December 1884, Frontier

The snow was thick and suffocating. We should've skipped hunting for the day but we were low enough on rations and this snow was only going to get worse. I felt bad leaving Lukas at our camp by himself but this weather was too harsh for him. I blew some of my hair out of my eyes as I lined up a shot, a hare sniffing around a bush. I loosed my arrow quietly cheered as the arrow found its target. At least we had something now, I feared the animals sensed the oncoming storm and had all but scattered from the area. I heard a gunshot and then yelling and without thinking took off in the direction. "GUNNAR!" I shouted running as quickly as I could through the snow. I could hear more the closer I got to the commotion and I hurried when I heard the growling get louder. I finally reached a clearing where I saw my brother fighting off a large pack of wolves. He had managed to take down a few and was still fighting with his knife. He saw me at the clearing bow drawn ready to shoot. "No!" he shouted just as I loosed an arrow taking one of the wolves out. Seeing this three broke off from the group and came at me. They were coming at me too fast to draw another arrow so I had to try and outrun them. I felt one tackle me, biting into my shoulder and hissed in pain. I was somehow able to get out from underneath it and stab it with my knife. I rounded on the two trying to seem as intimidating as possible. One lunged at me taking my knife with full force. I quickly flung the knife at the remaining wolf hitting its flank, it yelped and fled. I saw that what remained of the pack had fled and rushed over to Gunnar. He was still alive but barely so. I felt the sob rise to my throat and couldn't contain the sound from escaping. "Shhh I do not wish my last memory to be my baby sister crying because of me." I just shook my head not speaking for the fear of my cries escaping me. " I cannot believe I survived a war only to be taken out by wolves." He grabbed my hands coughing blood and then speaking what would be his final words. "Take care of them Ingrid."

I felt numb and empty inside. Still I had to get some help with this bite or I too would die and I wasn't ready for that. I had no choice but to leave my brother and come back for him later. Because of the snow I couldn't see too far in front of me. I could only hope I was walking relatively close to civilization. I walked and walked until I could feel the fuzziness in my head spread throughout my body. My knees gave out and my vision was blurry. The last thing I remember was the sound of horse's hooves.

I dreamt of the war. All of my brothers fought except for Lukas and I helped out where I could. Gunnar always wrote me letters when he could. Sometimes they would be pages and other times just scraps of paper briefly saying that everyone was okay. None of them were the same when they came back, not even Jon who before didn't seem to have an ounce of serious in his body. War changes a man.

I awoke in an unfamiliar room that was empty at the moment but I heard voices elsewhere in the house. I noticed I had been changed and my shoulder was bandaged. "Good to see you're awake you had quite the fever." I moved to get out of bed and he went to stop me, "I have to go my brother's out there in this." I was able to stand so I started the search for my boots and cloak. "You are in no condition-"I cut him off "I cannot leave him out there he will die!" My voice got louder with each word, "I don't care about me. I cannot, no will not sit around here while he dies out there." "I will go," a low voice from the doorway said. "Follow the broken branches and tell him Ingrid sent you," I said giving up the hunt and deciding to let this tall stranger handle this. He was probably more capable than me anyways. I still couldn't help but worry and the doctor seemed to notice this. "You have nothing to worry about, Connor will bring him back."

"You're fever is down and the bite should be fine as long as you change the bandage frequently and apply some of this salve." I thanked him and he left the room leaving just Diana to keep me company. I heard some commotion down stairs and whipped out bed before Diana could stop me. I saw Lukas okay and breathed out a sigh of relief. He looked worried and a frown came upon his face when he saw me. "What happened? I was worried when you guys never came back, nearly shot him," he said pointing to Connor. As weak as Lukas was physically he was a damn good shot with a gun. "Well come down here than girl if you two are going to speak. I don't want you yelling across the damn house!" This was said by an old black man leaning on a cane. I made my way down the stairs as quickly as I could which resulted in me tripping on the final stair. I braced myself for the impact of the wooden floor but did not feel it. Instead I felt a strong pair of arms catch me, it was Connor. I quickly composed myself thanking him quietly. Ignoring the pain it caused my wound I wrapped Lukas in a hug and felt him return it. "Come have some tea and warm up," Diana started fussing over Lukas now. I followed them to the next room and sat next to Lukas at the table. "Ingrid you have to tell me what happened. Where's Gunnar?" My brother's name caused the tears to come back. "He was attacked, outnumbered by a large pack of wolves. I tried to help but I got attacked too! He lost too much blood and there was nothing I could do but watch him die," I couldn't continue and this time I didn't quell the sobs.

I was woken by a light knocking on the door. It opened revealing Diana she had a parcel and busied herself changing my bandage. Her parcel contained a dress from one of the other woman at the homestead. "Now it might be a bit big and long but we'll get you fixed up properly later." I told her I could handle taming my hair, I'm sure she has better things to do than detangle the nest atop my head. I was able to run the brush through it fairly well and ended up braiding it in a single braid the way my mother taught me.

It seemed Diana was intent on showing me to where I was needed so I just followed her. Now that I had a chance to look around about I noticed how beautiful this house was. We reached what looked like a study and I noticed Lukas sitting in a chair across from Achilles. "Thank you very much Diana. You may return home now I'm sure Terry will be glad to see you." I took a seat next to my brother and tried to get a sense of what they'd been talking about before Diana and I came down. "I'm going to get right to the point and it would be best to be truthful with me. It would be a shame to waste each other's time. Are you a Templar?" Achilles asked giving me stare that said only one answer was correct. That was when I put it together, "Wait you guys are Assassins aren't you? I thought that symbol on your belt looked familiar." Connor made a noise from his corner of the room. "May I ask how you know of the Brotherhood? It's not something most people have common knowledge of. We tried asking your brother but he was adamant you were present." Lukas looked a little guilty, "That's because I know more about this then he does. We know of the Brotherhood because our grandfather was an Assassin and our father was supposed to be one as well. My older brothers have always been interested in joining but we've never had the contacts to find any Assassins here." We had been looking for quite a while only to stumble upon them by chance. It almost seemed too good to be true.

Achilles seemed relieved, he told us about the state of the brotherhood here and how it was currently being rebuilt. "The addition of your brothers would be a great asset." Connor had left after we were deemed safe and most importantly not Templars. To be honest I was glad, the stare the Native had been giving us was unsettling and that of a predator eyeing prey. In a way I understand, this was his home and he was merely protecting it. "Now as for your living arrangements you are more than welcome to stay in the manor for as long as you want. You may also build a place of your own on the land, this is a prosperous community. Or you may leave when your wounds heal if you wish." He looked to me and I had no answer at first. "We'll stay." Lukas smiled and that was how I knew I made the right choice. The poor boy had never had a stable living environment and he deserved it more now than ever. We finally would have a home.