Maria had just finished her talk with Mohamed, the owner of the stall who distributed clothes for the Assassins. It looked like Zahira had already talked with him about her.
"You should wear..." He said, looking straight to her. After, he raised his index and turned around. "These clothes should serve you."
Maria watched him wiggle the pile of clothes from her size, withdraw some from it, put then in a basket and give it to her
"For them and you it's free!" Said Mohamed.
Maria thought if she should say she wasn't in the creed or not…
"Thank you..." She said, instead.
"I'll see ou next time..." Said Mohamed.
Maria nodded and turned around to walk uphill to the fortress.
X ~ X ~ X
Passing through the front courtyard of the fortress, where Raouf was teaching a few technic of attack to his students, Maria looked at the library. She still had to discover the rest of the fortress...
"Thinking about what?" Asked Malik.
"Ah!" Said Maria getting scared. She put a hand on her chest... she didn't hear nor see him approach... Malik was worse than Altaïr when it comes to scaring her..."In nothing, really..."
She knew the Assassins could do this... stealth move, if she wasn't mistaken, but even so, she was surprised every time with the ease that they did it...
"I was getting down the tower..." he said, pointing to the tower behind her. Maria turned her head to look at building behind her. "I came from the master office..."
Maria realized she still didn't know Altaïr's office...
"You know, I have to warn you, even if you still aren't a member of the Creed..." Malik said. Maria looked hurt, but even so, she held his eyes, like she was challenging him.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Walk with me..." He said.
She started to walk.
"Don't trust Abbas..." Said Malik. "He almost killed Altaïr when they were younger and a month and half ago tried to take the title of Grand master from him..."
"Why did he do that?" Asked Maria, horrified to know that Abbas was capable of it.
"Because of his father..." Said Malik. "His father betrayed the Creed and revealed the identity of Altaïr's father, during the invasion of Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn... Umar was killed and one night, Abbas' father, with a deep remorse, went to Altaïr' room, asked for forgiveness and killed himself…"
Maria didn't know what to say. Malik saw she was surprised with this revelation.
When they approached the library, he stopped talking. Maria noticed that, but was still too shocked to talk. They entered the library and walked to the courtyard.
"Altaïr told him what happened and one day, Abbas attacked him, almost killing him in the process..." finished Malik. "They were punished but... Altaïr finished as an Assassin while Abbas was in training for one more year... from that day, they hate each other..."
Maria was shocked with this:
"Bloody hell... I never want to talk with that man, ever again…"
Malik nodded and went to do other things as Maria went to Altaïr's room again, still digesting what she just heard…
Once inside the room, Maria sat on the bed, the basket beside her... closing her eyes, she just imagined how much tragedies her love had to endure as a young man… even her, when she was in the field, still under Robert's care, the deaths weren't so… vividly... there were a few things that made her cry at night, hidden from the others though, especially when children died ... one night Robert found her alone, crying in the kitchen, of a fortress... it was when they became lovers… He consoled her and said that he would change her position, but she refused, not accepting being treated differently… but she knew that Altaïr didn't have the same luck as she, having to grow up fast then the others…
Wiping a tear, she picked one clothes and went to take another shower...
X ~X ~ X
Altaïr had just came back to his office from the dorm, where he talked to Abbas, about his mission and Maria.
He took a deep breath and sat down... he felt a big headache forming in his temples... Abbas' mission wasn't successful, in fact, it was a total failure... this is what happen when you trust someone like Abbas... he thought. Even seems that he does it on purpose, just to annoy me...
Sighing, Altaïr interlaced his hands, bending his arms in the desk and leaned his head on them. Malik was right... he concluded, closing his eyes.
X ~ X ~ X
Maria was walking on the corridor, following the directions of the guards. She turned, arriving in a small staircase, with a closed-door.
It must be here... she thought, nocking slowly.
As she didn't receive an answer, she tried the door handle and opened it slowly... looking inside, she saw Altaïr sitting on his desk, worried.
She walked to him.
"Altaïr..." She called.
He looked at her and tried to smile, but failed terribly. Maria noticed he was nervous.
"Are you ok?" She asked concerned.
"I just have a headache…" He said. "A very big one…"
She nodded. Without saying anything, she walked around the table and stopped behind him.
"Maria..." He tried.
"Shhh..." She said, lowering his hood. "Just relax..."
She put her fingers on his temples and started some slow and rounds movements. Altaïr closed his eyes again, trying to calm himself.
After a few minutes, she stopped.
"Better?" She asked.
"Yeah..." Altaïr answered, almost sleeping.
Maria then put her hands on his shoulders.
"You're tense..." She said, starting to massage them.
'Yes..." Said Altaïr. "Just problems..."
Maria didn't say or ask anything. He would talk if he wanted to.
"Do you want to me to call Malik?" She asked instead.
"After..." Said Altaïr. "Now, I just want to stay with you..."
Maria smiled and kissed his head, continuing the massage.
"Ah, being the Leader of a Creed, is not an easy thing to do..." Said Altaïr when she stopped. "I'm sure I'll have white hair before I'm thirty..."
"But this isn't going to make me love you less..." Maria said.
"I'm glad..." He said.
X ~ X ~ X