Greetings friends. The school year is almost over, so hopefully I'll have more time to write. That's how it works in theory, at least. Still have my finals to take and all, but my APs are over, so that takes a lot of the stress off. Well, enough about me, on with the plot.
Chapter 12
After eating a few pieces of toast, Selim waited on the couch in the front room, flipping through one of the books Mr. Al had left on the side table. It wasn't an alchemy book, but it was good enough to keep him occupied until Al woke up.
Around twenty minutes later the black haired boy started hearing the noises usually associated with a person waking up. After what felt like forever Alphonse came walking down the stairs, and Selim stood up off the couch to greet him. The young man still looked a bit tired, but he didn't seem surprised at all to find Selim up and waiting for him.
"Good morning, how long have you been up?" Al asked, and Selim quickly glanced over at the clock to check.
"Maybe a half hour," he said, not entirely sure how long he had spent talking to Ethan. He should probably mention that the blonde boy had stopped by too. Al simply nodded as he make his way into the kitchen in order to fix himself something to eat. Selim followed him, hoping he wasn't being a nuisance, but he'd already had been getting a bit bored alone waiting for him to wake up, and Mr. Al never really seemed to mind him being around.
"Want something to eat?" the blonde man asked, and Selim shook his head. He wasn't hungry again yet, so Al quickly made himself a simple breakfast. He could tell how excited Selim was to get started on his little training session, even if he hadn't actually said anything about it yet. The boy actually didn't say much of anything while he was eating, and that was just another thing that let him know how excited he was. Once he was done, Al stood up and smiled at the boy. "So, I take it you're ready to start learning alchemy?" He asked, and Selim nodded enthusiastically.
Al started towards his study, Selim following obediently. "How do we start?" he asked once they were there, and Al looked around the room in thought at the question.
"Hmm, well let's see. I don't have enough time to leave you alone on an island for a month, not to mention your mother would probably kill me," the blonde mumbled, earning a very confused stare from Selim. The black haired boy hadn't heard too much about Al's training, just that his teacher was a very serious and tough woman.
"Huh?" he asked worriedly, suddenly a little less excited about the training then he had been a moment ago. Al simply looked over at him and smiled reassuringly.
"Oh nothing. Don't worry, you don't know enough about alchemy for me to try and impose any serious training, I guess we should just start with the basics first," he said, causing Selim to visibly relax. Picking up one of the many books in the room, Al quickly flipped through the pages before closing it again and looking back to Selim. "You were reading this one yesterday, right? Introduction to Alchemy?"
Selim nodded, and Al sat down at his desk, motioning for the ten year old to join him. Selim pulled a stool up next to him and paid close attention as Mr. Al quickly flipped through the old book again before turning back towards him.
"Okay, let's start off simple. I know you've already started a bit of studying on your own, so can you tell me the most fundamental law of alchemy?" the blonde asked, and Selim nodded, quickly making sure he got the right name for the law in his head before actually saying it, he didn't want to get it wrong and make Al think he didn't know anything.
"Equivalent exchange," he said, and Alphonse nodded. Selim noticed that Mr. Al seemed a bit more serious then usual. He guessed that learning alchemist was a serious thing though.
"Good, now, can you explain to me exactly what that means?" the young man inquired. It didn't take Selim long to think of that at all, it was almost strange that Mr. Al was asking him, seeing as he had told him several times, as a sort of life lesson.
"One can not gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost," he resisted from memory, and Al nodded approvingly.
"Right, and if you don't take that into account, any transmutation you attempt is bound to backfire. No matter how hard you try, you can not gain something from nothing, all that will happen is something you didn't want taken will be. That's very important," the blonde stressed, Selim listening intently the entire time. Even when he wasn't talking about alchemy, Mr. Alphonse seemed to use that rule to govern most of his life.
"Alright, let's head into something a bit less basic. Transmutation circles. They are what alchemist use to regulate the energy used in a transmutation, and depending on what circle you use, the results can be drastically different," the young man then started into their first real lesson, going through the Introduction to Alchemy book and using it to explain the different circles and what symbols were used decided how they would react. After several hours Selim was starting to have trouble keeping them all separated in his head, although when compared with the actual amount he would eventually need to learn, it didn't feel like many at all.
That didn't stop the excitement he was feeling as the two made their way from the study to the kitchen for lunch.
"So, how do you feel about all this so far? I'm not going too fast, am I?" Alphonse asked as the two began eating. Selim quickly shook his head as he swallowed his food before answering.
"No, you're not moving too fast. I really like this so far. Thank you for teaching me," the ten year old said happily, and Al smile at him from across the table.
"It's no problem, I'm glad to. I remember how excited I was when I first started learning alchemy, and then when I finally was able to get a teacher," the blonde said, and Selim nodded slowly as a thought came to his head at the mention of Mr. Alphonse's alchemy teacher.
"Um, Mr. Al?" he asked, and Al looked over at him for him to continue. "Should I call you teacher now? Because that's what you always called your alchemy teacher," he explained, and Al blinked a bit in surprise, taken back by the question.
"Huh, I hadn't really given it any thought before now…" the blonde man mumbled, more to himself then to Selim, before staring down at his plate in thought for a moment. The notion of being on the same level that Izumi had been to him for anyone was a strange concept, let alone for Selim. She had known what to do for any of there problems when they were starting out, and well after that as well. Of course, Selim already came to him with any most of his problems anyway, if he didn't go to his mother first. Thinking it over for a moment longer, Al shrugged slightly. "Call me whatever title you think I'm deserving of," he decided finally.
Selim nodded at that answer. It made sense, especially considering Al's normal humble attitude. Putting their empty plates into the sink, Alphonse turned towards the black haired boy.
"Why don't we take a break for now and start up again after dinner? Alchemy is a lot to take in and you don't want to overload yourself in the beginning," the young man suggested, and Selim nodded in agreement, before remembering something he had meant to tell Alphonse earlier.
"Um, Ethan stopped by before you woke up," he said, and Al turned towards him with an interested look.
"He did? Did he want something?" the blonde asked as the two walked into the living room and sat down. Selim shook his head, not about to tell him about the 'investigation' that the hyper boy was currently on.
"Not really, he was just walking his dog and wanted to see if I was awake and say hi, but the dog wouldn't let him stay very long," Selim explained, and Al smiled and nodded. He had to admit he was glad that the two were starting to become friends, even if Ed was a little wary. Selim needed more friends his own age, and Ed took regular enough trips to Central that with a bit of convincing it wouldn't be like he would never see Ethan again after the trip.
"Why don't you go see what he's up to now? You don't get many chances to play with kids your own age back home, do you? Plus I have some work of my own I need to attend to," Al said, and Selim nodded before getting up off the couch.
"Alright, Teacher Al," the ten year old said, then headed towards the door and put his shoes on. Al just had an amused look on his face the entire time. So he decided to call him teacher after all? It was a little strange, but it made sense. He was teaching him alchemy after all, and if he thought about it, he had already been starting to teach the boy some of the broader life lessons Izumi had gave him.
He had to admit, the title felt strangely nice for some reason, too.
Selim walked down the dirt path towards Mr. Edward's house, going through some of the different transmutation symbols in his head on the way. He wanted to be able to memorize it all quickly and show Teacher Alphonse that he was serious about learning. He knew the young man didn't really have any reason to doubt him, but he still wanted him to be proud.
Reaching the house, Selim was standing at the front door, working up the courage to knock when Ethan walked around from the other side of the house, preventing the black haired boy from actually having to.
"Hey Selim! Whatcha doing? Did Uncle Al teach you alchemy yet?" Ethan asked as he ran up towards the other boy. Selim smiled and nodded, glad that Ethan seemed interested and he actually had someone to talk to about it. Of course he would tell his mother all about it when he called her later today, but this was someone he could see and talk to in person.
"Yep, we just started with the very basics and stuff. Going over different types of transmutation circles and equivalent exchange and things like that," the older boy explained, and Ethan nodded.
"That's cool, is he a good teacher?" the blonde asked, and Selim nodded. He really was a good teacher, even though Selim had his doubts when he started mentioning leaving him on an island for a month. He wondered if Ethan knew anything about that, but decided that he'd save that question for later, if anything like that ever came up. "So, nothing else happened, did it?" Ethan asked as the two started walking back down the dirt path.
Selim shook his head, understanding what he meant. He had to admit, it was nice having someone to talk about the strange things that always bothered him with. Even though nothing had happened today, and he'd been dream free the night before, it was still always there, in the back of his mind, pricking at him that something was wrong.
Ethan sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I haven't been able to go back into the attic either, since my mom will probably hear me and I'll get in trouble again, but I don't know where else to look. I'd try the basement if we had one, but mom uses it as an automail workshop," Selim was glad the blonde was trying to help, but wondered just a bit about the methods he was using.
"What do you think you'd find in a basement or attic?" he asked, and Ethan looked at him as if it was obvious.
"Something that will help us figure out what's up. If there's one place where adults keep things they don't want you to find, it's behind a bunch of dusty cobwebs in a secret hole in the attic floorboards," he explained, and Selim guessed that made about as much sense as anything he could figure at. "Hey, maybe once you learn alchemy we can use that to try and figure out what's wrong," Ethan suggested, and Selim smiled and nodded.
It was a good plan, but the black haired boy had no idea how long it would take him to actually learn. He could wait though, he wasn't in any rush to figure out what those dreams and uneasy feelings meant anyway.
"Hey, what if you were actually the prince of the country?" Ethan asked, throwing out another one of his theories. Selim couldn't help but smile at that one, the energetic boy must not of thought it through too much.
"I kind of would be, if Amestris had a king, since I was adopted by the old ruler's wife," Selim said, causing Ethan to stop, running it over in his head.
"Oh yeah, I guess you would be… never mind then" the blonde said, continuing his way down the dirt road towards the river. Selim nodded and continued to follow him. No, he wasn't in any big rush to figure out what was going on, as long as the dreams didn't increase, it wouldn't be too hard to wait.
Of course, waiting would do nothing to get rid of the nagging in the back of his head, so he was very glad that the chances of Ethan stopping his search were very low indeed.
Yay, Selim's first alchemy lesson. I like the thought of Selim calling Al teacher, I just find it really cute for some reason. Well, it's officially 3am, so I should probably head to sleep. It's not summer yet, I can't screw up my sleep schedule completely.
If you like it, please review.
