“Please, you must help me! Please!” cried the peasant man as he ran up to Toku and Theodora. Looking at one and then the other, he stood full of tension, nearly in tears. It was Theodora who spoke next.

“Please calm down, sir. We will be glad to help however we can. Please, you must calm down first and tell us what's wrong.”

Theodora's calming voice seemed to clear the air of all dismay. Reason returned to the troubled man as Theodora took his arm in her gentle hand. With a deep breath he answered, “Yes, of course you're right, now. Running and yelling won't do any good, will it? But please, I ask that you would help as you can. My good wife is inside, quite ill. She was on the point of death until the good doctor came to us from town. His medicine has put her on the mend. Only, just now, as I went to mix her daily dose with her breakfast, I found the bottle nearly empty. I know there was more yesterday morning. But now there's none left, and the doctor's not due for a month and...”

The man was beginning to grow hysterical once again. Theodora shushed him softly and Toku stood by patiently for the man to calm down once again.

“The problem is, you see, the city is a good week away for me, there and back—that's where the doctor is now. I can't leave her, though. She's in no condition at all to care for herself while I'm gone. Do you think...well, it would be too much to ask you to get the medicine and come back. Do you think you could stay with my wife while I went to the city? I could pay you when I returned. No, I'm sorry. I couldn't ask such a thing of you...”

Theodora looked on the man with deep compassion as he trailed off thinking of something to do.

“Of course we will help. I would be happy to stay with your wife. What about you, Toku?”

“Oh, thank you!” the peasant exclaimed before Toku had a chance to answer. “You must be an angel sent by God! May the saints bless you! Now, I've got to hurry to the city right away...”

As the man turned and readied himself to run down the path, Toku stopped him. He had been deep in thought since the man had begun his explanation.

“Wait a minute, please!” Toku began.

“Toku, what are you doing?” Theodora said sternly. “We have to help them!”

“Yes, of course. I know,” Toku returned. “But I may be able to do something better. Sir, did you say there was a little of the medicine left?”

“Well, yes, there's a bit. But not hardly enough, even for one dose,” the worried man replied.

“All I need is a small sample,” said Toku. “Do you have a stone bowl...or even a wooden bowl would do? Oh, and I'll need a knife of either copper or iron.”

“Listen, good lad, if it's payment you're after, I'll be happy to pay when...”

“No, no!” Toku interrupted somewhat shortly. “I just need to know if you have these things.”

“Well, yes...I guess so. We have some wooden bowls, and I have a copper knife I use to whittle.”

“Good, let's go inside, then.”

“But...”

“Come on! I can't stand it out here much longer!”

Puzzled, Theodora and the peasant followed as Toku walked into the small, rock hut. Toku would have been a bit more patient, but the sun was rising, and the pain was already becoming hard for him to bear.

As they entered the darkness of the humble living space, Toku felt some relief from the terrifying power that perpetually rose above him. The hut seemed even smaller on the inside than it had on the outside—and the outside had seemed small enough as it was. It was a dark little place with no windows—the only light coming through the open door and the two or three cracks that snaked between the planks of the walls. The single room was sparsely furnished, out of necessity (there was not even enough room for an extra chair). Along the back wall, facing the door was a rustic-looking wooden table with three chairs crowded around it. Left of the table, on the side wall, was a well-used earthenware stove and a little firepit that had a small kettle heating on a grate over the fire. On the wall opposite the stove was the bed—surprisingly large and very comfortable-looking. The bed was dressed with warm (if not pretty) quilts sewn from every variety of animal fur imaginable. Beneath the warm, fur-lined bedding lay a pale-faced woman. She hardly even opened her eyes as the visitors entered. She seemed to be in a far-off place, passing in and out of consciousness.

Toku wasted no time and immediately took a seat at the table.

“I'll need the bowl, the knife, and the medicine from you...er...”

“Isaku, my good sir. My name is Isaku. My wife, she's Inari. I've the things right here, but I don't quite know what you're aiming at here.”

“It may be that I can't do anything, and then I've wasted your time,” said Toku, “But it also may be that I can save you the trouble and the expense of a journey. I'll be able to tell you if I can help in a few moments.”

As Isaku and Toku busied themselves gathering things together, Theodora approached the poor creature on the bed. Taking the fragile hand, Theodora looked upon the woman's pale face. Strangely, the pallor seemed to drift away from the woman's cheeks and blood began to return and cast a rosy glow over her features. Theodora saw the woman's dark hair, now mussed and dull, suddenly gleam with a beauty and shine from time past. The woman's eyes fluttered open—and instead of gazing into the far-off land of unconscious dreams, her gaze was stead and her eyes shimmered with life.

“Theodora, I need something from you, too,” said Toku at the other side of the cabin.

As Theodora released Inari's hand, it was as if all life drained again from her body, and she once again drifted out of consciousness. But Theodora did not notice the change, as she had already turned to face Toku and Isaku.

“Of course. What do you need?” she asked.

“Can I borrow your necklace? It's silver, isn't it?” said Toku.

“Oh!” Theodora said, rather surprised. A thin silver chain hung around her neck with a delicate heart charm fastened opposite the clasp. Drawing her hand to the charm, Theodora said, “It is a gift from my grandmother. Will it get hurt by...whatever you're doing?”

“No, it won't. I promise I'll give it back to you just as it is. Don't worry.”

“Okay, then. I won't worry,” Theodora said, unfastening the clasp and handing the silver chain to Toku.

Before him, Toku created a very crude but usable alchemical basin. He placed the silver charm at the bottom of the bowl, draping the chain from one edge of the bowl to the other. He then took what what left of the green powdered medicine and sprinkled it upon the heart charm. Finally, he took the copper knife, and removing the wooden handle so that he held only the copper blade, he gently placed the tip of the knife into the powder. Holding the knife with one hand and one end of the silver necklace with the other, he began breathing slowly and deeply, entering into the alchemical trance.

The connection was not very strong. Toku had no amplification gloves and no amplification fluid. On top of that, he was using secondary alchemical metals (the primaries are gold and lead). Still, though, his mind began to push through the cloud of the silver and copper. Reaching through the current of atoms, his mind touched something that was different. It was so cloudy—hard to see.

Breathing deeply again, Toku concentrated on the substance before him. He zoomed in, through the cloud that hindered his vision. He pushed away the fuzziness and saw before him the medicine. It was large—a very complex molecule. It was made up of many different connections, many atoms. But, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief, Toku saw that they were all very low-level atoms.

Mostly carbon, Toku thought. One, two, three...ten connections there. Yes. Hydrogen...easy...five there...no, eighteen.

Theodora and Isaku looked at each other, puzzled. Instinctively they could sense this was a time for silence, but Isaku could not help but quietly whisper to his fellow spectator.

“What's he doing, miss?”

“Well, Isaku, I truthfully don't really know,” Theodora answered quietly. In truth, she was just as curious as the troubled peasant. She could only assume this had something to do with the alchemy Toku had told her about. Still, she trusted Toku—even after just knowing him for a few days—and she trusted he would do something amazing.

“Okay! I can do it!” Toku suddenly cried, opening his eyes and releasing his mind from the alchemical gaze. “I only need some carbon and some water. Isaku, do you have any coal?”

“Ah, there I am afraid I cannot help you, good sir,” answered the peasant, still puzzled.

His mind alert and moving quickly now that it had been awakened, Toku saw before him all the sources of carbon he had read in his many lessons. His mind scanned everything and promptly arrived at the conclusion.

“Wood. The fire. I need ashes from the fire.”

Taking another small bowl, Toku scooped some of the ash out of the fire pit. Dumping the ash into his makeshift basin along with the medicine, and adding a touch of water to the mixture, he once again resumed his alchemical meditation.

“Toku, just what are you doing?” asked Theodora, her curiosity finally too much to politely contain.

“Just watch!” said Toku.

Theodora and Isaku peered over Toku's shoulder and looked into the basin. At first, nothing seemed to be happening. There were the ashes, the copper knife sticking out of the small pile, and the silver chain underneath it all. Then, Isaku saw it. One or two grains in the ash seemed to pop—and they turned from ashy gray to pale green.

Pop! More grains changed. Pop...pop...pop! Then more!

Now Theodora saw it as well. It was like watching popped corn pop over a fire. In a moment there were small pops of green erupting all throughout the pile, the ashy gray shrinking and receding, giving way to green.

In a very short time, the whole pile of ash was changed and Toku took one last deep breath. He relaxed his grip on the knife and the necklace and leaned back from the table.

“Whew! There, this should be enough medicine to last for the next month.”

“What? What do you mean, good sir?” asked Isaku, rather stunned. “What...what did you do?”

“I made more medicine for you. I'm an alchemist.”

“An alchemist...” Isaku said with awe. “Amazing. I've heard of the gift, but never seen it.” Then, taking Toku's hand, Isaku bowed low. “I can't thank you enough, good sir. Thank you so much, just the same.”

“Really, it's no big deal,” said Toku, a little embarrassed, but also a little proud, receiving such praise in front of Theodora. “Here, you should probably get this to your wife.”

“Yes, you're right, of course!” said Isaku, taking the bowl. As Isaku prepared his wife's medicine, Theodora took a seat next to Toku. Toku blushed a little with pride. She must be really impressed, Toku thought. Even Aleric would have been proud of me.

If Theodora was impressed with Toku, she certainly was not showing it. Or, at least, Toku was a little disappointed at her reaction. It was not that Theodora seemed impassive. She did congratulate Toku on a job well-done, but she did not treat him as if he had done something amazing as he had hoped.

The reaction of the peasant was completely different, however. After tending to his wife, Isaku could not stop praising Toku, a steady stream of compliments and good wishes streaming from his mouth. He insisted that his “angels” (as he began referring to Toku and Theodora) stay for dinner and then that they spend at least one night with them, “Because you angels must be tired from your travel. Especially you, my good sir. You look out of sorts. A good rest will do you good. We don't have much to offer, but we will give you our best. And a roof over your head and a warm night is something I can give you. 'tis the least we can do, good masters.”

Toku and Theodora did not take much convincing. A few days of sleeping out in the open or under cold and foreboding trees made sleeping on the dirt floor of the warm and friendly hut sound like a luxury. At the thought of a warm supper, they both realized just how hungry they were. Although Theodora had brought a few small packages of food with her, it had hardly been enough to call proper meals during their travels.

That evening, as everyone laid down to sleep, watching the fire flicker and cast warmly delightful shadows on the walls, Toku once again returned to the topic that never quite left his mind.

“Theodora, where are we going?” he whispered quietly.

It took her a few moments to answer. Toku almost thought she had already fallen asleep.

“Where're going forward. I think that's the best we can do. We have to trust that whoever brought us here is leading us—we must go forward.”

“You think that someone brought us here? What do you mean? I thought you said that you came through a door you found in your house. And no one brought me here. It was all an accident. I don't even know how it happened,” Toku responded skeptically.

“Well, I don't know exactly if it was someone who brought us here or not. But I believe that our coming here is not an accident. There is something at work. And, it seems to me that the most important choice that we have is not where to go, but whether we should trust what has brought us together and follow its leadings or not to trust it.”

“You sound a little like Master Aleric. I couldn't understand him, either.” The flickering of the fire was dying down. The shadows were dancing much more slowly now.

“Listen, Theodora,” Toku began again. “I don't know about trusting this person or thing—but I have a bad feeling. I keep having nightmares. At first I just thought it was because of the sun. But, I'm scared. I need to get back home, and I have to find Master Aleric.”

“I know, Toku. I understand,” Theodora answered softly. “But how do we get you back to the Lower Kingdom? Neither of us knows the way.”

“I don't know how to get back. I just know that we have to.”

Isaku was laying at the other side of the hut, close to his wife. He was doing his best to be polite and not eavesdrop on his guests. Still, in such a small space, I'm sure the reader won't be too hard on the peasant for overhearing Toku and Theodora's conversation.

“Uh...I'm very sorry, good masters. I could not help but hear what you were saying.”

“That's okay, Isaku,” said Toku, sighing deeply. “What is it?”

“Well, I heard you saying something about the Lower Kingdom. Now, we don't know much out here in the countryside. We're only poor farmers, after all. But, we have heard stories about that place. They say in town that there is a man who knows how to get there—to the City under the Earth.”

Toku jumped out of his blanket. “What?! Where? Who?” he yelled, rather unintelligibly.

“Well, I don't know much about it,” answered Isaku slowly. “I probably shouldn't have brought it up to give you false hope. It's the kind of thing one talks about in the pub after having a few too many, you know. But he's called the Alchemist around here. You're the one what made me think of him. They say he lives somewhere near the Royal City. They say he's important—even talks to the King. We don't get much more news than that around here. Even news from the King, himself, takes time to get out here.”

“The Alchemist!” said Toku, hope filling his voice once again.

“Yeah. I think you're best bet would be to head towards the Royal City. There's a town not too far up the road from here. They probably know more about it than we do here, so you might ask around when you get there. I guess if you need a goal or a destination, it's as good as any.”

“Thank you, Isaku. Really! This means a lot to us!” said Theodora.

“Oh, no, my angels. Please don't thank me,” said Isaku, blushing in the dark.

Everyone slept soundly that night. Inari slept well, thanks to her medicine. Isaku, because he had helped his new friends. Toku, because he had a destination and a hope. And Theodora, because of the star that remained in her heart.