"Toya-kun! Look!" You shout at you companion.
"What is it Sakura-chan?" Toya walks over you where you are sitting, against a sun-baked rock with your crippled legs stretched out in front of you. You show him the wooden horse you had just created.
"It's hollow." You say, looking up at him and squinting in the bright afternoon sunlight.
"Wow." He drops down onto the ground next to you. "Its awesome, Sakura-chan." You blush, glad for his complement. "I see that your alchemy is improving. But it is nowhere near as bad as mine." Toya holds up a piece of wood that looks somewhat like a horse. You giggle. "What're you laughing about Sa-chan?"
"Your horse!"
"Huh? Oh. Well it is kinda pathetic, huh?" You smile and lean against him.
"To-kun, try concentrating a bit more." You snatch the wood from his hand and draw a transmutation circle on the ground next to him. Carefully, you place the wood in the center and your hands on the very edge of the circle. A blue flash of light rises from the circle and the horse is once again in a block of wood. "Try again." You say softly. His hands touch the circle and again, blue lightning rises. It disappears, and in the wood blocks place is a tiny wooden rocking horse.
"Hey! I did it Sa-chan!" You hug him, grinning at his excitement. "It still isn't as good as your hollow horse, but it is much better, dontcha think?"
"Yes."
Several hours later, you begin to shiver.
"Huh? You okay Sa-chan?"
"Yes. I'm cold though." Toya tucks one arm around you middle and slides the other beneath your knees.
"Lets go home then." He stands and you wrap your arms around his neck, leaning you head on his shoulder. He begins the long trek home, once again asking you what alchemy is.
"Toya, you know by now what alchemy is."
"But I like to hear you tell me what it is. Besides, we don't have anything else to talk about."
"Fine." You say. "Alchemy is creation, de-creation and recreation. You can create anything inside a transmutation circle, the circle that you use to do the act of alchemy. If you want to create something, you must have the perfect amount of elements and minerals in that object you are creating. To create parchment with alchemy, for example, you need trees or wood, and water. You cannot gain anything without sacrificing something. Transmutation is turning something into something else. Alchemy is just the word we use for it. There are only two forbidden transmutations. Turning something into gold, and human transmutation. I don't know why they are forbidden. Maybe the price, the equivalent trade, what you sacrifice, to gain them is high. Those who practice alchemy are called Alchemists. Some work for the military and are called national alchemists. They are dogs of the military, the worst kind of alchemists, for they want money, so they get the highest paying job, being a dog of the military."
"Sa-chan, why is being a dog of the military so bad?"
"You are forced to kill using alchemy. Alchemy should not be used for killing. NEVER. Remember that Toya-kun." Toya stops and opens the door of the tiny house you live in. He places you on your chair and begins to prepare that nights dinner.