A/N: So this is my first update in a loooong time. This story's been bumming around my laptop for quite some time now...it started out as an English project and then morphed into a full on fic. Uhhh I'm no good at intros and author's notes and such. Nor am I good at summaries. So, I apologize. but please, stay, read, and enjoy! Also, listen to Ezio's Family while you read this, I feel like it matches rather well :D
Thanks for reading~
"Good work today, Elia," Ezio nodded and looked down at his apprentice. Elia pulled down her hood and mask, face lit up with a beaming smile as she looked up at the master assassin. He held out a small pouch and dropped it into the young girl's outstretched palm. She opened it and peered inside, jumping excitedly at the pile of coins pooled inside.
"Oh, thank you papa!" Elia cried, pulling the drawstrings of the pouch and tucking the payment into a pocket of her robes. She turned to run off into the city when she felt Ezio grab her shoulder.
"Wait a moment," He ordered, looking at her sternly, "Don't go do something stupid on your time off, Elia. I will find out if you do. That includes going to the carnival." Elia put a sweet smile on her face, nodding to show that she had understood what her father told her, moving to leave once again when the assassin let her go.
"I am just going to buy a few things, do not worry about me!" She got on her toes and placed a kiss on her father's cheek before running off, leaping up and climbing a wall that surrounded the courtyard. She crouched on the roof of the building, lifting her hand in farewell, pulling up her hood and mask and turning. She began to run across the tiled rooftops, their click like music to her ears. There was one place she wanted to go—daddy dear would not have let her go, but she wasn't about to listen to his orders.
The music reached her ears before she got very close to the Carnevale Chiaro di Luna. The Moonlight Carnival. It was her favorite time of the year, but this time around, as she looked down on the festivities and lights, her face wasn't lit up with a smile. Every year her father would bring her into the middle of Roma for celebration; he put all of his missions on hold just so they could go together.
This year, however, the carnival was different. Guards hovered everywhere on the ground, snapping up thieves and courtesans—anyone who seemed to be disrupting the festivities. Even outside of the carnival the guards were more plentiful than usual. Ezio had dropped the news that no one was allowed to the carnival several weeks ago at a meeting. The carnival was a popular event among the novices. Elia was dying to know why her father had put the ban in place—and it had taken her nearly two weeks of eavesdropping to finally hear of the alarming rate of assassins being taken, tortured and killed by the Borgia.
So Ezio had forbidden her and any other assassin, courtesan under his sister's roof or thief that they commanded to go to the carnival this year. The place was swarming with guards; some were even disguised as civilians and carnival actors. The master assassin was not about to take the risk of losing anyone else when it was preventable.
Elia smirked to herself then. And daddy had expected her to actually follow his rules! She wasn't dumb; she knew the guards were there. She had been snagged before, but she had always gotten free. Not once had she had a problem with guards, so why had her father objected to her going this year?
She had been sitting up here long enough. After a quick look around she slipped off the roof and clambered down the wall, dropping five feet into an alcove after pulling down her hood and face cover. She took a moment to fix her unruly hair into a braid and stepped out into the crowded square. After looking around for only a few moments, she grinned and made a beeline for a small but colorful stall selling masks. Brightly colored ones, metallic ones, dull ones, silky and decorated ones. Elia's eyes sparkled as she looked at each and every different disguise. She'd noticed many people wearing them as she'd peered down from the rooftop and figured, what better way to blend than with a mask?
After several minutes of browsing the massive collection of masks, Elia picked out a one that covered her forehead down to her cheekbones. It was made out of silky green fabric and came to a point on either end, short feathers dyed to match the color of the silk fanning out from the outside edges of the mask. Elia paid out the 100 florins that the item cost and nodded her thanks to the merchant as she pulled the mask onto her face.
She melted back into the crowd, looking at every attraction and stall that was open. A group of acrobats sailing through the air and balancing at impossible heights here, and a magician making fireworks fly from his hands over there. Behind her, a stall with delicious smelling baked sweets. Elia was simply delighted. The full moon high above and the fires and fireworks going off in every direction lit up her face. She felt as if she'd eat herself to death each time she walked away from a stall selling food. Soon enough, her coin purse was significantly lighter than it had been at the beginning. Looking around, Elia grinned to herself. Pick pocketing was a snap; so why not pilfer some funds from the unsuspecting civilians walking around the fair?
Passing by a fat man with his hand clutching an expensive looking jeweled mask, Elia casually bumped into the fellow, snatching up his disappointingly light purse and stashing it in her robes. A woman dressed in an elegant dress passed by her and was similarly treated. After several minutes of stealing money, Elia picked an empty bench to sit down on and look through her payout.
"Six hundred and thirty nine florins..." She murmured, content with the amount before slipping it all into her purse and dropping the empty pouches on the ground. She brushed off the front of her robes, removing scraps of velvet left behind by one of the purses and a small amount of dirt.
"Excuse me, miss," The voice startled Elia and she froze in the middle of brushing down her thighs. Slowly, she looked up to stare into the face of a normal looking citizen. When she looked carefully, however, she was able to see the faint outline of some sort of weapon concealed beneath his vest. The young assassin swallowed, eyeing the man in front of her with suspicion. Her eyes darted to the emptied purses at her feet, then to either side of the man in front of her. Behind her was a wall that would be a challenge for her to climb; there were few windows and ledges to grab onto, mostly just smooth, stone blocks.
She was sure that she could make a break for it, if she had to. It took her several moments before she realized the man in front of her was speaking.
"I believe this belongs to you, dear," He said with a kindly smile. In his hand was a small packet of sweets that she'd bought only minutes ago and as she patted at her side to confirm the object was missing, relief spread through her.
"Thank you, sir. I hadn't noticed I'd lost it! It's a gift for…for my father," She smiled up at him and took back the candies, sticking them back where she had put them to begin with before nodding politely at the stranger and side stepping around him to take off into the crowd once more. Her was purse once again heavy with money to buy things with and she had a gift for her father when she returned; surely he wouldn't be mad when he had his favorite sweets to eat.
Hours had passed, Elia was sure. She'd exhausted all of her money once again and was full with sweet foods, her robes heavy with left over treats and various trinkets she'd decided she wanted to buy.
"Just a little more money, and then I'll be done for the night…" She smiled at a younger man passing by her, bumping into him and managing to steal his purse without any trouble. She stumbled back a bit when she heard a muffled thud and looked down to see the book he'd been clutching resting open on the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" She said, bending down to pick it up. Her heart nearly stopped when she felt cold metal pressed lightly against her neck, her heartbeat suddenly speeding up as he whispered into her ear, "I know what you are…assassin," Elia made a move to duck and run off. She bit her lip in pain when the man's hand closed around her hair, forcing her to stand up straight and look the man in his eyes. She was breathing through her teeth when she finally noticed the sword strapped to his hip.
"You coward scum," She spat at the man, grabbing the wrist of the hand that held her hair so painfully in the hopes that she would be able to lessen it. In response, the man jerked his hand and made her hiss through her teeth, biting back a cry of pain.
"Oh? Says the slime that hides in the shadows, killing our people without rhyme or reason," He paused, bringing his face uncomfortably close to Elia's. She turned away as best as she could, making a face of disgust at his words.
"You're nothing but a coward, you and all your guard. We only fight in the interest of the people. You know very well how your men treat those who do not do as your wonderful leader says," Elia felt the metal of the man's dagger press into her neck, straining away from his hold,
"Do not talk of Cesare Borgia in that way, assassino," he hissed, glaring for a moment at her before he whistled sharply, drawing four more guards dressed in armor out from the thick crowd of people. Two guards grabbed Elia roughly by her arms while the man dressed in civilian clothes released her. He barked orders to the four and took off through the crowd, shoving the civilians roughly out of the way and making room for the guards to drag Elia through.
"You won't be able to keep me for long, you know!" She snarled, turning her head from side to side to glare at the two men holding her up by her arms. The guards just laughed, dragging her along. Elia frowned, glad that she still had her mask on. She didn't like her identity being known by the enemy. Even the thought of that made her nervous.
