Guardian Apprentice

by Cyblade Silver

It was Altair who found them first, bringing the Guardians to the attention of the Assassin Brotherhood. Now, with a Guardian living under his very roof, Ezio Auditore will have to work all the harder against the Templars to keep what remains of his family safe.

405. Art of the showman

Finding himself a great deal closer to the Coliseum than he'd been when he first started out, Ezio made his way closer. He'd been somewhat fascinated with the built works of antiquity, ever since he'd become friends with Leonardo and the pair of them had been given a chance to get to know each other. He thought that little Maria might have shared his discovered passion for places such as the one he'd now found himself staring up at, particularly since she'd ended up becoming closer to the inventor than even he had.

Once he'd begun making his way into the proud old ruin itself, however, Ezio found himself called over to a shadowed alcove by what seemed to be another of La Volpe's thieves, though this one looked quite a few years younger than the man he'd been working with.

"Dio mio, it's you, isn't it? Ezio Auditore," the young man asked, the light of both interest and challenge sparkling in his eyes. "I'd been hoping to meet up with you, someday. I was wondering, would you be willing to take me on? I'd like to see how I measure up to the man who's been an inspiration to so many of us."

"Bene, I suppose I can spare the time," he said, smiling at the younger man as he allowed him to take the lead as he seemed so eager to do.

As the pair of them paced each other throughout the length and breadth of the Coliseum, their path eventually culminating in a Leap of Faith from the from the topmost level of the structure and into a pile of loose hay and fallen leaves, Ezio turned to watch as the thief made his own Leap with admirable aplomb. It seemed that La Volpe's men were taking more than a few lessons from the Brotherhood they worked beside.

He wondered if such a thing had begun even before La Volpe had taken up leadership of the thieves from whoever had held such a thing before him, or if the relationship that their respective organizations shared was a thing of their present generation only. Still, as he bid farewell and well-wishes to the thief who'd been so eager to race him, if only to boast to his friends that he'd actually done such a thing, Ezio found that he wasn't so interested in such a conversation.

Even if the alliance shared by the Brotherhood and La Volpe's thieves – or rather thieves in a more general sense – was indeed a new and unprecedented thing, it was still a boon to the both of their causes.