Author's note: So here it is Chapter 2 of this story...not to pressure I was really upset over the fact that no one reviewed the last chapter last I posted. So I really stress that I wanted people to review cause it means to me that you like the story at least. So if you can please give me your feedback, it's really appreciated. Please enjoy this new chapter.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK ME AND MY FAMILY FOR THIS!" screamed the voice of the distressed delivery girl/boy. Guards arrows zipped past Rhea body as she ran for her life, she was only making a delivery to one of the nobles and she couldn't get in. So Rhea being Rhea, snuck into the house, placed the letter on the study desk and tried to sneak out. Emphasizing on tried, because when she tried to sneak off onto the rooftops Rhea was spotted and they don't even tolerate the messengers.
So for the next thirty minutes Rhea ran for her life, for the third time this week. After a while, Rhea jumped into one of the many convenient hay wagons that were erratically placed around the city. She had no idea why they were there but they came in handy in the quick need of hiding from the hoards of guards. Sitting in the itchy dry grass for a few minutes, the Greek girl checked her messenger bag for missing letters knowing that if Renaldo found out, he'd have her ass. Luckily they were all there, including the extra letters she received from her co-worker Dante who was now spending his day at Sister Theodora's courtesan house screwing his dick off.
Rhea growled at the thought of him slacking off, he did it all of the time. It's hard enough that Venice is split up into six districts and that there only three delivery people that went from house to house. Sighing and seeing that the coast was clear, Rhea hopped out of the cart and onto the street. The cobble stones shaped the soles of her boots, modeling them into the cracks between the stones. Every feel, every scent of the city, she loved it, except for the smell of the drunkards that were littered around the city.
As she walked around the city, Rhea reached Leonardo's house with the sun lighting up the city more and more. Birds sang and flew around the few trees by the big building that was the artist's work shop. Being that it was morning the door was locked; Rhea cursed to herself because she had left her only key back at home in the rush to get ready. She circled the workshop until she found an open window; Rhea took a few steps back and charged at the wall. Once her right foot came in contact with the wall, Rhea used the momentum she had gathered and used it to push herself up the wall and to catch onto the ledge of the windowsill. Heaving herself up, Rhea climbed through the window headfirst and pulled her legs in.
Flipping over to land on her feet, Rhea landed on the top self of a rack that held hundreds of ideas and concepts for experiments before jumping off to land on the floor. The workshop was still dark and lifeless, signifying that Leonardo was still asleep. Rhea walked over the stove in the corner of the main room and stoked the fading fire from the night before. Usually the Greek girl would come over to every morning she could and cook breakfast for the two of them, and then Rhea would go off to the rest of her devilries for the day.
"Good morning Rhea, it has always surprised me how early you get up and get here to make me breakfast. I feel that you are a guardian angel sent from the heavens just to feed me." Leonardo serenaded to the girl in man's clothing.
"Leonardo, you are an example of a man who has a heart of art and literature. It's too bad that other men don't follow your example by going off giving a woman sweet words before fucking her." Rhea replied heating a pan then pouring some olive oil into it and going to gather eggs, bread and tomatoes. After the pan was hot Rhea cracked the eggs and poured them into the pan to cook. Leonardo chuckled quietly to himself at the woman's vulgar response, as usual.
"Rhea, would you mind cooking extra food? I had a friend of mine stayed the night and he is probably going to gripe like a spoiled child that he didn't get any food." Leonardo asked setting the tiny table he had for three people. Rhea only sighed and got more ingredients for the new person. After the tomatoes were chopped into slices and the eggs were scraped off the pan and the slices replaced them, another man walked down the stairs and slowly walked to over Leonardo without even noticing Rhea. Usually, Rhea wouldn't stare but this time she did. What he wore gave her memory shock to the core; he wore the assassin's attire except his was flashier with its red and white coloring.
Ezio was tired beyond belief; he had gone through the last of the assassin crypts late last night after helping the mercenaries out. Fighting guards, going through an exhausting crypt, and even being attacked by this giant octopus or squid from the depths was just taking its toll on the young man. Maybe today he would go to Sister Theodora's for some lovely company. He sat at the table for a few minutes, talking to Leonardo for a while, before feeling that a set of extra eyes were watching him. With his hood down, the assassin turned to see a young boy look at him from the kitchen. The kid was tall but really skinny under those baggy clothes. Once the kid noticed that Ezio was looking back, he went back to cooking breakfast for all of them. Ezio looked at the kid some more before turning back to Leonardo.
"Leonardo, who is that piccolo del normale? I've never seen him here before." Ezio yawned rubbing his face with his hand to remove the sleepiness from his eyes.
"That's Allocco; s-he's the fastest runner of all of Venice and one of Renaldo's delivery boys. He comes here every morning to make breakfast for the both of us since he's shooed out of the house every morning." Leonardo answered, leaning back when "Allocco" set the plates of fried eggs and tomatoes at each place and a basket of sliced bread in the middle of the table. Rhea sat, and not wasting anytime so she could make her deadlines, began eating after muttering a one worded prayer. Ezio only looked at this kid, so he was the fastest man of all of Venice. This surprised the assassin for the kid was tiny in the terms of bulk; he looked like he had no muscle at all.
"So Allocco, you work with Renaldo? He's a good friend of my family." Rhea only gave him a glance before placing an egg and a tomato on a slice of bread and eating it pretty quickly. "Actually I have no idea where he lives, maybe you could tell me?" This time Rhea ignored him only to give a glance to Leonardo a look to answer for her.
"Renaldo lives in the Central part of the city, and his home is also where the delivery center along with the flower shop his wife owns." Leonardo interjected for Rhea. She sent him a glance of thanks before getting up and placing her plate in the wash bin after she wolfed down her small breakfast. Ezio watched as the two gave silent good-byes and the exchanging of a hug. When Rhea walked out of the workshop, Leonardo waved for Ezio to come to the door.
When Ezio reached to door frame Rhea was already in the middle of the square, the kid scanned the roof for a place where there were no archers. Ezio's jaw nearly dropped when Rhea bolted straight for one of the walls of a house, Leonardo wasn't kidding when he said Allocco was the fastest person in Venice. Allocco ran up a bit of the wall before using his arms to pull himself up and bolt of towards the northwest. Leonardo said some words before returning inside to finish his breakfast; Ezio did the same now thinking about asking Renaldo if he could help him with something.
Rhea ran fast to make her next delivery spot, the wind pushing her along the rooftops with such ease and grace. Her braid whipped behind her as she leapt over a large canal, nearly falling in Rhea managed to pull herself up and continue running. Ezio, it was Ezio from Florence the boy who had helped her along with his brother. The boy who thought it was a good idea to somewhat hit on a six year old. He had grown up blessed, unlike her. Leonardo had told her that he was twenty five when they talked about friends that the other hadn't met. That was a seven year difference, not that she was counting for certain things, she was just curious.
The way he moved, it was very similar to Giovanni and her father Stephan, it was the movement of an assassin. Rhea could only be jealous; she was never allowd the way of the assassin's blade. Even in the afterlife, her father forbade it. But the skills of speed were in her blood, and that was good enough for now.
After three long hours of running around Venice, Rhea was tried and hadn't had lunch yet. But she did have one last delivery and it would reward her with food and a good chat. Now in the richest district in the city, Rhea walked over to the edge of a roof top closest to one of the many canals and jumped off to land on a balcony. The thud of her landing alerted the person who sat next to the window, and the opening window revealed a pretty blonde haired girl in the finest of dresses meant for casual wear.
"Afternoon Amelia; I have a letter from you-know-who." Rhea lowered her voice to a whisper, incase Amelia's father walked in. Amelia giggled at the childishness of the Rhea and sat on a bench by the window sill, taking the letter in her right hand.
"From Alonzo I see. Well I guess I'll have to read and answer it as fast as possible. But right now, how are you my cross dressing friend?" Amelia answered with an accent heavily laced with French heritage. Rhea was going answer when her stomach did it for her; Amelia broke out in laughter when Rhea blushed sheepishly. "I see your stomach is screaming for food, hold on a minute." Rhea watched as Amelia walked to her door and summoned a maid. Rapid French was exchanged between master and servant before Amelia returned to the bench, when finally situated Amelia smoothed out her skirt of any wrinkles.
"How was your day today? Did you have another voice lesson?" Rhea asked getting comfortable on the sill.
"My day was good, and yes I did have another lesson with my mother. You know how she is about my voice and singing lesson. We must practice or else you shall sound like a yowling cat in heat," Amelia answered, imitating her mother haughty voice and attitude. Rhea laughed at this and Amelia joined in the fits of giggles. This was probably one of the only times Rhea felt like a true girl, other than working in the flower shop. The girls continued to chat until Rhea's small plate of bread and a piece of beef came up. Amelia talked about how her stepfather was acting and other things as Rhea ate her lunch, and when finished Rhea talked about this morning.
"So the boy from Florence, he's here and all grown up. Wow that must have been exciting. Did he recognize you at all?" Amelia asked intrigued by this new information, being that she was a girl and she loved to hear rumors and other things.
"No he didn't, he actually thought I was a boy with the help with Leonardo. My god, do I really look that much like a lanky boy?" Rhea exclaimed, putting her face in her hands and screaming silently in frustration.
"Well, let us look at the whole picture. You run around in boy's clothing, you curse like a sailor, and you have no breasts, nor an ass. So yes I can see why one would mistake you for a boy. But at least you have one thing most girls do not; a body of strength that none of use noble girls could ever dream of." Amelia chuckled while braiding a strand of her straw colored hair. There she went again, prodding at Rhea's weak spot, her looks; she wanted to look like any regular girl that had a body full with good flesh. But Rhea must have lost it by running around so much and burning flabby fat from her tall body, and add on to the fact that Rhea was as almost as tall as the average man. Oh Amelia liked to poke and prod at this unblessed girl. Rhea sneered to herself, preparing for a comeback before her friend unleashed a fit of powerful coughs.
"Amelia don't strain yourself, rest your lungs for once." Rhea cautioned, helping her friend sit up. Amelia couldn't respond; only with more coughs. Rhea knew that Amelia had a lung disease that was greatly triggered by moisture in the air. Amelia's mother, Andrea, had fought with her husband for months about moving to Florence to help her precious daughter. But all was futile; the man would not budge for his job was too important to him than his step-daughter's health.
After Amelia got her composure back, she ushered Rhea to before anyone else came, especially her step-father. Rhea nodded and climbed up the outer wall onto the roof tops to her next stop before home. Sister Theodora's house of pleasures.
Rhea stood at the back entrance of the courtesan house; giggles, moans, alcohol, and heavy perfume flooded out from the back door alone. Theodora spoke to Rhea about what was going to happen tonight.
"So you will bring one of your girls to have her hair weaved with flowers, and then you will pick which types of flowers you want for you next order, correct?" Rhea asked making a mental checklist, and also counting the things on her fingers. Theodora nodded her head in reply, before continuing the conversation.
"Do you want me to bring another girl along so we could have a separate opinion, or not." She asked the Greek girl.
"No, bring a man. His opinion will be more trustworthy, believe me men seem to know what they want. I doesn't matter who but it must be a person with some sort of a penis." Rhea ordered, adjusting her leather bag.
"Oh you talk so vulgarly Rhea, I wonder, are you ready to become a real woman now?" A husky male voice sounded from the door frame. The man stood loomed over Rhea with brown eyes filled with satisfied but growing lust, his shirt was loose and untucked from his loose pants.
"Dante, I don't think little Rhea is planning to lose her virginity anytime soon. Now go finish your appointment before Rhea castrates you." Theodora answered before Rhea could beat the living shit out of Dante. Dante sighed and went back to his mewling courtesan. Theodora saw the anger that laced Rhea face. "You shouldn't put on an angry face or you will wrinkle prematurely piccola."
"Sorry, it just pisses me off that he dumps all of his work on me, just to sit around having sex and screwing someone." Rhea spat at the spot Dante was just standing at with the most disgust she could muster. The courtesan house owner only rolled her eyes; Theodora motioned for Rhea to follow into the brothel. The scent of heavy perfume engulfed Rhea's nose with so much for she had to stifle her sneezing greatly. Theodora went to a drawer, and pulled out a stack of old letters that were yellowed from age.
"These are for you, but don't open them until it is the anniversary of that day. Until then have Renaldo lock them up from your curious hands alright." Rhea nodded and gently took the letters. No more words were exchanged, only silent goodbyes. As Rhea walked to the main room of the brothel, she spotted Dante with his arms around two women in their usually courtesan attire. Rhea had no hate for the women in this profession; she actually looked at them with amazement of how they could bring a man under their spell. She just hated the men who fell for them, especially Dante.
The assassin walked through the entrance of Theodora's brothel to find a bit of a surprise. It was Allocco, the assassin had thought that the boy seemed a bit stingy to come here, but here he was glaring at another man who smugly had his well muscled arms around two women.
"Allocco, it's a bit of a shock to see you here." Rhea's head snapped to see Ezio next to her, the only thing that surprised her was the fact that he was here now. She nodded her head and began to walk away to freedom; that was until Dante opened his mouth. The other delivery boy noticed that Ezio thought that Rhea was a man. Oh boy he was going to enjoy this.
"Ezio mi amigo, I didn't know that you knew little Allocco," Dante smiled devilishly, and from of the tone of his voice made Rhea stop in her tracks. She whipped around to watch what hell this man was going to cause. "You see, poor Allocco is only eighteen years old and has never bedded with any woman before. But there is another problem, he doesn't have enough money to spend a night with these beautiful sisters and he is also awfully shy. Do you think you can spare my little friend a little money to have a fun night?" The twenty two year old man asked bringing the girls he had closer to him causing a fit of giggles to emit from them.
Rhea's cheeks flared with anger and utter embarrassment, her ice eyes burned holes into Dante's head until she felt Ezio's eyes on her. She turned her head to see him give him a smile that said, "Oh course I give this poor boy some money, he needs this night,". Rhea's angered cheeks flushed with utter embarrassment and she whipped her head back at Dante to see him smirking at her. This was the payback for all pranks she and Alonzo pulled on him.
'Shit I have to get out of here!' Was the only thing that sped through Rhea's mind as she tried to walk past Ezio, but fate was against her now, Ezio grabbed her arm.
"Allocco, don't tell me that your chickening out. Come on your going to have a fun time trust me." Ezio told her, he began to pull her to the desk where the men would pay for a girl. Rhea tried to pull away, but she soon figured that Ezio thought that since she was being defiant that "Allocco" was shy. Not wasting any more time, and just as Theodora was walking into the main room with one of her newest girls, Rhea tapped Ezio on the shoulder to get his attention back on her.
Ezio looked back at Allocco to see what he wanted, but all he got was a fist to his face. Ezio let go of the kid's arm, angered that he would do that and reached for him again to teach the kid a lesson.
Rhea saw that Ezio was grabbing for her again, so she reacted with the training she had received with the caravan. The Greek girl swung up her leg to Ezio's face, hitting his ear. And when he actually got a hold of her, she flipped him over her back, throwing him on a table that fell apart under Eizo's bulk weight. Seeing the damage was completed Rhea noticed the silence in the brothel, everyone was staring at her in shock. Especially the girls who knew her well, but Dante was the only person who started laughing.
"Wow Allocco, I didn't know you'd reac-" SLAP, that was the only sound that echoed in the entire room. Rhea's hand was still up for she had slapped him so hard; she hoped his eyes would pop out.
"Fucking Μπάσταρδος." Rhea growled, storming out of the brothel and running back home as if Hades's hounds were at her heels. Dante only rubbed his cheek where Rhea had actually managed to scratch him along with the slap. The two girls left him alone to help Ezio up from his fall.
"What the hell is his problem? Does he even like women?" Ezio asked getting up slowly, gently touching his jaw were the fist had come in contact with.
"Sorry for the trouble Ezio, it's just fun to mess with him. He's like a girl, very touchy about things, and very pretentious. With the way things are going; the kid is never going to lose the virginity." Theodora spoke; conversation started back up in the whore house, she stood a good few feet away from the door. "How about you go get yourself help by some of the girls for a while, but please come back a little bit after dark and I desperately need your help." Ezio complied, letting Dante's girls whisk him away for some good healing and relaxation.
Steam rolled around the room as Rhea sat in the bath tub made from the bottom half of a giant wine barrel. Today was probably the most stressful day she had in years, and all she wanted right now was for the bubbles to make her worries to float away. Her mane of hair was pulled into a tight bun as Rhea sank deeper into the concoction of flowery perfumes and oils to make her smell of vanilla, honey and roasted almonds. It was her favorite smell out of all the oils and perfumes her step-mother Lisa had bought, the scent was absorbed into her olive tan skin as she stayed in the water longer thinking about everything.
Rhea had told Renaldo about what had happened at Theodora's, and now all she was hearing was the booming voice of Renaldo chewing out Dante for dumping his work on Rhea and for also almost disgracing her at the brothel. She only smiled as she scrubbed her body with soap and then the scented oil before stepping out. Rhea wrapped herself in a dry crisp white towel and pulled the cork to let the bath drain. The water flowed down the tile to the grate where it would end up in the sewers.
Rhea walked up the back stairs to her room to get into her dress; Lisa had wanted her to work the flower shop tonight after her long bath. Dante passed her with a scowl on his face and the pretty little scratches to match. She laughed to herself and walked into her room to finish drying to dress. After slipping the dress over her under clothing, Rhea wrapped a apron over her skirt showing her only curve that finally seemed to be growing, now if only her chest would follow suit. With a brush, the Greek girl untied her bun; letting that mass of curls flow to her back and reach to the edge of the girl's butt and ran it through to get out all of the tangles.
Once done and her bangs pulled back from her face, Rhea walked down the front stairs and outside to the flower basins, night was falling and the city was bustling with the sounds of oncoming summer parties. Lisa was inside enjoying a romantic dinner with Renaldo, as Rhea stayed outside tending to the flowers and sitting on a stool and busying herself with a wreath made up of some vines and intertwining tiny daisies and other wild flowers. Little noble girls went nuts for these kinds of things, making them feel like a princess waiting for their dashing knight in shining armor. A childhood opportunity Rhea missed out on. People who whispered to themselves as a trio walked up to Rhea from behind; and she had a very good idea who two of the three were.
Rhea turned around to greet Sister Theodora and the new girl Cecilia with a good greeting, but her face nearly dropped when she saw the "penis" that the brothel owner was to bring. It was the fucking assassin. Trying to shake off her anger, Rhea smiled and greeted all three of them to the best of her ability.
"Sister, Cecilia it's good to see you two. It's been a while hasn't it? Who is this man you've brought with you?" Rhea asked slightly smiling to hide her anger, knowing that the older woman would catch it. All the Greek girl wanted to do was to forget the womanizer in front of her, fucking examining her like a piece of fresh meat. Doing her best, Rhea had Cecilia sit on another stool in front of her and untied the cat buns. Wavy light brown hair spooled around the 15 year old's figure as it was brushed out. And during this time Sister Theodora introduced Ezio to Rhea before looking at the flowers for her arrangements.
"Sister Theodora, pick the flowers you think will look great for this season, then Lisa and I will make the arrangements in about four days." Rhea called over to the brothel owner who examined each flower type carefully.
"So Rhea, Theodora told me that you were to instruct me my purpose for tonight. Would you mind telling me what it is?" He asked with a good amount of suaveness to woo the girl. But it didn't seem to be working; she only looked at him with familiar ice cold eyes.
"Just go find a type of flower that would look good in her hair, it's a new tradition in Sister Theodora's brothel that a girl must have her hair weaved with flowers before her purity is taken. We want her to look irresistible, so please look around." Rhea growled harshly that it seemed that the assassin was literally slapped with her harsh words.
"Please Ezio, choose something wonderful for me. I want to be a symbol of purity and love before my first night is dominated by a wonderful strong man." Cecilia purred to Ezio, seduction dripping off of every word. She seemed to really catch his attention away from the other glaring girl when she flirtatiously pouted and looked up at him with large almond brown eyes. He only smirked with the look and walked off to the flower basins to make the naughty virgin happy. Rhea gave the other girl, who was younger than her by three years a look of shock mixed with a bit of disgust. "What? I am only doing what I do best."
"You girls scare me sometimes and the other times you just aggravate me." Rhea spoke, twisting the light brown bangs back with large groups of hair to create the braided base for the flower to be weaved in. "Now I'm glad that I was raised to be what I am today."
"You mean a pathetic girl who runs around in boy's clothes and will never be laid, not even touched by the most perverted of men for her lack of figure and charm." Cecilia was shut up when Rhea tugged "accidently" too hard on her hair. Rhea glared at this new girl, all of them were either terrified about their first night or turn up their charm and haughtiness to bump up their sexuality. But wait till their first night of sex was over, the scared would be coddled by their forgiving older sisters and the haughty ones left in their rooms to sob until they see that their actions before were stupid.
Sister Theodora came back with a list of what she wanted and orders for Ezio to return Cecilia to the brothel when all of this was done. After she left, Ezio returned with a yellow rose in his hand. Rhea took it and held it up to the back of Cecilia's head, after contemplating about it she handed to flower back without another word. Ezio could feel the tension, though he had no idea why there was any to begin with. But there was a glimmer of hope when she spoke to him.
"There are some daffodils over there, they look like yellow trumpets with light yellow ruffles around them. Please bring nine of them." Rhea asked without any eye contact, focusing on more braids for her Cecilia's hair. Ezio didn't know if to smile or not, because Rhea's tone of voice wasn't harsh at all it seemed a bit happy that he picked something she liked. When he returned with the nine flowers, Cecilia's braids were undone and were now having small white flowers weaved into them. Rhea turned to face him, seeming to sense his presence and took three of the daffodils from his hands. She then cut the long stems to a short length, tying them together with a piece of twine, and then weaving the bunch of yellow flowers on the right side of Cecilia's head.
Ezio continued to watch as Rhea continued her work; she seemed like an artist content with her work and proud of its beauty. With the last strands of hair braided in and the last of the yellow flowers placed, Cecilia looked like a goddess of some sort, with her hair pulled back, and the flowers seem to grow from her hair. Ezio and Rhea noticed that other men, single or married were staring at the courtesan with their fantasies growing.
"Well they seem to like it, thank you Ezio for helping. Oh and before I forget Sister Theodora wanted you to escort Cecilia back to the brothel, for last time we let a girl go back alone she was swarmed by so many men we nearly thought she was raped." Rhea told him picking up the stems that were cut then also grabbing her stools after the soon-to-be courtesan stood and waited for Ezio to leave. Rhea ignored the both of them as she began to put her things away and pack up for the night.
"It was a pleasure meeting you Rhea, I hope when I see Renaldo sometime I can see your pretty face again." Ezio flirted, taking her hand and kissing it like they way a gentleman would. After Rhea tugged her hand back and gave him a look. She said a quite goodbye and returned to the house in which she lived, letting the other people who worked for her step-parents pick up everything else.
Ezio knew what Rhea had said in that glare that she had given him, "Thank you for commenting that I have a pretty face, do you take me for a desperate whore?", she obviously didn't like him but for a reason unknown. Shrugging it off, the assassin walked back with Cecilia to the brothel where Ezio would stay the night. Maybe with a more experienced girl, not the one giving him lustful looks as the two walked on.
Rhea slammed the door to her room with a loud bang and flopped onto her small bed. Why did she have to bring HIM of all people? And especially after what had happened earlier today. Growling, Rhea sat up and grabbed for something to smash, but stopped when her hand registered what was in her hand. The clay sphere that she had kept from all those years ago, Rhea had never opened it even knowing that something was inside. Sighing, Rhea placed the clay sphere in her lap and examined the worn paintings that littered the object. Rhea still had the whistle, but she never wore it for the fact that she was scared to lose such a precious object. Anger still swirled in her mind as Rhea sat there, rubbing the clay sphere in her hands to get the feel of it and to think clearly. The girl had a new disgust for the assassin, and it angered her that he was allowd to go off and fight the templars while she had to abandon her past and go off and run around the city like a headless chicken. 'Stupid letters' Rhea thought as she closed her eyes to concentrate on what to do next.
"Letters!" An epiphany came to the girl as the idea popped into her head. She grabbed a piece of parchment and feather pen, sitting at her desk. She pondered there in her seat as she thought of something to say. Then it came to her after thinking over the day's past events, Rhea scrawled in the most beautifully way she could two words in Greek, and then signing it as Leian. The process next was to fold the letter in an envelope, sealing it with wax and a insignia of a lion then put it through circulation. Rhea chose the lion for a few purposes, Renaldo's family seal was a crane, and the Titan Rhea from legend was protected by a pair of lions. It was a test to see how the assassin would react and also if Ezio would go out and search for "Leian", Rhea grinned evilly at the thought of fucking with the man for the next few weeks to come.
As she got up from her desk, a glass bottle of perfume spilled on to the letter. Cursing she snatched up the letter, set the bottle up right, and waved the letter in the air to dry it off, but it seemed to add to her master plan. It now had the smell of a girl and Rhea knew if a girl liked a man and wanted to seduce them they would spray their best perfumes to make the paper smell "pretty". She smiled to herself as the devious as the plan began to take form and roll into action. Slipping off her gown and apron, Rhea stood there in only her under clothing until she slipped on her night gown and opened her window. As she crawled into bed the wind snuffed the candle out, before the dream land of her fantasies came to life in her clouded mind.
Early the next morning, Ezio walked into the workshop of Leonardo. The artist was up and trying to cook breakfast.
"Leonardo, are you try to do a woman's job? Because if you are, you are failing horribly." Ezio smirked as he took the pan of black food from the smaller man and set it in the wash bin. "Besides what happened to the little punto Allocco?" the assassin hissed in anger, still remembering what had happened yesterday.
"Ah for some reason he's late, but it happens to people. Well you do it yourself, why do you have something for him?" Leonardo asked curious and oblivious of what had happened at Sister Thedora's. Ezio sighed, not wanting to share his embarrassment about the fact of a lanky kid beating his ass. But Leonardo pestered him enough for the assassin to explain and ending up with the artist stifling his laughter as he decoded another codex page.
"Come on Ezio, it could have been worse than that. Plus it's Dante who set it up, the two of them work together and Dante knows all of Allocco's quirks."
"Still he didn't have to flip me over his shoulder and kick the living shit out of me."
"Again Ezio, this is Allocco we are talking about. Plus you had just met the kid yesterday, can't blame him too much." Leonardo was going to continue until the door opened and the person who they were just talking about walked in. Rhea looked up at the two of them as they stared back at her, she defiantly felt Ezio's honey brown eyes glare at her intently for yesterday. God, couldn't he just forget what had happened. Ignoring him, she walked over to Leonardo and handed him his usual art requests and such. Then acting like it was natural, she dug around in her pack until she grabbed the letter that she was looking for.
Ezio gazed at the letter that had a orange lily tied to it was handed to him, it was addressed to him by the symbol of the assassin and Ezio's family seal printed next to the symbol. It smelled of the vanilla flower, defiantly from a woman. Rhea tipped her hat and walked out of the workshop to other deliveries. Ezio watched as the kid ran off again before untying the orange lily off and opening the letter, he noticed the strange symbol of a lion before the parchment inside was revealed. Ezio set the envelope down on the table and unfolded the parchment to only see two words beautifully written in a foreign language to the Italian assassin. Leonardo leaned over the taller man's shoulder to try to see what the letter had said.
"It's Greek." The artist explained seeing the other man's confused expression from under his hood as he circled around to ask for the letter. "Renaldo's step-daughter Rhea taught me. She knows many languages from dealing with many merchants he deals with. She doesn't know how to write in Greek but she knows how to read it and speak it with a perfect accent." Leonardo explained as Ezio handed it to the artist and watch as the face of the shorter but skinny man fell when he read the two words.
"What, what does it say amico?" The assassin asked immediately as he saw his friend's face drop, it kind of scared him to see Leonardo to act that way.
"Ezio, are you sure you want to know?" The assassin nodded warily, so the artist continued. "Ezio I'm guessing that this woman doesn't like you because I know for a fact that an orange lily is a symbol of hate or distaste," Ezio's face showed a little shock at this but kept it solemn, so who cares if one hates him he had plenty to go to, but it got worse. "and the Greek words ρήμ πόρνη means… Ezio this woman called you a man whore."
"WHAT! What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ezio exclaimed, now mad beyond belief, what Allocco had done was out of the picture at this point.
"Well I'm guessing this woman is calling you a whore because you sleep arou-"
"Yes I get the point Leonardo. But why would a woman of all people write this? I don't even think I even know this person." Ezio interjected thinking about the new situation. He already had enough to deal with the assassinations and such but this was adding a migraine to the problem.
"How about you write something back Ezio" The assassin gave a look of "Are you joking?", but the artist continued. "Instead of sitting here, pondering about this mystery woman, why don't you write her back for the answers that you desperately want?" Ezio sat there and soaked in all of what Leo had said, t made sense to an extent. It only worked in the fact that he find out what this person wants.
So after an hour of discussing some things and actually writing the god damn response, Ezio sealed it and gave it to Alonzo, another delivery boy to put through circulation. With the symbol of the lion on the front, surely the author of the first letter would receive it. Disgruntly, the assassin went out to gather information on his next target.
When Rhea returned that afternoon, she was exhausted and happy that the rest of her day was a free day. Well until Lisa would have her help make the arrangements. Setting her pack down, she sifted through some letters to see what was there, and to her surprise a response had come from the assassin. Grabbing it from the stack, Rhea ran up to her room to get changed and read the response. After tying the last of her dress ribbons, Rhea grabbed the letter and sat at the window sill to read with the fresh air blowing in. She laughed at how Ezio demanded why she had written those two words. Seeing how this could turn out to be funny, she wrote back and out the next letter through circulation. This time, she had explained that she had seen him with dozens of women, whores or not, and that it disgusted her that a man would do something like that. Rhea even went to ask f her even had a long term lover. Seeing that the new set was in motion, Rhea left for her chores waiting for the next response.
Over the next few months, Rhea and Ezio had written well over ten times each week. The funny thing was that the letters changed from hostile to actual conversation and the sharing of stories. The only thing that Rhea had revealed to Ezio was that she was the daughter of an assassin, in which opened into letters with six pages written of stories and questions for the other to read an answer. But today Rhea was off running around like usual to send a letter to someone in the rich district then off to the thieves' guild for some important information for Antonio.
Sadly, Rhea was running extremely late and she couldn't go on the roof tops because of the rain, so she weaved through the masses as gracefully as she could. As soon as Rhea reached the edge of the rich district, she ran into someone much larger than her, causing her to fall backwards. Some guards yelled at her for running into their lord in Spanish, but they were shut up by the showing of their master's hand. That same hand reached down to pull her up, taking it Rhea was pulled up but something made her blood run cold.
The man wore a ring with a weird cross, the same cross as the Templars. Rhea looked up at the man's face discreetly only to recognize him on the spot. It was Alejandro from her past, now only older and more powerful. Wanting to get out of his presence, she bowed slightly in respect and tried to run off, but he grabbed a hold of her wrist and held her hand out. Making face palm side up and set a large money pouch in her hand. When he released her hand, Alejandro got a good look at Rhea's face before she bolted from his sight. He smirked to himself; he recognized those terrified ice cold eyes anywhere.
When Rhea reached to the guild, she was panting and she had chucked the money pouch at some minstrels who had tried to stop her. The adrenaline in her blood coursed through her body like while fire and it took a while for the Greek girl to calm down. He was back, and he probably knew. But all Rhea had to do at this point was to keep to the rooftops and herself until that demon was gone. Her train of thought was broken when Rosa greeted her, both girls traded quick words and Rhea gave the thief the package for Antonio. As she ran home for security, Rhea passed a blood drenched assassin.
Translation:
piccolo del normale: little boy
piccola: little girl
Μπάσταρδος: bastard (Greek)
Punto: bastard
Amico: friend
ρήμ πόρνη: man whore