[ Ah. The voice was incredibly young. Valentine wasn't wholly deterred; some of the best were young. Patty came to mind, for one. Closer to the present brought Dirk to mind, too. ]

I haven't worked in alchemy before. It's an archaic and redundant art where I'm from. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume otherwise for you and your brother. [ She didn't sound condescending so much as flat; she was just informing him of the difference in their research fields. ]

You're welcome to come to the labs for the time being. I'll lay out the existing documents.