Chapter Twenty:

Reconnecting With Family

1204

I watched with a frown as Sef and Darim raced through the streets of Masyaf, nearly barrelling into several people. When I said they could play, I did not mean destroy everything in sight! I sighed and ran after them, being careful to avoid everyone. To keep an eye on them, I climbed on the buildings and watched them carefully. Darim was beating his brother, but Sef was a natural runner, and he was gaining on his older brother. I leaped into a haystack and then found a bench to sit on that would intercept their path. I waited patiently until the boys came around the corner, and then I grabbed onto their hoods. The boys, for s moment, did not know they'd been caught, and so their legs continued to move in mid-air. It was humorous, at best.

"Don't you two think you should watch where you're going?" I asked.

Darim and Sef straightened out immediately as I set them down on the ground. Darim grinned up at me, and his brother quickly followed.

"Suna!" Sef exclaimed. "I thought you said that Darim and I could have fun!"

"And I also asked that you not destroy anything," I said. "This is the second time you've nearly created a mess even your father would not have been able to clean with a thousand Assassins." I smiled. "Both of you, try to be more careful. If you are going to race, do it on the rooftops. That way you will not hurt anyone you bump into."

Darim and Sef nodded, then quickly charged towards the nearest rooftop. I shook my head, but returned to the keep, where I met Chara.

"Have you found a home yet?" I asked. "Not that I am in a hurry to make you go. I am simply curious."

Chara seemed to smile. She hadn't taken that cowl off during the entire week she'd been staying with us. "I almost had some luck today, but the house had just been sold to a couple from Jerusalem. I will search harder tomorrow."

I smiled. "I think I heard that a couple are about to move to Acre, because the price has gone down. In a few days, they may be desperate to sell at a lower price. Maybe you should wait."

Chara nodded. "Then I will, Suna. Thank-you."

"I am just trying to help."

Chara sighed and laid down on her bed. "Suna… I was wondering something."

"What?"

"Your name. It is similar to 'Suha', the star, but I do not know what yours means. Could you tell me?"

I shook my head. "My name has no meaning. Maria gave it to me because I did not have one of my own. I think that she wanted me to have one that I would not have to try to live up to its meaning. But the Grandmaster told me it is a strong name, so I will trust him in what he says."

"You really trust the Grandmaster, don't you?" Chara asked.

I nodded. "He saved my life, not once, but twice, gave me a home, a family, and a purpose. I am not sure that I could ever repay him for what he has done for me. So I told him that I would be the best Assassin that anyone had ever seen."

"Aren't you afraid, though? You're taking people's lives."

"Only the ones who deserve to be taken. I will stay my blade from the blood of an innocent, I will not let my presence be known to my enemies, and I will not compromise the Brotherhood. This is what I have been taught, and it is what I believe."

"Or have you been taught to believe it?"

I paused, and then shook my head. "I was taught it, but it was of my own free-will that I decided to follow the Creed. I would not be the person I am today if I did not follow what I believed as well as what I knew what was to be truth."

Chara nodded. "I suppose you are right. Sometimes I do not know what to believe. In Damascus, or any city really, if you are poor, you are not worth anyone's time. Less so, if you are a woman."

"Altair hates how women are treated," I told her. "He is striving to right the world's wrongs. I respect him for much more than that, though." I smiled. "Maybe, in time, you will also want to become a part of the Brotherhood that he has helped prosper."

"I will think on it, Suna."

1476

I climbed onto the rooftop as fast as I possibly could, but it seemed that I was not fast enough, again. The three Auditores were dead by the time I reached the edge of the building.

"FATHER!" Ezio screamed, and shoved through the crowd. I recognized him, despite wearing his father's Assassin robes. Two guards grabbed his arms and pulled him back from the execution platform, Ezio struggling against them. "I'll kill you for what you've done!"

Uberto Alberti smiled and gestured to Ezio as the boy broke free of the guards and drew his sword. "Kill the boy!"

Ezio's sword was tossed from his hands as a guard in heavy armour wielding an axe attacked him. I saw a courtesan and a thief I was familiar with stand not far from him, and tell him to run. Ezio listened, and sprinted out of the area. As the guards pursued him, I killed them one by one, giving Ezio more time to escape.

"Vanni…" I muttered as I cast one look back at the bodies. "Federico… Petruccio… I did not know you as well as I would have liked to, but I considered you family nonetheless."

I knew that Ezio would want to see to the rest of his family's safety, so I decided to do some work of my own, and dropped-in to see someone I knew I could trust.

I knocked on the door of Leonardo da Vinci. He opened it warily, knowing that the guard was after Ezio, and would probably come for him, as he was a close friend of the Auditores.

"Si?" Leonardo asked as the door opened a sliver. "Who is it?"

"A friend of the Auditores," I whispered. "My name is Sofia d'Alviano. I am Ezio's friend."

Leonardo opened the door a bit more and studied me for a time. "What are you wearing?" he asked suddenly.

"Ezio will explain it to you, one day," I told him. "May I come in? I am afraid that, as a friend of the Auditore clan, I am not exactly a welcome face in this city."

"Si, si, come in." Leonardo moved to the side so I could enter. I examined his workshop (and the bodies inside) for a time before I decided it was safe for me to relax. I let my hood fall and examined his workshop with more interest as I saw tiny models of inventions that he wanted to make. "What is it that I can help you with?"

His inventions remind me of Altair's, I thought with a smile. "I would ask you a favour: I need you to help Ezio, whatever means necessary."

"Of course!" Leonardo said. "His mother has been an amazing patron of my work for a few years now! I must repay that debt!"

"Bene. Ezio will be here soon, and he will no doubt need something repaired. Do not tell him that I have come, or what I have asked of you."

"Do not worry; he will hear nothing of it from me." Leonardo hesitated as I started to the door. "If I may ask, Sofia, why don't you want Ezio to know you were here if you are his friend?"

I pulled my hood up, frowning. "If he knows I was here, then he may think I could have helped his father and brothers."

"Could you have?"

I opened the door. "No, I could not. I was too late, but I will do my best to help him now. I will make it up to him, though I know it won't make it up for the loss of family."

"I am sure that Ezio will appreciate whatever you will offer, Sofia."

I inclined my head at him. "Grazie, Leonardo. Oh, by the way, you know that machine you have in the back?"

Leonardo looked to the invention in the trash heap. "Si?"

"Do not give up on it quite yet. Roma was not built in a day, was it? Neither will it."

Leonardo shrugged. "Maybe I will. But I don't get most of it. How to make a man fly…?"

"If anyone can figure it out, you can," I told him. "You just have to keep trying."

2012

Sam,

Where the hell are you? They keep telling us that you're somewhere safe—well, safe as can be, apparently—but they won't tell us a damn thing other than that! We haven't seen you in weeks, and I'm really getting worried. I know it's you (after all, who could ever forget what you did to Steven?), but I feel like something's wrong on your end. Isn't there anything you can tell me? It'd be better than nothing at all, and it'd help me understand some of the shit going on.

Oh, and Tyler wanted to remind you that you have a damn promise to keep. You said you'd take him to the damn fair, so you better pull through on that! Or I swear to God, Sam, I'll take away your computer!

Seriously, I'm not pullin' your leg. Write back soon, Sam.

Ryan

I looked over the e-mail and sighed. I'd almost forgotten about Ryan and Tyler. I owed them, even though I knew I wouldn't have died the day Ryan pulled me out of that burning building, but they took care of me. The only piece of ID I had on me was a nametag for the school I was going to infiltrate, that read "Samantha Warner".

Ryan,

Sorry it took so long to reply. I'd blame the mailman, but then that wouldn't really work. It's e-mail. So, yeah, I just didn't know what to write. There's not much I can tell you about what's going on. And don't immediately say, "Because you don't think I could handle it!". I don't mean that. I mean that it's for your own safety, so the guys that're there protecting you can do it efficiently, and you and Tyler can get back to your lives faster.

But I can tell you this: I got my memory back. I admit, it's not exactly rainbows and butterflies, but it's my life, and I've got to deal with it. I can honestly say that whatever I was thinking when I didn't have my memories—who I was, where I lived, my parents, etc.—I didn't expect it. In my wildest imagination… Actually, scratch that. Definitely in my wildest imagination, because you know that I used to have those dreams about the medieval times. (To be as honest as I can with you, I wasn't that far-off.) But, the thing is, Ryan, I've done some things. You could be totally disgusted with what I've done in the past, but I hope you won't. I really, really hope you won't. Fortunately, I've realized that who I was in the past isn't who I am now. Not to be all "Saturday Morning Special" on you, but because of the time I spent with you and Tyler, I managed to find my bearings, and I remembered who I was fighting for.

As for my promise to Tyler… it seems like I've got a lot of promises to keep. One to my father, one to Tyler… So many others. Tell Tyler that, as soon as this stuff is over, I'll take him to that stupid fair. Hell, I'll take both of you! My treat. But, on the off-chance that you never hear from me again, I want you guys to move on. And don't worry; if anything happens to you two, I'll be there and I'll protect you guys until the end. Unfortunately, my end seems to be far-off yet…

Stay safe.

Sam

1204

"Suna, I must see you," Altair said as he barged into my room. "Now. In my study."

He closed the door as soon as he'd opened it. I mentally praised my bright idea to get up earlier than usual to get dressed, as I'd just finished. I put my weapons in their respective places and jogged to Altair's study, not even bothering to pull up my hood, despite how tired I looked.

Before Altair got to the point he wanted, he studied my face. "Suna, why do you look so tired?"

"I was up chasing Darim and Sef," I said. "They wanted to go running again."

Altair shook his head. "Then, later today, I would ask that you increase their training and show them what happens when they stay up past their curfew."

I bowed. "Of course, Grandmaster."

Altair sighed. "Suna… I must admit that I did not feel very comfortable around that stranger."

"Really?" I asked. "What was the matter?"

"She felt… Chara confused me. I felt like I knew her, and yet she was a completely different person from who I thought she was."

Chara walked into Altair's study, and then chose to stand beside me. "I am here, as you requested, Grandmaster," she said, placing a hand over her heart and bowing respectively. "What is it you need of me?"

"I did some checking-up on you, Chara," Altair said.

"You were… curious about me?" she asked.

Altair nodded. "I was. And now, with the results I received, I was right to suspect."

"Suspect what?" I asked, my eyes glancing at Chara quickly.

Altair handed me a piece of parchment. "Suna, Chara, I did not know how else to tell you two…"

I read over the parchment, and for the first time in many, many years, I was speechless.

"What?" Chara asked.

"Your parents… their names were Talal and Ada, correct?" Altair asked her.

She nodded. "Yes. They lived in the Poor District of Damascus. But… they're dead now."

"Killed by the authorities," Altair said. "After they were accused of kidnapping and murdering a Noble from Jerusalem. The Noble showed up not long after they were publicly executed, leaving their youngest child behind to fend for herself, but did nothing to help her. For three years, that child grew up on the streets of Damascus by earning money doing courier jobs, as she was one of the fleetest of foot there, until some guards accused her of stealing and cornered her." Altair took the parchment from my hands, but I barely moved. My heart was beating at a pace that I could not register. "Their eldest child worked-off the debt they owed, but later learned that they had been killed. So, she came to Masyaf, where her younger sister had been for the past eleven years."

"Y-You know my sister?" Chara exclaimed. "Can you take me to her?"

"I already have," Altair said.

I was frozen to the spot, and my breath had left my body. I was not an only child.

And it was Chara who was my older sister.