Chapter 56

Every Assassin had gathered in the courtyard like a white ocean the next morning for Al Mualim's cremation, replacing their crimson sashes for black in respect. Evangeline dressed herself in a black dress and tied her hair in a long braid, before awakening Danor – telling him to get dressed quickly.

As she stepped into the courtyard with Danor, the two of them stood beside the row of maids, who were also paying their respects dressed in black. The Courtesans stood behind them, dressed in dark colours and – strangely enough – modestly dressed (as much as they could manage).

The body of the late Mentor was lain upon a stack of wood and covered in oil, which was set alight by flaming arrows from the Assassins stood upon the high walls of the citadel.

No words were spoken. The ceremony was silent so everyone present could silently pay their own respects, even Malik was there! He smiled sadly towards Evangeline, expressing his condolences, and she nodded back, thankful, before turning her eyes towards the cremation.

It was a long time before Evangeline took Danor back inside as he was becoming restless, the maids following her in as tradition.

She parted from their company as soon as they passed the kitchen and the washrooms. And as they made their way back up towards their rooms, Danor was more than happy to complete his writing journal in his own room whereas Evangeline stood upon the balcony in her own chambers, to look down upon the remnants of the fire far below in the courtyard. All the Assassins were still present, paying their full respects for their Mentor, and Evangeline respected them for that.

As soon as the last of the flames flickered, the blonde began to cry.

Al Mualim's ashes were then gathered in a beautifully painted clay pot, which Altair took down to the lowest levels of the citadel. All previous Mentors of the Brotherhood were buried there, and the same would be done for Al Mualim; and even Altair when the time came.

Altair slot the pot of ashes into a pre-made hole in the ground. Then, he swept the dirt back inside before placing a stone slab on top. The Master Assassin stood up and looked down upon his work, to make sure the stone was placed straight, and upon deciding that it was the best he could do, turned on his heel and left the crematorium, closing the large door behind him with a deep thud. He turned the over-sized key to lock the door behind him before handing it to the Scholar waiting for him. It was tradition for the successor to bury the Mentor's ashes, and the Scholar to mark the door and keep the key.

Now that he was Mentor, it surprised Altair that he wasn't quite sure of what to do with himself. He should be very busy, as he never saw Al Mualim away from his desk. The man was always writing something, and Altair decided that he was going to spend his time reading through the many scrolls that were kept on the shelves surrounding the carrier pigeons.

Altair looked out of the window in time to see the three Dai's leaving for their designated Bureau's once more. He had not spoken to Malik, but noticed that the Dai had shared a glance with Evangeline, who he was glad hadn't passed up the opportunity to go back to Jerusalem with the kind-hearted man.

He took a seat in the chair at the desk, a couple of scrolls in his arms for him to begin reading. And it wasn't long until he felt something tugging at the bottom of his outer robes. The Master Assassin frowned upon not hearing anyone come in, and looked down at his son's big golden eyes.

"What are you doing?" Altair asked. "Where's your mother?"

"In your room." Danor replied, "I didn't want to disturb her, so I came to find you."

Altair put down the scroll he had been holding to look at his son, "Do you want to be helpful?"

Danor shrugged, "Alright."

Altair handed the scroll over to him. "Put that back on the shelf over there."

The blonde nodded, "Yes, father."

He watched as the blonde jumped a little to reach the shelf, but successfully slot the scroll back into place, dusting off his hands and bouncing back over. "I'm going to go and talk to your mother, put these back on the shelf for me." Altair gestured towards the boring scrolls – he really didn't understand why Al Mualim had kept them! "I'll return shortly." He stopped the maid who was walking along the corridor, "Don't let him out of your sight."

But it wasn't until Altair had arrived back at his chambers did he remember that the blonde would be tearful. He hesitated outside of the door, but once he had entered, he couldn't spot the blonde at first and he was then on alert in case she had fled to one of the other cities. But she hadn't, for Altair saw her sitting on the carpet before the fireplace with the poker in her hand.

He made his way towards her, confused as to why she hadn't turned around when he had entered. But when he was standing directly beside her, he could see the tears glistening on her face. He knew she didn't want him to see her crying, instead of speaking, he took a seat on the carpet beside her and rested back on his elbows to look at her.

After a minute of his staring, the blonde slowly glanced towards him. She put the fire poker down as a fresh wave of tears built up in her eyes, and she looked away from both Altair and the fire to hide her face.

"Look at me."

Evangeline didn't want to and she shook her head in denial. She knew Altair didn't like it when he saw her crying, and his tone being so gentle only made the tears come faster. But she found her gaze betraying her, and when she turned to look at her husband, she found him sitting up, one leg was bent in front of him with one arm resting on top and the other was stretched out behind the blonde's back.

"You don't need to hide." He stated, placing his hand on her waist to pull her into an upright position. "Crying doesn't make you weak, holding them in doesn't make you strong either."

She leant towards him until her head was resting on his chest, and it was only when he placed his arm around her did she cry, holding onto his robes with clenched fists. When she could speak, he would ask her if she knew why her father kept all the scrolls full of nonsense. For now though, he found himself leaning forward to place a kiss on her cheek.

It wasn't much longer until the blonde had fallen asleep, and Altair found himself picking her up - slowly so as not to wake her – and resting her down upon the covers of their bed. He would return to her once he had relieved the maid from taking care of Danor, and tidied up the mess that he had already made.

When Altair returned to his position at the head of the citadel, wondering what mischief the Maid had had to suffer from, Danor ran towards him as soon as he noticed his father coming up the stairs.

"Father!" Danor called as the Maid excused herself, returning to the broom she had left to the side. "I found something!"

"I can see that." Altair commented, looking at the array of parchments showering the floor. Altair did not remember carrying so many over to the table! The boy must have emptied the remaining shelves.

He chuckled, going a little red when he noticed his father looking at the extra mess. Danor took a handful of his fathers robes as he led him towards the desk. He took a piece of parchment from the desk that was slightly discoloured. "Look!" He pointed from the parchment, towards the ground he was on. "It looks important to have been saved from fire."

He looked so proud of himself that Altair did not want to upset the boy. He nodded his head, "Very good observation skills."

The smile on the boy's face was so full of happiness that Altair found himself remembering himself as a young boy, in Danor's shoes to be precise, trying to do everything he could to make his own father proud of him.

He came back to reality when the blonde held up the parchment towards him, "Can you put this on the shelf please?"

"No." Altair replied, taking the burnt scroll from his son. "I asked you to clean up."

"You made the mess!" Danor whined.

Altair knelt down until he was at eye level with his son, "Don't make that noise." He warned, "Now collect the scrolls up from the floor and hand them to me." When the boy did as he was told, Altair waited patiently by the shelves as Danor handed them too him one by one. "Besides," The Master Assassin stated. "I may have started, but you made most of the mess."

A/N: So, back to the weekly updates unfortunately :( My grandparents aren't very well, but this week in particular is just... -_- they've been to six funerals in two weeks, so all they're talking about at the moment is death and how long they have left. According to my grandfather, I'm going to do a speech at his because I am the eldest of the grandchildren -_-

Anyways, please review and let me know what you think of the story. How's the interaction between Altair and Evangeline coming along? Do you see them growing closer, is it going to fast all of a sudden, or is it a good pace? xx