Merry Christmas everyone! And for anyone celebrating other events or festivals, Happy Holidays! I hope everyone enjoys whatever they may be celebrating or enjoying!
Stay safe and healthy!
Since I celebrate Christmas, here is a double update!
Finally, the school year is coming to a close! Luckily since I took nothing but a smattering of second year courses this term my load wasn't too heavy for my finish. Unlike for some students who learn to dread the middle to end of April that just began at the beginning of the week.
"Do you really have nothing better to do than bother him all day long?" Bryony asks as she stops at the end of the rack of books that Emmett is currently working on. She definitely has a crush on him, the jealousy is practically rolling off of her in waves. Not that I can blame her. Emmett is certainly attractive. He also hits the kind and funny ticks that most girls swoon over. Not to mention that there was a time when I once felt that way about him… But not so much anymore. I look over at him putting books into the shelves, purposefully not looking away from it for a minute.
"Bry, I'm still getting all my work done in a more than timely manner. Plus, Mathias likes having her around too." Emmett replies calmly without looking away from his task. Usually this isn't what he would do but with so many students cramming for exams and frantically finishing up term papers, they can barely keep up with all the books that need to be re-shelved. Such is life at a university as April passes by. Luckily for me I got my two final exams done back-to-back and now that I have handed in my term papers, I have nothing to worry about. School year? Done!
"True story. Can confirm." Comes from a stack a few rows away. Bryony glares in the direction of the voice before shooting the daggers at me.
"Tsk." She stalks away, clomping her heeled shoes on the hollow sounding floor all the way to the front desk.
"You know she is crushing hard on you, right?" I lean on the stack next to where he is sliding over some books to make room for more.
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah, she was talking about it before class a couple of weeks back… Had all the other girls practically turning green when she said she scored the part time job in the library with you so near." He gives a confused look, "Don't tell me you don't know that at least half the female population of the university only comes here to catch a glimpse of you. Because if you say that, I'm not believing you."
"Well, I don't think it's that many girls…" He goes to the cart and rolls it to the end of the aisle, then Mathias comes by with his own cart, now empty, to get a new full cart from the front desk.
"Nope. It's definitely at least that many girls. They practically swoon every time you turn their way." Mathias says before moving on, Emmett raises his arms in a 'Come on!' way at Mathias' back.
"Face the facts. You are the resident hottie librarian. We might as well start calling you 'Evie.' You're just less clumsy than she is… Unless you actually have destroyed a library and that's why you had to start a new job here." He laughs at my comment as we go around the next rack for Emmett to put the last row of books in their home.
"And what about you, oh inconvenient loiterer? Are you immune to my charms then?" He reaches over my shoulder to put a book on the shelf behind me, I look up at his face, "And what about your café beau? What was his name? Brett?" Admittedly, when I first started working at that café in my second year of university. I mostly definitely had a bit of a crush on Brett… But about half a year after I started at the café, he got a girlfriend who he ended up staying with until the summer I went to Italy with Venus. And for me, if someone is in a relationship, I find them somehow less attractive, I guess its because if I had any hope of being with them, it would have happened before.
"I've just had more time to acclimate to you. These poor girls basically get blindsided by your charms. I had the fortune of growing up with you nearby, I have gained a natural resistance to them." Or so I thought… He turns back to his cart and the other rack to return the books. "And as for Brett, he has been spoken for a long time. When I first started working at the café, I certainly fell for his charms though. Plus, I've… Changed since I was hired at the café."
"Are you saying it wasn't always that way? Was there a time when a younger me caused a younger you to swoon?" He reaches across to the shelf behind me again.
"You're lucky that it's so late. There are fewer girls to get jealous." Mathias quips as he strolls by with another full cart, "Seriously man, you don't hear half the gossip from the students. The girls all adore you and the guys mostly want to be you. With the exception of a few guys that also adore you." Emmett and I both laugh.
"Never have I heard a truer statement, sir." I say to Mathias' back.
"You know it!" He holds up one fist in the air as he turns the corner to the next section of the library.
"See, even Mathias knows you must tame your lady-killer ways. You know the last rumour I heard about you was that some girl found out you're single."
"Jeez… I haven't even spoke to anyone about my relationship status… They have to be hiring detectives or something… I must applaud their resources." He walks the empty cart to the front, and we are greeted with Bryony's butthurt gaze. She's most upset because she thought that getting a casual part-time job in the library would give her better chances of wooing Emmett, but ultimately, he isn't interested in any girls. At least, not that I'm aware of. But I suppose even if he were, it isn't like he's obligated to tell me.
"Ready to get out of here?" Emmett asks as he grabs his jacket from the library's office.
"Sure. Let's blow this popsicle stand." In things never to be told to Bryony or any of the girls who attend this university… We are neighbours and so it makes sense to go back home together. Although, ever since the whole surprise uncle visit, he has been a little more insistent that we do as much back and forth traveling together as possible. For me, I don't really care, but if it eases his mind, I'm fine with it. Plus, my mom seemed to sound calmer when I told her about Emmett doing that.
Another day of getting home incident-free, Emmett and I head up the stairs after we fetch our mail.
"Have a goodnight, Raea." He smiles kindly.
"Night, Emmett." I go into my suite and place the mail on the kitchen counter before shedding my school bag and my jacket. I fill my kettle and place it on the stove to get it boiling and go back to my mail pile.
Flyer…
Flyer…
Bill that was supposed to only be an email…
And a hand addressed letter with no return sender or stamps. Hmm…
I pat the envelop end to end to confirm there's nothing but paper inside before opening up the end and sliding the letter out.
It's a short and to-the-point letter, and the message is crystal clear.
Dear Astraea,
I hope my letter finds you well. I have been awaiting your reply about our previous conversation. As I promised I am now contacting you. I imagine you contacted your mother about our previous conversation, but I do hope that you have considered my offer to you.
I will give you another fortnight before contacting you again.
Again, I do hope that you take this opportunity to grow beyond what your parents have had in mind for you.
Sincerely,
Zachariah Moore
Again, he seems to like leaving things in the subtext. He intends on coming here to discuss this 'opportunity' with me. A fortnight? Who even talks like that anymore? I lived through it and I don't even talk like that. I look at the date, it reads today and with no postage on the envelop at all… He must have delivered it himself. So in theory he intends to come in two weeks from today… And he probably intends on coming here so I have no way out. This would fall under typical Abstergo tactics. But so would saying that he would give me two weeks while really be planning on only giving me a couple of days or perhaps hours.
I grab my cellphone and dial mom's phone. It doesn't connect leaving me with the message that the caller is outside of the calling area and to try again later.
Damn it.
I still haven't even figure out what put me into Abstergo's radar in the first place. I make sure to get as close to the same grade levels as I used to and even though I've now taken some history classes, to the eyes of anyone looking at my classes and grades, all they would see is someone who is only slightly above mediocre at history. Which is not what Abstergo wants. They want history buffs who can not only differentiate history from storytelling but have a good sense as to where there is history to be found. With the knack for hunting down Pieces of Eden, of course. On paper I should look just like any other student. I have never had appointments with any Abstergo doctors, nor have I ever used Helix technology; so, they have no way to have gotten hold of my DNA.
I really can't stand Abstergo. They just can't keep their noses out of anything… So annoying.
For safety's sake I pack a small bag with essentials that I would need should Abstergo come knocking, such as clothes and an untraceable phone, a few items out of my school bag and put in it the bench by my balcony door, because you can bet if they come here I'm not leaving out the front door.
Once I finish that I have a quick shower and bag up my small toiletries that I would usually just use for travel.
After I hop out of the shower, I get dressed into more practical clothes before calling my mom one more time.
This time it does get through.
"Astraea? How are you, sweetie?"
"Hey, mom. So that guy from before at the café, he sent me a letter. It arrived at my apartment."
"What? So, he knows your address? What did the letter say?"
"It said he would contact me again in two weeks… I think he's planning to come here though, not somewhere public."
"Alright, sweetie, I need you to pack up somethings and go to Emmett. I'll feel better if you're with him instead of alone in your apartment…"
"I'll talk to Emmett about it first and let you know what he says. I don't really want to drop in unannounced."
"I know this seems a little weird but please bear with me on this… I promise we'll talk about it soon. Now, I'm going to make some calls to a few people about this. Please, be careful. I love you."
"Love you too, mom."
I hang up the phone after I hear the click on the other side.
As safe as I know I am alone, I know my mom will likely have already texted Emmett, since as soon as she knew that we were neighbours she went to his parents to get his phone number… I go to the bench where I put my bag and grabbed it. I also added a few of the things I brought in of value from my years of waiting. Other things included in my pack are my laptop and sketchbook. I stuff my purse inside of the bag quickly hoping to leave as little proof that I was home as possible. Or perhaps that I left between them last seeing me arrive and now. The last thing I grab is the small portrait that Yusuf paid to have done for us together… It was no Leonardo, but the artist captured him perfectly. Yusuf had even had the forethought to get in a smaller size so that I could carry it all over with me and not have to leave it in one of my caches.
I stop and realize there is one more thing I should be grabbing… I go to the vent behind my bed and pull out the wooden box wrapped in shrink wrap. I tear open the wrap and open the box to reveal my hidden blade from my times in Istanbul with the Assassins and my Venetian style mask from just before that when I had first met Ezio. I strap on my old hidden blade and pull a loose hoodie on to hide its shape, and gently wrap the mask in a scarf before placing it in the bag as well. Arriving at the door to the hallway I hear something… I focus and extend my senses and see that there are Abstergo agents climbing the stairs just outside my door. I extend my senses further to see more at each emergency stairwell…
Shit.
Hours, I guess.
Fucking Abstergo…
Pieces of shit… I ram my security door stopper under the handle before making my way to the balcony. Then I see a shadow leap onto my balcony. I start getting ready for a fight until I notice that it's Emmett.
I slide open the balcony door.
"What on Earth are you doing on my balcony?"
"I promise I'll explain later, but for now we have to leave." I hear a knock at my door and a voice comes through.
"Astraea? I know you got home. Now please open the door, or I'll have to be more persistent. I truly hope that you will have the sense to hear me out about this opportunity."
"Is that him?" Emmett asks quietly.
"Yeah, sounds like it… But I have the door stopper, so it'll take them at least a few minutes and a decent amount of effort… You are right though… We need to leave…" I step out onto the balcony, ignoring the slight level of confusion on his face.
"Them? How do you know there's more than just him?" He crosses his arms and looks me up and down, expression getting more confused as he takes in my attire.
"You said we'd be saving explanations for later. I think our best bet is to hide in your apartment until they break into mine." First, I spill my emergency escape ladder over the edge of the balcony in case they get this far, then I hop up on the railing and jump over to his balcony silently.
"Alright…" He joins me on his balcony, "But you are going to be explaining as much as me it seems…"
"So it seems." We go into his apartment; he mills about grabbing a few things and putting on a sweater with a deep hood and holds one out for me to put on and hide my face, but I just hold onto it. Then we settle away from the windows hoping to make it so that if they try to look in, they won't see anything. I hear the man offer one more 'opportunity' to open the door. He must really like that word… Then a couple of minutes later we hear them start bashing down the door. A few shouts in the hallway from annoyed neighbours stop rather abruptly, they are likely being either threatened or paid off to be silent.
Emmett starts bouncing his leg and I put my hand on it to calm him down.
"We could be so far away by now… We should be moving." He whispers to me.
"Just wait a little longer… The suites below mine and yours are still empty, if they trap us, we can use the balconies to get to either of those suites and then run. If they happen to be inside either suite, a four or five-story drop isn't so bad."
A crash and then some shouting, before long we hear them in the hallway again.
"She can't have made it far. We have the garage blocked off so she's on foot." Moore says before we hear them all trudge back down the stairs. I extend my senses to listen to him all the way down. I'm only hearing him but by the sound of it he's is on the phone with someone… Could he be working on behalf of someone else? "We must have just missed her. There was an escape ladder off the balcony. Mhmm… Yes. No. There was no activity in the hallways besides disgruntled neighbours. We… Persuaded them to leave us be… Yes. No, a room-to-room search of the whole building would be unnecessary and potentially a huge waste of time and resources. Her apartment looked as though she packed quickly, and then we must have arrived, so she used an emergency balcony ladder to get to the ground before running. Right, I will leave a couple of agents at the doors to watch for her coming back." I wonder who he's reporting to…
"Alright. We should leave now…" Emmett stands up, I stand and grab his right arm, feeling through the hoodie almost exactly what I would have expected… And exactly what I didn't want to.
"No, he is going to leave agents at all the doors. Right now, it's probably best if we try to outwait them, if you really want to leave, I suggest we do it up and instead of down. You're able to do it that way, right?" I pull the sleeve of his hoodie up to reveal the hidden-blade underneath.
"You know what this is?" He now looks very confused, and I look him in the eyes.
"Explanations later." I remind him. "If we go to the roof, we could go to one of the nearby buildings and escape that way." And here I had been thinking I didn't want to involve him in the shadowed war, but here he is, already in it.
"Right… Well… Yes, we could do the roof. But, since we seem to have a minute, I just need to contact some friends…" He goes to leave but I hold him for another moment.
"Please… Don't say anything about me knowing…" I plead; I still want to keep my involvement minimal for my family…
"Okay. But I expect a full explanation once we're somewhere safe."
"Of course…" He takes a few steps into the living room and I take the opportunity to use the restroom and splash a little water on my face.
This is the last thing I was expecting… But I suppose I never knew anything about the whole thing before so maybe its just something I never noticed. I trade my hoodie for the one with the deeper hood, realizing that it's my size, not his. Was he prepared for this possibility? I just hope this hoodie will disguise me as another Assassin in their eyes and not their target.
"Hey… Are you ready? We should probably go before they decide to give this building a more thorough check… I have a place we can go… And, in a few days, someone is going to meet us there."
"Alright." Opening the door I see that his face has more worry on it than anything else... I guess Emmett has always been Emmett, Assassin or not, "Let's go…"
We get to the stairs and I bid farewell to my apartment through the remains of my doorway. Once we are once near the top, I feel them waiting up there. I see Emmett stop suddenly as well. Could it be he can use Eagle Vision? It isn't something all Assassins can use… He is much deeper in this than I imagined. Because typically, only Assassins with lineage in the Brotherhood can access that skill easily. He holds a finger up to his mouth and I nod, then he holds up three fingers. But by my count there's… Eight of them… Still… Between the two of us it shouldn't be much of a problem. But we want to take them out as quickly as we can, the longer it is before they know where we are, or that I am even with someone, the better. I pull the hood up and around my face. Hopefully, all they will see is two fully trained Assassins who were just too late to save their mark.
On his mark, he bursts through the door and I rush out behind him. The three immediately visible swarm him while the other five come around a corner. I immediately launch at them and they all futilely try to fight back, but with how long I've had to fight to survive they don't stand much of a chance and end up on the ground before Emmett finishes the third near him. I had made sure to let three of them get a good look at the small blade protruding from the bracer to be sure that they will just think that it had been two trained Assassins leaving the scene.
He looks from the five fully equipped Abstergo agents writhing on the ground to me and I see his jaw drop.
"I know they said you had really improved a couple of years ago… But… I wasn't expecting anything like this…" He walks over putting his hands on his hips.
"I know… And my family doesn't know. So, please, don't tell anyone." I reply quickly eyeing up our escape route.
"You got it… I don't think I'd live for much longer if I did…" He jokes patting my shoulder before looking towards the escape I'm currently evaluating, "Yeah… That way looks as good as any."
We arrive at a little house, so small it is practically being swallowed by the surrounding trees and bushes. And an hour away from civilization in every direction. The nearest thing to civilization is forty minutes of gravel roads east of us… And it is a hamlet hardly big enough to host the miniature Petro-Can station there.
"Why don't we save explanations for after we have some rest?" Emmett suggests as he drapes a muted camo tarp over the little white sedan we had picked up, courtesy of the Brotherhood.
"I second that…" I need to think about how to approach this now… I had resolved to tell him once the school year had finished anyway but… Things have officially changed.
We go into the small house, the upstairs looking like a typical ramshackle abandoned farmhouse. And we go straight into the basement, where the space had been optimized for short and not so comfortable stays. Two cots on one side, a small kitchenette type space with a mini fridge, a single ratty looking sofa, and a space set into a separate room with a computer set-up and an older looking Animus with a sheet over it.
"I know… The Brotherhood doesn't exactly set up the best digs…" Emmett scratches his had while appraising our space. "But hey, we should be safe here. Especially with that idea you had of planting your phone in that bus going way to the north of the province."
"Why, thank you, sir…" I bow spreading my hands out either side.
"You know… I had gone through in my head what I could say to you if this ever happened… But I was preparing to say that to the…"
"Young, naïve, soft, and ignorant me?"
"I was going to say sweet and innocent… But sure. It's just that your family all seem to think you're still the…"
"The girl that would have been hyperventilating the moment she opened the door to find a small army in black gear pointing guns everywhere?"
"Uh… Yeah…"
"Well, I'd say you lucked out. If it had been that girl, you'd have been caught. Either at the doors escaping… Or on the roof when there were five guys you hadn't noticed. Or when she hadn't realized they could follow her using her phone without going to her service provider or the brand that made her phone."
"Yep… That probably would have happened. Mostly I wasn't expecting them to send a small army to snatch you… I was expecting something like a handful… If they ever sent anyone." Emmett sighs deeply before sinking into rundown sofa.
"Hey, I wasn't ever expecting them to come after me like this… I've never done anything as Astraea Thomas worthy of their attention." I sit down next to him on the sofa, "On that note, you don't seem as surprised about them coming after me as I do. Which, I know, will be explained after we each get rest… So. Who is taking the first watch?" He gives a confused smile.
"I can. I need to contact someone from the Brotherhood anyway… You get some rest."
"Alright, but you better go straight to bed when I say I'm all rested." He narrows his eyes.
"Why so specific?"
"Because I don't need a lot of sleep to be fully rested."
"Fine, if you say so. Now… Go to bed." He points to the two cots on the other side of the room.
"I swear you are going to burn a hole in the back of my head. I said I would explain. And I will. I… I just need to think of where I can start. It's… It's kind of a lot." I had spent the better part of the day figuring out how to approach this while Emmett had been sleeping. I set down my bag after pulling out the portrait of Yusuf and I, as well as my sketchbook. I also place my hand on the hidden blade from my times with Yusuf, still on my arm under the hoodie and the long-sleeved shirt… Only still working through diligent care.
"I suppose I also have something of an explanation… So, while you sort your brain out, I guess I'll do my explanation." I turn to sit down on the dining chair opposite him in the kitchenette space, "I use the term 'My explanation' in a relative way, it is partially an explanation that your family agreed you should receive as soon as possible after last night. You should know that they never, ever intended you to find out this way…" He starts out, in a tone that is getting me worried.
"They? Meaning my family?"
"Uh… Yeah… Your family."
"I'm sorry, my family? What didn't they want me to find out? That you're an Assassin?"
"Uh, well, that… Yeah… But also that… Well… That they are too." He takes a drink of the water.
"Excuse me?" I lean against the chair's back, "For how long?" He swallows the water hard and begins to cough, then he just looks at me, "How long?"
"Well… Your family has been a prominent Assassin family for… A long time. On both sides." Shit.
My whole family… A long time… That would mean several generations at the very least… On both my mom's and my dad's sides? But how is this possible? Why would they keep something like this from me?
Then everything starts to slide into place, the classes my parents put us in as kids… Why after my sixteenth birthday it seemed like we were never all in one place to the exception of one or two times.
"Wait… So… All of them?" He nods, "Dad and Mom?" Another nod, "Mesonyx?" Nod, "Aquilo and Zephyr?" A brisker nod, and I just look at him, afraid to say the last one… Knowing in my mind the answer but hoping in my heart it's wrong, "Venus?" He looks in my eyes for a moment before a slow and damning nod. I put my head between my hands.
Emmett begins to talk again, something about them not being sure whether I was suited for this life and them all agreeing… But my heartbeat pounding in my ears is drowning everything else out. I stand up and slam my hands on the table, startling him into silence. He stands up slowly and comes over to put a hand on my shoulder. He puts his face right in front of mine, his eyes level with mine bringing me back to some semblance of calm.
"So, what Zachariah Moore said was right? My family really had kept something so huge, completely secret from me?" For my whole life?
"Your mom… She felt like this life would destroy you from the inside out. And the rest of your family all agreed."
"How do you know that?" I take a step back from him.
"Well, my family is also one of those families with deeper ties to the Brotherhood. And that's why they asked me to keep an eye on you after the ferry incident…"
"So, this whole time… You've been babysitting me? They put you in the suite next to mine, and then had you work at the school where I was studying. Just 'to keep an eye' on me?" I know that this isn't his fault… He is only the unfortunate one to have landed in this position.
"It sounds worse when you say it all out like that…" He scratches the back of his neck and looks down like a kicked puppy, "But, yeah… They were originally going to have some other Assassin do it, but I could tell that your mom didn't appreciate that idea…" He makes eye contact again, "So, I volunteered. She liked that, because if I were to go, you would at least be willing to trust me in this kind of situation. That you would follow me to safety if it were needed." I let myself fall back down onto the dining room chair and he kneels in front of me placing one hand on my knee and the other on my shoulder for a moment, "They only ever wanted to protect you. They love you. All of them." The words slam into me like a wrecking ball.
I can get mad all I want… But at the end of the day… That is that exact same logic I was using as an excuse not to tell them the truth about me immediately after it happened… Or even when Zeph gave me the opportunity to tell him in my apartment and I asked him to wait…
"This must all be some kind of grand cosmic joke." I finally say after enough time had passed that he decided to brew some tea.
"What is?"
"This. Them. Everything." Fuck it. I decide to dive for it and remove the hidden blade from my arm and place it on the table. His eyes practically bug right out of his head when he sets them on the beautifully intricate work that happened as a result of Leonardo's adjustments to the hidden blades. Coupled with the stunning details in the leather and metal, with the gold details and the three precious stones inlayed in it: an emerald and two turquoise… Just like my handfast ring. His hands hover over the beautiful artifact of the late-Renaissance Assassins in awe.
"Where on Earth did you get this? There haven't been blades like this one in…" He pauses to think a moment, "Well, probably four or five hundred years…"
"Good guess. I had gotten my first one when Yusuf convinced me to work with the Assassins in Istanbul in the early fifteen-hundreds. Then I got this one just a little after that. So, yeah, a little over five hundred years ago." I pour two cups of tea and place one in front of him, trying not to let my hands give away my mental state by shaking.
"Wait… What?" Shock at first and then calming down before apparently deciding the sheer impossibility outweighs the shock of me having that blade, "That's not possible. You were born in 1992." He takes a sip of tea in a very matter-of-fact way before sitting back in the chair.
"Yep. I was. But… Something happened. I still don't really know what… Even the greatest Isu minds could never really figure it out. They could only ever figure out the results of what happened…" He spits out his matter-of-fact sip of tea all over the table, luckily away from me.
"Where did you hear about the Isu? Not even all Assassins know they're called that…"
"Hear about the Isu? I lived with them. You know one of the brain-benders of all this?" He looks at me with total disbelief on his face, "My parents named me after myself. Astraea. The starry maiden, virgin goddess of justice, and daughter of Astraeus and Eos."
"Alright… I give. Where are the cameras? Because obviously they told you without telling me just for shits and giggles." He picks up his cup to take another sip. I stand up and remove the hoodie. I freeze for a minute because I know there's no going back from this… I take a deep breath then I remove the long-sleeved shirt leaving only the camisole underneath, revealing the layers of scars on both of my arms, my shoulders, and across my exposed collarbone. I see his jaw drop, "Please tell me that is just a really great makeup job…" He says as his cup lowers to the table slowly while he takes in all the scars on my arms. I shake my head and hold an arm to him. He places his hand gingerly on my arm as though each scar would still hurt even after having been healed for such a long time.
"How is this possible? I saw a photo of you from your trip with Venus that was only almost two years ago… But these scars... They all seem much older than that." He gently slides his hand over the surface of my arm. He traces the long one on my left forearm; the same one that Zeph also noticed first.
"I got that one defending an orphan on the streets of Babylon during the early days of the Persian empire… I'm… A little more durable than the average human… But I think because of that, that when I am injured gravely, the scar takes longer to disappear. It had been on a whim, so I hadn't had the time to draw my sword for defense… But I just couldn't let that kid die, so I used my arm instead."
"So… You really lived all that time? Everything since the Isu ruled the planet? How can that be possible?" He is practically whispering.
"Like I said I don't know… I don't think anyone really knows… Athena… Minerva." I correct, even after all this time I prefer Athena… "She tried, Astraeus and Eos, had been my adoptive parents and they couldn't figure it out… And there are a few gaps of time where I wasn't really living."
"Wait, adoptive parents? Not living? Alright, back up and start from the beginning…" Emmett sits back in his chair again to get a little more comfortable.
"Okay… Well, it started that day on the ferry, or well, I guess once I was off the ferry… A wave had crashed me into the side of the ferry, and I hit my head really hard. I had come to for a couple of minutes, but I had been carried really far away from the ferry. Then a wave pushed me under the water. I drowned. And when I came to, I was on a beach, with no memories, being approach by the most dazzling looking people…"
It took hours, basically all day long after he woke up, with Emmett firing questions every few sentences, it was dark before I even covered most of the important stuff. We had moved from the kitchenette space to the ratty sofa at one point. The big points had been… Approximately when I had woken up on the beach, what happened while I had no memories, and a few smaller points in between. He also had asked for clarification when I mentioned my power, that did take some extra time… And a little demonstration, but I did dissuade further demonstration by saying that anyone watching for power fluctuations in the electrical grid, or atmospheric pressure would see it if I went too far. I also didn't fully disclose all the things I can do.
"Okay… So, you weren't really living for most of the time… You were in that device thing that the one Isu had made in hopes of extending his own life…"
"Ilios, yeah…" We go back to the kitchenette and I make some more tea.
"But that still makes you absurdly old…" He grins making it obvious he means it as teasing.
"Hey, now. Your words. I was 'born in 1992.'"
"Hmm… I did say that…" He smiles at me. He places a hand on my hidden blade, "So you were fighting the Byzantine-Templars then?" He asks and I nod.
"Did you study some Brotherhood history?" I place the mug of steaming tea in front of him.
"Yeah… That era in particular… You know… Animus. And wanting to know more about my ancestor from then." He shrugs.
"Oh. Right. Animus…" I had never thought about it until I started seeing rumours on the dark web about it. "So, what did you see then? Who was your ancestor at that point?"
"Well, they were having troubles synching the memories, so I really only got to see stuff leading up to that until around the time before the Venetian-Ottoman war from one ancestor and then the stuff after the Byzantine-Templars had been defeated and chased from Istanbul from the next one down the line."
"Hmmm… There were a handful of the Assassins from Istanbul who helped with efforts to that end the conflict of the Venetians and the Ottomans… I did meet some of them in Spain at one point too. Of course, that was before they ended the conflict with the Venetians and the Ottomans…" I take a sip of tea to let Emmett finish.
"My ancestor was Yusuf Tazim…" I spew the tea all over the table, just like he had at the beginning of all this, "… And his son…" He says slower as he looks between me and the table.
"What?" I gasp out between coughs, "He had a kid? When?"
"Apparently, he conceived a child in Spain. It must have been just before he met you…"
"Wow… I don't think he even knew… I had met him when the Assassins were leaving Spain, and I had been just going to Spain."
"I'm fairly sure he didn't know… I followed the memories of the kid for a while and he did go to Istanbul as an adult, but as I'm sure you're aware, Yusuf Tazim…"
"Yes... Yusuf was killed fighting the Byzantine-Templars." I take a deep breath and clench my jaw; will this never stop being a hot poker to the heart?
"Hey… Are you okay?" He leans forward to look at me in the eyes.
"I'm fine… I admit that I wasn't expecting to hear that he'd conceived a child at one point…" I confess as I grip the portrait a little tighter in my hands before I pass it to him, "He… Well, he was…"
"I remember in the memories of the son… He found the Assassins there who told him about Yusuf… And that he had found a wife, but never had other children." He gently places the little painting on the table, "So… That was you?" I reach into my shirt and pull Yusuf's ring on the chain out around my neck. I lift the chain over my head and place it on the table, then I pull the ring off my right hand's ring-finger and place it on the table next to Yusuf's ring.
"He was one of the few people I've told everything to…"
"These are beautiful bands. The stones are reversed between them…"
"We never truly got married… We had something like a handfast, because he wanted to ensure the stability of his Brotherhood in Istanbul first, so I had suggested it as way that we could display our… commitment to each other, and he could still devote himself fully to the Brotherhood. We had always intended on marrying once the situation with the Byzantines had been resolved. As for the bands… We each had one made for the other, I had his made and he had mine made. He liked turquoise as a colour so for his band I chose to have a turquoise in the middle for him, with two of my favourite stone, emeralds, on either side. The filigree in the metal matched the brocade of his favourite scarf. He commissioned mine, reversed for the same reason. He had the band made with the little swirls because of how my power manifests." I hold my hand out in front of him and summon a little of the energy that flows through me, like it once flowed through all the Isu. It sparks to life and disappears in undulating swirls, "We had them made separately, and in the end, we made such similar choices."
"You still miss him, don't you?" I pick up the portrait and smile at the memory of him taking me to the waiting artist.
"Yes… I think part of me always will… He always worried about me… Even though I'm a little tougher than most people…" I chuckle at a memory, "There was one time where I had come back to the Brotherhood with some injured Assassins. Once he had them all with others for care, he took me to our space and had me strip right down. Just so he could inspect me for injuries. It was all because I had told him that I'm more durable than a human, and because of that I often would put myself between someone and a potentially killing blow. But I had also told him that even though I may be more durable than a human, I'm not indestructible. After that mission he kept me in the Brotherhood for a whole week! Even though, by his own eyewitness, I hadn't even gotten a scratch." I look into my teacup and I laugh a little more remembering his mother-hen attitude at that point. We remained silent for a few minutes until Emmett broke the silence.
"Well… That was pretty… Heavy." He says taking the mug to the sink, "And I think we could both use some processing time…"
"Yeah… You've always kind of needed extra time to process heavy news." I smile wickedly at him and he play punches me.
Emmett volunteers to take a first watch and I return to the cots to rest. He goes back to the computer space and I listen to him report to the Brotherhood, I recognize the voice on the other side, but I can't place where I know it from. Once it becomes quiet over there, I let myself get a little sleep.