Toulon, Southern France, May 1485
Neri, Camille, Madeleine and Frédéric were in the southern French city of Toulon. They would be embarking for their destination very soon and they were waiting in line. Madeleine's family business is mainly focused on trade of various spices but is open to all varieties of items in high demand. And as previously indicated, there was an opportunity for Madeleine to meet all sorts of individuals who might be interested in the things she was selling and vice versa, she had gotten the word from one of her acquaintances.
"Now that I think about it, weren't we taught about the Fall of Constantinople in great detail some weeks ago in one of our history lessons ? It was barely 30 years ago, it's going to be interesting to see the place with our own eyes." Neri said to Camille
"Yeah I know, since we'll be staying for a few months I hope the place will be worth it, otherwise, the days would probably feel ten times longer than usual. I know you have your training and we brought the chess game, some stuff to paint and a few other things but it's very possible this might not be enough. " Her cousin answered
"Yeah for sure. Safe to say that it won't look or feel anything like Paris so we'll see what it has to offer."
"Well, I guess I better start memorizing some stuff in Turkish before we arrive. Maman (Mom) is already fluent in the language, as you know languages are one of her specialities. Also gotta think about something nice to bring back to Marcel as a gift." Camille then said
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Neri answered
"Are you feeling alright Frédéric ? Girls ? We won't have to wait much longer." Madeleine turned to tell the group who all responded "yes" to her statement.
Then the time for the departure arrived and all four of them embarked on their ship.
Mediterranean Sea, a few days later
They had been at sea for a few days now. It was around 10 pm and Neri couldn't sleep. She was sharing a reasonably sized cabin with Madeleine and Camille who were, unlike her. deeply asleep at this point while Frédéric obviously had a different cabin on the ship. Outside of the crew, there were around 25 people travelling to various destinations, some including Constantinople like Neri and company.
Unable to find sleep, Neri got up and decided to walk around for a bit. She picked up her key and locked behind her. Madeleine and Cam had other duplicates of the keys inside in case anyone of them would have liked to go outside without inconveniencing the other 2. Unsurprisingly, there weren't much people on the main deck, besides the crew, just a couple sitting down somewhere holding hands and another figure that was contemplating the sea at the edge of the ship The figure looked familiar from behind in the relative dark and when Neri came closer, within a few seconds, she recognized the individual : it was Frédéric, so she decided to go talk to him a bit to pass the time.
"Hey Frédéric! What are you doing here?" She asked
"I could ask you the same question Nerissa." He said with a smile
"Well, I can't really sleep so I thought I'd walk around a bit and go back to bed."
"Ah, well that's not too different from me then. I was thinking a bit about my past lately for some reason and it has had a bit of an impact on my mind these past few days."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I...I know it feels I suppose. One's past impeding on peaceful nights I mean."
"Yes, I have no doubts, but thankfully you have been doing a lot better on that front since you arrived in Paris, based on what you told me before. What is troubling you know ?"
"I don't really know. This time, It's got nothing to do with the horrible stuff that happened. I just can't sleep." Neri said
"I see, sometimes it can happen without a specific reason too."
"Yeah I guess so."
Neri then pursued "Hum, I have just realized Frédéric, You have never told me much about your past between our training sessions. If...you do not wish to discuss it, I totally understand."
"Well, now that you mention it…..What would you like to know exactly ?"
"How did you start working for Tante (Aunt) Madeleine ? How did it all begin ?"
"Hmm. It actually started with your Aunt's late husband actually. Camille's father."
"Oh, oncle (uncle) Damien, uh ? I see, how did you two meet him and Tante Madeleine."
"We'll have to go back a bit further in time first in order to explain some key things. I grew up in an orphanage. When I was old enough, I was told that my parents had died when I was barely a few months old. The orphanage lady was very caring with all of the children there and she felt like a mother to all of us. However, one day, when I was around 14, the orphanage building was caught in a fire, many of the kids survived, some did not, sadly the orphanage lady, Madame Marmont, was among the victims. She couldn't make it."
Frédéric pursued "After that, I was on my own and did what I could in order to survive, refining certain skills for example which allowed me to do certain temporary jobs so that I could support myself, but living like this was never easy. A few years later, I was walking on the street, completely absorbed in my thoughts and was hit in the head from behind by a group of bandits before I even got the time to react, as my guard was lowered. I was then left unconscious on the street, for a while in the cold winter. I woke up much later, In a place I didn't recognize and I realized upon waking up that I had been robbed of all of the money I was carrying, which I guess I should have seen coming.
My head was still hurting a bit and was bandaged, and as soon as I tried to move from the bed, I saw a young woman of around 19 years old, my age at the time then, telling me not to worry, that her husband had found me on the street and that they both had taken care of me. That was when I met Madeleine. She was extremely caring and then offered me something to eat and some time later, Camille's father Damien, entered the room to introduce himself. They had been recently married and I was quite amazed by their generosity but did not want to overstay my welcome at the time. As it was extremely cold outside and I didn't have any money on me, they put some food and money in a bag and gave it to me.. After all of that and once I was ready to move, I thanked them and left, promising to repay the money back to them, even though they insisted it wasn't necessary.
It wasn't an easy task at all but I worked hard and eventually managed to ship the money back to them. However, months after our first encounter, I was falling on much harder times and they met me on the street by chance and asked me how I was doing and Madeleine was now visibly pregnant. I proceeded to tell them about my situation and that's when Damien proposed that I come and work for them, as I had a variety of skills that could be useful to their household. I accepted and was extremely grateful for the offer.
This was an unexpected opportunity and they have always treated me very well, so I was greatly personally affected when illness claimed Damien's life. I could go into further details but that's basically it."
"Wow, that's….incredible but sad at the same time. I am really sorry Frédéric."
"Don't worry, I do stumble mentally from time to time but I have mostly learned to cope."
"Hum...Have you….ever thought of getting married at one point ? Having a family ?"
"Ha, no not really, as strange as it may sound. I don't think my head is in the right place for such a thing"
"I see."
"You should go back to bed now Nerissa, try to get some rest. I hope my stories won't depress you too much." He said with a humorous tone
"I was actually planning on going back, I wasn't going to stay too long. Thanks for the talk Fredéric!"
"Bonne nuit (Good night)." He answered as she left.
Constantinople, June 1485
And then they arrived. On that scorching hot day of early June, on the ship, they could see the city from a distance, it was a magnificent sight.
"Well here we are. I hope everyone enjoys our stay here. If everything goes well, we're supposed to take the ship to return to France exactly on September 20th." Madeleine announced to the others.
"That seems so very far away, Maman (Mom)" Camille said
"Sigh*, I know chérie (dear), I know but that's surprisingly the best date I could get on a reliable ship."
"Okay Maman."
When they finally got off the ship, they were greeted by a man named Aslan who was instructed to guide the group by one of Madeleine's business contacts that she had been exchanging letters with back in Paris. Aslan was accompanied by a few other guys who were to help with the luggages and guide the group to the place where Neri and company were supposed to live during their stay. Due to trade with Venice, Aslan was also fluent in the Italian dialects, so that was what he was mainly using with Madeleine, that was convenient as Camille understood it as well, and Neri obviously did, though Frédéric sadly did not and Neri translated for him, which he very much appreciated.
On the way to their apartment, they came across the Galata Tower, which interestingly enough was built by settlers from Genoa in Italy. After some time, they eventually arrived at their destination. Aslan would be living somewhere right in front of their house for the duration of the trip in case Madeleine needs anything. There was food already prepared and the place was already well supplied on that level, which pleased everyone. So after putting all the luggage in their respective place, he left the group in order to allow them to rest a bit..
"Ah! I'm starving. Can we start eating now, Maman (mom) ? This place looks really nice." Camille exclaimed
"Yeah I'm really hungry too, Tante Madeleine." Neri added
"I share the feeling Madame." Frédéric then added as well
"Haha, well in that case, please get comfortable everyone!" Madeleine responded
A few days later
"Frédéric ? I am about to go with Aslan to meet my business contacts, it's gonna be a long day, so look after the girls okay ?"
"Oh…..very well Madame."
"You're looking a bit worried Frédéric ? Don't worry it'll be fine, they'll take great care of me, plus I'll take everyone out tomorrow to walk around the city a bit, it will be a lot of fun I hope. It will be Camille's 13th birthday after all." Madeleine said to him with a bright smile before pursuing
"I wish Jean and André could have come too as bodyguards but since this place is already expensive for the four of us, it might have made things a little difficult since we're staying for a while. Don't worry, you'll have more than enough time to protect me while we're here." She said, chuckling at him and with her eyes fixing him.
Frédéric, visibly embarrassed by her answer and teasing tone, responded : "Uh…Hum...very well Madame, please be careful."
"I will. On the days you'll be with me, I'll find an arrangement with Aslan and his group to look after Neri and Camille if they do not wish to go where I'm going. It's gonna be okay. Alright, I've got to get going now, bye!"
Neri and Camille were still sleeping when she left and when they woke up, Frédéric explained the situation to them. The girls were still a bit tired, so after getting up in order to eat, they spent the day mostly in bed talking about all sorts of little things. Neri also took the opportunity to use her mark to check once again the location of the Isu book and it was still at the same location in Naples. Besides that, they were very much looking forward to tomorrow.
After a relatively productive and lucrative day during which Madeleine was able to sell and acquire valuable merchandise and make new business contacts, she returned home quite exhausted and over dinner they discussed her day and then she brought up something curious.
"...So yeah, the day went even better than I expected though we came across someone very insistent." Madeleine said.
"Insistent you say ?" Neri asked, intrigued
"Yeah, it was a strange man. He said he was some sort of representative for a powerful Venetian merchant named Emilio Barbarigo, and he tried very hard to convince me and the others in my group to buy his merchandise or see if his boss was selling anything we could be interested in."
She sighed before continuing "I have heard of this Barbarigo fellow before, he is indeed one of the richest men in Venice and comes from one of the most powerful families of the region. However I have heard several reports from varied sources regarding his extreme cruelty and shady practices. Emilio seems to constantly treat many of his workers like dirt. The people who work hard everyday to support you and stand by you and who give you valuable advice ? I couldn't imagine myself ever treating my employees like that. He is definitely not someone I am interested in dealing with."
"Well said Maman (Mom) !" Camille responded
"Thanks chérie (dear), tomorrow's gonna be a long day, I hope everyone's ready for it."
"Never celebrated my birthday on foreign soil before, it's going to feel weird." Camille said
"Yeah had the trip been planned earlier in the year we would have had both of birthdays celebrations here. I hope it goes as well as it did last year." Neri remarked
"Yeah, how cool would that be ?. But Maman's birthday is in August, so we still have that too" Camille responded
The following day, Madeleine bought a few things for Camille for the celebration and then they walked around town for a while, notably visiting the Hagia Sophia, a splendid landmark and one of the if not the most famous monuments in Constantinople. They had a carriage at their disposal to move around as they couldn't necessarily make all of these distances on foot. Then some time later, just like last last year, they found a quiet and nice place to eat while discussing their day so far. All of them seemed to really enjoy the city so far, though the heat and atmosphere was sometimes getting a bit difficult to deal with. The food, virtue of being foreign for Neri took a bit of time to get used to but she slowly got to appreciate it after each bite.
After they were done eating, they made a stop at a place called the Grand Bazaar, a massive market in the city that Madeleine went to the previous day, and in which various items could be acquired. It was still large enough that Madeleine had barely got to see what the place had to offer. And the Bazaar would be where Neri would make an interesting encounter. Having marking encounters on Camille's birthday was dangerously starting to feel like a habit for Neri at this point.
"This necklace looks great! Can we take two Maman ? For me and Marcel ?" Camille asked
"Of course chérie (dear). Neri ?, Frédéric ? See anything you'd like ?"
"This scarf looks nice too, I'll take it, Thanks Tante Madeleine" Neri indicated
"I'll be alright for now, Thank you Madame." Frédéric responded
"Very well." Madeleine said before paying for the items and putting them in bags. However as they were about to leave, a man suddenly grabbed Madeleine's bag and immediately started running away. The four of them were caught completely by surprise and barely had the time to make a move. Frédéric who was carrying bags as well, instinctively dropped them and tried running after the thief but then something unexpected happened. Before Frédéric could catch up to him, a figure dressed mostly in black and wearing a hood, who had been paying attention to the events, started running towards the thief as well and was much quicker than Frédéric. Through an impressive series of acrobatic moves, the hooded individual dodged every single obstacle, climbed on top of the selling establishments in Bazaar and pursued from above before jumping on the thief and finally catching him and knocking him out with one punch, it all happened very quickly and everyone present witnessed it. The figure then took the bag and moved towards Madeleine in order to hand it back to her. Then some guards arrived and seized the thief. Frédéric was disappointed he couldn't react in time but was glad it was over and he returned to Madeleine as well and picked up the bags once again.
"I believe that's yours." The hooded person said in Turkish while returning the bag. It was a young woman, seemingly of east asian descent, in her early 20s, who then proceeded to remove said hood, revealing her mid length hair.
"Thank you so much, that was very impressive." Madeleine answered in Turkish as well.
After looking at Madeleine's clothes and reflecting on her accent for a few seconds, the woman started speaking in French "Not a problem. Are you from France by chance ?" to which Madeleine responded also in French "Yes, I am, how did you guess ?"
"I am a merchant, the type of clothing you're wearing seems popular in your country based on my previous dealings, plus I noticed your accent as well, I have dealt with Parisian merchants in the past, that's also why I know your language."
"Oh you are a merchant as well ? I...could have never guessed. I am one too, I am here temporarily, to find new opportunities for my business to grow."
"I see, well my building based-shop, which is also where I live, is not too far from here, I may have some things that might interest you there, you can come with me to my shop if you're interested."
"Sure, I think it would be fine, are you alright with that everyone ?." Madeleine asked the others who nodded in agreement.
"Oh by the way, I'm Madeleine, this is Frédéric, Camille and Nerissa and your name is ?"
"Hay Lin, I'm from Ming or China if you prefer and I've been living here in Constantinople for sometime now."
Neri was watching the conversation, completely in awe of Hay Lin as she had realized something. She had been trained at sword fighting for sometime now and she would obviously need to keep progressing on that level but she would also need infiltration, stealth and acrobatic skills and she hadn't really learned much on that front. They would only be here until September, if Hay Lin could by chance give her at least some basic training in stealth and free running, it would be fine in her book, therefore she was thinking of asking her when they got to Hay Lin's shop but she was hesitant as she thought there was little chance she might accept to do it for free and she didn't want Madeleine to spend too much money on this. They used their carriage to go to the shop, following Hay Lin's instructions
When they arrived there, they actually realized that her shop was not that far away from their own house, barely 5 or 6 min away from foot, which delighted Neri a bit especially for obvious reasons.
"Well here we are, please sit and get comfortable." Hay Lin said when they got inside and she closed behind and continued "Wait for me here while I go and fetch some things upstairs but can you're free to look around for anything you might be interested in in the shop. I have an assistant who helps manage my modestly sized establishment in the Bazaar. Though some people come here reasonably often, this shop tends to usually ship out things ordered in advance, usually at the Bazaar most of the time, so some of the stuff that I store in this shop might not be always on display there, sometimes thanks to a lack of space, but my assistant lets them know that we have more stuff available here that might be delivered to them at their preferred location."
"I see, very well." Madeleine answered. While Hay Lin went up, Frédéric took the opportunity to apologize to Madeleine for the incident "I should have been more reactive Madame, please forgive me.".
"It's okay Frédéric, it happens, don't worry.". Frédéric then respectfully bowed his head.
Then all four of them walked around the store for a while, looking at the things on displays and then Neri brought up Hay Lin's acrobatic skills
"It's really amazing the way she can move, don't you think Tante (Aunt) Madeleine ?"
"Indeed it is, she must have gotten some serious training to achieve feats such as these." Madeleine responded
"Yeah, it was great." Camille added
"I have seen quite a few people free running in the past, but I have never seen this kind of fluidity in movements before." Frédéric noted
After some time, Hay Lin returned with a large box in her hands, in which all sorts of items were and invited Madeleine to take a look as well as give her opinion on the stuff already on display on the ground floor, which she gladly did.
"Wow you do have a lot of interesting things around here. Those spices and pieces of cloth are the kind of things I'm always looking for." Madeleine said, a bit excited
"I am glad these are to your liking Madame, if you want, I can go have a look at your merchandise too when we're done here."
"Certainly, I would like that. I also have business contacts that may interest you on top of this."
"That's perfect Madame."
Madeleine spent a few more minutes taking what she needed from the shop, then she proceeded to share her contacts' names and locations with Hay Lin. Both merchants were extremely satisfied with the transactions that were operated.
"Very well, let's go to our house now. Are you ready ?" Madeleine asked Hay Lin who nodded in approval and all five of them left.
After a few minutes, they arrived at the house, Frédéric put the bags in their designated place, and Madeleine showed some of her merchandise to Hay Lin who in return, found some things to be of interest. As she had taken what she needed, thanked Madeleine deeply and was about to leave, Neri interrupted her action
"Wait!" the young girl said, which prompted Hay Lin to turn around, and all other eyes in the room (Camille, Frédéric and Madeleine) to focus on Neri.
"Sorry...I...I just...wanted to ask you something." She asked, sounding a little nervous
"Yes ?"
"Hum...how did you….learn to move the way you do. The way you caught that thief was...breathtaking."
"Oh, that, it's a very long story, several people contributed to perfecting my current skills." She responded with a smile
"I see, Well….since your shop is relatively close from here. and we're leaving in September..I'd...really like to learn how to move like you, even if it's just the basics but you probably won't have the time and it might not be for free and I wouldn't want Tante Madeleine to have to pay for something like th-"
"Oh not at all. I am able to do these things to such an extent, that means I am probably doing things to keep myself in shape. I practice regularly twice a week for several hours, I tried to get my assistant to be a partner during my sessions but he wasn't interested in that as he found it too complicated, so having you as a training partner for the time you guys will be staying in Constantinople would actually be great for me as well. As long as your aunt is fine with it, I mean. And don't worry about the money, I have been looking for someone to practice with for a while, plus me and your aunt have made great business so far, so it's totally fine."
"Really !? That's great, thank you." Neri answered before turning to Tante Madeleine for approval
"Um.. I didn't see that coming but yes, if you really want to. Frédéric are you okay with that ?"
"Of course Madame, we will always have time to resume our training on other days or at worse when we return to Paris, since we're only here for a few months, that's definitely an opportunity she should be taking."
"Excellent then. I'm sure we can find an arrangement for a day you can start teaching her what you know."
"Very well, we'll work something out. Though I must confess, I am surprised to see a girl of your background show interest in these things."
"Well….that too is a long story, I'll be sure to tell you everything in time."
"I am looking forward to it. Thank you Madeleine, by everyone!" Hay Lin said as she took her things and left.
Madeleine and Hay Lin then arranged for the latter to come and train Neri 3 days after they had originally met at the Bazaar. When that day came, Neri put on her training outfit and waited for her new "teacher" to arrive. Frédéric accompanied Madeleine for her tasks in the morning while Aslan came to the house in order to stay with the girls in case they needed anything until Madeleine and Frédéric returned.
When Hay Lin arrived, she greeted Aslan and then made her way to the backyard where she was told Neri was waiting for her. She was wearing a mostly dark grey outfit with red lines on the edge and light grey flower motifs on various parts of the outfit. And the outfit still came with a hood, a style she was seemingly quite fond of. Aslan had already been made aware of who she was. Meanwhile, Camille was upstairs reading and writing letters to Marcel.
"Ah, you're very punctual Nerissa." Lin remarked
"Thank you. It would be disrespectful not to be."
"Well I'm glad to hear that, so shall we begin ?"
"Yes!".
"I have been told that you have been receiving training in sword fighting for more than a year now, correct ?"
"Yeah, we started in January of last year, I have been making steady progress."
"Good! How good is your balance when carrying a sword ?"
"Not an expert but I'll say it's an area in which I perform quite well."
"Perfect. The reason I am mentioning these things is because balance is obviously a key part in free running, if you excel there, everything else will come easily. So that's why I brought this."
"Wow, what's this, I have never seen this weapon before."
"This weapon is called a Naginata , it originated in Japan, since it is heavier than a sword and thus harder to maneuver, if you practice your attacking and dodging speed while using it, you can increase your agility even further. And as a bonus, you get to become skilled in a different type of weapon."
"Wow, that's a great idea, Hay Lin."
The Naginata is a japanese weapon, usually considered iconic for Japanese female fighters during the feudal era. It consists of a wooden or metal pole with a curved metal edge at the end of it, used to inflict the bulk of the damage. The main one that Hay Lin brought was completely made of metal. However, she also brought two other ones that were just large wooden sticks, that had roughly the same size as a Naginata but without the edge, in order to practice and spar before they would move on to the next level, just like with Frédéric.
And so they started. Lin made several demonstrations that Neri was to reproduce and she did just that, they also sparred directly while using their respective poles. Unlike her sword training, she had a much easier time learning how to handle this larger type of weapon and mimicking her teacher's movements. Her performance at dodging was pretty good as well and after several hours of practice, she tried carrying her sword and doing all sorts of combinations and she noted that she felt herself to be lighter and having more balance, a result of having practiced all day with a heavier weapon. These results were night and day compared to her first training session last year.
"Wow, you're a fast learner and very talented, If you keep this up you will have made incredible progress when September comes." Hay Lin expressed near the end of their session
"Thank you so much, it would not be possible without your help."
"My pleasure. Now we're almost done for the day, see that small scaffolding over there. I'll climb on top of it, I'll do it very slowly, it's fine if you can't do as I can today, we still have time but look carefully."
"Right!"
Hay Lin then got close to the scaffolding, raised her arms, jumped, grabbed the platform at the top and then raised her entire body to put herself at the top, all relatively slowly.
"See ? I'll do it again if you want."
"Yes please!"
Hay Lin got down and proceeded to redo the same thing for Neri to see and memorize.
"Alright. Wish to try it ? I'll be right behind you in case something goes wrong so don't worry."
"Yeah, I'd like to try it."
"Great, come then."
"Right!"
Neri then approached, put her arms up, jumped and grabbed theplatform and tried to raise herself on top of it. It demanded a huge effort but she managed to do it.
"Wow you did it!"
"Yeah...but...I'll need more time to do it as easily as you."
"Of course, it's just the first day. In the following sessions I'll show you on how to get on top of that scaffolding while running. You'll basically have to run from a certain distance, wait for the right moment and then push your entire body up so that you can grab the platform and then quickly get on top of it. It will be very useful if you're pursuing someone for example. I'm sure if we keep working or your speed, agility and balance you'll be able to do it."
"Thank you so much, I'm very lucky to have you as a teacher."
"My pleasure."
She then helped Neri get down safely.
"Alright, that should be enough for today."
"Yes...I think so too."
"Come sit with me over there, there's something I want to ask you."
"Sure."
When they sat down against the wall, Hay Lin asked "What motivates you ? Why are you doing all of this ? You said it was a long story the other day, mind telling me now ?" She asked Neri with a smile
"Oh right well…."
Neri then proceeded to tell her everything that had happened. The Pazzi conspiracy, her father's brutal murder right in front of her eyes, her family's arrest and imprisonement, the false and humiliating charges against her mother, her mother and brother's deaths and finally how Madeleine saved her and brought her to safety and her decision to get revenge on the people who caused her misfortune. While saying all of that, Neri couldn't help but cry.
"So...that's...that's basically it." Neri said, the emotion overwhelming in her voice.
"Oh...I'm really sorry. That's much worse than I thought." Hay Lin said in a comforting tone, putting her hand on Neri's shoulder.
She continued "You probably know it's going to be extremely dangerous but you've made a choice and made it this far, so I'll do everything I can to help you achieve your goal."
"Thank you. Hum….If you don't mind...I wanted to ask you about your past too, if that's okay." Neri asked
"Of course. As I said before, I come from China. I was born into imperial custody in 1464, so I am 21 now. My mother was a concubine of an imperial advisor and thus was I raised to be a future concubine, this time for the emperor. Thankfully, nothing really happened to me on that level, but I obviously could not have predicted the future so I received the type of education that a future expected concubine would.
However, some of us would be trained intensely in combat from a very young age but also in dancing, the latter which was considerably focused on significant acrobatic feats. We had to perform every week, Thus, I developed an affinity for this kind of thing.
I saw some terrible things during my time there. When I was 5 years old, I witnessed the execution of a man for the first time. This specific method of execution was particularly gruesome and was called Lingchi , or death by a thousand cuts in literal translation. Even outside of that, I would sometimes see servants being physically mistreated and needlessly humiliated.
The emperor at some point, due to my acrobatic and stealth skills, forced me to entertain guests outside of the regular dance performances and even sometimes play pranks on them.
Later on, my mother died of illness and a few weeks later, there was an incident at the palace. Due to the confusion, I was able to escape, so as implied earlier, I thankfully never became an official concubine. On the road, due to exhaustion, I collapsed and I was then found by a man who saved me and nursed me back to health. After that, many more things happened and at the age of 15, I decided to leave the country in order to establish myself here in Constantinople. It was tough at first, but with a lot of help from others, I managed to establish my shop."
"Wow, your background is really fascinating. Do...I mean...are you planning to stay in Constantinople for many more years ?"
"I'm not sure. I enjoy it here. For the foreseeable future, I believe I will be in this city. Maybe one day, I'll return home but nothing is set in stone."
"I see."
"Well, it was great spending the day with you, now I've got to go. I'll see you at the next session!"
"Alright. Thanks again, bye!"
Constantinople, September 20th 1485
Months had passed and now, the time to return home was finally here. The stay was extremely lucrative for Madeleine's business, though she was getting a bit exhausted and couldn't wait to return home to get a bit of well deserved rest. Camille also, who despite enjoying the city was really itching to return to the French Capital. Frédéric had managed to subdue 2 robbers over the months while accompanying Madeleine, seems like thieves had gotten the word that there would have been ample opportunity for their antics at this time.
As far as Neri is concerned, she had learned an enormous amount of things since June. In just 3 months of practice, her skills with the Naginata were equal to her ability with the sword, though in both cases she would need to keep practicing. Since she would not be able to keep training with Hay Lin, the latter wrote several instructions in a notebook that would help her continue to train on her own once she was back in France. Neri had also learned how to climb effectively. She wasn't as good as Hay Lin but still had a great level in the exercise. Not only could she now jump-climb on a scaffolding in the middle of a run, but she was also taught how to climb buildings themselves, though in that department, she would also need to keep up her practice.
"Goodbye Hay Lin, thanks for everything, I've been very lucky to have you."
"My pleasure, it's been really fun. Have a safe trip and write to me if you wish okay ?"
"Okay!"
Hay Lin had offered the Naginata and the wooden poles to Neri. It would not be an issue as Hay Lin knew how to craft one, instructions to build one in the future in case of need were also included in the notebook that she gave to Neri.
Neri and company then said goodbye to everyone and were going towards their ship.
"I can't wait to get home, I wonder how much Marcel missed me." Camille asked rhetorically
"I'm sure he was dreaming of you every single night." Madeleine added which caused the group to laugh a little.
They were advancing further and the ship was right in front of them and that's when a particular conversation caught Neri's ears and caused her to stop and listen while the rest of the group was advancing, not noticing she had stopped moving. It was two men, speaking in italian in a distressed tone,
"What...what did you just say ?"
"It's true, signore (Sir). 9 days ago, Emilio Barbarigo was murdered in his palazzo (palace) in Venice, and we're not exactly sure who is behind it."
"But how is that possible ? Emilio is one of the most powerful men in Venice, a lot of merchants in Constantinople buy his merchandise and he employs the best possible guards, how come no one found his killer ? How is it possible for him to be killed without a trace ?"
"I have no idea, but whoever did it, must be very skilled. The strange thing is that I have also learned that, just around 2 days after Emilio's death, the Doge of Venice, Giovanni Mocenigo also suddenly died in the Palazzo Ducale (Ducal Palace), many suspect that he was poisoned and there is reason to believe that he was, but here again we can't be sure of anything. Maybe I am superstitious but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a link between these two affairs. "
"These news are quite unsettling indeed."
The reason Neri got intrigued by the conversation is because Emilio Barbarigo is the name that was mentioned by Madeleine and had the beginning of their stay here. the cruel, greedy and ruthless merchant seems to no longer be in this world.
However, Camille noticed that Neri was significantly behind the group and called out her name screaming
"Neri! Neri! What are you doing ? Come back quickly!"
"Oh...my god, we didn't even notice it. Neri! Come back please." Madeleine added
"Sorry! I'm coming"
Soon after, they all got on the ship and started their journey back home. Neri did not immediately share the news of Emilio's death (though she would later) as she thought that he wasn't something that would affect them, though she still found the affair intriguing, especially with its supposed link with the death of Doge Mocenigo. However, little did she know at the time, that the person behind Emilio's death….was none other than Ezio.
Author's note : Please let me know what you think and I'll see you next time.