The next day, when she woke up, Maria saw Altair laid the same way he was yesterday, but with closed eyes. The book was closed on his legs.
"Good morning…" He said without opening his eyes.
"Good morning…" She said. "Did you sleep?"
"A couple of hours…" He said, opening his eyes and looking at her.
Maria was used to his light sleep.
"Did you read all the book?" She asked.
"Yes…" He answered. "And I thought about Achilles proposition…"
"And what you decided?" She asked, sitting facing him
Altair looked in front of him.
"I'll accept it with two conditions…" He said. "The first is that they are my commanders, when we go away, they can move on…"
Maria nodded.
"The second one is that they help us to find the piece of Eden that Minerva wants while we help them…" He finished looking at her.
"Do you think they will accept?"
"I hope so…" Altair said.
Maria nodded.
"Let's talk with Achilles then…"
She was about to get up, when Altair picked her hand. She looked at him.
"But first, I want my kiss…" He said.
Maria bowed down and kissed him twice. Altair could taste himself on her lips. He didn't like it, but she did…
"Now, let's get dressed…" She said.
Altair nodded.
X ~ X ~ X
After leaving the room, Altair and Maria went to the kitchen. There, they found Achilles having breakfast.
"Good morning…" Achilles said. "Have a seat…"
"Good morning…" They said before sitting down.
"It appears that you are adapting here…" Achilles said, seeing how comfortable they were.
"Yes…" Altair said. Maria agreed. "You know, I already thought about your question…"
Achilles raised an eyebrow.
"Already?" The older man asked.
Altair nodded.
"I'll accept with two conditions…the first is that you and Connor be my commanders…" Altair explained. "I'll give you the ways, so when we go away, you can follow from there…"
"When you go away?" Achilles asked. "When will it be?"
"I don't know…" Altair said. "Maybe when we complete whatever Minerva wants us to do…"
Achilles nodded and said:
"Right…and Maria, what will she do?"
Altair and Maria looked at it other.
"She'll be our counselor…" Altair said.
"Better, I'll be your counselor…" She said, kissing him.
Altair nodded.
"Training and other things…" He completed.
"And what is the second condition?" Achilles asked, calling their attention.
Altair looked at him and said:
"The second is while we help you, you help us to find the piece of Eden we need…"
Achilles nodded and thought a little.
"Very well, I'll accept your conditions…" Achilles finally said. "After breakfast, we'll talk with Connor… he is training with our associates… if he agrees, we will do like you said…"
They nodded and started eating.
X ~ X ~ X
Achilles took Altair and Maria to where Connor was training the people who would soon enter the approaching conflict. The day was beautiful and the birds were chirping in the sky.
"Connor…" called Achilles.
Connor looked at him, Altair and Maria.
"How is training?" Achilles asked.
"Good…" Connor said.
Achilles nodded and added:
"We want to talk to you about something very important…"
"Now?" Connor asked.
Achilles nodded and turned around.
"Yes…"
Connor nodded and went to his friend and talked to him. Then, he followed them.
"What do you want to talk to about?" Connor asked Achilles.
"Actually, it's me…" Altair said and Connor looked at him. Altair cleared his throat before speaking again. "Yesterday Achilles made me an offer to lead the brotherhood… and today I made another proposition… with two conditions…"
"Which was?" Connor asked.
"I'll be your leader if you are my commanders…" Altair explained.
Connor nodded.
"I think it's an acceptable request since you are the one who changed the rules of the brotherhood…" Connor said. "Without them, the brotherhood wouldn't survive…"
Altair wondered how Connor knew about it since they didn't talk about it… then, he remembered the book and seconds later nodded.
"This will be only temporary, though…" He amended. "Since we don't know how long we'll be here…"
"It's all depends on when we find the piece of Eden Minerva wants us to find…" Maria explained.
"Exactly…" Altair agreed. "Which leads to the other condition… that you help us to find this object as much we help you on the fight with the Templars…"
Connor nodded and said:
"For me, it's ok…"
The three of them shook hands.
"May I say something that I saw?" Maria interrupted them.
Connor and Achilles looked at her.
"Your training is wrong…" She said.
Altair nodded.
"How?" Connor asked.
"It's not enough to just wield a word, you need to train parrying and balance… footwork is wrong …" Maria explained.
"You better listen to her…" Altair said.
"Can I show you in a fight?" She asked.
"You want to fight me?" Connor asked. "You don't want to do that…"
"You shouldn't say that…" Altair said.
Maria approached Connor.
"I'm up for the challenge… are you?"
Connor raised an eyebrow and seconds later said:
"Let's go…"
They returned to the training area. Connor talked to his friend to empty it and to bring two wooden swords.
"Really, you're going to use them?" Maria asked, raising an eyebrow.
All people looked at Connor.
"Bring real swords, then…"
Connor's friend nodded and went to get them. Connor entered the small arena.
Maria was about to enter too, but Altair picked her hand. She turned to him and he said softly:
"Show him what you know, habib…"
Maria nodded and they kissed quickly. After, she walked to where Connor was and waited for the swords...
"Who wins twice will be the winner…" Connor said.
"All right, get ready to lose…" Maria said.
Connor smiled.
His friend appeared with the two swords and gave each one a weapon.
They started studying themselves. Connor threatened to attack first but recoiled. Maria took advantage of the attack. When Connor defended himself, she swirled to catch him off guard, but he noticed it and dodged.
Distancing themselves from each other, they recovered their breath.
Maria was the one who began the attack this time, with ferocity. Connor tried to defend himself from her attack, but he let his guard down and hit in in the belly as soon as he got tired.
He stumbled back a little, then straightened himself. There was a small cut
"See how the balance is important?" Maria asked.
Connor didn't say anything, just took a deep breath.
X ~ X ~ X
From outside, Achilles said to Altair, without turning from the fight:
"Now, I know why she said that…"
Altair nodded.
X ~ X ~ X
The second part of the fight begun with Connor attacking first. Maria defended herself in every attack. Besides, as she was smaller than he, she was more agile and could easily dodge.
It didn't take long for her to win by hitting him on the arm. Connor stopped and looked at her.
"You really proved me that I am wrong…" Connor said.
Maria denied.
"You don't fight bad, just have to learn more…" She said before walking to Altair and Achilles.
"Very good…" Achilles said.
Altair hugged her.
"I have an excellent teacher…" Maria said.
Altair kissed her head.
Connor approached them.
"I want to apologize to you, Connor…" Achilles said. "When you arrived, you trained alone… and when the others arrived, I let him train them the same way…"
Altair and Maria nodded.
"Maria will train them…" Altair said after a few seconds.
"We'll start tomorrow…" Connor said.
Maria nodded.