Chemistry/Alchemy: First Lesson

[Æsc Thorne]

Aesc's classroom was almost unchanged from his mathematics lesson on the previous day, except that the blackboard now read "CHEMISTRY/ALCHEMY", and several items of interesting-looking glassware were placed on his desk.

"Welcome to this class, students, especially those who are returning from Mathematics yesterday. This is Chemistry and Alchemy, two related subjects that I will be attempting to teach you about this semester. Both subjects will require concentration and dedication on your part, and attention to detail will be crucial to your final results.
Both subjects are concerned with the study of changing materials from one form to another.

In chemistry, we will investigate the combination of chemicals and reagents into useful compounds and mixtures. Alchemy involves the search for such mysteries as the Philosopher's Stone, which can transmute lead into gold and synthesise the elixir of life.

I am confident that I will be able to teach all of you some basic chemistry in the next semester. Alchemy may prove more elusive to those of you without any magical talent, although even then supernatural powers are no guarantee for success.

We will be using this classroom for the theoretical lessons, and will be using the chemistry lab on this floor for our practical lessons. There is a lot of expensive and complicated equipment stored in these rooms, which you will not touch without permission. For your safety and my sanity, the stores cupboards will be locked outside of lesson times.

I will devote the remainder of this lesson to an introduction to the important basics of chemistry, but I will now take any questions you have regarding these subjects."

[Somariel Lamaron]

Walking into the dimly-lit room, Somariel looked around for the seat she had taken during Mathematics. Finding it, she sat down and repeated her routine from the day before, getting out the supplies she would need to take notes.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Again, Less bounded into the classroom, and again he darted over to Somariel. There seems to be a pattern emerging. By now his notebook, which flopped open when he sat down, had a number of sloppy notes scrawled across some of the pages, and not all related to the actual classes. There was a crude drawing of Verin on one of the pages, which appeared to be being attacked by a pack of wolves.

[Damien Griffiths]

"And now there's a familiar sight. Is it just me, or are we going to be sitting next to each other in every single class?" Damien raised an eyebrow, but dutifully flopped down next to Less. "I wonder how much of this class will be chemistry, and how much alchemy. That said, what the difference is."

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

"I hope so," Less Than Beta answered, drawing another scribble of Verin, this one of him falling into a frozen lake. "Chemistry is used in technology, and alchemy is used in magic. So dying a hide is chemistry, but using a disk of ice and the aurora to send messages is alchemy." One might want to take that explanation with caution, since Less was hardly an expert in such matters.

[Elena Naught]

Elena dashed through the door and quickly found a seat next to Damien. She opened up a notebook and began jotting down tidbits of information.

[Enamon]

Enamon strolled in and sat down near the back of the classroom, his golden eyes glancing outwards towards the others and the teacher. He'd taken the first class that he'd seen available to him, but he didn't seem prepared for it. He had little to no supplies with him, apparently intending to memorize whatever was spoken without writing it down.

His dark gray hair flashed as some sparks made their way through it.

[Michelle Wilcox]

Michelle took the same seat she had taken for mathematics. During her time in the Naval Academy she had slogged through college -level coursework, including physics, and hoped that this class would be an easy A by comparison.