"Where have you been?" Theodora asked Toku as he quietly slipped into her room and gently closed the door behind him. Theodora's room looked much as it had before, except for the addition of the large bed and fluffy down mattress. The sun had also set, and so the happy light no longer beamed through the window. Theodora sat comfortably on the bed.

"I'm sorry," Toku began. "I wanted to come as soon as I was left in my room for a while, but the Alchemist wanted to see me."

"What for?" Theodora asked, cocking her head and raising her left eyebrow in skeptical thought.

"He wanted to talk to me about alchemy. He already knows a lot about me. They're looking for me back home. They didn't know what happened."

"Does he have a way for you to get home?"

"Well, yes and no."

Once again Theodora cocked her head in skepticism.

"What do you mean?"

"There used to be a tunnel that went to the Lower Kingdom, but just a few days ago, the King of Altium discovered it and sealed it."

Theodora listened in silence. Taking this as a cue to continue, Toku began to explain the Alchemist's plan.

"This stone," Toku said, taking the Elixir from his pocket, "is a very powerful alchemical agent. He thinks we can use it to locate the Philosopher's Stone, and then we can use the Stone to get home...and maybe even win the war with the Upper Kingdom!"

"I see," Theodora answered quietly. "I still don't know, Toku. I'm glad the Alchemist seems to think he can get you home again, but something just doesn't feel right to me about this war. Why would Nathaniel lie to us about something like that? We never told him you were from the Lower Kingdom."

"Oh, but the Alchemist explained all that to me, too! The King has fooled everyone here into thinking the war is over. They really believe that we're at peace!"

"But...why should he do that?"

"Why?" Toku said. "I don't know why. Because he wants everyone to like him, or something."

"But, Toku, it just doesn't fit together very well, does it?"

"Listen," Toku said rather shortly, for he was starting to become annoyed, "I know the war is still going on. If there was no war, why would my people still be underground? This makes as much sense as anything else. Or would you rather believe Nathaniel? He may never have seen any war going on, but I've seen plenty of my friends become soldiers and never come back."

"Okay, okay," Theodora answered softly, trying to ease the tension that had suddenly welled up between them. "You're right. I just feel uneasy, is all. All I need is some good sleep, and I'm sure I'll feel better about everything in the morning."

And with that, Toku returned to his room. He lay awake that night for two very different reasons. On one hand he was excited, for the Alchemist had told him they would start the work with Elixir in the morning. On the other hand, the near fight with his friend tugged at his conscience. After all, he thought, She hasn't experienced the war like I have. It was probably an easy lie for her to believe, especially coming from Nathaniel.

The next day Toku began his lessons with Aliezar to learn how to use Elixir to find the Philosopher's Stone. Aliezar was a very difficult master. Almost as difficult as Aleric, Toku thought to himself after a particularly harsh reprimand by his new teacher.

All the same, Toku was enjoying himself almost for the first time since he had been thrust away from his own familiar world. Not only was he finally doing something that could bring him closer to getting home, but he was learning alchemy at its highest level. Just in the first morning of working with the stone, Toku felt a connectivity with the world around him that surpassed his initial training with alchemical basins and amplification liquids by ten fold. The breathless feeling of freedom and control was intoxicating.

Theodora was doing her best to enjoy her day as well. She knew that Toku would be gone for the morning and probably much of the afternoon, so she decided to explore the house a bit in his absence. Unfortunately her attempt at stealthy reconnaissance was quickly foiled when she discovered that outside of her sunlit room the strange glow that had surrounded her upon first entering the Alchemist's mansion returned. And, try as she might, it was difficult to subtly skulk in dark corners when you were your own walking flashlight. She at last gave up her attempts at spying out their new lodging when one of the many servants saw her approaching in the hallway, dropped the tray of tea and cookies he was carrying, silently screamed, and ran in the other direction.

Becoming fed up with her predicament inside, Theodora decided she might have better luck outdoors. After all, she was longing to see the sun again after walking through the halls of the windowless mansion.†

[For the alert reader, the Alchemist's mansion was indeed windowless, with the single exception of Theodora's room, which in fact had a single small window high in the back wall. I note this because as the chronicler of this history, I should hate to be accused of falsity...or even worse: careless writing.]

Immediately upon opening the door and allowing the sunlight to pour over her face, Theodora felt her heart jump and grow light. She took a deep breath, breathing in the fresh air, smelling the deep damp of the forest that surrounded the hidden fortress.

It was a bright, beautiful day. The blue sky sparkled above, and Theodora saw many servants taking advantage of the weather by performing what duties they could outdoors, on the smooth, green lawn that stretched out to the west of the mansion. She wondered if they felt as oppressed by the darkness inside as she did. Perhaps even more so, Theodora thought sadly.

She walked along the edge of the lawn, carefully examining the house and its grounds. The large mansion sat nestled at the foot of several hills, surrounded by dense forests. Dark trails wound up from the back of the mansion, over the grounds, and into the hills. Theodora continued to follow the edge of the lawn until her path intersected one of the trails, and she turned to follow it towards the house.

Behind her, a servant pulling a cart suddenly emerged from the shade of the forest. She turned at the sound of the bumping cart, and waiting as the servant continued to pull his way along the path towards the small girl. The man wore no shirt, and he was covered with the mingled sweat and dirt of hard labor. His head was bald, and for the first time Theodora realized that all of the servants here were bald.

The servant did not stop or even slow down as he passed Theodora on the path, but he kindly smiled at her as she waved, and he nodded his head as if giving her permission to follow. So she did.

In following the servant, Theodora was surprised to see the little path bend around the house and reveal a small stone cottage surrounded by stables and a white, brightly painted barn. Smoke was puffing from the cottage's chimney like smoke signals, and Theodora could feel the heat coming from the open door and window even from several feet away. Loud and rhythmic bangs and clangs were also drifting through the air from the cottage door.

The mute servant looked at Theodora and with a flourish removed the tarp covering the burden in his cart. Theodora stared down into the wooden box on wheels and was surprised to find many large chunks of what seemed to be just ordinary rocks. The young girl looked up at her guide questioningly, shrugging her shoulders to explain she did not understand.

The servant smiled at her once again, and with bright eyes, he lithely lifted one of the larger rocks from the cart and carried it into the cottage. Theodora took the hint and followed him inside.

The cottage was a smithy. Although Theodora had never seen a smithy before, she had an idea of what one should look like. In the far corner stood the heavy oven, from which heat was pouring out into every recess of the room. Inside she could see the oven was glowing a firey yellow, and a second servant was hard at work thrusting a metal rod into the seering heat, pulling it out, and beating upon it with a large, heavy hammer over a dark metal anvil.

Not everything about this cottage had the look of a normal smithy, however. Theodora quickly realized this fact as her servant guide drew her attention away from the heavy clanging of the hammer and anvil to the east wall where she saw two other servants seated at a table upon which were three large, stone bowls. Now, had Toku been there, he would have immediately recognized those bowls to be one of the most basic tools of alchemy—alchemical basins. The only alchemical basin Theodora had seen, however, was the makeshift version Toku had created when he transmuted the medicine for Isaku's wife.

The silent servant led Theodora to stand in front of him as he took the empty seat at the table. Quietly he pulled alchemical contact gloves over his hands, each with a metal disk sewn into the palm, one lead and one gold. He poured a golden liquid from a flask over the piece of rock he had placed in the basin. And carefully he let his hands rest against the gold and let contacts at the edges of the bowl. He closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and entered into the alchemical trance in exactly the same way Theodora had seen Toku do it.

Catching her breath, Theodora finally realized what was going on, and she saw the rock in the basin begin to vibrate, the yellowish liquid bubbling around it. Slowly, the rock seemed to be melting away, and pure, polished metal began to take its place. The servant alchemist was breathing deeply now, and nothing remained except a silvery ball of metal. He quickly opened his eyes, gave Theodora a wink, and began concentrating once again on the metal ball. Theodora stared intensely at the delicate changes taking place within the basin. Slowly the metal began shifting, molding itself into some unknown shape. Almost suddenly, the seemingly molten metal gave a great heave, and settled into the form of a crude bird. And with that final effort, the servant released the bowl, and sat panting, catching his breath from the great mental exercise.

Theodora glanced over to the other two basins and saw the other two servants performing similar feats of alchemical skill. The servant next to her guide was forming arrowheads from his stones, a pile of the razor-edged points growing in front of his basin. The third servant seemed less capable than the first two, as he struggled to form simple blobs of pure metal, which the blacksmith was taking and beating into swords, and spear points, and even a few horseshoes.

Turning back to the first servant, Theodora was surprised to see him smiling, holding the metal bird out to her, asking her to take it. Returning the smile, Theodora reached out to accept the kind gift. She held the bird in her hands. Suddenly, the light that had left her since she had stepped outside appeared again, her hands glowing brightly. The bird became engulfed in the white glare. Particles of fire seemed to fly from the air surrounding Theodora's outstretched hands and erupt in tiny explosions on the surface of the metal bird.

Theodora was startled, but she did not drop the bird. The tiny explosions were not hot, and the particles of fire did not burn. But, in a few moments, Theodora saw the bird transform once again. The bursts of flame and sparks were collecting on the metal, and before she knew it, she held an ordinary stone in her hands once again.

Theodora looked wide-eyed at her friendly guide. But he had already focused his attention back on the alchemical basin, concentrating on transforming another piece of ore into pure metal. Thinking quickly, Theodora dropped the stone on the floor near the alchemist's table. And, as she stooped to pick it up, she palmed one of the arrowheads and dropped it in her pocket.

With one last smile and a brief wave to the servants in the smithy, Theodora quietly walked out of the hot cottage and back out into the sunshine. When she was safely out of sight of the smithy, she ran to the edge of the lawn and sat panting against the trunk of a tree.

“What just happened?” Theodora said to herself.

She took the arrowhead from her pocket and examined it in her hand. Once again, she saw the glow surround her hand, and the arrowhead returned to the ore from which it came. Holding the two stones in her hands, Theodora looked back at the mansion.

“I should talk to Toku about this.”