I was forced to remain in bed for a couple days while various nurses fluttered about, tending to my arm. I thought about Altair a lot because I hadn't seen him since he had kissed me and told me I was ready for some sort of mission. To my great relief, Jabir came to visit me with a huge grin across his face.

"Hey," he greeted with a chuckle. "You look good in five miles of bandages."

"I can definitely pull this look off on a daily basis!" I laughed and it felt really good, I hadn't laughed in a long while. Jabir chuckled along with me and sat on the edge of my bed.

I asked, "So, how are things going?"

"Fairly well, actually. The Master has agreed to forgive and forget this entire incident and allow me to live here in Masyaf," he said happily.

"That's good. I'm so relieved to hear that. Will you train to be an assassin?" Jabir's smile faded and I regretted the question. The answer was so obvious.

"No. There are too many painful memories that would go along with that training. I'm just going to live a simple life as a villager. Oh, don't look so glum! This is probably going to be the best thing that's ever happened to me, aside from meeting you of course."

A smile crept back onto both of our faces and we both subconsciously agreed to change the subject. I brought up how he would go about his life as a normal villager and, to my relief, he cheerfully kept talking. Having Jabir here helped me more then he thought; his words kept me from focusing on my own depressing thoughts. Just him at my side warmed the air around me and drained all the sorrow and worry from the atmosphere. I was aware that the other people resting in the infirmary were listening to my friend talk of the people, the fruit stalls, Cala and her kitchen, and the children running around in the streets. I smiled and slowly drifted to sleep.

~*~*~*~*~

I sprinted through the door. My heart thumped so hard, my chest burned like it was on fire. I tripped on the rug. Wait, a rug? What was that doing in the middle of the infirmary? I gasped as I realized I wasn't in a place of healing, but my own living room. I stood up but my knees buckled and I collapsed once more. The couch caught my fall with its soft cushions and I fell asleep there.

"Katie? Honey, how was the dance?" a familiar voice asked as someone shook me awake. For some reason, the pain in my arm was gone. "How did your costume get all dirty? Come on now Kate, you should probably take it off before your father gets home."

I shot up with a sharp gasp. "Mom!"

She chuckled and said, "Yes, it's me. You sound surprised. Were you expecting your brother to wake you up?"

"No, it's just, didn't you miss me at all?"

"Well of course. But it was only a high school dance; I knew you'd be home soon."

"What?!" I cried sharply. Only a high school dance? I'd been gone over two months not longer! I'd been training as an assassin! I'd saved Jabir! I'd fallen in love…

I gasped when I realized that being here with my mom wasn't a dream, I was actually home lying on the couch. Time must have slowed when I was transported to Jerusalem. Wait…if I was back home, then I wasn't in the infirmary…ALTAIR! Oh no! No, no, no, no, NO! I jumped up and raced out the door, leaving my mom confused and calling for me. My heart beat wildly with the fear of not finding the thing that could take me back to the past. I just couldn't lose the things that I loved, even if it meant leaving my family behind. Please, please let me find it! Please?

The day was starting to fade away into dusk and I decided to stop searching for an assassin's weapon, knowing I had to find shelter of some sort. I looked around and found myself in a ghetto part of the city that I wasn't familiar with. I figured I would be fine being that I was loaded with weapons. The only thing that could harm me was a gun, which was what I was really worried about. From what I heard when I was in high school, people around these parts were druggies, gang members, and all those other 'bad influences' so I kept my guard up.

I finally found I small abandoned alley to rest in for the night. The most I did was close my eyes for a few minutes before I got up and started pacing. The gun shots that echoed through the area made me jump each time and eventually, I became too wound up with nervousness to sit down. The noises would die down and I would go back to resting before they started up again. It continued like that until sunrise, when I started searching once again.

Three days came and went, and I never found anything like what I looked so hard for. I slid down the side of a garbage bin and sobbed. Why did I have to meet Altair in the first place?! Why did I get transported back in time?! I truly thought the world had turned its back on me. It tore me away from the world and the person I just now realized I needed the most. I wanted to make his day brighter just like he did when he kissed me. I-I wanted to be with him always, to keep him company and to help with his burdens. Why was it now, that I was gone, that I finally listened to what my heart had been saying all along?

"Hey kid, it's okay. You'll find a way."

The man's voice startled me into a defensive position, and I raised my gauntlet in front of my face. He chuckled.

"No need, for that. I went back to the time of the Brotherhood too, you know. I know a way back if you'd like to come with me," he said gently, helping me too my feet. The man was rugged and dirty, looking as if he'd been homeless for quite some time. I had a hunch this person was a truthful one, even though he was indeed a hobo I just met moments ago. He brought me to a burn barrel a couple blocks away that he filled with trash and paper that he gathered around the street. The crackling fire chased the chill of the darkness away from me and my companion's bodies.

"Do you know of Al Mualim?" he asked, staring at the flames.

"I've heard a little bit about him, but we have a new Master," I answered.

He raised his finger to his chin and thought for a minute before saying, "This story has quite a bit to do with him and it has everything to do with why we were both sent back in time."