Aquilo POV
Aquilo did not miss how distract Ezio would always get by women. Mainly because it is something he's never been able to relate to Ezio on. So the sudden collision between him and that strange, cloaked woman causing him to lose his train of thought on getting to Leonardo's is just confusing to Aquilo.
But Aquilo has grown accustomed to the way you have to sort of give up the driver's seat when in a memory, or you'll desynch. And that is never fun. More often than not it involves throwing up whatever your last meal was and not wanting to go back to the Animus for at least the rest of the day… But after everything that happened in the studio upstairs…
Everything glitches as he nears desynching from the sheer thought of what happened earlier. He pushes it from his mind.
Woah… Are you alright, bud? You never lose synch like that… Rebecca says over the com-link to Aquilo.
"It's alright." Aquilo assures Rebecca.
If you say so… It looks like you need to continue to Leonardo's place to secure the rest of his things.
"Okay," Aquilo says as Ezio turns to continue down the street and turning to go to Leonardo's workshop where the pair will secure Leonardo's traveling to the Auditore Villa.
According to what Rebecca and Shaun put into the info that Aquilo had briefly skimmed while waiting in the Memory Corridor, Ezio continues after these memories to save Christopher Columbus and then travels to Spain to aid the Assassins there.
Ezio enters Leonardo's workshop and looks around briefly.
"Leonardo?"
"Ah, Ezio? Is that you?" Then none other than Leonardo da Vinci comes from behind a stack of paintings.
"Are these all traveling to the Villa?"
"Ah, yes. Couldn't bear to leave them behind." Leonardo gestures to his works. Both Aquilo and Ezio note how he seems to treat his works as people more than paintings.
"So Leonardo, are you ready to go?"
"Ah, yes… Hmm... About that…"
"Leonardo…" Ezio sighs.
"I have reconnected with a friend and I may have promised to stay until just after the Carnevale."
"Leonardo…" Ezio repeats.
"I just couldn't say no, she is very persuasive."
"She?"
"Ah, yes. I've been drawing her lately. And helping her draw too. Exceptionally talented. Skill is there too, if a little unrefined. Although today she left early… I was hoping you could meet her, but she left very suddenly." Leonardo speaks more eccentrically than Aquilo had first imagined, but after going through the highlights of Ezio's memories the first time, there's no other way Aquilo could picture him now. Although, Aquilo and Ezio both couldn't ever remember hearing about Leonardo having a specific friend who was a woman and an artist of enough talent that Leonardo gave her praise like that. And if there had been Ezio would certainly remember, at least Aquilo thought so.
"I cannot recall you mentioning any lady artist friends around here the last time I saw you. You must have been fast friends indeed."
"I've known her since some years after arriving in Venezia. But, yes, she spotted me drawing then and asked if I would mind if she joined me drawing the city. She is very clever… If a little…"
"A little what?" After a long pause of Leonardo searching for the word Ezio prods.
"Sad, I suppose. She seems to hide it well, but underneath everything she seems sad. Or perhaps empty? And it comes through in her drawings. She often uses charcoal darker than I've ever seen someone use before. Say… I am a little worried about her, having left in such a hurry… Would you mind tracking her down to check on her for me?"
"I can never refuse a favour from you, my friend." Ezio promises.
"Excellent. She really favours drawing by the Palazzo Ducale and near some of the trees that look over the water. I imagine you would be most likely to find her near one of those places. Her name is Neoma and I believe she was wearing green today..."
"Grazie." Ezio leaves Leonardo sorting through some more of his paintings. He said thank you but Aquilo can tell that Ezio would've liked more to go off of.
While Ezio walks along to the Palazzo, Aquilo decides to brainstorm.
"Hey, Rebecca… How do you think this is connected to that woman in Istanbul? The woman there… She seemed quite young, but if this woman were the same woman… Wouldn't that make her quite a bit older by the time Ezio is in Istanbul?"
You're right, there does seem to be a strange time gap… Rebecca agrees, I guess we just have to wait and see how it all unfolds. Desmond once said that, while trapped in the Animus, Clay had described that these memories often work by what an ancestor wants to show you. So I guess we just have to find out what Ezio want to show us.
"I guess so…"
When Ezio arrives at the Palazzo however there is no sign of any woman drawing and, or, wearing green, so Ezio uses his Eagle Sense to try finding some clues to what he is searching for, but again, nothing.
Then it becomes a task of footwork and Ezio walks around, occasionally using Eagle Sense to see if he can spot any clues or perhaps the woman.
Then finally, after hours of walking until the sun is almost setting, he spots the glow of what he is looking for… Only instead of around or near the tree… She is up the tree. And as Ezio nears he spots that she is in pants instead of a dress like most women would wear, but pants are the better option for climbing a tree. And just as Leonardo said… She is in fact in green. Her hooded cloak is a deep forest green.
"You must be this Neoma that Leonardo told me about." Ezio had approached quietly and when he speaks the tree rustles a little bit.
"You're a friend of Leonardo?"
"Yes, we've known each other a long time. I'm actually in the midst of helping him organize his move to my family's estate. You worried him earlier by leaving so suddenly."
"Oh… I didn't mean to. I guess I just got a little flustered by hearing him say that he would be leaving… So I asked him to stay at least to Carnevale, but I… I regret that. I shouldn't make him stay longer than he wants to. I'm already beyond lucky that he has called me his friend." Ezio's thoughts linger on how her Italian sounds a little strange but he has met many people from many places already, so it doesn't bother him much.
"Really? He told me he was planning to stay until the Carnevale anyway." Ezio informs the woman.
"Oh… I hadn't listened that far… Oh, what a mess…" The woman gracefully dismounts the tree, and her hood falls over her head. Ezio notes how fine her clothing looks for someone speaking Italian that sounds less refined, but it is only a passing thought.
"I suppose if you're helping Leonardo get ready to move, we will probably see a lot of each other…"
"I suppose you are correct," Aquilo notes that Ezio turns on the suave voice, "My name is Ezio Auditore da Firenze." He flourishes into a little bow, his cape swishing aside.
"My name is Neoma… It's a pleasure to meet you, Ezio." As Ezio comes out of the bow, Neoma lowers her hood to reveal her face. While Ezio's thoughts linger on how her green eyes look dull and lifeless, Aquilo's thoughts race over what he is seeing before him.
A face that Aquilo knows all too well.
"Astraea?" Aquilo says to himself, before the whole memory collapses around him.
In the Memory Corridor he talks to Rebecca.
"There's no way that's Astraea, right?" He paces in the endless space of the Corridor, "She looks just like Astraea though. That's unbelievable."
Hey, Lio? Zeph's voice comes through the link into the Corridor, you need to finish out these memories. I think that it will really help you understand something…
"And that would be what exactly, Zeph?" Aquilo's temper over the spat earlier hasn't settles down yet and he can't help the snappy tone his words carry.
I think it's a good idea too. For all we know about any of it, your sister could be something like the Sages. Born as a human with a DNA link to an Isu.
"Alright, lets finish these memories up then… I want to get it over with."
Remember not to stay too long in there. Rebecca uselessly reminds him.
"Then let's finish them quickly."
Launching the next memory, three, two, one…
"Leonardo said I might find you here today." Ezio approaches Neoma as she sits on the grass near a lone tree near the edge of the city overlooking the water to another section of the city.
"Ah, Ezio… I didn't expect to see you, I have already been to Leonardo's today for drawing, but I saw the way the sun is on the buildings across the water and couldn't help but stop to draw them. I'm profoundly grateful to Leonardo for bringing this back into my life. I think drawing has helped to make my life a little less bleak lately."
"Leonardo once told me he thought you seemed sad. Could it be he was right?" The face of Aquilo's sister looks up at Ezio with a little surprise showing in the wide green eyes and in the arch of her eyebrows.
"I suppose I should have guessed he would notice… He is Leonardo da Vinci after all…" She breathes in deeply, "Yes, I suppose he is right… But sad doesn't really do this feeling justice." She pauses for a moment and Ezio sits down on the grass beside her, "Ezio… You have a family, yes?"
"Yes. My mother and sister are living with my uncle at the Villa that belongs to my family."
"And your father?" Ezio pauses but Aquilo feels him decide to tell her.
"My father and my two brothers were wrongly executed fifteen years ago. I fought for a long time to avenge them, but along the way I learnt a lot… Made many friends and found something of a new family."
"In the Brotherhood?" The question shocks Ezio as much as it does Aquilo. After he doesn't answer right away Neoma continues, "I see the way you walk. The way you handle yourself. And that." She points at the weapon of choice of the Brotherhood, the hidden blade.
"You are familiar with the Brotherhood then? Are you an Assassin?"
"Not really, no. But I have encountered them before. As well as the Templars."
"Yes… It had been the Templars behind the wrongful execution of my father and two brothers." Ezio pauses and they sit in silence for a few minutes, "How about you, Neoma? Do you have family?"
"Yes… Kind of. They are extremely far away, and I haven't seen them for a long time… Nor do I expect to see them for a long time…" Ezio notices her shoulders sag a little and the book of drawings goes limp in her grip, "It's lonely this… existence. I fear that everything that has happened to me… Everything I have done… It's changed me. And I fear that my family won't accept me like this. All they know is the kind, gentle me who could barely lift a hand against anyone. And now… I've had to kill to defend myself and others. I'm afraid that all they will see is a monster who took my place."
"Many people have had to kill, naturally as an Assassin I have as well. But I don't think that that makes you a monster. In fact… I believe that worrying about it like you are makes you just as human as anyone." Ezio reaches an arm around her shoulders and gives a gentle squeeze for comfort.
"I appreciate the thought… But there is a lot more that I can't really explain. It's that part that makes me a monster more than the killing. I've changed. And I can't go back. I live in darkness and I fear that if I can't find the light, my family will reject me. It's why I've been so eager to spend time with Leonardo… He helped bring art and drawing back into my life… It's almost like a ray of moonlight breaking through the black storm."
"Leonardo has that effect on people. I can only hope to bring half as much light to the world as he does."
The pair just sit for a while as the sun sets and the moon's light begins to sparkle over the waves.
The memory ends and Aquilo finds himself in the Memory Corridor, suddenly heavy with guilt. This woman, Neoma, who looks just like his Astraea, fears so deeply that her family will reject her. That her family will accuse her of being a monster and not who herself…
And that's exactly what he did this afternoon.
While he may not have said it directly to Astraea, he did call her a monster. And he openly rejected her to her face. Over a sparring match… Aquilo stews over the match again, with how overwhelming Astraea had felt towards the end. The way she so easily deflected his blows and how she had even been tapping his wrists as he threw punches as though she had been watching them in slow motion.
Aquilo knows that he is no beginner in fighting… Even among Assassins, there are few to rival his strength and skill. So for his little sister, of all people, to have so overwhelmingly beaten him, without even getting short of breath… It really left him shellshocked. And he hadn't dealt with it well. Especially since near the end, as he had been goading her into not holding back, she let him feel her true presence. And to have that presence sweep his feet out from under him then pin him to ground like he were a small child had terrified him. Which led to him calling her a monster to Zephyr.
Alright, we're bringing you out to eat something. Plus, word came in from Aurora. Rebecca's voice comes in to let Aquilo know that he isn't diving straight into the next memory. Which he wonders if it is a good thing… It only really gives him more time to stew over this afternoon's debacle and consequent shouting match with his more people-intuitive twin. Zephyr managed to get Aquilo to agree to thinking about talking with… Her.
Aquilo hadn't even realize how different she was until she had let loose whatever it was that she released in the sparring match. Aquilo couldn't even find the words to describe it, other than pure undiluted power. It shocked Aquilo so badly that he reacted as an Assassin to a threat, it had been his instincts taking over.
Lio?
"Yeah?"
We're bringing you out in… Three, two, one…
Then the bright lights of the basement workspaces greet his eyes as he wakes up from the Animus.
"Alright… Everything was looking good so far. The next memory is during a Carnevale, so I figured now is as good a time as any for you to take a bio-break. Plus, it's been working very smoothly that each subsequent memory seems to just fall into place as you work through them." She holds out a bottle of juice and Aquilo takes a long drink.
"You said word came in from Aurora?" Aquilo mentions.
"Right, yeah, Layla came back a little while ago with word from Aurora…" Rebecca starts, then notes Aquilo's expression, "She came back here to get away from the whole Isu stuff out there. Anyway, apparently something may have come up, so Aurora is staying the night there. Layla said Aurora would be coming back tomorrow evening."
"Alright, I guess I'll have to wait to speak with her… What time is it now then?"
"We are now at almost 10 pm, did you want to call it quits for the night?"
"Yeah… Where's Zephyr at?"
"I'm right here, what's up?" Zephyr steps from behind Rebecca's work area where the bigger screen is set up to see the feed from the Animus with a clipboard on his lap.
"I wanted to talk about how much that woman looks like Astraea. Rebecca, you mentioned that a possibility is that she could be something like the Sage, right? I don't remember too much on the subject but wasn't that a sort of one-off experiment by…"
"Juno." Zeph completes for him, "Yes, the Sage, as he has been called throughout history, is the appearance of the DNA of the Isu, Aita, Juno's husband, in the human genome. Most of these Sages have gone crazy after Aita's memories began to surface and those that didn't have shown troubling tendencies to side with and rise to the highest ranks of the Templars… Like Jacques de Molay and Francois-Thomas Germain, who both rose to become the Grandmasters of their times, or an unnerving disregard for human life, like the pirate Bartholomew Roberts." Zeph leans against Rebecca's desk.
"I said that it's possible. You have to admit that there is a whole lot about the Isu that we still don't know. I mean the Staff kept Kassandra of Sparta alive for well over two-thousand years."
"While that's true, I don't think that it's the case here." Zephyr stands firm.
"Hopefully, we'll get some more answers later on in the memories, but I think it's best if we keep all of this on the downlow for now." Rebecca proposes, in attempt to diffuse the tension between the two twins.
"Even from Raea?" Zeph brings up.
"Often in the cases of Sages they already know… But it couldn't hurt to not mention it. Anyway, Layla also mentioned that the day after tomorrow Aurora wants to take your dearest little sister to the dig site." Rebecca says.
"Oh? Did she say why?" Aquilo asks.
"Well, all of us have been to it by now… Except her of course." Zephyr counters.
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Anyway, you should probably get some rest, Shaun is on his watch round and Zephyr's is next in a few minutes." Rebecca states as she shuts down her computer before standing up and walking towards one of the exits to the space, all of which tend to be as well hidden from the inside as the outside.
"Right." Zephyr goes to the one that is typically used for the watch shift due to its height and overall ease of roof access.
"Well, goodnight then…" Aquilo says to the leaving people before going up to the bedroom that he has been using.
He spots light from around the door of the room Astraea is using, but he only pauses for a moment before going into his room and closing the door.
Aquilo settles into the Animus' chair, he can hear Astraea's voice coming from near Shaun's workspace, but he ignores it. He'd had a nightmare of an Isu who took away his sister and replaced her with a monster, like the legends where fairy folk would steal babies and leave changelings in their place. In his nightmare, the Astraea-replacement had earned the trust of his whole family before killing them before his eyes.
With the nightmare so fresh in his mind he couldn't even look at her when they had happened to cross paths when she was leaving the bathroom when he had just been arriving to use it. He had snuck one look at her as he shut the door though… He had seen her with her eyes screwed shut and a hand covering her mouth.
But he just couldn't shake the feeling that there is a piece of this puzzle he is missing. Would having Isu memories awakening within her cause her to gain enough physical prowess to overpower him so completely. And not just in the raw power category but also in how she clearly had more experience fighting than him.
He shoves all those thoughts aside as Rebecca counts down to sending him into the Memory Corridor, and from there into the memories of Ezio as he interacts with the woman with empty eyes.
The lights of the Carnevale fill the space around Aquilo. The men and the women all wearing masks and laughing, dancing, and drinking away. Ezio works his way through the crowds to a lonely looking head of blonde curls belonging to a woman in a beautifully embellished emerald and gold dress.
"Neoma, I wasn't expecting you to be so… Beautifully dressed."
"I do have plenty of dresses. I choose not to wear them most days. And just because I'm a monster doesn't mean I need to look like one." Ezio chuckles as Neoma turns around, his thoughts of course linger on how the dress reveals more skin than she would normally show. His eyes linger on her bosom, where Aquilo notes the faint lines of many scars that sit on the skin around her collar bone.
"Would you care to dance then, signorina?" Ezio holds out and Neoma takes it and he leads them in a dance. Her eyes only visible through the mask of delicate gold swirls and deep green enamel.
"So have you been able to find a light to banish the storm yet?" Ezio asks as they gracefully dance around to the lively music.
"Not to banish the storm, yet… But I did find something to help me weather it a little longer…" The woman answers. Although, to Ezio's eyes her eyes look as dull and empty as the day he first met her under the tree. She is beautiful, and Ezio finds himself wishing he could banish her darkness away.
"Would that be Leonardo's doing then?" He prods.
"Partially, but I think perhaps some of it may have been talking with you. I'm really not sure, but I feel a little less in the dark than before… It's almost like someone has lit a candle next to me. A small, comforting light. Nothing so grand as to send the night away or light the whole path, but enough to see the next steppingstone at least." Neoma's answer sounds so poetic to Aquilo, he finds himself relating to her little by little…
"Well, I'm glad for my part in that then." He finds himself dipping his head down towards her to peck her on the cheek.
They chat, dance, and drink the whole night long. Ezio wanting to draw it out as it is their last night before he and Leonardo depart for Monteriggioni in the morning.
Then when he finally drops her off at her home, she beckons him inside.
There they spend the rest of the entwined, but Ezio's thoughts are only on how she seems to be searching for something to fill an emptiness deep inside of her heart. Or rather in her analogy, a light bright enough to banish the black storm.
Aquilo's thoughts linger on how this woman seems so alone despite having the company of Ezio and Leonardo.
And how she fears to be called a monster.
Then as the world of memories dissolves around him, he arrives in the Memory Corridor.
Alright, there's still plenty of time, did you want to jump into the next memory? Rebecca asks into the empty space of the Corridor.
"What time is it?" Aquilo asks her.
Just after five pm, Aurora said she would be back here around five-thirty or so… But this memory is short.
"Alright, let's do one more before she gets back… I want to talk to her so let's try to be done close to when she gets back here."
Gotcha. The next memory is loading now… Three, two, one…
"Arriving together? What did I do to deserve two wonderous people arriving at the same time to… Well… Not my home anymore…?" Leonardo stumbles over realizing that as of this day he no longer lives in his Venice workshop.
"Well, I'm not sure who you're seeing Leonardo, but it's definitely not the two of us…" Neoma quips as she elbows Ezio in the ribs. Ezio looks down at the joking woman, only to see her eyes dull as heavily tarnished silver. She may sound jovial and light, but it's all a sham. This is one of the only truths Ezio has learnt about this strange woman.
"No, no! Anyone I call my friend is a wonderous person." Leonardo comes to the defense of Neoma in the wake of her self-deprecating humour.
"Ah, so, just as beauty is subjective to… Whomever is observing it. You're saying that being wonderous is a matter of subjective observation." Ezio just looks over and eyes the woman.
"I have never heard anything said in such a complicated way…" Ezio says slowly, partially still processing what was said, "It reminds of some of the dull Greek philosophy works I was forced into reading as a teen…" This earns a smile from Neoma, with a hint of a glimmer in her eyes; the smile looking almost reminiscent.
"You are absolutely right, Neoma! Especially in that I view the both of you as wonderous, but anyone who's ever been at the end of his blade has likely not thought so about him." Neoma laughs and Ezio thinks he spots a glimmer in her eyes of true happiness, but as quickly as he spots it, it vanishes, leaving her eyes the same as ever.
"Right you are, Leonardo!" Neoma says as she pats him on the shoulder, "I will miss you my friend. You brought me back to being able to sit and let my mind be free for a little while, through my art. It has been a long time since I felt the drive to create like this. I can't thank you enough."
"Nor I, you, Neoma. You gave me an excellent subject to draw and paint." Leonardo rummages through one of the piles and fishes out a leather-bound cylinder. He opens it and shows Neoma a lovely painting of her in the unique way that Leonardo commands the paint. Nothing so complicated as some of his works, but no less beautiful.
"Leonardo…" She starts.
"Don't say you can't accept it. Because here you are." He slides the painting back into the protective roll and takes her hand, "And you are accepting it." He puts the roll in her hand before pushing her hand back to her chest.
"Thank you. Best of luck in everything you do." She says it confidently as though it's something she's certain will come to pass.
"And to you, Neoma." Leonardo says before going over to his still waiting pile of stuff remaining on the ground next to the cart.
Leonardo busies himself putting the last things in the cart getting ready to leave Venice, leaving Ezio and Neoma watching.
"It was certainly interesting to meet you, Neoma."
"Likewise, Ezio Auditore." He puts a hand on her shoulder and leans down to kiss the sides of her face in a parting gesture.
"I hope you find a sun to bring you daylight and banish your storm."
"Thank you, Ezio. I wish you only the best."
Then she walks away. She doesn't look back at all. But Ezio watches until she turns a corner and disappears.
Aquilo materializes in the Corridor, marvelling at how alike this woman, Neoma, and his sister are. When Rebecca chimes in.
Aurora just arrived a little while ago, are you ready to come out?
"Why didn't you pull me out as soon as she arrived?" Aquilo asks, more than a little aggravated.
Because you were practically finished with this whole section of memory information. The next memory I've found that correlates to this is the one in Istanbul. I guess you're probably half-way through at this point… But I didn't realize it was an emergency that you talk to your mom.
Rebecca only ever addresses Aurora as Aquilo's mom when he's being childish… Which, he supposes he kind of is being… But it's all because he is trying to warn his mother about how dangerous Astraea has become.
"Fine… Are you ready to pull me out then?"
Absolutely… three, two, one…
Aquilo opens his eyes and detaches himself from the Animus before thanking Rebecca, and going to the building where he, his family, and Astraea have been staying.
Once he is up the stairs, he goes into the kitchen to find Aurora sitting at the table looking over some paperwork. She hears him approach and greets him without looking up.
"Hi, Lio. I hear you've been re-exploring some of Ezio's memories…" She starts saying it as though he is wasting time.
"Yeah, actually," Aquilo sits across the table from his mom, "We may have found something new… I went into a memory to try and persuade Astraea to use the Animus, but when the memory was playing through, I realized it was a little different than the first time I went through it."
"Really?" Aurora lowers the paperwork and looks at Aquilo.
"Yeah… There was a person who hadn't been there at all the first time, or rather, any of times anyone else has synched with Ezio's memories."
"Intriguing… Well, have you gotten to the bottom of it yet then?" She asks, always the next question… First is always, 'Is what you're doing worthwhile?' Second is always, 'Are you done then?'
"Not yet. Rebecca narrowed down all the affected memories. She wagers I'm about half-way done at this point."
"Well… Good job. Let me know how it all turns out." She tilts the paperwork back up to finish reading it.
"I will… But mom?" She lowers the papers again, usually Aquilo calling her mom gets her attention since he typically addresses her as Aurora, "Be careful around Astraea… I—"
"I'm going to stop you there. She mentioned that you might try and talk to me about her. She said that she intends to have a long, private talk with me tomorrow while we are on our way to the site. In fact, she wanted to have it asap, but I managed to negotiate the private conversation to the trip out to the site. So, let me hear from her what she has to say, then I'll listen to anything you want to say." Aquilo just sits there open mouthed looking at his mom, that imposter had already gotten to her. It's not enough that she had already convinced Zephyr and Emmett, and probably Kiyoshi too, but now she's even gotten to my mother. Convinced her that she deserves to be heard. Any guilt he had been feeling about his treatment of her dissipates and he is only left feeling anger. But he also knows that his mom is just as stubborn, if not more so, than him. Meaning that now that she's decided to hear out the imposter first, that's exactly what's going to happen.
"Fine. But please, be careful. Something isn't right." He bites out.
"She's your sister, Aquilo, not some deplorable monster." That's what you think. But I've seen otherwise.
"See you later then." He says curtly and Aurora only hums an answer as he passes by her to the stairs to go to bed for a nap, despite the growling protests of his stomach.
As he goes up to his space, he passes a window and looks out into the courtyard where he sees the imposter woman drawing under the solitary tree. No… Not drawing. She is gliding her fingers over a finished drawing delicately. Aquilo watches from the edge of the window for a moment. Her expression stays gentle and loving, with the corners of her lips turned up, but her eyes seem incomparably sad.
Then he sees the woman who was given the Staff of Hermes, Layla arrive at the tree.
Aquilo continues along his way to nap a while before returning to the world of memories in his DNA.