It took a great deal of effort and the help of Hohenhime's shoulder, but Hughes was able to make it across the apartment to the small kitchenette. It was the only part of the apartment that wasn't covered in books. In fact it was spotless, almost like a laboratory. He hoped it was only used for cooking, but he could never entirely trust that alchemists wouldn't randomly experiment wherever they could. True, the kitchen wasn't exactly the best place for drawing arrays, but that didn't seem to hinder Edward, and apparently it didn't hinder his father, either. Despite the stories Ed had told him of how his father had just randomly walked out on their family one morning shortly after Al had been born, Hohenhime didn't seem to be a bad man. Hughes wondered what the story behind his disappearance had been as he watched him put the tea kettle onto the stove. Had he been in Central all this time? Surely not... the military liked to keep track of every alchemist in the main city. Though, if this man had managed to save him from that homunculus, he wouldn't be surprised if he could hide from the military. The thought itched at the back of his mind that Hohenhime shouldn't be trusted completely, though. This sudden kidnapping surely didn't warrant any trust, and the man still hadn't explained a thing to him except that tea was a good idea.

Seeing that Hohenhime wasn't going to talk until the tea was served, he did his best to take in his surroundings. This room too was full of books, though the floor wasn't as covered. It looked more lived-in than the bedroom. Glancing at the pillows and sheets on the couch, he guessed that the bedroom was used more as a library, anyway. It would explain why it smelled more like cat than the rest of the place - it probably wasn't cleaned as often. Hughes looked around for any sign of the cats themselves. The small sandy kitten he'd seen in the bedroom seemed to follow Hohenhime around almost constantly. Maybe it was just hungry, though. The orange tabby kept its distance from Hughes at first, watching him and keeping an eye on the small kitten, almost like he was ready to protect it. Finally, the largest of the three, a solid black cat, watched over everything from the top of one of the bookshelves. He looked vaguely disapproving of the visitor, or maybe of the kitten's behaviour. Hughes had never been much of a cat person himself, so judging their actions was hard. They seemed to be well taken-care-of though, which spoke well for their owner. The whistle on the tea kettle blew, and the sandy-coloured kitten tore off into the bedroom, startled by the noise.

Hohenhime smiled and hummed a little as he poured the tea. He seemed to be the perfect picture of an eccentric old man. Hughes couldn't help but smile as the man set the cups down at the table, handing him a bowl of sugar and the spoon that had formerly been one of his knives. He picked it up and examined it closely. The black plastic handle had been stretched to become the handle of the spoon, the metal of the knife itself dulled and rounded out. It was a rather amusing piece of work; the sort of thing Ed had done to annoy Roy in the office. Amazingly like the sort of thing Ed was likely to do, in fact. He remembered one morning when the Colonel had come in to work only to find all his pens had been transmuted into sporks that leaked ink. Though he'd had to hide his amusement at the time, Hughes grinned at the memory and spooned some sugar into the tea. He took a sip to taste it. Lemon. Hohenhime took the seat across the table.

"Well, I suppose we should get down to business." He sipped his tea straight, and leaned back a bit in his chair, balancing it on the two back legs. "I'm sorry our first meeting had to be like this, but I really had no choice in the matter. You got yourself into deeper trouble than I'd counted on much quicker than I could find you to ask this favour of you..." he laughed. "I suppose it's actually worked out to my advantage now, Brigadier General."

Hohenhime checked for Hughes' reaction to his new rank, but was surprised to find none. He realized he shouldn't have been, though. Someone who had spent so many years in intelligence work would surely know how to hide his emotions. Though his face didn't show it, Hughes' brain quickly worked out what had happened. If he'd been promoted, and no one had been around to tell him, the honour must have been bestowed posthumously. Then again, wouldn't it be to Hohenhime's advantage for him to believe this? He couldn't trust him so much so early on... but something in the man's eyes reminded him so much of Ed's - the way they seemed both intense and committed, while totally sincere at the same time. Even Alphonse had managed that look through the glowing eyes of his armour. The trait must have run in the family, and Hughes had always had a soft spot for the boys. He'd gotten the impression that it must have been their father that had raised them and instilled that stubborn determination in them after he'd heard how their mother would stand and wait at the window for their father to return. Their innocence clearly came from her, but the drive must have come from elsewhere, it was obvious here in this man's eyes. And the view out the window told him he was still in Central. If the military had thought he was still alive, they'd definitely be out looking for him, though there was no sign at all on the streets of any sort of search. From the window he could see the fifth laboratory. The reminder was a cruel sort of punishment... So he was as good as dead, as far as the world was concerned. Poor Gracia... he'd have to find a way to let her know that he was still alive. It was best now though, to find out what Hohenhime had wanted with him. Obviously there was a plan behind all of this, and he owed the man his life. Sticking with his conclusion, he tried Hohenhime with the question.

"Whose body did they find?" he watched the man for a reaction, and was as surprised at Hohenhime's smirk as Hohenhime had been at his stone-faced reaction to the previous statement.

"Wow. I am quite amazed; you are a lot quicker than you let most people believe." He took another sip from his cup, still drinking the bitter lemon tea straight. "It was a simple homunculus." At Hughes' shocked look, he added "Not the sort you dealt with that night, no. Just a homunculus in the most technical sense of the term: a fake human. I had to create it after I rescued you, to keep them from following the trail. I have no doubt Envy will still be suspicious, but luckily I still have some power over him." The glance was subtle, but Hughes caught that for a second his eyes rested on the bell on the black cat's collar. At least, it looked like a bell. Hughes decided he would have a look at it later.

"So you created a fake body... a fake me. What purpose would you have in throwing off the military, if they aren't the ones after me?"

"I told you, I'm sorry it had to happen this way, but I need you for something. You are one of the few brilliant minds left in Central that hasn't been trained as an alchemist yet. Listen, things are going to get really bad really soon. I need to pass what I've learned on to someone who doesn't already have preconceived notions about alchemy. And now that you're 'dead,' unfortunately you don't have much choice. Look, don't worry; I'll let you protect the people that are important to you, just in a different way. If you go back now, they'll probably kill you, and you know it. You aren't going to be in any condition to leave here anytime soon anyway, so you might as well study. I'm sorry it had to be this way, but will you cooperate?"

Hughes let the idea stir around in his mind a bit. He had always been fascinated by alchemy, but never had the motivation or patience to sit down and study it. His tendency had always been to get up and gather the information in person, which lent itself much more easily to intelligence work than alchemy. Spying on alchemists was generally boring, and you could learn about as much about alchemy from watching transmutations being performed as you could about making cakes by watching one bake. There was much more that went on beforehand that you hadn't seen. Once Roy had tried to teach him a bit of practical alchemy, but he ended up watching Roy's actions more than he listened to his actual words, and the concepts were lost on him. Roy had declared him hopeless as an alchemist, and he'd believed him. Still, there didn't seem to be a more appealing option. And suppose Roy had been wrong? With nothing else to do, Hughes had plenty of patience for books.

The smile spread across Hohenhime's face before Hughes had even answered. He knew that if the man considered it, he was sold. He held his hand out to him. "Thank you, I knew you'd understand. This won't be fun, but I promise you it will be interesting. In the next month, you will learn more about alchemy than most people are able to learn in their entire lives."