"Come," the Master said, as he and Altaïr reentered his study. "Speak with me a moment."
"As you wish, Master," he said, and heard Altaïr echoing the sentiment beside him.
"Word has reached me of your successes," the Master said, a small smile on his face. "You both have my gratitude, and that of the realm. Freeing those cities from their corrupt leaders will no doubt promote the cause of peace."
"I am glad to hear that," he said, briefly taking a moment to compose himself; Alnesr knew it would be some time yet before he was completely comfortable speaking so plainly to the Master. "However, if you would permit me to ask something of you?"
"Speak, my child, and I will give you what answers you need."
"Each of the men whose lives either Altaïr or I have taken spoke strange words in their last moments," he said. "The words themselves have been similar enough that I've come to wonder if there is a connection between them. Do you know if there might be?"
The Master smiled gently, seeming rather pleased. "It is good that you notice such things, child; as an Assassin, it is your duty to take note of what occurs around you, and to thereby be better prepared for the tasks you will undertake in the future."
"Than you, Master," he said, pleased by the compliment that he'd been offered.
"I cannot help but notice that you failed to failed to answer his question, Master," Altaïr interjected, drawing his attention as well as the Master's own.
"True," the Master allowed, and Alnesr could not help but note that he seemed at least mildly displeased. "However, as Assassins, it is your duty to trust in your Master, and to still such thoughts before they can take root. For there can be no true peace without order, and order stems from authority."
"You speak in circles, Master," Altaïr said, an exasperated tone in his voice that Alnesr had never before heard directed at Master Mualim. "You commend us for being aware, and then command us not to be. Which is it?"
"Such a question will be answered when you've no longer the need to ask it," the Master said, his tone firm.
Altaïr sighed harshly. "I presume you've summoned us here for more than simply a lecture."
"Yes," the Master said, and Alnesr could not quite place the emotion in his tone. He would have said that Master Mualim was pleased, but there was something else, too. "Altaïr, a rank and weapon are restored to you now. Two more leaders remain; go and see to it that their rule is ended, as well." The Master paused a moment, the expression on his face becoming thoughtful once more, though he also seemed to have decided something. "You also no longer need operate under the watch of a superior."
For a moment, though he knew that such a thing was inevitable since Assassins worked alone for the most part unless they were Master and Apprentice, Alnesr felt almost stricken. Banishing those thoughts as soon as he consciously noticed them, Alnesr turned his attention back to Master Mualim. He did not know just what the Master would have planned for him now, now that he and Altaïr would not be sent out on missions together anymore, but as the Master had said, that was for him to decide.
"Altaïr, I would have you return to Damascus; the next man to fall shall be the Merchant King, Abu'l Nuqoud."
"Yes, Master," Altaïr said, bowing respectfully to the Master, though Alnesr thought for a moment that there was a tightness around his mentor's eyes that had not been present before. But Altaïr left swiftly and without a look back, and so Alnesr put such musings out of his mind.