"So this is it, one last chance." Ido said jovially as they walked arm in arm along the edge of the River Tiber together.
"What?" Isabella questioned curiously, turning her head to look at her brother.
He gave her a small smile. "One last chance to ask you to come to Venice with me tomorrow."
Isabella gave a small groan. "Ido, please-"
"I know, I know." He cut through her rebuttal, shaking his head. "I just thought I'd triple check. I didn't quite realise how much I'm going to miss having my baby sister around."
"Well that's an excuse to visit more," Isabella offered, unable to help a small stab of guilt ebbing through her. "And write every week instead of every fortnight."
"I suppose," he replied somewhat wistfully, giving her arm a little squeeze in his own fondly. "It's just not the same, I miss the old days."
A lump formed in her throat at these words, and she kept her gaze on the path ahead.
It was difficult to remember a time when she wasn't plagued by this grief, or when the names Paulo and Ezio weren't in her thoughts. The days when the only man in her life was her brother, and when her mother would constantly insist that eventually she would care about the opinions and actions of the opposite sex, and yet Isabella never believed her.
She was sure her mother was looking down on her now with feelings of fond-smugness, what poetic irony.
"Are you alright?" Ido asked after a small moment, seemingly spurred by her sudden silence.
"I'm fine," she responded automatically, turning to look at him with a semi-stiff smile.
Ido gave a small grimace. "I wish you'd tell me what's wrong dearest, you've been rather off lately."
"Have I?" Isabella replied with a great effort to sound nonchalant. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be."
She'd spent the past week trying to keep a relatively happy air, not wanting to spur a conversation about what had happened between her and Ezio with her brother. It seemed that it was apparently all for nothing.
He raised his eyebrows at her with a look of suspicion. "Isabella, come on."
"I'm fine, honestly." Isabella replied quickly, looking at the path ahead of them rather than at his penetrative gaze. "It's nothing."
He gave a sigh. "Here was me thinking we could talk about anything..."
"We can!" She couldn't help but respond to this rather cheap tactic of guilting the truth out of her. "It's just...not important."
"So there is something?" Ido pressed with infuriating persistence. "What's happened?"
"Oh Ido," she groaned, slumping slightly. "I really don't want to talk about it, it's...embarrassing."
"Oh come on, you must tell me now." His tone was humoured and made Isabella want to shove him into the Tiber.
She knew he wasn't going to drop it now, she regretted saying anything.
"You're going to get angry," she replied, already working up the courage required to talk about her problems again.
"Why?" He sounded a little less amused now. "What's wrong?"
Isabella kept her gaze on the ground as she spoke.
"Do you remember when I told you about Ezio saving me from those guards last week?"
"Yes," Ido replied carefully, his tone careful.
"Well...I...uh..."
"Did the guards do something?" He asked carefully, his voice wavering slightly.
"No!" Isabella replied quickly, unable to help looking up at her brother so he would know she was being truthful. "No, nothing like that."
He heaved a sigh of relief before looking at her quizzically. "Then what?"
"Well...Ezio and I had to hide from them and..." she could feel her face beginning to heat up considerably and turned to look to the river next to them. "And we...he and I, we...almost kissed."
As expected, Ido went silent. Isabella had many memories of her brother reacting negatively to suitors of hers, even Paulo. He was always an overly-protective big brother, and she expected that this would be no different.
"He didn't...force you-?" He asked rather stiffly and Isabella immediately turned to face him with an expression of horror.
"No! Of course not!" She replied rather shrilly. "It just happened in the moment...I...I wanted to kiss him but-"
The heat on her face felt more like a fire now and she struggled to complete the sentence.
"So why the 'almost'?" Ido asked, his voice a little too calm.
"I was just confused so I didn't go through with it," she replied, her voice wobbling somewhat.
"And this is what has been bothering you?" Ido suddenly sounded rather sympathetic, much to the other's surprise. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Because it's embarrassing," Isabella couldn't help but let out a small laugh at herself, though she could feel tears begin to sting her eyes as they had when she had talked this subject over with Claudia. "And it sounds trivial when I say it out loud."
"Oh Isabella," he stopped and turned to her, pulling her into a strong hug. "It's not trivial, I understand. I'm sorry."
He seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking again. "So what happened exactly?"
"I don't really know," Isabella replied, pulling out of the hug gently. "It all happened rather fast...I did want to go through with it but I couldn't stop thinking about Paulo and it got far too confusing. I'm sure Ezio thinks I rejected him."
"You didn't explain it to him?" Ido asked gently, his hand brushing at an escaped tear on her cheek affectionately.
She shook her head with a humourless laugh that sounded strange mingled with her tears.
"How could I? There's so much ground to cover." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "I'm planning on telling him tomorrow after you leave to make things a little more clear between us, but it's going to be hard. And even then I'm not sure what's going to happen."
"He'll understand I'm sure," Ido replied, his tone lightening ever so slightly. "At least, he'd better."
She let out another watery chuckle, this one more genuine.
"You're being suspiciously cavalier about this," she said cautiously, worried that bringing it up might remind him to over-react.
He gave a small smile. "Maybe I've decided that my baby sister is old enough to take care of herself. Or maybe I'm just being extra nice because she's crying."
"I'll go with the latter," Isabella replied with a weak smile, wiping at her face.
"I'm sorry if I've been distant this past week, I was trying hard not to be but I should've just told you what was bothering me."
"You should've," Ido gave a small grin which made her laugh again. "But I understand, it's okay."
He held out his arm for her to take again which she did after blotting at her eyes with her sleeve.
"Do you know what this means, though?" Ido said somewhat carefully after a small moment of silence whilst Isabella composed herself again.
"What?"
"It means I was right about you and Ezio," he gave her a small, cheeky grin and even though she was still feeling rather sensitive, she couldn't help but give a jovial laugh at this.
"This is why I didn't want to tell you," she replied, brushing her hands at her face again. "You're insufferable when you're right."
The next day came and passed far too quickly, and Isabella felt a sense of helplessness that evening as she watched her brother arrange his cases and instruct the courier taking them on where to go.
She was going to miss him terribly, and was already miserable at the prospect of not having him around.
She was also highly strung; having arrived earlier than planned at the stables which Ido was leaving from, she was rather distracted as she wondered when Ezio and Claudia would arrive as had been arranged.
"Isabella?" Ido approached her with a smile. "Stop worrying so much, you'll get wrinkles. They'll be here soon."
"That's what's making me worry," she replied uneasily, unable to help glancing around him to check for the siblings approach. They were still nowhere in sight.
"Are you not going to miss me at all?" He asked humouredly, clearly meaning to distract her.
She let out a small laugh despite the fond ache in her heart for her brother.
"Of course I won't," she joked back. "You and I just never seem to get along."
He wrinkled his nose at her, stepping forward and pulling her into a bear hug.
"I will miss you terribly, you horrible creature." He shook her gently in his arms, lifting her off the ground for a moment. "Please take care of yourself."
"Only if you promise to do the same," she replied, gripping onto him as best she could despite the rough treatment. "Make sure to check in on a doctor for that wound; it should be fine but just in case, you don't want it getting infected."
"I will, I promise," he parted from her, his hands still on her arms as he spoke. "And you please try not to fret so much, remember what we've talked about - how he wouldn't want you to be unhappy."
The lump in her throat she had been repressing for her brother's departure rose up and she could feel the familiar sense of misery on it's way.
"I know," she said, her voice wobbling slightly. "I'll try."
Ido's gaze flitted over her shoulder and he straightened up with a friendly smile.
"Here they are," he said quietly. Isabella immediately brushed at her face to remove any potential traces of tears - her heart lurching as she turned to face the two approaching.
Claudia gave a jovial wave, and Isabella could see her mouth moving covertly in conversation with the other next to her.
Isabella felt her heart throb again, but this time more at the way Ezio looked. He was not in his usual Assassin garb, and was instead wearing regular civilian clothing. He looked more handsome than she cared to admit which made it difficult to not stare, and so she fixed her gaze instead onto her best friend, trying to smile as best she could.
"Good evening," she called out, but the wobble in her voice was not quite gone and so she sounded rather pained.
Claudia smiled graciously, clearly not bringing attention to the other's discomfort. "Good evening, how are you both?"
"Well I'm thoroughly miserable at having to leave," Ido responded with a casual nature that Isabella envied. "But I have a distinct feeling that Isabella is secretly overjoyed to see the back of me."
"I am not," Isabella replied, unable to help herself laughing with Claudia at her brother's remarks - though she was still fighting back the plethora of emotions she was feeling.
"Despite all the drama, I've rather enjoyed having you around."
"Good to know," Ido gave her an encouraging grin before turning to the Auditore siblings. "Thank you both for coming to see me off, it's very kind."
"Not at all," Claudia replied with a casual wave of the hand. "We wanted to come say goodbye, and be here for Isabella."
Isabella couldn't help but glance at Ezio again and felt a jolt when she realised he was looking right back at her. As soon as their eyes met however, he turned away and she quickly did the same. It felt strange to be so awkward with him, she disliked it greatly.
"I suppose I'd best not outstay my welcome anymore then," Ido said rather briskly, and Isabella was brought back to the conversation rather abruptly, the lump in her throat forming again as she realised it was time to say goodbye.
Ido turned to her with his arms outstretched again and she immediately wrapped herself in another hug.
"Take care, little one." He sounded rather emotional now, and it sent her emotions over the edge.
"You too," she said, unable to help emitting a small sob. "Please write to me."
"I will," he said, squeezing her strongly. "And maybe next time I'll bring the whole motley crew to see you."
She gave a watery laugh. "I'd like that."
They parted and he hesitated for a moment before turning to the other two siblings.
"Thank you both again," he held out his hand to Claudia first. "It was wonderful to meet you at last, Claudia."
"And you," the Madame replied with a somewhat fond smile, shaking his hand. "I hope you have a safe journey."
Ido gave her a smile before turning to Ezio.
"And thank you again for saving me, Ezio. I'm very grateful to have met you."
The Assassin relaxed slightly and gave a small chuckle at the other's words which made Isabella's heart quicken again.
"Glad to do it," he replied kindly. "It was good to meet you, Ido."
Ido seemed to hesitate again and then as they shook hands, he leaned forward and muttered something to the Assassin. She could not hear what was being said, and was confused by the somewhat interested expression on Ezio's face.
Next to the two men, Claudia turned to give Isabella a look of confusion which expressed perfectly how the latter felt at this exchange.
Her bemusement grew even more when the Assassin gave the other a small smile as he leaned back.
"I will, don't worry." He replied simply.
Ido gave him a polite nod before turning back to Isabella once again. Immediately Isabella pulled him into another hug, getting close to his ear.
"What did you say to him?" She whispered, a little worried at this exchange.
"You'll see," Ido responded with infuriating vagueness, but before Isabella could demand further answers he pulled away from her.
"I really have to go," he said somewhat sadly. "I can't keep the stableman waiting much longer."
All irritation with him seemed to fade and replaced itself with a sudden misery. Despite herself, she let the tears begin to fall down her face.
"Take care, please." She said simply.
"I will, and please don't fret," he replied before walking up to the stableman and climbing up onto his already-prepared horse.
"Remember what we talked about," he said, and Isabella was too miserable to wonder how the other's might perceive these words. "I love you, dearest."
"I love you too," she replied, her voice wobbling terribly. She felt Claudia's comforting arm go around her gently as she walked to her side.
With one last wave and a sad but fond expression, Ido began to ride away. And Isabella was left with her sadness, as well as a feeling of anticipation of what would happen next.