"Mommy, what's tamplers?"
"What's that, sweetums?" the woman asked.
"Tamplers. You was aseep and talk about tamplers." The girl hadn't yet gotten the hang of verb tenses or the 'sl' sound, but her meaning was clear enough.
Oh yes. I did have a bad dream about Templars last night. Must have talked in my sleep. "Templars are..." How best to describe them to a three-year-old? "Templars are people who want to control other people."
"Con troll? Do they live under a bridge like a troll?"
"No, 'control' means... when someone won't let you do what you want."
"Like when Daddy won't let me touch his shiny thing!" The other day she had happened to see Desmond training with his Hidden Blade, and she had wanted to play with it. "Daddy is a tamplers!" She smiled, happy at learning a new word.
"No, that's different. Daddy had to have special training to use the shiny thing, because it's dangerous if you don't know how to use it. He's not a Templar, he just doesn't want you to hurt yourself."
"I want special trains so I can has a shiny thing! Gimme special trains! Special trains now!"
"Okay, okay. Your first training session will be about hiding. I'll close my eyes and count to twenty, and you hide from me. Then I'll try to find you."
"That's not a train! That's the same as hidey seeky!"
"No, in hidey seeky we take turns hiding from each other. But today, you're gonna keep hiding until I can't find you anymore."
"Then I get a shiny thing?"
"Maybe. We'll have to ask Grampa Bill. I'm gonna start counting now, so you better look for a hiding place! Ooone, twoooo, threeee..."
The girl scampered away, eager to prove herself.
Author's note:
This was partly inspired by the following twitter exchange:
acinitiates: If you were Mentor and could change only one aspect of the Assassin Brotherhood, what would it be?
loboboss57: More use of poison and DISCREETLY using the Hidden Blade, don't make it obvious you have a weapon!
assassindark891: that's a good one and i would add that the assassin would once a year try and make pace with the tamplers
RHM724: ERMAGHERD TAMPLERS!
Meanwhile, under a nearby bridge...
"I think the Miles kid might be onto us, sir!"