Hands clicked away the hours monotonously on par with the gait of the man walking under the picturesque high halls. Edward slipped past the rows of adorned benches clinging to the walls with pompous, brittle heads wagging back and forth on top of them. The brilliant thing about being in a position like Edward was this; all assumed you were lesser because of your age, especially in this place.

He turned a corner past the hall he had come from. Large iron wrought doors laced with wood towered a good head or three above him only a small distance ahead. Various flowers adorned the sides of the entrance sparkling as the light touched their delicate petals from the large stained windows which rowed the hall. The doors opened allowing the young man to pass though unhindered. A coat stand rested to his right which he plopped his coat onto with a moment's hesitation. His hat came off from his head as he came to sit in a chair that rested before an ornate, wooden desk.

A woman dressed in more masculine clothing sat on the edge of the desk. Her gaze had not wavered from Edward since he had come into the study chamber.

"A drink?" offered the woman. Edward raised his hand slightly to detest. "You know I hate the stuff," he replied. "It dulls everything. A man in my position cannot afford a dull mind."

"A boy who is second to me," restated the woman. "You forget who will inherit this when father leaves us and you forget the technicalities of your position."

Edward shifted in his seat scratching his cheek, feeling the gentle stubble he had been growing for the past month. The woman eased herself off the table turning to a shelf full of books. Her hand slipped to an idle book, very unassuming in appearance, which slid out from the shell easily enough. The desk she had been perched upon moved sideways on a shifting granite plate revealing a small stair case that led down. A whisper came up from underneath welcoming those who had now allowed its dark insides to be exposed to the light.

"And here I thought the book case would pop open," said Edward.

The woman only replied with a smirk of satisfaction while she walked down the stairs motioning Edward to follow her in a less playful way. The hallway was sooty and fragile as Edward noted by pinching the crumbling stone that supported the new castle placed on the remains of something more ancient.

"Please be careful," said the woman turning her cheek to Edward. "We wouldn't want this passage way caving in on us. It is old, you know."

Edward placed his hands by his sides and moved forward with a renewed diligence, intent on keeping as far away from the walls as possible. The two went down more steps, followed by a long turn to the left which seemed to be more of an arc. Little port holes to his left flashed flames of light making it easier to see what lay in front and around him. Edward lingered, slowing his pace, as the sight through the porthole captured his attention. Men and women scrambled about with files of papers frantically chattering back and forth with their colleagues, smiths of all sorts were at the helms of an array of different stations, yet the commonality between all disciplines were sparks flying in every direction.

"Edward," ordered the woman as she turned a larger opening. Regaining his attention, he followed the woman. The scope of the commotion tripled when he came to the larger opening which was the descent to the larger workspace.

"What is this place?" asked the young man.

"The ministry seems to think they are the only ones capable of travel," admonished the woman with a humph. "Father has kept this hold since his youth. It has grown, along with his age, from hard working people such as these you see before you, but this is just the beginning."

The woman motioned Edward to follow her as she flowed through the streams of people all preoccupied with their individual work. Metal screeched upon metal as forges blazed with intense heat fogging the glasses of some of the smiths. Clock workers toyed with an array of different abstractions all of which were unique and beautifully adorned. He kept up with the woman and they stopped in front of an ill noted door. It appeared to be placed there by mistake, the colors wildly opposite to the rest of the interior, but upon the door rested the numbers '43.'

"What have you been doing here, Katharina?" asked Edward.

"So, so much, dear brother."