Your eloquence and insight never fail to make me see reason. (And I can be a highly irrational creature--I'm a teenage girl!)

Regarding the Riza/Olivier/Izumi triumvirate: Wasn't there an omake where Olivier went all, "Miniskirts? Will they make things run better? I approve!" and everyone deserted Mustang? This whole conversation just put me in mind of that.

This forenoon I received a summons from the king. I went at once, presenting myself within the courtyard of his home. I was early; Leonidas had not arrived from his business of organizing the march-out. His queen, Gorgo, however, awaited upon a bench in the shade of a plane tree, apparently intentionally. She welcomed me and bade me sit. We were alone, absent all servants and attendants.

"You are wondering, Paraleia," she began, "why my husband has sent for you. I will tell you. He wishes to address your heart, and what he imagines must be your feelings of injustice at being singled out, so to speak, to bear a double grief. He is keenly aware that in selecting for the Three Hundred both Olympieus and Alexandros he has robbed you twice, of son as well as husband, leaving only the babe Olympieus to carry on your line. He will speak to this when he comes. But first, I must confide in you from my own heart, woman-to-woman."

She is quite young, our queen, and looked tall and lovely, though in that shadowed light exceedingly grave.

"I have been daughter of one king and now wife to another," Gorgo said. "Women envy my station but few grasp its stern obligations. A queen may not be a woman as others. She may not possess her husband or children as other wives and mothers, but may hold them only in stewardship to her nation. She serves them, the hearts of her countrymen, not her own or her family’s. Now you too, Paraleia, are summoned to this stern sisterhood. You must take your place at my shoulder in sorrow. This is women’s trial and triumph, ordained by God: to abide with pain, to endure grief, to bear up beneath sorrow’s yoke and thus to endow others with courage."

Hearing these words of the queen, I confess to you, that my hands trembled so that I feared I may not command them—not alone with the foreknowledge of grief but of rage as well, blind bitter fury at Leonidas and the heartlessness with which he decanted the double measure of sorrow into my cup. Why me? my heart cried in anger. I stood upon the moment of giving voice to this outrage when the sound of the gate opening came from the outer court, and in a moment Leonidas himself entered. He had just come from the marshaling ground and bore his dusty footgear in his hand.

Perceiving his lady and myself in intimate converse, he divined at once the subject of our intercourse.
With apology for his tardiness he sat, thanking me for presenting myself so punctually and inquiring after my ailing father and others of our family. Though it was plain he bore a thousand burdens of the army and the state, not excepting the prescience of his own imminent death and the bereavement of his beloved wife and children, yet as he took his bench he dismissed all from his mind and addressed himself to me alone with undiverted attention.

"Do you hate me, lady?" These were his initial words. "Were I you, I would. My hands would now be trembling with fury hard-suppressed." He cleared a space upon his bench. "Come, daughter. Sit here beside me,"

I obeyed. The lady Gorgo moved subtly closer upon her settle. I could smell the king’s sweat of his exercise and feel the warmth of his flesh beside me as, when a girl, I had known my own father’s when he had called me to his counsel. Again the heart’s surfeit of grief and anger threatened to take me out of hand. I fought this back with all my force.

"The city speculates and guesses," Leonidas resumed, "as to why I elected those I did to the Three Hundred. Was it for their prowess as individual men-at-arms? How could this be, when among champions such as Polynikes, Dienekes, Al-pheus and Maron I nominated as well unblooded youths such as Ariston and your own Alexandros? Perhaps, the city sup’ poses, I divined some subtle alchemy of this unique aggregation. Maybe I was bribed, or paying back favors. I will never tell the city why I appointed these three hundred. I will never tell the Three Hundred themselves. But I now tell you.
I chose them not for their own valor, lady, but for that of their women."

At these words of the king a cry of anguish escaped my breast, as I understood before he spoke what further he would now say. I felt his hand about my shoulder, comforting me. "Greece stands now upon her most perilous hour. If she saves herself, it will not be at the Gates (death alone awaits us and our allies there) but later, in battles yet to come, by land and sea. Then Greece, if the gods will it, will preserve herself. Do you understand this, lady? Well. Now listen."
When the battle is over, when the Three Hundred have gone down to death, then will all Greece look to the Spartans, to see how they bear it. But who, lady, who will the Spartans look to? To you. To you and the other wives and mothers, sisters and daughters of the fallen.
If they behold your hearts riven and broken with grief, they, too, will break. And Greece will break with them. But if you bear up, dry-eyed, not alone enduring your loss but seizing it with contempt for its agony and embracing it as the honor that it is in truth, then Sparta will stand. And all Hellas will stand behind her."

"Why have I nominated you, lady, to bear up beneath this most terrible of trials, you and your sisters of the Three Hundred? Because you can."

From my lips sprang these words, reproving the king: "And is this the reward of women’s virtue, Leonidas? To be afflicted twice over, and bear a double grief?"

On this instant the queen Gorgo reached for me, to offer succor. Leonidas held her back. Instead, yet securing my shoulder within the grasp of his warm arm, he addressed my outburst of anguish.

"My wife reaches for you, Paraleia, to impart by her touch intelligence of the burden she has borne without plaint all her life. This has ever been denied her, to be simply bride to Leonidas, but always she must be wife to Lakedaemon. This now is your role as well, lady. No longer may you be wife to Olympieus or mother to Alexandros, but must serve as wife and mother of our nation. You and your sisters of the Three Hundred are the mothers now of all Greece, and of freedom itself. This is stern duty, Paraleia, to which I have called my own beloved wife, the mother of my children, and have now as well summoned you. Tell me, lady. Was I wrong?"

She's too strong, spartan like woman to be such 'lame loving' a woman. I get it that it might look sweet in a certain context, but in Riza it just seems too melodramatic. And it actually takes away the heaviness of the whole situation and their relationship, since it starts sounding more like a 'soap opera' rather than a real living situation.

Welcome, Bett Bett! Always glad to have new people!

I doubt that Roy could use Riza's circle now. First off, that's pretty much the reason it was burned (well, so that the secret couldn't be stolen and misued). Second, we had a bit of a discussion a while back about how Roy in all likelihood needs to be able to see to use flame alchemy. Roy is pretty much useless now unless he busts out some crazy awesome power that he got in exchange for seeing the Truth. That, I would like to see.

Turdaewen--...Wow. Point made.

I noticed the difference between the raw and scanlation too.
But Turdaewen, while I agree with your point about Royai being too kiddified or idealized, especially in fandom, I don't think it was too OOC or melodramatic.
I mean, right after that when Roy asks her what she'd do if he shot him, she still answered that she had no intention to keep living, right?
By that point in the storyline, I don't think that line was much out of place anymore. I kind of liked it better than the original
But you made your point well, and I love the example. You have great thoughts!
And I agree with the "way of life" concept. ^^ I think it's much more deep and meaningful than the emotional rollercoaster of ideal teen love.

Welcome to the Royai thread, Bett Bett! (And you're from Hungary too? I thought I'm the only one from here. )

We're getting closer and closer to chapter 107! I hope we'll get Royai moments.

Sometimes I am legit jealous of how perfect Roy and Riza's love is. I mean it has such a deep meaning, and they are fictional characters. I want something like that. But of course being 20 means that guys my age are not usually that serious about love.

I know what you mean, but I think the difference lies in WHY she had no intention to keep living. Was it because of Roy? Not exactly.

She made a promise and constructed her life around the idea of Roy's dream of protecting Amestris and changing it, right? She decided to dedicate her life to being the guardian of the Flame Alchemy and Roy's 'conscience", in ways of guaranteeing he would become what he was meant to become.
So it's not a romantic "can't live without you" thing, but a lot more of a "it wouldn't have no meaning to keep on living if THE DREAM would not have any way of making itself come true, anymore", you see? Because Riza LIVES for the ideal of that dream, her life is solely dedicated to make Amestris become a peaceful place. If not for herself, for others.

So Riza would kill herself not because she couldn't stand being without Roy, but to prevent the 'mistake' from ever happening again. It was about depriving the world of the Flame Alchemy at the realization that that alchemy would be too prejudicial to the world. It has little to do with the 'romantic attachment' between herself. It has to do with Principles. The Principle that is more important to give conditions to Amestris to ride itself from the 'enslavement' it's in, than keep on living.

For me, Roy and Riza's 'romance' goes without saying. There's no need to 'put scenes of motivations' to prove it. It's there. The mere idea that she's a sort of "guardian and conscience" to him is enough to define her as somewhat his "Queen" because that's exactly the 'part' of the Queen. To be the one who listens, who nurtures, who comforts in moments of distress, and than advises, gives reason, wisdom, a clearer perspective of reality... as is it so well putted in King Arthur's tales, the one who "Holds the sword by the blade" (which means she will determine the 'direction' in which the Knight has to point and use his sword), the one who GIVES the Knight his sword and "send him to battle".

@amestris_star - As long as you're trying, that's what counts! Heck, I'm not even going to try. Though, I do need to get some sleep.

I wonder how much we'll see of Roy and Riza if they're the first color page of the chapter. Quite a bit I hope, especially since this is the last battle.

That page of Riza and Roy worried me a little...her speech .. is like something bad is going to happen but I don't want to think that. Nah she is goign to be fine. By the way when did she give up in those moments? I think I missed something

Oh boy. (Spoiler pic): http://photo.xuite.net/peanuts1983/2530079/22.jpg