Yeah, now that I have this chapter done... there's only one chapter of the rest of this story that I don't already have planned. Which is both relieving (I don't have to come up with random fluff and find out how to turn it into a 2000 word chapter!) and disappointing (I don't get to come up with random fluff and find out how to turn it into a 2000 word chapter...). But oh well.

It was almost utterly silent in the house.

Mei peaked one eye open and smiled at the sight around her. With the exception of Emily, who was taking her nap, her entire family was in front of her, with the addition of not only one, but two of her nephews. While the Heir to the Throne had very little interest in alchemy, when he heard that his aunt and uncle were also going to be teaching his younger brother meditation and combat skills as well, he deigned to join in for those lessons.

All five of them (Al included) were sitting cross legged in front of her with their eyes closed and breathing deeply. Even though all of them knew how to sense qi on a daily basis, Mei found that it was always a good idea to take the time to really get away from other ideas or cares and really feel the flow around you. It was one thing to be connected to qi at all times, and another to take the time and really feel it.

It was perhaps one of the things that Al had been able to do for her the most ever since they adopted Liwu. When he took them out and left her with some time to herself, that was usually what she would do. It helped put things in a different perspective, a different perspective that was very valuable when she was beginning to get exhausted and snappish.

Quyi's brow was furrowed deeply as if he was trying really hard to get something. The expression made Mei smile again. Jun-li's face was completely blank as he sat there with a completely erect back. Nina was smiling slightly while Liwu was chewing on his lip. It was a bit of a habit of his. He did it whenever he was focusing on something absentmindedly. Her eyes lingered on Al who looked completely relaxed. He loved meditating.

She closed her eyes again and probed the Dragon's Pulse. All five of them flared brightly in her consciousness. More exploration revealed Emily asleep in the nursery and Cookie curled up on her and Al's bed. Outside the house, the entire garden thrummed slightly with life. Fainter than human or animal life, but certainly there.

Further exploration showed the life of the people on the streets and in the other houses.

She took a deep breath in before taking in a deep breath and opening her eyes.

"You can open your eyes now."

The rest of them did so, slowly. Nina started grinning. "That was so cool Mommy!"

"It was," Liwu agree, Jun-li echoing his sentiment.

"… Quyi?" Mei asked, looking at the boy who still hadn't opened his eyes. His name startled him and his eyes opened.

"Aunt Mei…?"

"I said you could open your eyes."

"Oh… I didn't hear you. I guess I've never really gotten that into feeling qi… I didn't know you could feel that much."

"Well that's why we're here. So you can learn like that."

He smiled and nodded.

"Could you feel how much energy there was?"

All of them nodded.

"That's the basis of alkahestry. All of that energy that's created by all of these living things can be harnessed to change the world around us." She dropped her kunais into the ground in the circles she had already drawn and activated it, explaining as she did so. "The matrix works just like a normal alchemic matrix, but you need the knives to focus the energy from one spot to another. The qi that you're using will carry the transmutation, but you need the knives to show the transmutation and the energy where it needs to be directed."

"And it's because you're using qi that you can heal people with it right?"

"Exactly," Mei responded, surprised but please that it had been Nina that had spoken. She hadn't been very interested in lessons until a few days ago when Mei first introduced the idea of meditating. The little girl loved losing herself in the Dragon's Pulse. Al had already chuckled to her about how it was pretty obvious which one, alchemy or alkahestry, Nina was more interested. Liwu seemed to be leaning towards alchemy, but he was still determined to learn both.

"Aunt Mei?"

"Yes, Jun-li?"

"… I'm sorry to interrupt, but is that all there is for today besides traditional alkahestry lessons?"

"Actually, Al was planning on starting sparring lessons today. It is mostly going to be basics though, if you have somewhere else you need to be."

He seemed to debate this for a few seconds before nodding and sitting down. "I will stay."

"You're certainly free to," she said kindly. "Where was I?"

"Using qi to move transmutations," Quyi said helpfully.

"Thanks you. So we use the flow of energy from person to person and animal and plant to move the energy for the transmutation from one place to another. The most important part of truly learning alkahestry is knowing this energy flow and really understanding it. Once you understand it, the more complicated part of a alkahestry comes in, which is the formulas and the matrixes. But without really understanding the Dragon's pulse, you will not be able to perform alkahestry. So I want all of you to spend at least 15 minutes really meditating every day. At least. And 15 minutes of real meditation. Not sitting down for 15 minutes, 15 minutes from the time you really start to meditate."

All of them nodded, even Al, which Mei rolled her eyes at. Al just grinned.

"Now, I believe Jun-li wanted to start on combat lessons?"

Jun-li and Quyi were already well familiar with the basics of how to fight and protect oneself. Not only were they the Emperor's sons and didn't have a body guard with them at this exact moment because Ling trusted Al and Mei to be able to keep them safe, but their mother was also one of the best guards in all of Xing. She was not able to train them the way she would have liked perhaps because of their other responsibilities, but they would certainly be able to hold their own in a fight with any assailants that weren't professional. Even so, Jun-li probably would be able to protect himself against a professional assassin. Combat came naturally to the young man.

Liwu and Nina… not so much.

They had taught them basics. They knew what to do if something ever would to happen. But mostly Al and Mei had been hopeful that they would never have to learn. And it had always never seemed to be a priority. Mei hadn't been much of a target since Jun-li was born and she lost her position as Heir to the Throne. As it was, she was fifth in line if Ling were to die. Al was an Ambassador, but as far as someone trying to kill him… Things had been quiet and relatively safe.

However, upon asking to be taught alchemy and alkahestry, both of them acknowledged the fact that they would more or less have to learn. Mei and Al had both been taught simultaneous with learning how to fight. Training the body and mind at the same time. It was bad form to train the mind and let the body go weak.

Both of them agreed to the fact that they needed to teach them this.

Al however… appeared quite indisposed towards actually doing it.

The had started the lesson by sparing with each other, just to show the kids what it looked like, what they would be learning to do. It was quite fun, actually. Mei had only started sparring again a few months ago and she had only done relatively easy routines. This was the first time she had really had an all-out fight with anyone. She could see from the grin on Al's face as they fought that he was enjoying it as much as she was.

He eventually won by catching her in a bear hug that she couldn't wiggle her way out of. If it had been a real assassin she would have tried throwing her head back and breaking his nose, but that didn't seem like the best idea to carry through with, so she went limp to show her surrender. He let her go and they bowed to each other.

The kids started applauding.

Al grinned and made a dramatic bow that Mei rolled her eyes at him for.

"Now we're going to split you four into two groups. Jun-li and Quyi, you two know a bit more so I'll be teaching you while Al teaches Liwu and Nina some of the basics. Then we can start teaching you four together. You two come over here," Mei said, gesturing towards her side of the mat. Al took their children to the other side.

They both stood there waiting for her instruction.

She didn't instruct them, instead straight off attacking Jun-li.

He reacted immediately and deflected her punch, rolling under it and throwing his own. Mei ducked and rolled under him, popping up behind him and kicking him behind his knees. He fell down but quickly popped back up. In the meantime Mei dropped Quyi to the ground by knocking out his feet from under him.

She had both of the Princes dancing around her in a few seconds. Jun-li was very skilled, Mei had to admit. He had definitely inherited his mother's talent in martial arts. Quyi was also fairly skilled, though she was able to land many, many more blows on him than on Jun-li.

About ten minutes into teaching/practicing/fighting, though, she heard Nina cry out in pain. Mei, who was in mid flip landed and was too distracted to avoiding Jun-li's punch. She rolled with it though and immediately zoned in on Nina, expecting the worse.

Al was crouched over her, babbling something about her being alright.

"It's going to be alright, it's okay, you're okay. Mei! Mei!"

What had happened? Had she been injured? Broken something? Knocked out some of her teeth? Bleeding profusely?

"What is it? What's wrong?" she asked, hurrying over.

She wanted to rub the bridge of her nose and perhaps slap Al when she was what it was.

"She split her lip."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Daddy," Nina said, touching her lip and wincing slightly.

"It's going to swell if we don't get ice on it now. Come on," he said, standing her up and leading her towards the kitchen.

Mei blinked.

"… I… alright. Um… Where were we Jun-li? Middle of a fight. Right. Liwu… you can, um, watch us."

"Okay Mom…"

They continued their fight, Mei occasionally stopping them to point out a flaw in either of their defenses or give them advice at a better next move.

Al came back with Nina ten or twenty minutes later with some ice on her lip. He began teaching them again, but when Mei looked over to watch their progress a few minutes later she noticed that Nina wasn't even doing anything. When she gave the Princes a break and asked Nina what she was doing (Al was showing Liwu the proper form when kicking…) the Amestrian girl responded "Daddy said he doesn't want me doing anything dangerous for the rest of the day."

"…"

"Alright. Let's see, Liwu, Nina, over here. We'll pick up where we finished last time—"

"Actually, Al, I was thinking that Jun-li and Quyi already know a lot of the things that I would teach them since my fighting style is very similar to Lan Fan's. If you teach them they'd probably be able to learn more than if they were learning from me. I'll take the children."

"Oh… alright, I guess." Mei smiled sweetly at him before taking Liwu and Nina to their side of the practice mats… and really teaching them.

Both of the them were very sore, very bruised, and ended the day with some much worse scrapes than a split lip… but Mei didn't think she had ever seen Liwu grin wider than when he actually managed to knock Nina down by sweeping her legs out from under her about a week later.

Please review!

Also: I am an insane idiot that has masochist tendencies apparently. Whooohooo. You don't want to hear the list of all the things I've been taking on recently. I'm going to die. Whoooo! Don't worry. If I die, my little sister's in charge of posting all of my AlMei stories/scraps/plans/timelines ect. She's the person I talk about them the most to, so she should be able to stick them together in a way that'll make sense for ya'll! Even in my death you will have AlMei! Just proves how much I love ya'll.

See you next week! (maybe)