Father and son glared at each other across the room. Both felt they had some important points to make. Neither wanted to bend. Finally, as the silence grew awkward and even slightly aggressive, Alphonse gave up.

"At the time, I believed I had good reasons not to embroider you in that particular mystery, my son." - he offered placatingly - "What you genuinely do not know can not be weaseled out of you."

"I understand why you thought so." - Hiram agreed - "However, not knowing had put me in a very awkward situation with lady Gillespie. Now I have to either admit I was kept in darkness about our own spymaster and his circumstances or lie. And lady Gillespie had shown more than enough capacity with light magic to make it a certainty I would be caught lying."

"Hiram, you are first in line to succeed the throne of Kraut." - Alphonse pointed out the obvious - "I hardly think lady Gillespie is in a position to demand any accounting of you."

"And why would she demand anything, father?" - Hiram riposted irritably - "She has far better leverage than etiquette in her disposal. Imagine, if you will, that Great Forge will always surreptitiously find themselves all sold out of ripple steel whenever it is Kraut kingdom inquiring. And never mind that everyone else could buy it every day by quintal."

"And you're certain she would dare to snub our custom out of petty aggravation?" - his father inquired with rising irritation of his own - "Even if she is that foolhardy, I dare hazard a guess her father and her liege would both deter her from inviting our ire."

"Did you happen to forget what else was presented with the head?" - Hiram pressed on - "Slavery collar. Ruined one. If she presented those to her liege and not to me, we would be at war right now."

"Perhaps. But she did not, so that trump is out of her hands now." - Alphonse waved it off, sitting down on the chair heavily - "Damn it all, Hiram. I understand she is your friend. I understand she introduced you to your paramour and possibly can influence the end of your relationship as well. But we can not and should not bend over backward to satisfy a woman who does not even have a domain to call her own yet."

"Perhaps. But we also can not and should not bend over backward to cover up for utter foolishness our homunculus of a spymaster gets up to." - Hiram retorted angrily - "Are you not worried about setting the precedent? If it is acceptable for US to enslave family members of other dynasties, then certainly someone will make a case for enslaving US in return sooner or later."

"We are not so foolish as to trot this kind of treachery out for everyone to see, now are we?" - Alphonse chuckled - "Everyone plays dirty, my son. Everyone. This is why I kept the truth of what Klaus is and why from you. Plausible deniability."

Hiram paused. Drew breath to calm down. Exhaled. "The problem here, father, is that Klaus GOT CAUGHT REDHANDED." - he asserted harshly - "As distasteful as the notion is, I do accept the fact that skulduggery is an important part of politics. What I do NOT accept is having a spymaster inept enough to be caught committing unsavory acts IN PERSON."

Alphonse blinked, visibly taken aback. His face ran a gamut from anger to puzzlement to consideration, finally settling on a thoughtful frown. "...I see..." - he muttered - "My apologies, Hiram. This is a pertinent point, and I am sorry you had to yell to make me grasp it."

Hiram took a knee next to his father's chair and took his hand. "Father, my one and only concern is that Klaus is not performing well enough to justify the losses we would have to take to ensure his continuation." - he proffered - "Even though it would have grated on me to do so, I would have looked the other way if actions he undertook were of net benefit to our kingdom. But insofar as things stand, all that he did was worsen our negotiating position without a single benefit to show in return."

Alphonse smiled wistfully - "I understand. You impress me, my son. Very well then, give me an advice. What do you suggest we do about this?"

Hiram bit his lip thoughtfully. "Part of the reason why I felt pressing need to inquire was the fact that Klaus had disappeared." - he mused - "It's been five days since he departed for Ashenvale and vanished from all perceptions. Two more days till the next homunculus is to be decanted to take the reigns. I do believe we should order fresh Klaus to report everything he undertakes if it involves lady Gillespie in any capacity. She had bested him once, and given that second Klaus had disappeared near Ashenvale, I have my suspicions she is involved with this as well."

He paused, standing up and placing himself in another chair opposite Alphonse. "Father, this is... a theory of mine, about lady in question and our not so infallible spymaster." - he mused slowly - "I have no tangible proof insofar, only my own observations and hunches. Mayhaps you should hear me out and tell me if I am onto something or this is simply asinine."

"I'm listening, Hiram." - Alphonse proffered simply.

"Fact number one. Lady Gillespie is a prodigious innovator. She churns out new things by the dozen, each of them novel and valuable enough to build a noble house upon." - Hiram began slowly - "Fact number two. Lady Gillespie is superbly powerful magically. Kassandra's testimony confirms she is thoroughly defiled yet retains her sanity. Between those two facts, it simply begs to be assumed that lady Gillespie received divine revelation. Perhaps this is what stumbles Klaus so. His experiences, while vast, are entirely mundane. It stands to reason that his expectations of lady Gillespie's reactions do not match her actual reactions influenced by divine revelations. We DO know from historic records that receivers of divine revelations tend to behave oddly and defy expectations, perhaps this is exactly what is happening."

As much as Alphonse wanted to object... he found himself lacking any good rebuttal. Certainly, just being plausible did not mean certainty, but... Alphonse grimaced as he arrived at an unpleasant conclusion that Hiram's theory was a pretty strong contender for the title of actual explanation, and so far, nothing contradicted it.

"On one hand, I would like to caution that possibility does not equal certainty..." - he began - "On other, I have to admit it IS a strong possibility. So far, everything we do know does not contradict your theory. However, equally viable theories suggest that either Lady Gillespie is a spymistress in her own right on par with Klaus or that she is simply unbelievably lucky in her interactions with Klaus."

"There is that, but my suggestion would be equally valid for either of those theories. Regardless of how lady Gillespie bests Klaus, be it by divine knowledge, luck or her own wits, ordering him to report every action he undertakes involving her still makes sense. As the proverb goes, three heads are better than one." - Hiram replied.

"...Fair enough." - Alphonse acceded - "I shall order Klaus to report whenever he has any news or plans regarding lady Gillespie or her endeavors so that we may ride herd on his tendency to wreck himself upon this cliff."

He paused for a few moments.

"Hiram." - he then soldiered on - "You were right with your first point as well. I should have given you information on Klaus so that you could have made better decisions on how to handle his fallout. With that in mind, I would like you to hear me out. As much as I want to believe I stand above lady Gillespie, I have to admit that her influence will reshape the very society around us considerably. Even if she were to never invent a single new thing from now on, the very existence of such things as copperphone and airship change things. You have a good rapport with her, and I would like for you to maintain this rapport, and if necessary, distance yourself from whatever actions Klaus and I may undertake that lady Gillespie is likely to view with disfavor. Should our actions bear fruit, your amiable stance towards her would be of no consequence... and should our actions bring ruin, blame them on myself and Klaus. If needs be, if the situation calls for it... My son, I do believe you are ready to take the throne. So if it comes to pass that we are in a bind, I ask of you to accept my abdication and blame whatever is the source of discord on me. Stating that you have assumed the throne and exiled me to our estates to live in confinement should assuage any transgression I can presume to be taken to task for."

Hiram frowned - "Forgive me for saying so, father, but I do sincerely hope that the day I have to exile you should never come to pass."

"So do I hope, my son. So do I hope. But do promise me that you will take the reins should I falter." - Alphonse agreed.

"I will, father. If it comes to be that I must, I will."