The cache of information was exactly where Gil had said it would be. Klaus confiscated it, explained to Otilia why he was disrupting the school at this hour, and left her to deal with putting the wayward children to bed. And hopefully keeping them there.
He honestly didn't mind a little exploring. He knew better than to expect scrupulous adherence to rules or restrained curiosity from the students he'd collected. And he'd known, in the back of his mind, that getting Jägers to report back to him about a Heterodyne breaking the rules was a hopeless cause. He had been utterly astonished to see Jorgi bringing her - although he really shouldn't have been surprised she'd turned herself in, out of whatever odd mix of honour and scheming had taken place in her five-year-old mind.
He'd told Gil who he was immediately after finding out the boy was running all over the dirigible with Tarvek Sturmvoraus.
He'd told Gil who he was.
(It hadn't been anything like the way he'd intended to do it someday.)
Apparently all three children had been "exploring" his airship. And from even a cursory glance at Tarvek's notes, they'd been going farther afield than he had guessed.
Klaus pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose as if that might help with the headache. Well, he'd offered to consult Barry. He might as well share.
He sent his fastest ship and most enthusiastic pilot with a rather sharply worded summons - he thought afterward that he probably should have been a little more circumspect. Barry probably wouldn't take offense, but Barry would have come regardless and it would actually look bad if anyone else got hold of a letter where he was practically barking orders at the Lord Heterodyne. And the fact that he was even worrying about this probably meant he had actually needed to sleep tonight. Spies were too much on his mind. Barry would probably burn it if he thought it could be a problem.
Klaus settled in with Tarvek's notes to determine just how much damage a seven-year-old had managed. Besides using his son and Bill's daughter.
Barry arrived only a few hours later, managing to startle Klaus when he knocked. Klaus was all the more surprised - and, frankly, in the mood to appreciate almost any distraction that didn't involve a new crisis by that point - to see that Barry was wearing a dressing gown and protective gloves and goggles. A wire frame with what looked like muffled bells on it swung from one hand.
"I wasn't in quite so much of a hurry you couldn't have stopped to get dressed," he said. He'd known he was interrupting a visit with Donna. He wasn't really surprised they'd been working in the middle of the night, but it was mildly remarkable that they had evidently gone to bed first.
"You sounded like you were." Barry yawned, although that was the only sign of sleepiness - he was brighter-eyed than Klaus currently felt. "And you haven't either. What in the world is going on?"
Klaus groaned. "The children around here are far too precocious," he said, which was heartfelt but not very informative.
"You may have selected them for that a bit," Barry said, not really unsympathetically. He set the bells on the desk and pulled a chair around to sit at the end of it, then added, "What did Agatha do?"
"She's probably the most innocent in this," said Klaus. "She, Gil and Tarvek Sturmvoraus have been exploring the ship, far more widely than I realised - far more widely than I realised they could. They haven't even broken through yet, and they've picked half the locks on the ship. Agatha regards this as entirely harmless exploration. Sturmvoraus has been using it to gather information for his father."
He didn't often get to say anything that made Barry drop his jaw. It wasn't very satisfying this time. "Okay," Barry said after a moment. "I'm not surprised they didn't actually stay where they were supposed to be, but that does sound like a lot. If she's the most innocent, what exactly are you blaming Gil for?"
"Agatha's young enough to be oblivious to the politics of the situation. Even at eight, Gil isn't. And he knew where Sturmvoraus was hiding his notes - he told me."
"Okay..." Barry rubbed his forehead. "Back up a bit. Or go forward, depending on how you look at it, I suppose. What happened tonight that led you to finding out about this?"
"They all broke into the student record room. Gil was intercepted, disconsolate, because he'd found the false backstory I'd set up for him." Klaus rested his forehead against his palm. "I told him the truth. So far Agatha and Sturmvoraus don't know it, I have no idea how long that will last if Sturmvoraus remains on this ship. He was intercepted later and Agatha turned herself in shortly afterwards. Agatha is insisting that I can't expel him for doing the same thing she did, but agreed to bow to your judgement." He looked up at Barry. "For Gil's safety, fair or not, I'm going to have to get him away from here."
"Technically I did tell Agatha she had to follow your rules to attend," Barry said wryly, "although I don't think any of us actually want her removed. It's good for her." A slight pause. "It's probably good for Tarvek, too. Do you really think Gil's likely to tell him?"
"I don't know. I really don't want to risk it."
Barry sighed. Klaus suspected he was wondering why Klaus had decided to tell Gil and create the risk, but didn't want to say so because he'd wanted Klaus to tell Gil in the first place. Klaus was wondering a bit himself, except... he knew. He'd rationalised it because it was obviously something Gil was worried enough about to get into trouble investigating further...
...But Gil might have been stopped by the false story. Only Klaus hadn't meant him to find out about it, certainly not that way, and he'd looked so utterly miserable.
"I suppose they've been separated for the night, then?" Barry asked.
Klaus dropped his head into his hand again. "Farther than their respective rooms? ...That would probably have been a good idea. Although I'm sure Otilia will be paying close attention."
Barry paused, then shoved the bells closer to him and unwrapped one of them. "Try that."
Klaus gave him a look, but he'd had Barry's inventions tested on him before and Barry had never tried it with ones that might be really harmful. He flicked the bell with his fingernail and it chimed sweetly, reminding him of a well made sleigh bell. It brought memories of snow, harmlessly pretty with warm layers and a house nearby, times when there was nothing to worry about and everything to enjoy, and left behind a sense of calm and content that made all present worries less overwhelming. "...Thank you," he said, giving the set of bells a very curious look.
"Would you believe that was inspired by the Doom Bell?" Barry asked, with a smile that suggested he wasn't personally immune to this one. "Donna and I are making an entire... ah... mood carillon, of sorts." He leaned forward, resting his chin on interlaced fingers. "You're right, Gil is old enough to have some idea of the politics," he said after a moment. "If he told you where Tarvek was hiding his notes, I rather doubt he's about to start telling Tarvek new secrets of his own. I'd guess the main risk is that he'd do it as an apology. From everything Agatha's said, I get the impression breaking up the friendship would be devastating for all three of them."
Klaus resolved to ask more about the mood carillon later, when the situation at hand was dealt with. "His desire to stay with them wasn't enough to stop him from spying. Or from drawing them into it as well. I should never have let them get attached," said Klaus. He shook his head, regrets wouldn't help the situation. "If he stays here he will continue to report to Aaronev. From a position of closeness to both Gil and Agatha. Agatha doesn't yet understand why we shouldn't simply tell our allies everything and I underestimated what a security leak the Jägers' attitude to her could create, since they won't stop her from going where she pleases."
"I'm sorry about that. I didn't consider it either." Barry glanced at the notes still visible under the bells' frame and shook his head. "Bill and I always loved finding out things we weren't exactly supposed to know," he said after a moment. "I'm not sure he'd have had to do much drawing. Although this puts a new cast on Agatha's saying Tarvek was always worried about getting in trouble."
"It does rather," said Klaus, drily.
Barry's mouth quirked. "The example was being nervous about going into the lab before they were dismissed from meals. I'm not quite sure what's going on there..." A thoughtful look. "But if you want me to offer an opinion on the case, I'd like to talk to the kids, first."
"Agatha was insisting on telling you the whole story, anyway," said Klaus. "Otherwise she's not sure you'd know enough to make a sound decision."
Barry's mouth twitched. "I see. That... actually sounds like she's not telling you everything."
"I'm not sure why, unless she thinks it would get him into more trouble rather than less," said Klaus. "In which case I'm not sure why she's so keen for you to know."
"No idea, but it should be an interesting conversation."
"Agatha."
Barry wasn't exactly going for either stern or forgiving yet, but he had a feeling the greeting had mostly come out puzzled, which definitely hadn't been in the plan. He had frequently wondered if children were less bewildering if you got them at the very beginning and could start getting to know them when all they needed was love and basic maintenance, and before they could ask questions or come to their own bizarre conclusions. Judging from Klaus's experience, apparently not.
Agatha hurled herself into his arms, which wasn't exactly the reaction he'd expected from someone who might be in trouble. He caught her automatically. "Uncle Barry." She buried her face in his shoulder. "Baron Wulfenbach says you should decide what to do about me and he said he'd ask you about Tarvek but he wants to send him away."
Barry patted her hair. "So he told me. He also said you wanted to talk to me."
Agatha nodded without lifting her head, so that he felt the movement against his shoulder. "We were only trying to find out about Gil's family - he and Tarvek were really excited about it - it wasn't anything to do with Prince Aaronev. And I still don't understand why he shouldn't know things anyway." She took a deep breath and raised her head slightly, then said, "And now Tarvek's in trouble for seeing other stuff too, but I was there for that as well so it's not fair if it's just him. I'll tell you all about it but it might be long."
"I'd appreciate that," Barry said seriously. "We can talk about Prince Aaronev more later, if you want, but the very short version is that sometimes you can work with people without trusting them about everything." He sat down against the wall so Agatha could lean on him or sit or walk wherever she wanted to. "For now, I do want to hear all about it before I decide anything."
Agatha sat down next to him and curled up against his shoulder, biting her lip thoughtfully. When she began, she started, unexpectedly, in Castle Heterodyne with an air of having decided to come clean about everything. It soon became clear how they'd managed to range through locked areas with impunity, and Agatha sounded rather regretful about the possibility of having the dragon clank confiscated, suggesting maybe he could just take its claws.
Most of the exploring they'd done wasn't recounted in any detail, and when it was, it wasn't the details of conversations they'd heard or important things they'd seen that had stuck with her. It was the corridors behind stained glass windows, half-finished projects in labs that they'd seen without touching, the huge boilers that supplied the laundry and showers and, with a sigh, their own little hideaway barely big enough for them. It was also Tarvek and Gil, things about them Agatha expressed more by describing their escapades than by explaining their feelings. The way they opened up when it was just the three of them, the way Gil would take the lead even though he accepted his position at the bottom when he was inside the school. Gil's pride in how well he knew the airship, Tarvek's fear of getting caught and desire to play where no one would see and judge. How much they meant to each other and to Agatha.
The explanation of the previous night was indignant, even aware that she was in trouble Agatha maintained Gil had a right to know what was recorded about him and that Tarvek had only been doing it to help him. She explained, as Klaus hadn't, what the book had said and added that Tarvek hadn't believed it, and finished off with turning herself in so she could help after both boys vanished. "And now," she finished, "they've been in their rooms all morning and they're not speaking to each other or even to me."
Barry hugged her closer again at that, chin on top of her head. She was so very much Bill's daughter. Headstrong and principled - oh, they weren't fully formed principles, she was only just five, but fairness and loyalty and not wanting anybody to hurt weren't a bad start. And he'd found himself caught up in her tale and her version of things, and remembering explorations with Bill (and later Klaus) and keen singing moments of his own.
"You did the right thing at the end," he said after a moment. "Admitting what you'd done and standing up for them. I can tell you all care a lot about each other, and that's a good thing too." He sat back a little, holding her so he could see her. "I'll have to think about the dragon, but I will take the lockpicks. You put one over on me and Klaus that time, and I admit it was cleverly done, but it also shows you knew we wouldn't want you breaking into all those places."
"I thought if you didn't know you wouldn't worry," said Agatha.
Barry snorted involuntarily even though he was sure laughing at the situation was inappropriate on multiple levels. "No," he said, "but that doesn't mean there wasn't anything to worry about. I know you were careful not to get hurt, but you're all still inexperienced enough that you might not recognise a danger when you saw it. And disappearing when we don't know to look for you isn't actually better than disappearing when we do." He stopped to think for a moment. "And listen. There are topics you normally don't talk about because they're your friends' secrets, things you don't take and mess around with because they belong to someone else. Aren't there?"
Agatha nodded uncertainly. "I'm telling you things now about things Tarvek and Gil have done I normally wouldn't because you need to know."
"Right." Feeling some reassurance might be called for, he added, "And I'll be able to treat them more fairly because of that. But it does make sense that you don't announce those things to the whole school. The point I want to make, though, is that if you respect Klaus - and I hope you do - then part of that is respecting that he can limit the parts of his Castle he wants you roaming around in."
"I do like him," said Agatha, sounding reassuring in her turn. "I didn't think we were seeing anything that secret."
"For future reference," Barry said, "a lock is normally a sign that somebody doesn't want people just wandering in." He sighed. "And one of the reasons we don't want you just having the run of the place, again, is that there are things you don't have the experience to evaluate. I believe you that Tarvek is a good friend. I also believe that - understandably - he's also loyal to his father and is likely to do some things because Prince Aaronev asks him to."
Agatha shuffled her feet against the floor and frowned. "Is it very different from me telling you things?" she asked.
"For Tarvek... I think, it's different in some ways and not others." Barry wasn't sure if this was overcomplicated, but he didn't want to pretend it was simple to her. "I know you don't want to hurt anybody. It's possible Tarvek doesn't either, and I haven't talked to him yet, so I can't say I know what he was thinking. But you're telling me things that Gil and Tarvek already know you know, because you love them and you think I need to know so I can do the right thing. Right?" At Agatha's tiny nod, he went on, "Whether Tarvek's thinking of it this way or not, he's been surreptitiously collecting information that Aaronev could use to make things harder for me and Klaus, if he or his friends and allies want to interfere with what we're trying to do. He might not, but we don't know. And even if Tarvek didn't do anything that seemed very different from you and Gil, even if he meant to be doing the right thing by helping his father, Klaus isn't going to want to keep him here if it means Aaronev finding out all his secrets."
"I don't want to make things harder for you or Baron Wulfenbach," said Agatha, after giving this due consideration. "But I don't want Tarvek to go away. If I stop going with him he might not get as far, because the Jägers would catch him, but he's very intelligent. He might still get some places."
"I'll keep that in mind," Barry told her. Taking away the lockpicking dragon and the Jägers' cooperation would certainly make a substantial difference. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I'm going to talk to him and Gil, too. But first..." A serious look. "Bring me the lockpicks."
Agatha ducked her head. "Yes, Uncle Barry," she said, and went to fetch them.
Barry left Agatha's room with a pocketful of lockpicks and paused for a moment before knocking at Gil's door. "Gil?" He listened for a second and heard nothing. "It's Barry Heterodyne. I'd like to talk to you."
The door opened and Gil looked up at him, scowling, wary and tired. "You're not really going to take Agatha away are you?" he asked, abruptly, hand still on the door knob.
Barry blinked. Gil looked entirely prepared to slam the door in his face if he said yes. Which... from some of the things Agatha had said, for that matter from his own observations, really wasn't that surprising. "I'd rather not," he said truthfully. "I think overall attending here is good for her. But she does need to learn a little more respect for boundaries. May I come in, or should we talk somewhere else?"
"You can come in," Gil said, letting go of the door and going to perch on the edge of his bed.
"Thank you." Barry shut the door firmly and sat on the floor again, across from Gil, and watched the slightly uncertain blink. "I'd like to hear your side of this," he said quietly. "And because it might bear on what you say... I do know who you are."
"Really?" Gil said, and then, clearly struggling with subterfuge, "I mean, did Agatha tell you what she found out, or..."
Barry clarified, "Klaus told me he had a son. I knew it had to be you from the way he went pale when he heard you'd gone missing."
"Oh." Gil looked a little awed, as if he still couldn't quite imagine the Baron caring about him personally. "What did you want to know?"
"Mm... to start with, I'd like you to tell me what you did and why."
"We broke into the record room to find out about my family. It was my idea. I left after I thought I'd found out." The bald, grudging sentences were a far cry from Agatha's voluble confession. "I ran into a guard and got taken to the Baron and he told me...you know."
"Yes." A wry smile. "Not his most practical choice of timing, was it?"
"I'm glad I know even if it's weird," said Gil, meeting his eyes. "I don't know if it will ever matter. Whether I'll just be hidden forever."
"I don't think he means it to be forever," Barry said. "I'm glad you know too, actually."
"I don't want it to be forever," said Gil, then, more quietly, "I can almost remember him now."
"...Almost?" Barry asked, gently. "He said he didn't think you did."
"I - I wouldn't know it was him if he hadn't said, I don't think. But it was him, someone a lot bigger than me, and it felt...safe. He was holding me, and I guess now that I have to be a secret he can't anymore." Gil looked away abruptly, blinking. "It doesn't matter," he added, fiercely. "I hardly remember it anyway, and I went all this time without knowing."
"Of course it matters," Barry said, then more quietly, "I don't have any doubt he misses that too."
Gil sniffed, looking somewhere between doubtful and reassured, and said, "That's not what you came to ask me about, is it?"
Barry waggled a hand. "Not specifically. What happened after he told you?"
Gil sighed. "A guard brought Tarvek in. While the Baron wasn't listening he said he didn't believe the book and was going to find out who I really am. Then the Baron got mad at him for spying."
...Oh. "And you told him where Tarvek had hidden the information he collected."
Gil squirmed and nodded. "It was his own fault! I mean, it was true, and if I didn't tell I'd be helping him spy still because he'd still have the information to send home."
"Well, yes." Barry tilted his head. "And were you worried he really would keep looking for your background?"
"Of course he would if he said so," Gil answered.
"Well, I don't really know him. Some people your age don't have quite that much focus." Some people a lot older didn't have that much focus. "That is a bit of a complication."
Gil nodded, curling in on himself slightly.
Barry looked at him thoughtfully. "Agatha mentioned you weren't speaking to each other. Or her."
"Agatha's going to be mad at me if Tarvek gets sent away," Gil said. "And Tarvek's going to be mad at me already."
"I don't think Agatha's going to blame you," Barry said. "I suppose Tarvek might. Are you mad at him?"
"Yes." Gil scowled at his bedroom floor. "It's his fault and he's going to blame me for it."
"Setting aside Agatha's opinion, do you want him to leave? I am not," Barry added, "foisting the decision on you. But I'd like to know what you think. From what Agatha said, you've all been very close."
"It's ruined now anyway," said Gil, a little desperately. "He knows I expected him to get sent home when I said where his hiding place was. And it's not like he'd stop spying. I can't tell on him all the time."
"I can see where that would be awkward. It must have been a very uncomfortable position to be in already. Although he'd have somewhat less access to secrets if he stayed." Barry arched an eyebrow. "Partly because all of you will be a little more limited. I suggest you don't build any new lockpicks."
Gil blushed and ducked his head, but looked more relieved than anything that, even if Tarvek stayed, the responsibility for preventing him from seeing things would be taken out of Gil's hands. "Sorry," he muttered.
"I'm not here to make you feel bad about it," Barry said gently. "Obviously we don't want you to do it again, but that would be enough."
"I won't," said Gil. He drew his knees up against his chest and added, in a rush, "I don't mind Tarvek staying if he doesn't manage to do any spying, even if he's mad at me."
"I see," said Barry. "I'll remember that." He wanted to gather Gil up and hug him, himself. He did get up, a little more stiffly than the first time, and go rest a hand on Gil's shoulder. "I am going to try to do what's best for everyone." Or at least as many of them as possible.
Tarvek was last, mostly because Barry thought Aaronev's son was more likely than the other two to lie to him. He rapped on the door and, when it opened, was met by a pale upturned face that turned even paler as the blood drained out of it. Barry resisted, with difficulty, asking what on earth Tarvek thought he was going to do to him. "May I come in?"
"Yes, sir," said Tarvek, stepping out of the way and then hovering uncertainly by the wall.
Barry looked at him for a second. "Please sit down." He took the same spot on the floor against the wall as before, partly to see what Tarvek would do. "I'd like to hear your side of what's happened."
Tarvek pulled over a chair from the desk in the corner and sat down on it, with a quick glance at Barry as if to check that was all right. The midmoth Agatha had mentioned (Andy, short for Andronicus) came from its bed in the corner to sit by the chair. "Did you talk to Gil already?"
Barry propped one knee up and clasped his hands over it loosely. "Yes."
"I expect he already told you it was my fault," said Tarvek, hands clenched tightly in his lap. The midmoth's trunk snaked up and curled around his wrist. "It's true. He and Agatha weren't doing anything wrong."
Okay, that he had not been expecting. "Weren't they? I understand Agatha was rather emphatic that you'd all been in it together."
"She didn't even understand what I was being accused of, she's too young," Tarvek said quickly.
"Gil's your own age," Barry pointed out, intrigued.
"He wasn't spying, though, he doesn't have anyone to spy for," said Tarvek. "He and Agatha are the only ones here that aren't."
Barry arched an eyebrow. "They seem to be how you got farther afield than the rest."
"They weren't doing it to find information. They just like exploring."
"I can believe that," Barry said. "Mostly. Why did you think breaking into the vault was a good idea?"
Tarvek was quiet for a moment. "I wanted to help Gil find out who he was."
"Was that all?" Barry asked neutrally.
"Yes," said Tarvek. "I wasn't doing any harm."
"You were breaking into a restricted area." Barry paused. "Again."
Tarvek pressed back against the back of his chair, eyes flicking up to the light fitting in his ceiling. "It really was just to find out about Gil," he insisted.
Barry glanced at the light as well, eyebrows rising. "That time, anyway?"
"Everyone sends information back to their parents," Tarvek said. "It's not really spying."
"I think you know better than that," Barry said. "I don't exactly blame you for trying it, but we can't let you continue. Somehow I don't think Aaronev would appreciate our trying to get into all the corners of Sturmhalten, either." He stopped and blinked, remembering suddenly. Aaronev's father might not have, either. Relations between Sturmhalten and Mechanicsburg had been odd since the first treaty was signed - two fortresses whose armies couldn't break each other, and the Heterodynes at the time had certainly tried. Barry normally thought of Klaus as the first friend they'd made that they hadn't literally, well, made, but they had actually visited sort of cordially with the Sturmvorauses. Briefly. "-Come to think of it, maybe that's why Bill and I didn't get invited back after I was six."
Tarvek gaped at him. "You tried to spy on my grandfather?"
Barry's mouth quirked. "At the time, I don't think either of us really grasped the idea that there were places we weren't supposed to go. Long-term family failing, I'm afraid."
Tarvek blinked at him and then said, very quietly, "You said you can't let it continue. Does that mean you're sending me home?"
"I wanted to talk to all of you before I decided that." Barry considered him for a moment. "Do you think I should?"
Tarvek shook his head, hard. "I didn't do anything that bad."
"That's an interesting reaction to the idea of getting to go home." ...And not entirely unfamiliar, although Barry had never been in a position to be threatened with it, exactly.
Tarvek looked a bit uncertain. "It's more interesting here. Everyone's always busy at home, especially my father."
"I can't really argue with that one," Barry said. "The school is meant to be interesting. If, generally speaking, from the inside."
"It is. As well. I won't go places I'm not supposed to anymore." He fixed nervous, hopeful eyes on Barry.
"An easy promise to make," Barry said, not harshly. "When we're looking at you, and your father hasn't asked you for anything new."
Tarvek shrank down into his chair anyway, looking forlorn.
Barry rubbed his forehead. Seven was old enough for acting, but he still thought this was real. "It's not that I think it's the only thing you want," he said quietly. "I realise you'd miss your friends."
"Gil hates me anyway," said Tarvek and then looked surprised at himself. Not, Barry thought, at the sentiment so much as the fact that he'd voiced it to someone he barely knew.
"He does not," he said. "He's upset. He doesn't hate you."
"He tried to get me sent home. I might have done things I shouldn't, but I didn't do anything to him."
Barry thought for a moment about how to explain that one without reference to Gil's real identity. "Gil," he said slowly, "really hadn't thought of it as spying, or at least as a serious thing so far. And Klaus took him in when he had no one else. Right now, whatever you say about it, he feels responsible for essentially everything you've been doing."
Tarvek didn't look very reassured.
On review, Barry didn't exactly blame him. He shook his head. "That doesn't mean he hates you. He doesn't want to be faced with deciding between you and Klaus all the time. He doesn't actually want you gone."
"Did he say that?" Tarvek asked doubtfully.
"Yes," Barry said. "Even if you're mad at him, he says."
"I'm not," said Tarvek, looking up hopefully, eyes suspiciously bright behind his glasses. "At least, not if he does want me to stay."
"I heard a lot about the two of you from Agatha," Barry said. "It sounds like you've been good friends." Ulterior motives or not.
"They're brilliant," said Tarvek, and for the first time it didn't sound like he'd stopped to consider his answer, true or false, before saying it.
Barry smiled at him. "I'm inclined to agree." He sighed a little and stood up. "I had better go back and talk to Klaus," he said. "We'll let you know what we've decided afterward."
Tarvek stood up too, politely, and watched Barry leave.
Barry took a few more investigative detours before re-entering Klaus's office. Klaus looked up sharply. The frustration of the previous night had settled into a kind of weary strain. "You're not going to like it," Barry predicted. "I did find out how they were getting into everything, though. I'm starting to see why my grandfather decided to magnetise all the children in town."
"You're about to tell me that, despite all the reasons not to, you think I should keep Sturmvoraus here," said Klaus, accusingly. "So you can at least start by telling me how we can keep them out of locked rooms in future. Without getting unnecessarily Heterodyne in our solutions."
"Oh, that's already been done. You know that dragon clank of Gradok's?" Barry sighed and set a handful of lockpicks on the desk. "These are the original claws."
"They smuggled a lockpicking dragon on board," said Klaus, burying his face in his palm but sounding a little impressed despite himself.
"I don't think ours need lessons in sneakiness," Barry said ruefully. "We might. On which note, I'm afraid Aaronev showed me how to beat the kind of lock you've got on that vault one afternoon when I was six."
"...and that explains how they got in there," said Klaus. "I'll install a new one."
"Yes." Barry looked down at the desk. "From a practical standpoint, confiscating the lockpicks... and building some better locks... should do quite a lot. So will alerting the Jägers that Tarvek is not to have the run of the dirigible, and yes," he added with a wry smile, "I got the Lady Heterodyne's agreement on that."
"So your answer is to limit his access to information," said Klaus. "But not his access to Gil."
"The problem is information. Gil he likes."
"Gil has that information," said Klaus. "And has to hide the fact that he has it, as well as what it is."
"True." Barry sighed again and sat down. "And I think you were right to tell him. But there is the sticky point that Tarvek does not believe your cover story and told Gil - quite probably in an effort to make him feel better - that he was going to find out the truth."
"And you're refusing to solve this situation by sending him back to Sturmhalten."
"I think," Barry said slowly, "that would make all three of them miserable and not necessarily help much. Tarvek's already suspicious. He claims it's boring at home; I don't think he's much happier there than Gil used to be at the school. He claims nearly all of the students are spying; he has to realise he managed a lot more of it than most, but on the other hand, expulsion is a distinctly odd punishment for someone you're calling a hostage, especially if it would be possible to simply restrict him instead. You might have better luck telling Gil to insist he doesn't want to investigate any further."
"Making Sturmvoraus happy is really not my priority here," snapped Klaus.
"You might have better luck putting him off the scent that way," Barry said, a little impatiently. "If he's actually bored at home, leaving him with time on his hands and an unsolved mystery is probably not your best bet. And I'd think making Gil happy is at least on your list."
"I could probably find something more convincing to put him off the trail with, given time and distance. Gil suddenly insisting he doesn't want to know his background would hardly be less suspicious," said Klaus. "I want Gil to be happy but not as much as I want him to be safe."
"I can understand that," Barry said after a moment. He'd have to say the same thing about Agatha. And yet... "But there's more to well-being than avoiding risk."
"They're children. They'll get over being separated."
Barry inhaled slowly as his hand curled into a fist on the desk. "They will cope with it," he said, slowly and carefully, "if they must. But it will hurt them. Do you think they'll care less for being young?"
"I think they have plenty of time to make less dangerous friends," said Klaus, but he wasn't meeting Barry's eyes.
"I'm not sure who you've got in mind." Barry made his hand unclench and sat back. "Tarvek does care about them. And I'm pretty sure I've got him from 'Gil betrayed me out of nowhere after I tried to help and wants me gone' to 'Gil realised things were a lot more serious than he'd been thinking and felt used and guilty and conflicted'. Though even before that, he opened by telling me the whole thing was his fault."
That did give Klaus a moment's pause. "Loyalty to them, then, if not to me. I still doubt he'd place their interests above his family's."
"I'd certainly rather not ask him to," Barry said. And the Sturmvorauses had more family than he could keep track of easily. "But that doesn't mean we have to create extra conflict for Gil or Agatha either. And Aaronev..." He looked thoughtfully at Klaus. "Is our ally. Not the most confidence-inspiring one, between sending his child explicitly as a hostage and presumably asking him to spy. But for all his scheming we do logically have common interests."
"It's certainly in his interests to have Sturmhalten safe. But, whatever else I might say about him, he's done a fine job of that by himself. I'm not sure he sees himself as having any interest in the Empire beyond keeping it satisfied and at a distance so he can carry on the way he always has."
Barry shook his head. "Sturmhalten is a little like Mechanicsburg in one way," he said. "It can pull in like a turtle and hold more or less indefinitely against nearly all comers." Assaulting the walls wouldn't do much good. Getting inside first, or sufficient air superiority... Barry honestly couldn't imagine Sturmhalten repelling one of the Other's rains of giant boulders. It might have benefitted from some lingering sentiment on Lucrezia's part, he supposed, of the kind that had exiled Klaus and attacked both Wulfenbach and Mechanicsburg when her lovers weren't home. Although that didn't account for her son. "But for real prosperity they both tend to rely on trade and travel."
"Including with each other?" A lot of trade came to Mechanicsburg through Sturmhalten, since it held a major pass. It was one of the main reasons their relationship hadn't remained completely hostile for very long. "What are you suggesting? Logically Aaronev should want the Empire in place, although he's got no reason to be happy that I'm running it. He is a member of a family - and is related to a large number of families - with impressive pedigrees. In one sense they'd be more likely to object to Gil's existence than mine, since I'm sure they'd be happy to have me do the work of putting an Empire together if one of their children could conveniently inherit it."
"Oh, probably," Barry said. "I assume that's part of why he made a point of offering himself as ally before the question of vassalage could come up. Not that it did anybody much good with Valois." Of course, Valois had if anything had too many children - and none with his vanished Heterodyne bride. It was to his credit that he'd acknowledged them, but it had complicated matters. Still, many of his erstwhile allies (including some who had been explicitly temporary allies) had tried to claim an Empire that had already been going to pieces before his death, and most had managed a wedding with some descendent or other along the way and been arguing precedence ever since. "But as it stands, he may not own it but he can reasonably consider himself to be influential. I'm not suggesting we tell him about Gil, but I think there are also political reasons not to send his son home in disgrace."
Klaus sighed. "That's true enough."
"There might also be pragmatic reasons as well as sentimental ones," said Barry, "to encourage his son liking Gil. And being grateful to you. Even, or especially, when he's already happier here than at home."
Klaus eyed him. "It's strange when you start sounding cynical."
"Sorry." Barry leaned back again and rubbed his eyes with one hand. "Although we did try to point out practical benefits to doing the right thing when - well, never mind." This was probably not the time to start reminiscing. "Anyway, weren't you hoping the students would learn to like each other? Working out their own hierarchy was probably inevitable, but still."
"I'm not sorry they like each other," said Klaus. "And this isn't intended to punish Sturmvoraus, even if that's inevitably how he'll take it. It's a matter of his presence becoming a liability."
"His presence is a risk," Barry said. "Sending him away is... not exactly unjust, even if Agatha thinks so. But it's not kind and I don't think it's necessary or wise."
"And I did agree to leave the decision up to you," said Klaus. "Even if I was not expecting you to decide against it."
Barry hadn't been going to remind Klaus of that unless he had to. "Well, I'd hoped to actually persuade you," he said. "But having heard out everyone involved..." He trailed off. "I should relay more of Agatha's stories. If nothing else, you might appreciate their impression of your Castle."
Klaus raised his eyebrows. "I thought she was telling you about how they'd broken into the vault, not everything she'd been doing since she last saw you."
"Oh, no," Barry said, suddenly grinning. "When Agatha decided I should know everything she did, she meant everything. Incidentally, your stained-glass windows look magnificent from the wrong side."
Klaus gave him a look that said his train of thought had been rather derailed and smiled grudgingly. "Good to know they're appreciated," he said drily.
Barry paused. "On a somewhat more relevant note, there is an ongoing effort to break down the more obnoxious aspects of the student hierarchy. I was glad to hear about it."
"By Agatha?"
"Agatha's precocious, but she's still five and may be mostly contributing a tendency to fly off the handle in righteous fury. I get the impression Theo is being a bit more organised about it." Barry paused for a beat. "As is Tarvek."
"...I realised he was ignoring the hierarchy by defending Gil. I didn't realise he was actively against it."
"Not exactly against it," Barry said. "Evidently he lectures on noblesse oblige. But using his status as a reason not to torment the other students is an improvement."
Klaus let out a rather startled laugh. "One of their princelings actually believes in the principles they claim."
"Enough to get rather heated about it, apparently," Barry said. "I have to admit I'm at a little bit of a loss there. Aaronev looks after his town, but I can't quite imagine him being fervent on the subject."
"He never was that I recall," said Klaus, thoughtfully. "Sending the boy home might not be the best way for him to hold on to those principles. Even if they're not quite the principles I was trying to instil, they're a great improvement on the value Sparks often place on their people." Which tended to be potential minions at best and raw materials at worst.
Well, Tarvek must have developed them somewhere, presumably at home, but Barry was hardly going to dispute the idea that the school was a better influence. "That's certainly true."
Klaus sighed. "All right," he said. "I'll let him stay for now, but I'll be keeping a closer eye on him - on all three of them, really." He hesitated, searching for words. "Just our two feels like a volatile mixture. Adding another - also from a line of powerful Sparks and with ulterior motives -"
"Well," Barry said after a moment, "I can't exactly argue with volatile. They seem to have been busy enough on their own. Tarvek may have made the most of it, but I'm pretty sure he joined their explorations, instead of proposing them. But I don't think keeping them isolated is... either desirable or actually practical."
"No," Klaus agreed, reluctantly. "Gil's been isolated enough as it is."
"I think he was planning to slam the door and refuse to speak to me if I'd said I was planning to withdraw Agatha from the school." Barry smiled wryly. "I'm not arguing against more supervision, either. And I am sorry about the dragon."
"I was there when they asked to bring the dragon aboard too," said Klaus. "At least you removed the flamethrower."
"It seemed like the logical thing to look for, in a dragon." Barry still felt he should have caught the claws. It had been a Heterodyne clank, after all. "We may be in trouble a few years from now. At least you'll probably have had practice monitoring student breakthroughs by the time they get around to it."
"That I'm not looking forward to," said Klaus. "One problem at a time."
"Fair enough," said Barry. "...Klaus? About Gil."
"Yes?" said Klaus, looking slightly apprehensive.
"Now that you've told him who you are to each other, you might see if you can find a chance to hug him."
"I might what?" Whatever Klaus had expected it hadn't been that.
"He misses you. And don't try to tell me you don't miss him too."
"He doesn't remember me."
"He says he almost does. And that's not really the point."
"He - really?" Klaus looked, for a moment, both startled and vulnerable.
Maybe it was the point. "Yes." Barry opened a hand, eyes still on Klaus's. "I don't know, in detail, exactly what he remembers. Except for feeling safe when you held him."
"Oh," said Klaus, looking down, and continued, voice a little unsteady, "I'll talk to him."
"Good." Barry reached over to grip Klaus's arm, hard. "I think he'll appreciate that." It seemed like the natural next step to him, although Klaus's reluctance had him a little worried. "Klaus... what exactly are you worried about?"
Klaus looked up witheringly. "Seriously?"
"You know perfectly well what I mean. Talking to Gil is not going to put him in added danger. You have the perfect excuse for a private conference now anyway."
"And not a great deal to say to him that could possibly be relevant to his life as it is now."
"Klaus," Barry said, torn between exasperation for what Klaus was saying and sympathy for whatever uncertainty it seemed to be covering. "Practically the first thing he had to do after you told him was choose between you and his best friend. Do you really think showing him you love him isn't relevant?"
"I said I'd talk to him," said Klaus, moving away from the hand still on his arm.
Barry sighed and let go, leaning back. "I know. Are you going to tell me why that apparently scares you?" Maybe he shouldn't push. But he'd stopped pushing Bill, only partly because they'd said everything already and it hadn't helped, and maybe that hadn't helped either. Barry reined that line of thinking back in. Klaus was uneasy, not obsessed.
"He remembers...maybe one moment," said Klaus, reluctantly. "I remember six years. I can't treat him as if he remembered all of it."
Barry closed his eyes and sighed. He probably should have seen that. "You can't... blame him for not remembering, of course not. But that doesn't mean you can't treat him like you remember it."
"When I said it wasn't relevant..." Klaus trailed off and shook his head. "Things were very different in Skifander."
"I believe you," Barry murmured. "How do you mean?"
When Klaus continued it was in a clipped, detached manner, as if he was considering writing an anthropology text. "In Skifander women are the warriors. Once children are weaned they are raised by the men. Especially boys - girls are more likely to spend time with female relatives, and being taken on as a zumil for sword training happens young."
"In other words," Barry said, trying not to sound too sympathetic because if Klaus had gone academic on him he probably needed the distance, "you were with him basically all the time."
"Yes," said Klaus. "Even if he had remembered, that would hardly be practical now."
"That wouldn't be practical now even if you weren't hiding him from anyone," Barry said. "You could still tell him."
"He can't miss what he never knew he had."
Barry rubbed a hand over his face. "...Yes, he can."
"What makes you so sure of that?" Klaus asked.
"It's possible, it's... easy to crave things you never had at all and aren't entirely sure are real." Barry looked away from him. "We didn't exactly build Punch and Judy using our parents as an example."
"...I'm sorry."
Barry shook his head slightly, though not in rejection, and met Klaus's eyes again. "Gil has you."
"Yes. He does." Klaus nodded. "I'll tell him. At least some of it."
"I'm glad." Barry stood and put a hand on Klaus's shoulder, searching for words for a moment before he said, "He's lucky to have you. Don't… don't imagine that's not true just because things aren't perfect."
"Things are a long way from perfect," said Klaus gruffly. "But...thank you."