Chapter 5: There She Goes Again

Teresa awoke to the sound of people chattering and a fire crackling. She rubbed her eyes with her fists and yawned. She removed herself from her bed and made her way towards the fireplace. All of the senior assassins were sitting around the table drinking tea and talking among themselves. Teresa quickly got dressed in her torn up mess of fabric she called a cloak. She pulled her hood up to hide her tired face.

"Oh, well look who is up finally." Gemma announced as Teresa walked towards them silently.

"Well how'd you sleep? Oh, did the monsters keep you up? Maria said with a chuckle.

Ugh, Maria. No one in the guild particularly liked her because she was so rude and cruel to the others. She thought that just because she was thirty, older than every other assassin that she could boss them around. Well she was wrong, because she was one of the most horrible assassini that Teresa had ever seen. She could barely run from Isola Tiberina to the Pantheon. She was pathetic.

Elda and Gemma walked away from the rest of the assassins and headed towards their younger friend.

"Is that the way you talk to your superior Maria?" Gemma retorted. "She is Maestra after all isn't she? Oh, and isn't she the person that saved you from getting killed by Borgia guards and brought you here?"

Every word that Gemma directed towards Maria got her angrier and angrier. Her face showed pure hatred towards the three younger women standing in front of her. Teresa flashed a smile and walked towards the ladder. She started to climb when she felt someone grab her foot and pull on it hard.

She fell off the ladder and landed on her back with a "thump". She got up and turned to face her attacker. Of course, it was Maria.

"This doesn't have to happen like this," Teresa scolded. "You could just walk away now and admit defeat."

"Like I would listen to a sniveling little baby like you."

"I shall teach you some respect."

It wasn't uncommon for Maria to start fistfights, especially with other senior warriors. The last time she started a fight, the other girl walked away with a black eye, blood nose, and broken fist.

Teresa ducked a punch that was aimed at her face. She swung right back, and her fist connected with Maria's jaw. Maria stumbled and fell back into one of the chairs behind her. Teresa ran at her and started pummeling Maria's stomach. With every punch she would jerk, and her eyes became clouded with pain. Finally, Maria was able to strike back and landed a punch on her opponent's face. Furious that she left a whole in her defense, Teresa shoved her opponent to the floor and jumped on top of her. She pounded away on Maria's once unmarked face.

"This…should…teach…you to…..respect…your…..superior!" Teresa panted as she removed herself from the beaten and bloody woman. She climbed up the ladder and headed to Marco's workshop.

/

She knocked gently on the tailor's door. She heard a muffled "Come in" and walked into his workshop. Her lip was bleeding and a black and blue was appearing on her cheek.

"What have you done now?" he said, in his soothing gentle voice.

"Maria was making a mockery of me and I had to stop her." She replied.

"Come, sit here and I will fix you up."

"All of a sudden you're a doctor now?"

" Uh, no, but when I was younger I got into a lot of fist fights myself and I would always try to hide it from my parents. So eventually I figured out how to clean myself up without my parents knowing. I don't think your father would be too happy if he found out."

"When you were younger? You're only twenty one. Oh and he will find out when he sees her. She looks like she got trampled by a horse." Teresa chuckled as she sat down on the stool.

Marco finished rummaging through his workbench and found his medicine bag. He grabbed a piece of cloth and some rubbing alcohol. He cleaned her lip for her, and examined her eye.

"That should heal up in a few days. It just takes time. "

"Grazie Marco." She said as she slid off of the stool.

"Wait, I have something for you. Don't move" and with that he ran into the back room. Finally he came back with a folded set of robes in his arms. He unfolded them and held it up to the light.

"Marco! They are beautiful! And just like father's." she stated, her eyes glowing with joy.

"Now take them and go try the on. If they don't fit, come back and I will fix it. Oh, and if you ever want the color changed just come see me."

Teresa took the robes from his hands and rapped the man up in an enormous hug. She ran out of the room and into one of the bathing rooms to change.

/

She smiled and looked at her reflection in the mirror. The robes had a snug fit and were tight against her body, but loose enough for movement. Teresa left the room and headed once again to her quarters. As she climbed down the ladder she heard, "Ezio! Get out of here! This is the women's' quarters!"

Teresa turned around to face Elda and Gemma. They stared in awe as she lowered her hood.

"How do I look?" she asked the two girls.

"Fabulous! They are beautiful." Elda cried out.

The only difference was that there was no lacey collar on her outfit. Finally she could look different from the rest of the recruits. Even though she was offered the robes of the guild members, she refused. She hated the actual assassins of the guild had red robes with white detail. She wanted the original and that is what she received.

Teresa walked towards the sword rack and removed her schiavona and put it in her sheathe. She proceeded to grab throwing knives, smoke bombs, and two cindequas. She put everything in its place and crossed the room to her bed. Teresa grabbed her bracers, bullets and crossbow along with her poison darts and poison vials.

"I'm going to take a walk. Would you two care to come?" Teresa questioned.

Both girls exchanged wide grins, and headed to the weapons rack.