It was a gloomy evening, as if the heavens had decided to set the mood. The ground was still soggy and air still moist from a December's rain.

The journey had been one of aching emptiness and silence. Mother still had not spoken. Annette and Ezio had shared only a few words.

They should be arriving any minute, as the caddy had estimated they would be there by late evening. Not that it mattered much to him. All he could really think about was breaking the news to his uncle.

His memory of his last visit, a decade ago, was fuzzy, but he remembered fun with Federico, running through the miniature town that laid in front of and beneath his Uncle's mansion...this place would be full of ghosts of his idyllic past.

"Halt!" Ezio heard from a distant voice, the first male voice he had heard in a while. The carriage complied. Was this a good sign, or bad one? If it was bandits, he had mixed feelings on dying at this point. If they were men guarding Mario's villa, they showed he had tight security, something that was probably opportune right now. So a good sign, he decided morosely.

What a turn his life had taken that he was thinking in such ways! He had never had thoughts so grim in his life! And it had all happened so fast.

A gruff looking character was the first to come into view, with greasy, unkempt hair and battle axe. He inspected the passengers briefly with stern eyes, then turned to an unseen accomplice.

"You recognize them?" Security. He loosened a bit in relief, and actually did feel a trace pleasure in the realization.

Another set of feet approached. And he revealed himself to be a large man with a pencil thin mustache and slicked back hair. He began the encounter with the same quizzical eyes, but they quickly widened in epiphany.

"Maria? Annette? Ezio?"

"Uncle Mario?" He had not seen him in many years.

"Yes!" the man said with an explosion of brightness, spreading his arms joyfully. "You made it out of Florence, safe! Welcome!"

So he knew already? Odd.

Mario heartily beckoned them out. Ezio rose from his seat, and jumped back down onto the ground after five hours of sitting. He wondered how Mario would react to his mother's muteness.

The man looked him in the eyes: "I heard what happened in Firenze. Terrible news. My men have been onguard, as you can see." Too bad his immediate family had not had their own private army. "But I will gladly provide you quarter. Come." He pointed ahead, towards the arched portal in a tall stone wall that protected his grand home. As the boy proceeded, Mario gave Ezio a hard, and somewhat unwelcome, clap on the back.

Despite being Giovanni's brother, he did not seem nearly as devastated as Ezio. Or maybe he just did an admirable job of keeping collected, something Ezio was very much struggling to do. Or maybe he was hardened to, or expectant of these kind of events.

As they walked, Ezio began to speak. "So you got the news already? So quickly? Do you plan to tell me what this is all about?"

"There is much to tell, nipote. If I were to unload it all upon you now, you would think me a mad man."

That tact, Poala's also, was getting annoying. "I am going to have to find out sooner or later," the boy said indignantly

"Best you see for yourself what we face. Our enemies are powerful men."

"I gathered," Ezio said tersely. They had gotten a noble man arrested and turned his best friend upon him.

"Men seeking conquest at all costs." Strange, vague words.

"And then who are we?"

"The resistance," Mario said simply. More vague generalities when the boy needed something to anchor onto more than ever! It was frustrating

The other mercenaries, no less rugged in appearance, began parting from the portal to make way for the guests.

"Does our enemy have a name?" Ezio said, almost sardonically.

"The Templars," Uncle Mario said simply.

"The Templars?" Ezio repeated with confusion. The moniker sounded familiar, but if he recalled correctly they were a medieval knighthood.

"Yes. History says they were disbanded centuries ago. But in truth they were simply driven underground, where they continue their nefarious work."

Nefarious work? What could a crusader army want with his family. And Florence?

But probing the subject was useless, he had learned. This would all come together eventually...when his 'superiors' saw it fit.

"Uberto Alberti. Do you know of him? He betrayed us. He had evidence of my fathers innocence and squandered it."

Rather than answering the question, Mario simply said, "The Templars can turn anyone."

Templars. These were truly surreal circumstances. His entire whimsical existence had been ripped away from him, and he had been rudely placed in the middle of a war. A war that seemed extremely bizarre.

And then they crossed through the portal and were inside the villa walls. It was a congested, and admittedly somewhat run down, miniature town that lied within. Most of the buildings were touching, wooden planks lied on the streets, and a few doors were boarded up. But the few people walked the streets seemed to be in decent dress and health. Puddles remained from the earlier rain.

It was not a beautiful place, but ten years ago he had come here in an entirely different affect, with the company of his father, and his brothers. Whom he would never see again.

"I know what you must be thinking. This place has seen better days. But I think you will find much to like in Monterrigoni." He gestured to the black smith's shop. "These are honest, hardworking people. Our shops may only carry simple goods, but they are well made, and dependable."

The stairs to the manor were visible. One staircase forking around a fountain and ascending as two.

"Did you know the Villa Auditorre is almost two-hundred years old?" the old man continued. The history lesson hardly interested Ezio. "It was built by my great-grandfather. A strange man who carried all kinds of secrets. Keep your eyes opened, and you might discover a few of them yourself."

They made it to the manor level. It looked little better than the rest: viney walls, cracked, unpainted brick. But it was grand in size.

"With all the fighting that's been going on, it has been starting to get a little rough around the edges. But I just don't have the time or money to fix things up, guess that's life, eh?"

Again the old man's words gave Ezio little interests. It was what he said next that carried some weight. "Please, let me show you inside."