"You keep curious company." The French Assassin remarked, looking Connor over with a mixture of curiosity and wariness after they climbed one of the nearby buildings and headed far enough away so as to be out of sight of the carriages. "The Templars claim that you are Kenway's son, yet by your words you imply you are an Assassin… The Assassin in the British Colonies who has caused such a stir."
"And I could say the same of you." Connor responded, raising an eyebrow at the older Assassin, patiently waiting for the questions he was quite certain were going to be asked. The two of them kept moving through Paris, and Connor stuck close to the French Assassin as the other knew where they might encounter guard patrols.
"This is true. The leaders of the French Brotherhood and Templar Rite have decided to try to form a treaty with one another to better protect the people of France. The negotiations are tense and slow going and there are detracts and those who believe that trying for peace violates everything we stand for. Why are you here? Please, I must ask you not to interfere as there is a real chance for peace." the Assassin responded, a pleading note entering his voice.
"My father truly is Grandmaster Kenway, though I did not know who he was until after I had become an Assassin and had been for years, beyond his name." Connor explained "Months ago, several very important Templars visited the Colonies, one of whom being Grandmaster de la Serre's wife. As there is already a truce between the Brotherhood and the Templars in the British Colonies, I was sent to aid the Grandmaster in managing them. I was apparently charming enough for the both of them to be curious about me. That, or they have a number of other plans in place and want to try to use me against rake:ni. I did not catch what your name was. Would you mind telling me? You have mine. I am curious, if the negotiations are as tense as you are implying, are the French Templars aware of your true allegiance, or are you undercover?"
A stunned expression flashed across the other's face as he digested all of the information he had been given. "I… I see. My name is Charles. It is a little surprising that Kenway is being reasonable.. The French Templars are aware that I am an Assassin, and I was sent along with the Templar messengers as an act of good faith on their part."
A small snort escaped Connor. "He is unreasonable about a great many things. However, unnecessary fighting is not something he wants." a slightly irritated expression as memories of previous arguments flashed across his mind.
"Kenway is in favor of peace. That is welcome news, particularly as the fanatical edge of the French Rite are supporting Germain in order to attempt a takeover to return the French Templar Rite under their control and continue to try and control the populace and kill us." Charles responded, a sigh escaping him as he shook his head a little. "Then again, there are hard-liners in the French Brotherhood who are very much against this treaty and would prefer that we fight one another, rather than trying to strike a balance. How was that handled within the British Colonies of America?"
Connor shrugged a little "There are seven active assassins, including myself. There is our Mentor, Achilles who is against the truce, but he does agree that fighting one another is counterproductive and is waiting for the chance to tell us that he told us so, for daring to trust Templars not to stab us in the back. As for the Templar detractors within the British Colonies… I do not know about them, nor what they may have said or attempted to do. Not that they would get far. Rake:ni does not suffer traitors to live. That is how the truce began, actually."
"What do you mean by that, Connor?" Over Connor's shoulder, Charles spotted a guard aiming at them with a rifle "We need to hide in a haystack for a short time, as I think… Yes, the rooftop guards did spot us and will start shooting at us and attracting rather a lot of attention and as we are near a barracks, we do not have the resources to fight all of the guards who will show up if we do not hide now."
Connor followed suit, waiting until the guards stopped running around – activating his second sight and holding his breath a little as a couple of guards with swords drawn passed very close to their hiding spot, he tensed up, preparing to spring out, even as he hoped that they would not stab into the hay, trying to figure out if someone was there. One of the guards did pause, staring at the haystack for several long moments before leaving, rushing to catch up to the rest of the patrol. "The guards are gone, and we can get out of the haystack without being spotted." Connor gracefully left the haystack, confident in what he had said, as he could no longer see any guards in the immediate vicinity.
Charles came out a little bit later, and with a great deal more wariness. "How did you know that they were gone so quickly?" The younger Assassin was indeed correct but… How had Connor been so certain? Unless…
"I could hear them moving. The sound of heavy military boots is a distinctive sound, if you know how to listen for it." Connor answered, not quite lying to the other. He was well aware of the fact that his second sight was a rare ability, and one that he had inherited from his father. Haytham had asked him to not reveal to the Assassins that the other had second sight, if it was at all possible. Connor looked over at Charles, trying to read whether or not it would be a wise move to tell the older Assassin about his second sight. The other did seem affable enough, however…
This was not something he was willing to share with a near stranger, even a Brother. Connor had yet to inform his recruits of his second sight, much less this stranger. Connor continued his explanation "Benjamin Church was a traitor to the British Colonial Rite. I was looking for the supplies he had stolen from the Patriots and the Grandmaster was looking for Church who had defected to the British. We met in an abandoned building, talked briefly and deciding that pooling our resources was the better option than fighting one another while individually hunting for Church. That was also the first time the two of us met properly."
Connor paused again, searching Charles' face, hoping that the other would listen to him, to impress upon the other that this secret must be kept. "I would ask for you to please keep all of what I have told you in confidence. The French Templars are likely going to assume that I am a Templar, and that is an illusion that both rake:ni and I are very much wanting to keep going."
"Of course. There is no need to let the Templars know everything after all. We have our secrets and they have theirs… I rather suspect that if I hint to know more of what is truly going on in the Colonies than what is presented by your father, I will wake with my throat slit, and that is if I am lucky enough to wake at all." Charles responded carefully.
"Thank you for your promise. I will not reveal to anyone that you are an Assassin, nor will I give any indication that I am aware of your true allegiance, should the French Templars or your chapter of the Brotherhood choose to reveal your identity to the visiting Colonial Templars." Connor responded, a small and grateful smile appearing on his face at the older Assassin's promise.
Charles was still unconvinced that Connor had been able to tell by sound alone whether or not it was safe to leave the haystack. However, the French Assassin knew that pushing for the whole truth would likely end in pushing Connor away. The Colonial Assassin could be a crucial ally, and he could not risk potentially alienating Connor over this. Besides if his hunch was correct, Connor had used the same excuse as his six year old son Arno had when the boy had hidden successfully from his wife a few weeks ago when trying to avoid a bath. "We should get going. Our time runs short and it will take some time to get to de la Serre's mansion. I ask out of curiosity, what would Kenway do if we were not to arrive at the specified time?"
"As he is surrounded by Templars not of his Rite in lands he does not know well? Rake:ni would send Shay after the both of us, saying that I might have accidentally gotten separated from you and was either wandering around Paris, lost. Or I had found my way back to The Morrigan, in the hopes that Gist or you would find me there. If Shay did find us together, he may begin to suspect that you are not a Templar. If we are separated when Shay finds one of us, he might suspect that I slipped away from you to try to make contact with the French Brotherhood." Connor answered, a small sigh escaping him at the possibilities.
Charles had gone a distressing shade of white at what Connor had said, looking as though someone had just run him through with a sword. In a meek and trembling voice, the French Assassin managed to ask "You are… Certain that he…He would send Cormac after us for being late?"
Connor stared at Charles in utter confusion. He did not have the slightest clue as to why he would have such an extreme reaction to what was one of the more reasonable things his father might do. "Is there something wrong, Charles? He – father – might find us himself, or would try to if we were in the Colonies, but as you speak of treaties and truce, it is highly likely that the more extreme people on both sides of the conflict will try to attack or kidnap anyone they perceive as important. I rather doubt that the French Rite would allow him to wander freely."
"I…He…" A terrible sense of clarity crystallized in Charles' mind. Connor did not know why his father and Cormac were so feared. Davenport had not told him of how the previous Colonial Brotherhood fell… Nor, possibly, any of the other recently recruited assassins. "Cormac is an Assassin Killer. He is very good at it. That is why I reacted like that when you said that Cormac might be sent after us to bring us to de la Serre."
"Oh… I did not know that. Shay is kind when he is allowed to be. Father is by far the more ruthless of the two of them." Connor responded "We should head off to de la Serre's then, so as to avoid arousing their suspicion. Father probably will not try to interfere in the peace process and I will try to keep him from negatively influencing things if he is of a mind to attempt to do so when he does find out about the truce. Unless the French Templars mentioned it in a previous letter, to my knowledge, rake:ni has yet to be informed. He will find out, regardless of whether or not it is the French Grandmaster's intention to do so or not."
"Secrets can be kept by others… However Kenway has been brought here in the hopes that he would take positively or at least neutrally to the idea that we are trying to create peace in order to better protect the populace." Charles responded, shuddering just a little at the utter certainty with which Connor spoke. There was a possibility that Connor was a little bit biased about his father… Then again, Kenway was a highly inquisitive and relentless person and always had been. The two of them headed for Grandmaster de la Serre's mansion.
