After all this time, Firenze had not changed that much. The city was still, according to Leonardo, the best resource for materials for his artwork. Ezio was inclined to dismiss that, considering that the artist said that about every city that he visited.
It was a pleasant sunny day, and Ezio was enjoying himself, enjoying not being an assassin. All had been quiet for some time now.

"What do you think?"

"Hmm?" Ezio snapped out of his reverie to see Leonardo holding a jointed wooden doll in front of his face.

"I said, what do you think of this?" Leonardo asked.

"It looks… nice…?" Ezio offered uncertainly. Frankly, he found it difficult to understand how passionately Leonardo felt about such things. To Ezio, it looked like a child's plaything.

"Si, it does," Leonardo agreed cheerfully, oblivious to his friend's tone.

The two of them wandered down the cobblestone streets, purchases in hand. Leonardo chatted about his plans - his big plans - for his latest piece of art, or invention, it was difficult to tell the difference sometimes. He didn't seem bothered by the silence of his companion.

Suddenly Ezio stopped. "Leonardo."

"And then I thought I would - si?" The artist stopped mid-sentence.

"We are being followed."

Ezio slowly turned around, moving Leonardo slightly behind him. "Who's there?" he shouted, "Show yourself!"

A man clad in a dark green over robe stepped forward out of the shadows. "I would have expected more of you, Ezio Auditore. I have been following you most of the day."

"Who are you?" Ezio demanded, "what do you want?"

"I have heard of you, Auditore," the man continued, "And of the terror you inflict."

Ezio gave a small smirk under his hood. "I am sorry to say I know nothing of you."

"Oh really?" the stranger sounded amused, "And I had thought that you returned to Firenze because of me."

Ezio's smile grew cold. "As I said, Signore, I have no idea who you are. Why don't you explain?"

"My name is Ciro de Giordano," the stranger replied.

"I am guessing that you have something to do with the Templers," Ezio said expressionlessly.

"Indirectly," Ciro replied, "I was well paid by them. To make certain letters disappear." He smiled and Ezio could see the faint madness in his eyes, "They made a nice fire."

Ezio's eyes widened a fraction. "The documents…" Then his dark eyes narrowed again, "You mean the documents given to me by my father."

"Si, those," Ciro smiled, "Since I heard of your arrival two days ago, I expected to see you coming in through my window to murder me in my sleep every night."

"I can't say that I knew about you… none of your comrades betrayed you to me," Ezio ejected both wrist blades, "But now…"

Ciro didn't move. "It's all Giovanni's fault, you know. He was a fool."

"My father was no fool!" Ezio snarled.

"He had many chances to kill me," Ciro continued, "But he was too weak."

"My father was not weak!"

"He killed my sons," Ciro said, "He slaughtered them like a wild animal would."

"He only killed the guilty!"

"In his eyes," Ciro sneered, "Giovanni had his own way of seeing the world." He smirked a bit, "And then, when I challenged him to a duel, to avenge my family honor, the coward did not show up."

"My father is not a coward!" Ezio snarled.

"No, I suppose not," the other man laughed, "Hard to be anything once one is dead."

"So you had his sons killed instead?" Ezio demanded, "Even though one of them was barely thirteen!"

"That wasn't my idea," Ciro admitted, "I couldn't come up with something that clever. Giovanni-the-fool resisted his fate. He put up a fight. He had to be punished."

"And his punishment was to watch his own sons die," he hissed, "You Templers truly disgust me"

"There would be peace if you assassins didn't keep getting in the way."

"Peace?" Ezio snorted, "Templers do not want peace. They want control."

"Foolish child, you know so little," Ciro chuckled, "You know so little about people. They are sheep. Without a shepherd, they would wander into danger. The Templers are merely trying to be good shepherds."

"Lies," Ezio retorted, "You only seek to gain power and control. Nothing more than that." He advanced on Ciro, "You know that I am going to kill you. But you still revealed yourself."

"My life does not matter, as long as you learn the truth."

"Truth?" he snorted, "And what would that be?"

"Your father was a wolf. He preyed on the sheep."

"My father cared for the people!" Ezio snapped, "Which is more than I can say for any of the Templers!"

To the surprise and disgust of the Assassin, his target laughed.

"Exactly what is so funny?" Ezio demanded.

"So Giovanni was that accomplished of a liar," he chuckled, "Tell me, Ezio Auditore, are you sure you wish to follow in your father's footsteps? He was a liar and a murder, doing nothing more than carrying out the commands of the one who held his leash."

Ezio's hands slowly formed into fists, "I will carry out my father's work - which includes ending your life, Signore Ciro de Giodano!"

"It is a pity," he said, "Signore Borgia was intend on eradicating the entire line. It is a pity he missed one." His mouth parted in an unpleasant smile, "Still… I suppose you stood by helpless as you watched them die. That's good enough for me."

"Basta!" Ezio yelled, jumping onto the Templer and knocking him onto his back. He proceeded to thrust both blades into the man, repeatedly, even after the man was already dead. "Lei tutti ha ucciso ho amati!" He shouted. "Ed ora la sua vita è il mio, lei fottendo il bastardo! Spero che lei marcisca nell'inferno!"

"Ezio?" Leonardo spoke up after a long moment, "I believe he is dead."

"Yes, I think I know that!" Ezio snapped, both blades still out and dripping with the warm red blood of the Templar. He was breathing hard. The image before him - a dead man, dozens of wounds in his chest, a pool of dark, red blood beneath him - looked foreign to him.

"Stand up now," Leonardo said firmly

Ezio stumbled to his feet, struggling to catch his breath. Leonardo steadied him, but the assassin jerked back.

"I don't want to hurt you," he mumbled

"I appreciate that," Leonardo said easily, "But you won't."

Ezio turned at met the artist's eyes with his own. Suddenly, he seemed very small to Leonardo. "How do you know that?" the assassin whispered.

"Because I know you won't," he said simply.

Ezio lowered his eyes . The blades finally slide back into his bracers, and his tense shoulders seemed to slump a little.

"Good," the artist said with a nod, "Now, come with me"

"I...I don't want to go anywhere..." Ezio said tiredly, staring at the dead body on the ground.

"We're going to get out of the street," Leonardo said firmly. He took Ezio's shoulders and steered the assassin away from the corpse.

"I thought… I thought I was past all this…" Ezio murmured, half to Leonardo and half to himself, "All the anger… all this hate…" He clenched his hands into fists, "But I'm not - I'm not!"

"It's not an easy thing to get over," Leonardo offered.

"My father would be ashamed of me," the assassin whispered.

"I doubt that," the artist replied simply.

Leonardo's quiet confidence was slowly calming Ezio down. He had always known that Leonardo was eccentric, but to be acting so calmly after what the artist had just witnessed? That just didn't make sense. Ezio shuddered a bit. Just a few moments earlier he had been caught up in the rage, in the blood lust. What if he hadn't recognized his friend?

Leonardo led the assassin down the street, down another street, and into a building. An inn of somewhat dubious quality, as it was known that sometimes the maids performed other… services. But it was clean enough, and safe enough for Leonardo's purposes. It also had an innkeeper who minded his own business.

The two men were settled into a room. Leonardo bolted the door behind them.

"I can't stay," the nervous assassin muttered, every single one of his nerves on edge, "I really… I can't.. I don't… I shouldn't-"

"Sit." The artist said firmly.

Ezio sat.

"Now, what do you mean you can't stay here?"

"I am a danger to you, Leonardo," Ezio muttered, staring at his blood covered hands. His uncle had always taught him to be respectful of the dead. To be swift and deadly, but never angry. To never lose his temper, no matter what. That was dishonorable. Not the way of an Assassin. Not the way of an Auditore. His hands were shaking. He looked up to the artist, "I don't… I don't know why…"

"Let's get you cleaned up," Leonardo brought over a basin of water.

Ezio didn't react, just staring at the blood on his hands, and on his blades, which he had not retracted.

"Look at me," Leonardo said firmly.

Ezio hesitantly complied. No longer black, hateful pools, his eyes were large, troubled. His pupils dilated. He was frightened.

"Now, let's clean the blood of your hands."

Ezio rose to his feet, "I shouldn't be here."

"Of course you should - we paid for the room," Leonardo said firmly, "Now sit back down, and hold out your hands."

Ezio complied, looking away as Leonardo cleaned off his hands with a rag. The sight of blood had never bothered him before, but this time… this time was different. What was he? What sort of man was he?

"There," Leonardo said after a moment, "All clean."

"Grazie…" Ezio whispered hoarsely, "But I should really go."

"Where?" Leonardo tilted his head to one side quizzically.

He opened his mouth to respond, and then closed it again. He didn't really know. He just needed to get out. His eyes lowered to the ground, "I… I don't know…"

"You don't need to go anywhere."

"I'm a danger to you!" he protested.

"Come now," Leonardo said dismissively, "Snoring isn't lethal."

Ezio had to give a weak smile at that. Trust Leonardo to be clueless.

"And..." he went to the window to dump the water out, "I think... that wolves are not the mindless killers that people make them out to be." After making sure no one was below, he poured the water out onto the flowers on the windowsill below them. "As a matter of fact... from what I have read... they are highly intelligent social beings."

Ezio had resumed his nervous pacing. But he'd been partially listening to Leonardo, and what he had said had caught his attention. "I would not know.."

"I don't -know-" he admitted, "But I have read some things, and they sound reasonable to me."

"I see..." He made his way to the window, looking out into the darkened streets.

"And it sounds good to me," he said, following him and setting a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Besides." He gave Ezio a smile, "Wolves never travel alone."