fandomhigh | Library [7.12.07]

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Library [7.12.07]

Karal was slightly subdued as he opened the library. Thursday was still in the clinic, but he was feeling a bit easier about it after last night's visit. Altra was still sleeping, though he'd woken long enough to wolf down several tins of salmon, so he wasn't overly worried.

After setting everything up for the day, he settled behind the desk, methodically processing returns.

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"Small favors." Cable dropped the hand bearing the book by his side, moving to scan the shelves for others. "You found the cure in Special Collections?"

"Karal did," Edward confirmed. "The recipe was in an old log book from one of the first settlements on the island. The herbs were out in the Preserve."

"Hm." Well, that would match up with the information from the memorial. Cable took another book off the shelf, then moved to settle down by a table, placing them both down gently. "You went in there?"

"Yeah. More books than I've ever seen in my life," he said with an grudging air of wonder. "Even more than at Central's main libraries."

"Sounds... useful." Except that it was, apparently, locked away from the world. Cable opened the first volume up to the first page. Ed obviously liked books. "Central?"

He shrugged. "Capital of Amestris. Err, my home." Ed looked wistful for a beat. "The state keeps up a whole set of libraries. It had one of the best sections on alchemy around before that one burned down."

"You're interested in alchemy?" Because that was... either useless or interesting, provided it was anything like the philosophical concepts Cable was familiar with. The boy didn't seem to come from his universe...

Cable raised his eyebrow.

"I...interested? Most people would say obsessed," Ed said, grinning. "It's been pretty much all I've studied since I was about five."

"I take it we're not talking alchemy in the purely philosophical sense," Cable surmised, moving on to the next page in his book. Testing-- if they were, no point. If they weren't... well, that would hit 'interesting'.

Edited 2007-12-07 18:53 (UTC)

"You mean like the crap the books here call 'alchemy?'" Ed said disdainfully. "Nah, they're totally on the wrong track. It's a science, not some mystical art. Yeah, I can change lead into gold or whatever, but that's because I know the chemistry behind it not the mumbo-jumbo prayer crap."

"Substituting one type of mass for another through chemistry?" Now Cable eyed him with interest.

"Sort of," Edward said. "More adding energy to change the physical and chemical structure of the mass. You can't create matter. You can't gain something without losing something in return."

"True enough."

Not that that came with any particular inflection or facial expression. "Sounds like it's powerful."

He looked surprised. "I didn't know anyone else followed the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Even in Amestris, it's just alchemists. And yeah, it can be. The State used to take the best alchemists and put 'em in the army, use them as living weapons. Rebellions didn't go on for much longer once the State Alchemists took the field."

"It's a principle that's applicable in a lot of ways," Cable replied, "On which nations can rise and fall." Which he knew a fair few things about. "If you don't give up the fight."

Don't mind the crumbling of his own dreams under the force of the fight.

"Yeah," Ed said with a wistful smile, looking down at his book. "Just don't give up the fight." He paused for a long beat. "What if it's a fight you can't win?"

He might not have been talking about an actual fight so much here.

"In my experience..." Cable glanced down, then up again. Very steadily. "The fight's only lost when you give up."

Ed grinned at his book. If Cable had a higher voice and called him 'brother' after that, he'd have thought it was Al talking. "Uh huh. Heard that before."

"It does stare you in the face," Cable deadpanned. "But then that's often the case."

"Maybe for you," he mutter.

When you're under five feet, that's a different matter entirely.

"You'd be surprised," Cable replied, dryly.

"Yeah? How so?" he challenged.

He smirked faintly, but Cable's eyes seemed a little weary. "Obvious things, like the mind, have a habit of pulling tricks on you," he said.

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Library [7.12.07]

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