Worried, Ed and Al arrive in Dublith to the home of their teacher, Izumi Curtis, who greets them violently and angrily expresses her disapproval of Edward’s enrollment in the State Army’s State Alchemist program. But after she coughs up blood from the illness and Sig’s husband calms her down, she invites the boys in, where they ask her what she knows about the Philosopher’s Stone. Izumi, not at all interested in such things, explains that she has very little information about this branch of alchemy, but that she met an alchemist on a recent trip to Central City who seemed to know a lot about the Stone. Ed and Al eagerly ask who it was, but he gives a completely different answer when Izumi says that the man’s name was Van Hohenheim. Alphonse explains that Van Hohenheim is their long-lost father, but Edward, remembering the day the man abandoned them as children and left their mother to fight and die alone, flatly refuses any help from him. Izumi cautiously continues, revealing that Hohenheim had mentioned that his lifelong dream of teaming up with the Stone was about to come true.
That evening, over dinner, the boys regale Curtis with stories of their recent adventures, not noticing Sig’s worried look at his wife as they talk about the birth of the LeCoulte baby in Rush Valley, and as they go to bed, Ed remembers years ago when Izumi she wandered into Resembool and saved the villagers from a flash flood using alchemy – the day they asked to become her apprentices. Although she rejected them at first, after hearing that Elric’s boys were orphans, Izumi agreed to test them to see if they were worthy of her guardianship or not. Instructing them to survive on their own and without the use of alchemy for one full month, by the end of which they would have to correctly deduce the true meaning of the phrase “one is all, all is one”, she left. is on Yock Island alone. Although the boys struggled to survive in Yock’s jungle, they gradually learned self-reliance and realized that – as humans – they are only a tiny and insignificant part of a vast and flowing universe, which itself is made up of only tiny insignificant parts. When Izumi finally returned at the end of the month, the boys answered her riddle and were accepted as her apprentices. For the next six months, Izumi trained them in alchemical theory and martial arts, explaining that the endless flow dictated by her riddle did not only apply to alchemy, but to every aspect of life and existence. But when the boys ask her how she is capable of transmuting without using a transmutation ring, Izumi only explains that she will understand if they ever meet “the truth”. Remembering this point, Edward wakes up from his reverie and realizes that Izumi must have gone through the gate just like him.
The next morning, Ed intends to ask her about it, but before he does, Izumi forces him to transmute without the ring, revealing that she knew all along that Alphonse’s armor was empty. Izumi demands to know if Edward has seen the Gate, and when he says yes, she laments that he made the same mistake she did. Izumi explains that she tried to revive her stillborn child and as a result, the Truth took some of her internal organs, making it impossible for her to become pregnant forever and causing the internal bleeding that threatens her life. Izumi sympathizes with the pain the boys have been carrying and despite their brave faces, she tells them that they don’t need to act so strong all the time. They hug her, mourn her, and beg her forgiveness.