Unchanging Things

No! Come on, fix it!

I already told you, I can't. It's too badly broken. There's nothing to be done for it now.

Don't say that, Daddy! You can fix it, can't you?! You can fix anything!

Not this time. We'll just have to get rid of it. I've told you so many times to be more careful with your toys, and this is what you get.

No, no, no! Fix it! Daddy, fix iiiit!

It sure is noisy here.

I wonder if something happened. Let's ask.

Hey there. Is something wrong?

Oh, sorry for the scene. My kid broke his doll, and he won't listen to me tell him I can't fix it. The thing's practically falling apart. Nothing to be done for it.

Yeah, it's in rough shape.

I said fix it! Fix it!

...Please, Daddy? I'm... I'm sorry I broke it. So won't you fix it?

I appreciate that, but that's really not the problem here. Ah, we really don't have the time...

I'm not angry, and I didn't mean to yell at you for dropping it either. But it just can't be fixed, see?

You're not angry with me?

Hmm. It really is busted up... But it's not like this is all that complicated a toy, either.

Alma? What's up?

I'm saying, it's not a big deal. I can fix this in a jiffy.

With my all-powerful alchemy, that is!

Alka-what?

How lucky for you I was passing by! There aren't many alchemists as skilled as me even at the Guild.

What's an alkymist? Is it like a magician?

You mean you don't know?! W-well, I guess you ARE just a child, after all.

But you surely know, don't you, sir?

Huh? Uh, no, I don't have much truck with all that magic mumbo-jumbo...

They're the folks in that building you can see from Lake Tiilen, right? Researchers of some sort?

I'm surprised at just how little- known we seem to be outside... I guess I haven't talked to that many people outside the Guild, but even so...

A-anyway!

If you were to get on your knees and beg for my assistance...

I suppose I could deign to help you!

Daddy, this lady's kind of scary. And she's really rude too.

Huh?! N-no, I mean, if you really want me to help, all you have to do is ask nicely, that's all. Then I can use my alchemy to...

Aw, whatever. Daddy can't fix it, and I don't know anything about alky-whatever...

I'll just ask the palace magicians!

Ah...

Honestly, that kid... Don't worry, he'll be right back.

W-what's his problem? I even said I would help.

Maybe it was a problem with the way you phrased it... If I had to guess.

I-I mean, what was I supposed to say?!

Let's go after him, Aldo.

Huh? Why?

Because I refuse to back down! Besides... I just don't feel right leaving him at loose ends like that.

Haha. So you do want to help him after all, then.

J-just this once! As a special bonus! He needs to understand how great alchemy and alchemists are!

He went to Palsifal Palace, right? Let's go after him!

I'll fix everything for him much faster than any dumb court mage!

C'mon, please? You do magic building and stuff, don't you, mister? Use your magic to fix my doll!

I'm sorry, young man. We specialize in golem creation here, which is rather different from fixing dolls...

In any case, we're very busy making new golems to protect the palace. You'll have to ask someone else.

Aww, can't you just do it, though? Or can someone else do it?

I think everyone else will be busy with their own work, unfortunately. We court magicians serve His Majesty the King directly. We're all very busy people, you see.

Aw, but...

Ah, there he is!

We saw you talking to that mage. You look pretty down, though. What happened?

They're all too busy to help...

I see... Well, we can't really argue with that, I guess.

You see? You should have just asked me to use my alchemy to start with!

Alchemy? You're an alchemist, miss?

...Um.

(Oh, right, these people are all court magicians...I forgot.)

(There's no way they think well of us alchemists, with how much we threaten their position in court.) (What should I say...)

It's been so long since I've seen one of you. I guess you do come down from your tower sometimes, after all. I haven't heard a peep about you for quite a while, so I was surprised.

Really? I heard they were doing some intensive research over there in the Tower Argentauri. I never heard exactly WHAT they were researching, though...

Hmm. Maybe they're just not as talked-about as they used to be, then.

Maybe you can help the lad with his doll, then, miss. I'm afraid I can't waste any more time on chatting; I have work to get back to. Pleasure seeing you!

......

Alma? What's wrong?

Are we really so...unknown? Civilians are one thing, but for even the court magicians to not know us...

(Oh, right. This is about twenty years after the time Alma is from.) (Going off what Ratchett said, it makes sense things aren't quite as Alma remembers them...)

It's not that I want to spark some sort of magical war, of course. But learning that they don't even register us as rivals at all is more than a little vexing.

Secrecy may be paramount for us, but I think the Guild could afford to show off at least a little bit!

I see. You've been doing alchemical research all your life, after all. You have your pride.

Hey, boy!

Hweh? Me?

I told you, I can do anything. I can fix your doll, too. So, give it here...please.

In return, when you see how amazing alchemy is, I want you to tell people. Tell them an alchemist helped you!

Um... mister?

Sorry for this. Can you let her give it a shot? Alma really is an amazing alchemist. I've seen her work myself.

She's a little bit much sometimes, but I promise she really just wants to help. You'll see.

Well, if you say so, mister. It's not like there's anyone else I can ask, anyway. Here you go, lady.

Just sit back and watch. As soon as I have a handle on the materials...

The materials, huh. It looks like wood, but I couldn't tell you the specific kind. I guess we'll just have to ask someone who can tell us.

Can you tell us where you bought this? Or do you remember who made it?

...Huh?

Uh, why? Why do you need to ask them?

I just figured that would be the fastest way to do it, I guess.

Don't be silly. We don't need to ask anyone.

We don't?

Material composition is one of the first basic sciences any alchemist worth their salt learns. You can't alter a substance if you don't know what it is to start, after all. Let's see...

There! It's not particularly rare. Trees of this sort grow commonly on the Zol Plains.

You know what it's made of? Just from that? Wow!

W-wow?

Yeah! That was really cool!

...!

O-oh! Well! It seems you're finally starting to appreciate our art.

But if you think that's amazing, you haven't seen anything yet. To the Zol Plains! We'll need wood!

Got it!

This should do nicely.

Huh? Isn't that your alchemy tool? I thought we came here to collect materials.

We did. We just need a lot. That's what this is for.

A lot? It's not a very big doll. Isn't it a simple fix?

Of course it would be, normally. But since we're here, I want to show him just how grand the science of alchemy truly is.

You mean, I'll get to see something even better than before?

You certainly will! You're about to witness transmutation, the core principle of alchemy.

And now... Behold!

Wow!

W-what's happening?!

Woooow! What are they?

They're called homunculi.

Singular homunculus. In short, they're artificial life forms. The most simple form, though.

The formulas I have with me can't animate anything more complex, but these will do for now. And as you can see, all it took was a little bit of dirt and clay.

They're so cute! Are they...alive?

...Of course they are.

With the formulas I built them with, they'll even follow simple commands.

Oh, so the homunculi are going to gather up the materials for us?

That's right. It would take too long to gather it all up ourselves.

The higher you advance in the Art, the less grunt work you do yourself. You're too busy with important things!

Go, homunculi! Gather up the materials used in the construction of this doll!

Ohhh, wow!

Now we just wait, and they'll bring everything we need from nearby.

Alka-thingy is awesome!

They're going pretty far, aren't they? I can't see them anymore.

...Huh? But there are plenty of the right trees right here in sight.

Why wouldn't they gather the materials from right here, I wonder?

Oh, don't tell me... All I said was "gather up materials". I didn't specify the method or system for them to use... There's wood right there, but they're just walking right on past it! Ugh, how inefficient!

Whoa?!

What are these?

They look pretty agitated. Maybe the homunculi stampede ran through their territory or something like that?

Eep!

Get back! We'll handle this.

Oh, fine! This is my own fault, after all. I can clean up my own messes!

There, that's that handled. But what do we do about all those homunculi who ran off?

All we can do is track them down, and give them new orders.

Huh? But that sounds like a whole lot of work.

What an amateur mistake... Like I said, high-rank alchemists don't do this kind of grunt work. Normally, the Rubedo alchemists do this kind of thing for us! And it's been a while since I've used a formula like this outside...

But those are all just excuses.

In the end, this is my fault. I'll fix this, even if it takes me the rest of the day...

Alone? No way. I'll help too.

But...

I don't know how to fix formulas, but I can catch them and bring them to you, at least. That'll be much faster, won't it?

...Thanks, Aldo.

Whew. It was rough catching all those homunculi... But once we changed their orders, they sure collected that wood really fast.

And now all we have to do is pick out the best supplies from what they brought us.

I don't know if it ended up taking more or less time, in the end...

Anyway, sorry to keep you waiting.

You mean?

Now I can fix your doll. For real, this time. Let's return to Acteul. I want to do it there.

You mean, back where Daddy is? But why?

I want to show him too, obviously. It seemed like he didn't know much about alchemy either, after all. This will be a perfect opportunity.

O-oh... Okay.

Now then, back to Acteul.

Hmm, where's your father?

...Around this time, he'll probably be passing through here soon.

See?

Ah, you're finally back.

Did you two bring him home? So sorry for the trouble.

I wish you wouldn't run off like that. Who knows what might happen to you?

...S-shut up! I know you weren't worried about me!

What are you saying? That's not...

Let's all calm down, okay? It's not good to fight among family.

That's right. Besides, I'm about to put it all right with my alchemy.

Put what right? Look, I'm sorry, but now that I'm done with procurement I have engraving to do. I should go...

Don't worry, this won't take a moment. Where's your doll? Good, put it down right... Hmm, right over there, I think.

Can't you do it here?

Heh heh. I have an idea.

O-okay.

Now, with this and the materials...

There. Perfect.

Here we go!

What?!

W-what the...

Well? How about that? Consider it a little bonus. It was such a simple job, so I spiced it up a little bit. There's no artistry in just doing the letter of the request, after all! What do you think? Alchemy's amazing, isn't it!

That really was incredible. I didn't realize alchemy could do things like that.

Yeah, I'm amazed. I've never even seen magic that could do that. Alchemy, huh...

Isn't that nice? Now you can play with all of these and have even more fun, right? And if one breaks again, you have plenty more.

......

What's wrong? You don't look too happy.

...I'm not.

Huh...?

I can't tell... I don't know which of these is my doll.

Oh...the original?

All I wanted was for my doll to be fixed, that's all. I don't care about these others.

...Daddy made that doll for me.

......

He's always so busy with work, and he never has time for me, but... He made it for me since I was lonely. I was really happy Daddy was thinking about me. But then... He didn't listen to me. He didn't even try to fix it. He wasn't even mad I broke it, when he made it just for me!

W-well...

So I realized, Daddy didn't care about my doll at all. And maybe, he didn't care about me either.

Wait. No... No, that's not it at all!

Huh?

I feel bad I can't be there for you. I didn't want to make it worse by getting upset with you, either. And the doll can't be fixed. That's just the truth...so I was planning to make you a new one.

I didn't realize how much it meant to you... I'm sorry.

......

Aargh, fine, okay!

Alma?

You should have told me earlier if it was such a special thing! You just want it back, right? I just need to find the original?

Can you do that?!

Aren't they all identical?

I told you before, alchemy's most basic science is material analysis.

All of these are made up entirely of the wood we just gathered... All except one of them. So all I have to do is identify which of these dolls is older than the rest of them.

Wait, each one, one at a time? Won't that be hard?

There's nothing for it! This is my fault, after all. And it's not like anyone else can do it.

Besides...

...No, nevermind.

You just wait. I'll find your doll, I promise!

...Whew. No doubt about it. This is the one your dad made.

Really? Thank you...! You really are amazing!

I-I am?

I-I mean... hah! Of course! It would be unbefitting of my status to just walk off and leave. That's all.

Really, thank you. I'll be more careful so I don't break it any more than this. Maybe I should leave it indoors too. I don't wanna leave it alone, but...

......

You like carrying it around, right? Then you should keep doing so.

But if I drop it again...

Don't worry.

Huh?

I'll fix it as many times as you need. My alchemy is just that amazing!

Are you sure?

Of course I'm sure! Of course, it would be better not to drop it in the first place, so be careful. And thank your dad.

Huh. There were a lot of twists and turns there, but I'm glad the boy looks happy.

Right.

And promising to fix it as many times as he wants? That's generous.

You really are kind, Alma.

E-excuse me?! It's really important to him, so... R-right! I had no choice! Because it's important to him!

Right, right.

Ugh...

...... I understand, okay?

Huh?

I didn't get to spend a lot of time with my birth parents, so maybe I don't have the right to say this...

I don't have many memories of my birth parents, so maybe I don't have the right to say this...

I don't really know what it's like, to be parent and child.

But this is how it should be. Something precious, and irreplaceable. ...That much, I understand.

Right, Hom?