Samuel stood up and carefully set aside their teacups to the far corner of the table, so they were no longer placed on the engraved circle.
Regarding the Homunculus, he answered: “It is customary to bind them to a place or a person or a limited task. This one is only bound to a person; it is bound to me. But if you ask it for something, it would do its best to assist you because it can sense my approval. Try it, if you want.”
Likening the relationship to parenthood gave Samuel pause. He took some time to think about it, then said: “You are quite right. There are parallels in more than one way. The binding, for example, is achieved with the use of blood.”
The waxen servant started moving and walked over to a shelf in a quiet, dignified manner. It returned with a small red gem similar to a ruby. Samuel took it to demonstrate what he meant.
“If you were to look inside its skull, you would find one of these.”
He opened his left hand and placed the gemstone in its palm — the transmutation circle scarred into this palm differed significantly from the right side. While one was clean, symmetrical, and faint, with a bright appearance to the scar lines, the left one was uneven and appeared messy. The scars were slightly raised and darker. For those able to read the runes, it would be apparent that the right was intended for elemental transmutation, while the left dealt with the difficult and less palatable art of organic transmutations.
When the Alchemist activated the circle on his left hand, the crystal rose from the palm into the air, liquefied, and formed a sphere consisting of exactly three milliliters of blood. Samuel observed it for a few seconds and then returned it to its crystallized state and gave it back to the servant.
“That is mine. As long as it holds one of these inside, it can find me anywhere, sense my thoughts, and interpret my feelings. You know if that is what it is like to have a child, I do not. Maybe you then understand better than anyone else why it is very dangerous for me to love my creations. Love is a mutative force; it changes us, does it not? It might change this one too,” he nodded towards the Homunculus.
“Might make it more human than I intended,” he sighed. One day, he would have to find a solution for this one.
He smiled when she offered him to call her by her given name too and moved back towards the table. Listening to her talk, his hands took to their work in a quick and fastidious manner; placing a bar of silver and a few strands of unicorn hair in a stone bowl engraved with circles and symbols meant to combine the transmutation of organic and elemental matter.
“The teaching of Alchemy in Hogwarts and the understanding of it in Britain falls regrettably short. It is no wonder it did not catch your attention. But it is never too late to learn. Your study of Astronomy might put you further ahead in understanding the core concepts than you think,” he said, thinking that Themis would be a far superior student to the ones he would soon teach in the classroom.
His hands placed themselves on the bowl and the channels that facilitated the flow of magic within his body opened. The symbols on the bowl lit up in a bright glow and the hair and the metal changed their state from solid to liquid and combined.
“You have already explored the frontier that lies beyond Alchemy. My master in Prague was convinced you needed to look towards what is in front of you to understand the universe and look to the stars to understand what governs our life on earth. As above, so below. As below, so above.”
He poured the silvery liquid into the engraved lines in the table, where it spread out evenly. That was the conductor, done. Now he only needed to seal it and then it would be fit for use.
“Do you agree with him?” he asked.
“I have to admit that I avoided studying the stars, perhaps because I could have no impact on them. As a young man, that unnerved me.”
Regarding the Homunculus, he answered: “It is customary to bind them to a place or a person or a limited task. This one is only bound to a person; it is bound to me. But if you ask it for something, it would do its best to assist you because it can sense my approval. Try it, if you want.”
Likening the relationship to parenthood gave Samuel pause. He took some time to think about it, then said: “You are quite right. There are parallels in more than one way. The binding, for example, is achieved with the use of blood.”
The waxen servant started moving and walked over to a shelf in a quiet, dignified manner. It returned with a small red gem similar to a ruby. Samuel took it to demonstrate what he meant.
“If you were to look inside its skull, you would find one of these.”
He opened his left hand and placed the gemstone in its palm — the transmutation circle scarred into this palm differed significantly from the right side. While one was clean, symmetrical, and faint, with a bright appearance to the scar lines, the left one was uneven and appeared messy. The scars were slightly raised and darker. For those able to read the runes, it would be apparent that the right was intended for elemental transmutation, while the left dealt with the difficult and less palatable art of organic transmutations.
When the Alchemist activated the circle on his left hand, the crystal rose from the palm into the air, liquefied, and formed a sphere consisting of exactly three milliliters of blood. Samuel observed it for a few seconds and then returned it to its crystallized state and gave it back to the servant.
“That is mine. As long as it holds one of these inside, it can find me anywhere, sense my thoughts, and interpret my feelings. You know if that is what it is like to have a child, I do not. Maybe you then understand better than anyone else why it is very dangerous for me to love my creations. Love is a mutative force; it changes us, does it not? It might change this one too,” he nodded towards the Homunculus.
“Might make it more human than I intended,” he sighed. One day, he would have to find a solution for this one.
He smiled when she offered him to call her by her given name too and moved back towards the table. Listening to her talk, his hands took to their work in a quick and fastidious manner; placing a bar of silver and a few strands of unicorn hair in a stone bowl engraved with circles and symbols meant to combine the transmutation of organic and elemental matter.
“The teaching of Alchemy in Hogwarts and the understanding of it in Britain falls regrettably short. It is no wonder it did not catch your attention. But it is never too late to learn. Your study of Astronomy might put you further ahead in understanding the core concepts than you think,” he said, thinking that Themis would be a far superior student to the ones he would soon teach in the classroom.
His hands placed themselves on the bowl and the channels that facilitated the flow of magic within his body opened. The symbols on the bowl lit up in a bright glow and the hair and the metal changed their state from solid to liquid and combined.
“You have already explored the frontier that lies beyond Alchemy. My master in Prague was convinced you needed to look towards what is in front of you to understand the universe and look to the stars to understand what governs our life on earth. As above, so below. As below, so above.”
He poured the silvery liquid into the engraved lines in the table, where it spread out evenly. That was the conductor, done. Now he only needed to seal it and then it would be fit for use.
“Do you agree with him?” he asked.
“I have to admit that I avoided studying the stars, perhaps because I could have no impact on them. As a young man, that unnerved me.”