"Do you know about the law of equivalent exchange?"

"Uh... Something about getting out what you put in?"

"It's the basic principle of alchemy. You can't get something for nothing, you can only change what's already there."

"Is that like amount of stuff or like value of stuff?"

"Amount and kind."

"Is kind like living to living or like gold to gold?"

"Like gold to gold. You can do chemical reactions with alchemy, but you can't change what element something is."

"Why not?"

"No one really knows."

"It sounds interesting to figure out!"

"My personal favorite theory is just that it requires more energy than we can safely harness or direct with an array."

"What about a really big array?"

"Bigger arrays can actually be harder to control!" Bellona says. "Super precise stuff's usually a pretty small array."

"Huh!"

"Really high-end alchemy is more about control than power."

"Neat! Dad says his alchemy's really high end, but he won't let me see it..."

"Biological stuff can get kind of... squishy."

"He says mom left because of the alchemy. She didn't like it. He wouldn't say why she didn't like it, though..."

"Chimeras are... enh. I don't really like them either."

"It's two animals squished together, right?"

"Made into one animal, yeah."

"Does it hurt?"

"I haven't ever seen it in person, but I'd imagine yes."

"You shouldn't hurt animals."

"Yeah."