Chapter 7: The Row House on the River
Retired General Dwight Elias, the Nature Alchemist, was a tall, wiry looking man with a receding hairline and intelligent, blue eyes hidden behind thick, square rimmed glasses. If anything, Al would describe the old general as frail. When General Elias had answered the door of his riverside row house, opening the interior warmth to the crisp morning air not yet dispelled by the rising sun, the man had been wrapped in a thick bathrobe with house shoes warming his feet and had had an expensive, dark wood cane in his gnarled right hand. The man's posture had been hunched with him leaning heavily on his cane and his face had been significantly pale with his features sunken and tired looking. Upon the general setting eyes on Mustang, however, the man's vacant, listless expression had quickly formed into a lively smile and the man had eagerly welcomed them into his home, seeming to stand a little bit straighter and to gain a twinge of color to his face.
From what Al had seen of the entrance hall and the sitting room that he, Ed, and Mustang had been escorted to, General Elias was an eccentric man of fine tastes. Al had never set foot within such a fanciful building before. Upon looking up at the vaulted ceiling of the entrance hall, he had been entranced by the extravagant formation and peculiar adornments of the golden chandelier tethered overhead. He had been similarly entranced by the marble fireplace that he now sat a few feet away from. It too was formed with fine detail and extravagance, an extravagance that seemed to reflect from the crackling fire within and spread across the glossy wood floors of the home and out into the whole of the sitting room, assisting in lighting the ornate rug beneath their feet and the expert craftsmanship of the spindle legged tables and tufted backed sofas and armchairs strategically placed before the fireplace itself.
"Please forgive us for calling so early, sir."
Mustang's request, which doubled as an apology, drew Al's attention back to the current matter at hand. Sitting upon the sofa nearest the fire with Ed at his side, Al turned away from the fireplace to face Mustang and General Elias, who were sitting upon a pair of armchairs across from him and Ed with a spindle legged end table that had a gas lamp set upon it in between the two men.
General Elias waved away Mustang's concern, looking content and not at all bothered that it was so early in the morning. "From the looks of the three of you, I would say that is quite late, rather than early."
"So it is, sir." Mustang sighed and his eyes drooped ever so slightly, as he relaxed further into the armchair that he was sitting in and allowed himself to become more comfortable.
"Do you have to work today?" General Elias inquired, looking sympathetic.
"I have to be back at 09:00," Mustang confirmed.
"Then leave things here to me and go get yourself some rest." General Elias's firm tone suggested that the matter was not up for debate. As the general made to get up from his chair, which he had only just sat down in, he said, "Come, Colonel, I'll see you out."
As the two men left the room and were headed towards the front door of the house, Al turned in his seat and looked to his brother.
"He seems all right," Ed said, reading the question in Al's eyes. "At any rate, Mustang doesn't seem to have any problem with leaving us here."
Al glanced back to the doorway that Mustang and General Elias had disappeared through and nodded. Mustang hadn't even hesitated. Not to mention, it was Mustang's idea to bring them here in the first place. They were to spend the next three months studying for the State Alchemist Certification Exam under General Elias's tutelage, as Mustang didn't have the time or the in-home resources to provide the same service himself. Plus a dozen other reason for why it would be a bad idea for us to stay with him, Al thought, while thinking of the amicable animosity between Ed and the colonel, the colonel's supposed nightlife, and the fact that the colonel would soon be their commanding officer. Yes, there were many good reasons for why it would be a bad idea for them to stay with Mustang.
"What sort of favor do you think Mustang did for General Elias in order for us to be allowed to stay here?" Ed asked quietly, clearly wishing for only Al to hear him.
"I don't know," Al said, turning back to Ed. "Maybe Mustang didn't have to do anything and General Elias is just being nice."
"Don't be naïve, Al." Ed scoffed. "That old general is getting something out of this, or he wouldn't do it."
"If that's so, brother, we're getting more and more indebted to the colonel by the minute." Al frowned at the thought.
As he and Ed very well knew, they had already been greatly indebted to Mustang before they had even come to Central. Though Mustang had never brought it up or even hinted at it, they had learned from Granny and Winry that Mustang was the one who had saved their lives the night that they had committed the forbidden. If Mustang hadn't been there and hadn't been so quick to act, they both would have bled to death before help would have ever reached them. It was a debt that neither he nor Ed were entirely sure how or when they'd be able to repay. The only thing that they could do at the moment was to try to keep the equivalent exchange between them and the colonel from becoming further off balanced and to wait for a day when they could save the colonel's life, as the colonel had saved theirs.
Even now, sitting in General Elias's sitting room and only three months shy from taking the State Alchemist Certification Exam, Al wondered if Ed's determination to go through with becoming State Alchemists had anything to do with their debt to Mustang. He knew that a small part of his own reasoning for wanting to become a State Alchemist was influenced by their debt to the colonel, yet a larger part of him really did hope that, by becoming State Alchemists and using the resources provided by the Military, they could find a way to help people in a way that they wouldn't have been able to had they stayed in Resembool. Nonetheless, his greater ambition aside, he knew that the only way that he and Ed would ever be able to repay Mustang for what he had done for them that night was be to be in close contact with the man. Being State Alchemists under the colonel's command seemed like a very good position to be in for them to one day repay their debt.
"Damn that Mustang," Ed said through clenched teeth, his hands fisting on his knees. "At this rate, we'll end up owing the bastard for the rest of our lives."
"Brother, you really should stop calling him that," Al said exasperatedly. "He's going to be our commanding officer soon."
Ed huffed, pretending to not have heard Al. "I suppose that we'll just have to work hard to get him promoted for all his trouble. Getting promoted is the only reason why he is even bothering with us after all."
Al shook his head at his idiot brother. While he too knew without doubt that the colonel was hoping to gain notoriety by having them under his command, he had a feeling that there was more to it than that. He wasn't sure about it, but he got the feeling that he and Ed were more important to the colonel than them just being a couple of kids whose talents in alchemy the man planned to use in order to climb up the ranks. Mustang was putting in far too much effort if that was all that the man wanted from them. He couldn't even count the number of times that the man had called them over the last year just to check up on them. On top of that, the man had never been short on words of advice and had been, for the most part, very honest with them when answering their many questions; always speaking to them as growing adults rather than the kids that most people still perceived them to be. Never once had Al got the impression that Mustang viewed him and Ed as objects to possess or covet for the man's own gain in the way that Mustang claimed that a majority of the higher ranking officers in the Military viewed the State Alchemists.
Dogs of the Military, human weapons: these were but a few names that were applied to State Alchemists, names that made them into objects and possessions rather than thinking and feeling human beings. They were the names that revealed the darker side of being a State Alchemist. In Al's opinion, they were also names that revealed the Military's own fear of the power that it possessed in the State Alchemists. The State Alchemists were demoralized by being referred to as something that 'normal' humans could be considered to be above. Dogs: creatures expected to accept the leash and collar tying them to thier master, creatures expected to be wholly loyal and obedient to the ones who fed and provided for them; weapons: unthinking and unfeeling objects forged by human hands to be used for the human purpose of inflicting bodily harm or physical damage upon someone or something, objects that are designed to be discard or set aside when they become broken or are no longer of any use to their owner.
Maybe it was because Mustang was a State Alchemist himself and understood what is it was to be thought of as something less than human that the man didn't treat him and Ed in such a way. Al didn't know and couldn't really say. The only thing that Al did know was that his and Ed's best interests, or at least their overall wellbeing and what they wanted for themselves now and in their future, seemed to be of great interest to Mustang. The man was coveting them, but not as mere objects to be put to his own use.
"Brother, the colonel isn't only bothering with us because he wants to get promoted," Al said, while wondering if Ed was really so blind or if, perhaps, it was because Ed wasn't so blind that his brother continued to refuse to trust the colonel and was so antagonistic towards the man.
"Of course not," Ed bit out, his intent behind the words not entirely clear.
"Brother, he may have an agenda, but he's not a bad man," Al tried to reason and not for the first time.
"Doesn't make him any less of a bastard either way, Al," Ed said stubbornly.
A chuckle from the doorway of the sitting room just then caused the two brothers to look in its direction. As General Elias reentered the room, leaning on his cane for support, Al shift uncomfortably in his seat at having been caught arguing with Ed.
"A frustrating man Colonel Mustang most definitely is, but he is also a very good ally to have," General Elias said knowingly, while his intelligent eyes roamed perceptively over the two boys now in his care. He paused in his steps near the chair that he had been sitting before he had gone to show Mustang out. "You boys are lucky that he's taken such an interest in you."
"Why's that?" Ed asked, looking at the elderly man with guarded eyes.
General Elias smiled enigmatically, causing the wrinkles around his mouth and eyes to crinkle. "Now what fun would it be if I told you? You're smart boys. I'm sure you'll figure it out in your own time."
"Do you know the colonel well then, sir?" Al asked curiously
"I would not say that I know him as anything more than an acquaintance, but a good friend of mine, General Grumman, knows him well enough for the both of us," General Elias said softly. "Mustang has spent a majority of his career under Grumman at Eastern Command. It was only Halcrow's gain in standing among the Top Brass a year and a half ago that allowed him to pull Mustang under his command here in Central when there was talk of transferring Mustang out of the East. Though," General Elias gave an amused laugh, "I do believe Halcrow has grown to regret his bid for the Flame Alchemist. As rumor has it, Mustang can be a real pain in the ass when he wants to be."
Ed smirked and Al grinned. As they both knew, Mustang made it a point to be a pain in the ass. It was the man's way of keeping the balance of equivalent exchange between him and the Military. They'd soon be learning how to do the same. Unfortunately for Mustang, they were going to be his pains in the ass.
"Ah, young men of a like mind," General Elias observed and once more looked over the two brothers with perceptive eyes. "I imagine that you boys are hungry and could do with some rest, before you begin your studies."
"Yes, sir," Al said, while Ed nodded.
"Well, come along then." General Elias beckoned the brothers to get up and follow him. "I'll show you to the kitchen. Madam Martha will have us something to eat and then I'll give you a tour of the house and get you settled in your rooms."
Obediently, Ed and Al grabbed up their satchels and followed General Elias out of the sitting room.
–
Madam Martha turned out to be a short, plump woman with a kind face and an inviting persona. She wore her graying hair up in a clip with her bangs and a few loose curls falling about her face. Her slightly slanted, dark chestnut eyes lit up brightly, upon the entrance of General Elias, and seemed to grow even brighter at the sight of Ed and Al following the old general into the kitchen.
"Good morning, my dear," General Elias greeted warmly, while gesturing for the boys to set their things down on the empty bench near the door.
"Good morning, Dwight," Madam Martha greeted in return, as she quickly dusted off her floury hands on the striped apron that she wore over her day clothes and set the batter she had been mixing near the stove, where a buttered baking pan sat on an unlit burner and ground sausage was sizzling in a pan on a separate burner. Turning back and peering at Ed and Al, she smiled brilliantly. "So these are the young gentlemen you've been telling me about?"
"Yes," General Elias said and beckoned the boys over to where he and Madam Martha were standing. "These are Edward and Alphonse Elric." The general indicated to the brothers in turn. "Boys, this is Madam Martha. She comes during the day to take care of my meals and to see to the house."
"Hello, ma'am," Ed said and returned the smile that she directed at him.
Al returned the woman's smile as well and gave a greeting of his own.
"It's good to finally meet you boys," Madam Martha said warmly. "Dwight has been talking of your visit for months now. It's nice to have faces to go along with the names."
"Is there coffee, my dear?" General Elias asked with avid interest.
"It's just finished perking." Madam Martha nodded to the brass coffee maker further down the counter, where it rested near the icebox and a mechanical toaster.
"Edward, Alphonse, would you like some?" General Elias offered back over his shoulder, as he headed over to the coffee maker.
"Yes, please," Al said, while Ed nodded and tried not to yawn. Coffee most definitely sounded good right about then.
It didn't take long for General Elias to sit Ed and Al down at the small table in the kitchen with each of them cupping a steaming hot mug of coffee in their hands. Though neither Ed nor Al had drank much coffee before in their lives, Ed was able to detect that General Elias's coffee was of a better quality than the coffee that was available in Resembool after only taking a few sips from his mug. The general's coffee had a nice kick to it and was richer than any other coffee that he had drunk before.
Figures, Ed thought, taking another swallow of the dark liquid. A man with a house like this could probably afford the best coffee on the market – could probably import beans from Aerugo if he really wanted to.
"So, boys, tell me a bit about yourselves," General Elias requested from where he sat opposite the boys at the table, his blue eyes wide behind his glasses with curiosity. "What field of alchemy do you specialize in? How long have you been practicing the science? You must have started very young."
"Al and I started teaching ourselves alchemy as soon as we learned to read, sir," Ed said boastfully. It was something to be proud of after all. Not many four and five year olds could even begin to grasp alchemy the way they had, especially considering that they hadn't had a teacher and had only had their father's books to learn from.
"Teaching yourselves?" General Elias questioned, sounding fascinated.
"Yes," Al said. "Our dad had a large collection of alchemy books that he left behind when he left. Ed and I spent hours studying them."
The conversation flowed from there. Ed and Al told General Elias a condensed version of their past, while leaving out a good majority of who they actually were and what their lives had actually been like. They told the general of Hohenheim leaving them and their mother, though they never mentioned their father's name. They told of their mother's death, though they did not tell or even hint at their attempt to bring her back. They told of attending the local school in Resembool and of Granny Pinako keeping an eye on them over the years, though they did not mention that they ever left Resembool to study alchemy under Teacher. They did not mention how they met Mustang. They did not mention how or when they got their automail. They did not tell of their struggles over the last year to just stand up on their own and move forward in their lives in the only way that they knew how.
At some point during their conversation, Madam Martha refilled their coffee mugs and brought each of them a heaping plate of biscuits and gravy. Ed dug into his plate with gusto, finding Madam Martha's cooking to be just as delicious as Granny's if not better. As they ate and drank their fill, his and Al's story began to wind down.
"We don't really have a field of specialty yet," Ed told General Elias, after washing down a mouthful of biscuits with a gulp of coffee. "Though, we are interested in the application of alchemy for medical purposes … or perhaps finding a way to use alchemy to advance energy distribution, so that power might be provided to not only the cities and larger villages, but to the more rural areas as well. We might even take it so far as to look into a way of using alchemy to provide a more efficient and dependable source of power to the State of Amestris as a whole. Or we might specialize in something entirely different, like using alchemy to boost the production of crops or to establish renewable water in dessert areas that often have issues with sustaining their water supply or maybe to find a way to use alchemy to create sturdier construction of homes and businesses … fireproofing, weatherproofing, a way to prevent rot and decay and strengthen foundations, a way for a building to retain warmth in the winter, while also remaining cool during the summer."
"We just want to find a way to help people, sir," Al said at the general's stunned look. "The colonel said that once we become State Alchemist, we'll be able to tour the National Laboratories, which will allow us to better understand what is already being researched and what has yet to be explored. We plan on making our decision about what we want to specialize in after we see for ourselves where the gaps are."
"A lot of what you boys are talking about would require a self-sustaining transmutation circle in order for the alchemy to work in constant equivalent exchange," General Elias said with a thoughtful glower after he'd taken a minute to think over the boys' ambitions. "While I'm not entirely sure that it's not possible, I've never heard of anything like it being done before. You'd have to somehow permanently connect the circles that you use with the energy flow of our planet's crust and somehow get them to maintain themselves without the continuous monitoring of an alchemist."
"Just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean that it can't be done," Ed said, determination shining in his eyes. "There is still much that alchemists don't understand. The truth to our many questions – the ones already asked, as well as the ones that have yet to be asked – is just waiting to be sought after and discovered."
General Elias smiled at the two boys before him. "I see now why Colonel Mustang has taken such an interest in the two of you. Your youth and ideals are refreshing if not inspiring. But I do have to wonder what it is that makes you and Mustang believe that you'll be chosen as this year's State Alchemists when you've no specialty or pre-existing research to offer."
"Just because we have no field of specialty or pre-existing research to offer doesn't mean that our alchemy lacks in strength or innovation," Al said astutely, looking as confident as he and Ed felt about them being chosen as the newest State Alchemists in the autumn. "We are both capable of complex, large scale transmutations and of using our alchemy in the mists of combat."
"Not to mention, our style of alchemy is unique to say the least." Ed hesitated, eying General Elias uncertainly, before deciding that they couldn't really hide their abilities from the general, as they'd be staying with the man for the next three months and the man would most likely ask to see their alchemy eventually. Plus, Mustang seemed to trust the general enough to leave them with the man and hadn't told them not to use their alchemy around the man. "We can transmute without circles, sir."
"Pardon me?" General Elias blinked behind his glass, looking taken aback. "I believe that I didn't quite hear you correctly."
Ed met General Elias's disbelieving gaze and purposefully brought his hands together, before reaching out to touch the general's empty coffee mug. In a flash of alchemy, the mug was transmuted into a finely detailed porcelain horse that was rearing back on its haunches and was adorned with an Amestrian style bridle and saddle combination.
"I'll be …" General Elias breathed, taking in the porcelain horse sitting before him with startled eyes. There was an extended moment of silence, as he seemed to study every facet of the horse and appeared entirely entranced by the horse's very existence before he finally looked up from the horse to Ed.
Ed turned his palms up to show that he didn't have a circle inscribed on his hands and that he had indeed transmuted the horse without a transmutation circle.
"Just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean that it can't be done," General Elias quoted softly, as his eyes roamed over Ed's bear palms. His gaze moved swiftly over Ed's flesh hand, while lingering a bit longer on the automail palm presented to him. He looked over Ed's automail hand as curiously as he had at the porcelain horse, but said nothing about the automail, as he looked back up to meet Ed's golden gaze. "A rare talent, Mustang, a rare talent indeed," the general murmured almost reverently. Looking from Ed to Al, he grinned widely and let out a bark of laughter. "If only I weren't retired, I would love to see your practical exam. You say that you can both transmute like that?"
"Yes, sir," Al said and promptly clapped his hands together, before reaching out to the horse Ed had made. In a second flash of alchemy, the horse was returned to its original form.
"Excellent! Excellent," General Elias said enthusiastically, pushing back his chair and grabbing up his cane to stand.
Ed and Al followed the general's lead and stood as well.
"I imagine that you'd like to get studying right away," General Elias said and motioned for the boys to follow him. "First a tour of the house and a short nap, then we'll see about what it is that you two will need to review for the Exam."
Grabbing their things from the bench near the kitchen entrance, Ed and Al set off with General Elias to tour the rest of the man's house.
–
The general's house consisted of three stories in total, along with a wine cellar beneath the kitchen. On the first floor, there was the entrance hall, sitting room, parlor room, and kitchen, as well as a formal dining room. On the second floor, there was General Elias's office, an extensive library connected to a reading room, and a bathroom. On the third floor, there was the master bedroom, two guest bedrooms, and an additional bathroom. The entire house throughout was decorated in a similar manner as the entrance hall and sitting room, leaving both Ed and Al wide-eyed at the extravagance of the general's home.
After dropping off their things in the rooms that they would be staying in, the general led them back downstairs, through the kitchen, and out to the fenced in yard behind the house. The yard really wasn't all that big and was made even smaller by the large green house that had been constructed along the right brick wall fencing up the yard. The glass construct butted flush against the house and extended for a far as it could go. While both Ed and Al thought that there were plenty of plants growing outside – a large white willow, several different types of ivy climbing the brick walls, dahlias, petunias, and several other types of flowers and shrubs – there were even more plants of native as well as an exotic variety growing within the green house that seemed to double as an alchemy lab.
So this is why he is call the Nature Alchemist, Ed thought, as he listened to General Elias discuss the latest plants that he had been working with and followed the man down the long rows of potted flowers, herbs, and various other strange looking plants that he had no name for.
"Are you researching something specific?" Al asked through a yawn, the small boost that he had gotten from the coffee clearly wearing off fast.
"Before I retired, I was researching crossing different species for medicinal purposes … though," General Elias frowned, "my results did sometimes turnout rather volatile and I'd end up with a poisonous plant as a result of my transmutation instead of the harmless one that I was hoping for. Right now, I'm more interested in maintaining the plants that I have. I spend most of my days out here. You boys, of course, are welcome to come out to ask questions or to study my work anytime that you would like."
"Did you have much success with forming new species for medicine?" Ed asked with genuine interest.
"I did." General Elias nodded and pointed across the green house to a plant that had flowers resembling a poppy, but didn't appear to be a poppy plant at all, as it was quite clearly a blossom tree of some sort. "You've heard of Dyphias, have you not?"
Ed and Al nodded.
"It's a strong pain killer that doesn't afflict the mind with delirium," Ed said knowingly, having heard Granny and Winry talk about it.
"Papaver purus," General Elias said in introduction of the plant. "Those flowers are what make Dyphias possible. Just fifteen years ago, its kind didn't even exist."
Ed couldn't help but grin. "Papaver purus," he said, testing the name on his tongue, as he studied the plant from where he stood.
"Or otherwise known as a poppy tree." General Elias grinned. "It is my finest work. Many years of my career went into to getting it just right. Today, it is a species in its own right and will live on long after my time has passed and all my research that went into creating it has been forgotten."
"That's amazing," Al said and looked up at General Elias in awe. "To think of all the people you've help … all the people able to be without pain, yet retain a clear mind."
"From what I have been told," General Elias said, looking towards his creation with affection, "my plant has save a good many lives on the battlefield."
"Can we see your notes?" Ed asked eagerly. This was the kind of thing that he and Al wanted to do. They wanted to help people. They wanted to use their alchemy to make the world better. General Elias and the general's poppy tree were proof that State Alchemists weren't just dogs of the Military and really could make a positive difference in the lives of the people of Amestris if they really wanted to.
"While I am honored that you're both so interest in my work, I do think it best if you boys go and get a bit of rest," General Elias said with gentle smile. "You've three months to look at my research. Not to mention, you both have your studies to focus on. Go now, all this will be here when you wake."
With one last longing look at the general's poppy tree, Ed nodded to General Elias and turned to Al. They really did need to get some rest, as neither one of them had slept all that much over the last few days. Plus, the queen sized bed in the room that General Elias had informed him would be his had really looked quite inviting. He almost hadn't wanted to make the trip back downstairs and out to the general's greenhouse.
"Come on, Al," Ed said, throwing his flesh arm over his little brother's shoulder and directing Al back towards the exit.
"Night, General," Al called over his shoulder. "Thank you for letting us stay here."
General Elias chuckled at the scene and waved the two boys away. "Think nothing of it, young man. It pleases me to have such youthful company in my old age."