"What's up?"

"Miss Dante has a Philosopher's Stone. Probably more than one. Just a small one. She said it was ten people. Xerxes tried to make a whole city into a Philosopher's Stone and I'm pretty sure that's why they vanished. She's four hundred years old. She wants us to make more Stones for her."

"Wow."

"Why us?"

"She says we have potential like she almost never sees. But probably also we're disposable if we get caught."

"Why isn't she making them herself?"

"She says she's getting too old and can't do alchemy very well any more. I'm not sure I believe that."

"Do you think it's dangerous?"

"If it wasn't either very dangerous or very difficult everybody'd be doing it. So it's probably both."

"So I guess - do we think it's worth the risk?"

"Saying no probably has its own risks, too. At this point."

"Yeah. I dunno that she's nice."

"But - "

"I don't think I wanna do stuff we couldn't ever tell sensei about, and I don't think sensei would approve."

"I can see if she'll let us wait before doing it."

"Not even just while we're apprentices, if - "

"If something goes wrong, sensei feels safe to go to? I don't want to have to go to her because something went wrong with something she'd dislike us doing."

"But... I don't know if I'm being silly, there."

"I don't think you are. We should talk to Professor Curtis about this when we go back."

"Yeah. That's a good idea."

"I'll go talk to Miss Dante, then."

"Sure. Be careful, okay? Do you want me with you?"

"No. If you're not there you won't have to make any promises you'll have to break."

"Smart."

"I am that."

And back to Dante.

"Did you two make a decision?" she asks, looking up from her book.

"We might be interested. But I don't think we can start right away."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Ten people would be a lot for us to reliably gather and contain. And we want more practice at- basic things. A Philosopher's Stone is like- if a crutch could help you run faster. But you could go even faster if you learned to run without it first."

"A well-considered answer. You're right that it'll all go better if you have more experience, first, and I'm hardly going anywhere."