Obviously, Kimbley knew exactly what the "something missing" was---what the boy seemed so perplexed in finding. Kimbley, himself, had discovered what it was, after his years here at the Devil's Nest---after he had been allowed his fair share of freedom to pursue his various "interests."
On yes---all that time to review the notes the boy's father had left behind, combining them with his own meticulous research. Knowing, inately, that it would never be as simple as throwing together various collective elements into assorted plants, into placenta, into a myriad of solids and liquids, and whatever other permeable, generative, organic structures that alchemists would desperately list as possible options for such experimentation.
But the truth of it all was there, dangling in front of the boy's face.
And that truth? It was the very reason the boy's father had abandoned his research---disappeared into the aether, and then had met his ultimate end.
Kimbley, on the other hand, had absolutely no qualms in furthering that research---had kept to himself all of his notes, painstakingly annotated in his numerous journals, in an unreadable code to anyone other than himself. How he had engaged in cultivating his personal Stones in privacy, and kept his secrets close to his chest---quite literally, really.
And typically, Kimbley was not one to waste his time---one to dilly-dally with projects that he knew would have no meaningful end.
However, there was something about this child---this "apprentice" that he had allowed into his own studious sphere---that was actually, possibly promising. Despite his unempathetic nature, Kimbley could still see it in him, especially in this very moment: a brimming fire, coupled with such an intense desperation---a deep and true yearning for a solution to this ongoing quandary. He could see it from the way the boy reclaimed his scattered notes from the floor---the defiant burning in his eyes, the determined set of his jaw.
This is what Kimbley had wanted to see.
But his apprentice still had to truly prove that if---no, now Kimbley anticipated, when---he made his ultimate revelation, that he would have the will to continue on. That he would have the guts for it.
Kimbley kept up the expression of displeasure---though allowed it to be lightened, yet nonetheless in a calculated way, as he stated:
"Then find it," ---and here, during this dialogue, he would allow a tiny bit of a merciful hint: "You must be willing to dig even deeper than you already have. Understand that, as an alchemist, there is a possibility that the truth you find might alter your very moral compass."
And wasn't it such a relief that Kimbley did not have one of those himself.
