I sort of wrote this in connection to the former chapter and an idea of where I want this story going, a bit of random thoughts this chapter is really.

With the discovery of several hidden stashes of Ishvalen books, a new problem has come up and that is to figure out how they safely store that many books. They don't have a place big or safe enough to store all of the Ishvalens written work that was found, and copying them will be impossible without having a place where the pages can safely be copied and not endanger the original work. This has put a strain on the staff Miles has stationed in Ishval. Because the books are so important, he has commanded almost half of the staff to keep watch over the chests the books were found in. But that meant there aren't many to help to rebuild or keeping an eye out on troublemakers. "Of course I am happy about this found." Miles explains to Scar during the midday rest. He has finally learned that it is best to stay inside during the midday heat and get some rest while waiting for the heat to decrease. And during this midday rest, he is visiting the two brothers' house. "But I have to put anything else on hold until we get built a proper building for their storage and later get a hold on machines that can mass-produce the books." He messages his hurting head for all of these new things he has to focus on. Restoring the destroyed cities and get the train up and running is hard enough. Now he has to deal with protecting the written words of the Ishvalan, which is such a delicate issue. "Brigadier Colonel Mustang won't be happy we have to make further delays on setting up the trading routes…"

Well, Scar doesn't really care what the Flame Alchemist has to say about this. The construction of the train tracks can wait. The books his brother and cousin hid is much more important. But he does feel for his red-eyed brother's pain. Miles never expected he would suddenly be low on men, and he knows for a fact that the military only have one printing press in their base and that piece of junk can only run at night as the heat makes the machine overheat. They will need more copying machines and a proper building to safely store the newly discovered books… which they do not have. The library got destroyed during the war, along with all of its content. Rebuilding it hasn't really been a first priority. Now it sorta is for storing the books inside the command center isn't the best solution.

"Do you have people to build this— I guess it's going to be a library?" Shade asks the two after listening quietly to his brother and Major Miles's discussion about this book problem he inherently caused, but right now, he's just happy to no longer spacing out every time someone mentions books.

Miles turns to him, "Unfortunately, everyone has their hands full in rebuilding more houses and whatever building to get Ishval back on its feet." and his brother remarks darkly. "Cleaning up after the state alchemists takes longer than expected…"

Shade ponders about it for a moment and can so far find two ways to solve this problem Miles is struggling with. "Hm, well it seems like you either have to get more men or:" he lifts his automail arm, now have the deconstruction array on and fully functional for him. "You will let me use my alchemy."

Both Miles and his brother jerk in surprise by his last suggestion, his brother the first to speak; "You haven't recovered enough, brother." His brother's voice sounds angry, but Shade can hear genuine worry coming from him.

He fists his metal hand, "My wounds have completely healed, all I need is training up my strength." he eyes his brother hard. "Nothing is holding me back from using alchemy." Well, his arm is not holding him back, but the very man looking at him. Shade knows his brother does not like alchemy, and he has a strong feeling that his alchemy is making his brother nervous. The last thing he wants is to push his younger brother away with his alchemy, "Let me help our people, brother." but he's getting tired of sitting on the sideline. More so when Shade is starting to notice how much their people respect him from his past deeds. Shade wants to live up to that respect, not just expect them to respect him for something he no longer remembers.

Scar does not like the idea of his brother doing alchemy, the look in his brother's eyes reveals that if he says no, then his brother won't do alchemy, but… Scar does not want to be the person holding his older brother back, especially not after Shade had done nothing but encourages him back when he started his training as a warrior monk. Also, something tells him that if he had been more open-minded around his brother in the past, then maybe things would've been different. Maybe his brother could've used his alchemy to protect people. Scar is a bit disturbing in how much power he holds over his brother and how his opinions chain Shade from doing certain things. No more, he's not going to chain his brother, not like this. Scar lets out a sigh of defeat but letting go of his pride. "Alright, you can do your blasphemies alchemy." He muses, for even if he loathes alchemy, Scar could not hate his brother for wanting to help others.

Shade smirks, well aware his brother didn't mean anything mean in what he said. He's just happy that this sense of them getting a fight over it was just a weird thought. "Good to know I don't have to fight you for it." His brother sends him a look, while Miles suddenly is very interested in his water bottle.

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When the midday heat has ended, Milles brings Shade over to an area where several people- both Ishvalens and Amestrian are working hard to remove the destroyed bricks and clean up the site. Near the spot, Miles explains him. "These men are tasked with building a new library for the books." Then turns to the boss of the workers and after a hand-shake, explains; "This man wishes to help you out with the construction; he's an alchemist."

Hearing that catches the Ishvalen workers off guard, "you're an alchemist?" one of them asks him wide-eyed.
Shade nods and does hope they won't get too offended by it.

One of the Amestrian workers straightens up and remarks to one of the Ishvalens. "Hold up, I thought you said Ishval does not have any alchemists." In which his red-eyed comrade side man muses: "I wasn't aware we even had one…" the rest exchanges looks with one another, as if not sure what to think.

They do snap out of it when the boss of the group speaks. "Well, let's see what you can do." He gestures Shade to follow and brings him over to the area they have been tasked to build this new library. It is really messy as there are still ruined buildings covering the whole area. "Any chance you can remove all of that for us?" The boss asks.

Shade scans the area for a moment, then with a confident smirk, he walks into the area. He does warn all of the watching workers. "You might want to step back." They do, and with both of his arms surrounded by alchemy electricity, Shade slams his hands onto the ground. Like a drop of water into a puddle, the alchemy spreads out in a circle around him, spreading rapidly into a bigger area.
The first wave destroyed all of the bricks, the next wave used the deconstructed stones to repair the holes, and when Shade ends his transmutation. The whole area is now flat and ready to get a building constructed. Shade straightens up and turns to the dumbfounded builders with a smile. "Is this suitable?"

The boss shakes out of his shocked stupor and nods, "Y-Yeah, I don't know who you are, but you just saved me and my men weeks of work."

One of the Amestrian workers walks over to one of the surrounding buildings, vacant due to past destruction. "Hey, do you think you could turn the destroyed buildings into bricks for us?" the man asks, gesturing at said buildings.

Shade scans the surrounding ruins, nods, and walks over to one of them. "As long you don't ask me to construct the building." He does not feel that's his job, these men are educated for that and this building will look so much better if built by hand.
The construction workers laugh and fully agree that task is not his job.

Amastiran and Isvhalens alike watch this alchemist of Ishval deconstruct the ruins and reconstruct them into bricks for the builders, which spares them from worrying about getting the material and instead focusing on their work.
The Ishvalens were at first a bit scared and in disbelief while the Amastrians are dumbfounded seeing an Ishvalen use alchemy, but as days passed, watching Shade perform alchemy sort of became an attraction for the locals. A lot of people wanted to see this alchemist of Ishval, which was something Shade tried to ignore as he didn't do this for the attention.

Scar quickly heard the talk about his brother and although he disliked the fact that Shade deeds went against their culture's belief, but he couldn't deny the positive views the Ishvalen were getting thanks to his brother.

it took about a week and Shade has deconstructed all the nearby buildings, allowing for new construction. The workers thanked Shade for his help, and he leaves the site, feeling quite satisfied. He did have to deal with the now quite large crowd, most of them asking how he came to study alchemy. Shade quickly felt overwhelmed, so he is thankful his brother comes and saves him from the over-curious crowd.

They walk in relative silence, neither feeling up to talking about the subject of alchemy nor how it caught a lot of people's interest, especially the Amastrians. Scar knows it has to come up at one point, but for now, he's content in leaving it for another day. Right about there, he notices his brother is fiddling with his automail arm, and as if reading his mind, Shade explains; "Got bit of sand stuck between one of the joints. It's bound to happen with all this sand around." Scar hums but decides not to voice his thoughts that it should've been him who deal with the small annoyances in having a metal arm.

They pass the large graveyard, Scar did plan on continuing over to the market but stops when noticing that Shade has stopped and staring strangely out to the man headstones. "Brother?" He walks back over to him.

"Are our family among these stones?" Shade asks quietly, his brother lowers his head but nods. "Can you show me?" Without a word, Scar guides him to where their family lies. He's brought before several gravestones, each having the same last name. Only one of these names is recognized, though; Harika. Shade blinks at this and openly wonders. "Who was she?"

It's hard not to feel sorry for his brother, utterly unable to recognize their beloved family. "Our mother." Scar replies somberly, his brother's eyes wide and Scar thinks he knows why. Shade did name his daughter after their mother. "She would've been proud knowing your daughter was given her name."

His brother drops his head in sadness. For a while, he does not speak and Scar has no wish of breaking this somber silence. His patience pays off, though. "How was she like?" Brother asks.

"Like any other mother, I suppose." Scar replies, admittedly feeling a bit weird at explaining how their mother was. But it's not like his brother can help it. He didn't ask to lose his memory. "Loving, and patient. She kept us in check if our... arguments got out of hand."

Shade can't help but chuckle there, "Something tells me we caused a lot of shenanigans."

"Something like that." Scar muses and still not sure how to feel about that his childhood feels like another lifetime.

Putting his left hand on the gravestone beside their mother, "Is this our father?"

"Yes"

Shade looks over to the graves where their uncle, aunt and cousin reside. "And they were?" Scar tells him so, not at all surprised at his brother's request; "Can you tell me about them?"

"Father was the head of our house, most people knew his name and therefore, he held high expectations on how to behave." Scar explains and his mind goes back to the many lectures their father would give them if they acted up at impropriate times. "But he held a lot of responsibility and even at a young age, we both knew. how many looked up to him" Scar eyes their father's grave and although the man was at times harsh, there was never any doubt "He was a fair man, but he had his share of enemies."

"Sounds a bit like me." his brother chuckles lightly.

Scar turns to his brother, not entirely sure what Shade meant by that. Does his brother have enemies? Maybe he's talking about those from Xing. And although his description of their father might have sounded like Shade, "you're much gentler than he was." he voices. Father was a strict man, fair but not one should cross.

"Maybe." Shade muses, he eyes the graves, reading their names, but he cannot see a face to those names. Mother, father, it's only a word for him and if people ask what family is to him. Shade will talk about his late wife and beloved daughters. Oh, and now he can add his brother into this single but oh so significant word. He sighs and admits to his younger brother. "I was hoping coming here would help me remember more about our past. Maybe be able to remember their faces but…" he turns his eyes back to the stones, resting above the remains of people that very well could've been strangers for him. That is incredibly sad and upsetting for Shade. "I see nothing, know nothing about them… I can't imagine their faces… they are only names." Shade admits to his brother, who looks sympathetic at him.

"It's not your fault." Scar replies to his brother softly; it's not like Shade chose to lose his memories or decide what he will remember. "If mother and father were here, they would tell you the same thing."

Shade nods slowly, he sort of already knew that but it's nice to hear it from someone else. "Thanks brother, I needed to hear that." Scar merely hums. They both stand before the graves for a moment, paying their respects.

Slowly and without a word, they leave and return to the city, the land of the living. When passing a small group of Ishvalens, Scar turns slightly towards them when he hears one of them ask: "Is that him? The Ishvalen alchemist?" and frowns at the title brother has been given.

Noticing the frown on Scar's face, Shade chuckles weakly. "Ever since I started helping out with construction, people have started to call me that. Yesterday a soldier asked if I was a State Alchemist."
and it did not go unnoticed on how tense his brother got. Shade might not remember but he too feels uncomfortable at these ancumptions. "I told her no, of course. To be honest;" he scratches the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "I don't feel like working for the military." He doesn't really do well in being told what to do.

Good, Scar does not want his brother to be part of the military either. Yes, it has changed since the Promise Day, but the fact still is if war comes, State Alchemists will be called for battle. Hopefully there won't be another war for a long time. "How is Marcoh during your teaching?" he asks to change the topic.

His brother laughs, "I don't what's is worst, that he keeps losing concentration before he gets a proper read on the flow or he keeps distracting me with an interesting discussion." Glad to hear the two are getting along. Scar has come to trust the doctor enough to know the man would never try and hurt his brother or tell him about his great mistakes. Marcoh also deserves to have someone who can keep up with his knowledge of the medical and his brother is the perfect candidate thanks to his bottomless thirst for knowledge.

"He did teach me something that helped me out with this whole healing process." Shade remarks while flexing his right hand lightly. "and it's always interesting to speak with him, but I wish he would throw that stone away." He admits, not sure why, but he gets horrible vibes from that thing.

This catches Scar's attention. Is his brother talking about that philosopher stone? "What's wrong with the stone?" He asks and tries to sound clueless on what the stone is made of. Scar tries not to think about that such stones are made from human sacrifice, and he really does not want to explain that to his brother.

Shade, fortunately, didn't look at him and got a proper read. He's busier to figure out a correct way to explain why he did not like the red stone. "It's hard to explain, only that it feels like something are squirming inside that rock. It's disturbing to sense it, like having one's hand down in a bucket filled with worms."

This is quite a surprise, Scar knows his brother can sense the dragon pulse, but he wasn't aware that he could sense the same thing Mei can. He truly prays that his brother never figures out what the philosopher stone is made out of. He's not sure how his brother will react if he ever discovers the truth.