The Mediterranean sea, though filled with sparkling water of the purest blue, eventually began to look dull and empty. It looked especially boring when they left the shore behind them, much to Leonardo's anxiety.
"Ezio," He'd tried to reason, "it's a known fact. Sailors who swim away from the shoreline never come back. The universal rule is to always keep the shore in sight!"
The younger man snorted and stubbornly thrust his oar farther into the water, "What kind of explorer never leaves home? How do you expect us to discover anything if we never leave Italia?"
"Hey!" Leonardo's eyes widened, "You never said we were leaving Italia!"
Ezio shrugged, "Well, we're not really leaving it. We're coming right back. Trust me, Leonardo, we'll be home by sundown."
"Why, oh why don't I believe you…" The other man groaned, tentatively running his fingers over his temples.
They paddled on and on, bobbing back in forth in the small waves as the sun slid across the sky. Leonardo had been wise enough to grab a notebook and some charcoal, and was effectively entertained by sketching the clouds and the relative movement of the sun. After a couple of hours though, Ezio finally stepped down from the oar and took a seat on the bench. The two men were utterly alone, with land no where in sight. Just water, and lots of it.
"I can't lift my arms," Ezio complained when Leonardo handed him a roll to eat. "Dio, I am in so much pain…"
"You can whine all you want, but I'm not taking over," Leonardo replied as he took a bite of his lunch, "You're the one who couldn't be bothered to get an actual boat."
Ezio did not respond, and instead focused on munching his food. From then on the men ate in silence, the only sound being the sloshing of the water around them. Soon the food was finished, and the clean water Leonardo had brought went with it.
"Now what?" Leonardo asked.
"We have to keep going," Ezio answered, grimacing, "But it's so hard to move…"
"But, Ezio, even if we could get this boat moving," Leonardo frowned, "where would we go? We're lost."
"We are not lost." Ezio said quickly. He turned around and pulled a small map out of his bag. "See?" He pointed to a drawing of Venice. Then slid his finger away from the city, somewhere out to the right. "We're over here."
"So then you are suggesting that if we simply turned the boat around, we'd land in Venezia?" Leonardo responded skeptically.
"Si, why not?" Ezio looked up, eyes full of sincerity.
Leonardo shook his head, "Alright. I'll turn the boat around, you rest."
"Wait, why are we turning around?" The younger man asked, alarmed, "We haven't discovered anything yet!"
"Ezio, we had no reason to come out here in the first place," Leonardo snapped as he stood, carefully making his way to the oar, "I'm done playing your childish game and I want to go home."
"But-" Ezio cried.
"Basta!" Leonardo said, gripping the wooden instrument in his soft hands, "And I hope the soreness in your arms reminds you of this the next time you have a stupid idea!"
The painter tried his best to flip the boat at a straight one-hundred-eighty degrees, but with the waves coming in from all angles it was hard work. He did succeed in turning it, but he couldn't tell which direction exactly the gondola was facing…
He shrugged hopelessly and just kept rowing. He rowed for half an hour before he gave into his muscles, who by that time were screaming to be released. Leonardo plopped onto the bench, breathing heavily. He lifted his eyes and noticed Ezio leaning over the boat with his water skin.
"Ezio, what are you doing?" Leonardo asked cautiously.
"What does it look like?" The dark-haired one replied, "I'm refilling your water-skin."
"With that water?" Leonardo laughed incredulously.
Ezio turned, annoyed, "What's wrong with salt water?"
"Nothing's wrong with it, if you don't mind dying a painful death." Leonardo smiled tiredly.
"I don't understand," The Auditore grumbled, deflating the skin and placing it back in Leonardo's bag, "Here we are, surrounded by an ocean of water, and you won't let me drink a drop!"
"It's poisonous, imbecile!"
"You have been complaining this whole expedition, Leonardo!" Ezio snapped back, frustration taking hold.
"That's because this whole expedition has been stupid!" Leonardo yelled back, face flushing, "We're both lost in the middle of nowhere with no one to help us, and no food or water! Now what, eh?"
"For the last time, Leonardo!" Ezio shouted, "We are not lost!"
The argument was interrupted as a large wave of water suddenly splashed over the two, fizzing them out. A smaller splash echoed off the boat's right side, and both men leaned over to get a better look.
"What do you think that was?" Leonardo whispered.
"I don't know," Ezio replied, "A large fish, maybe?"
The older man thought. A large fish… The idea was plausible. No man had ever succeeded in recording every single fish that swam in the great Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps they had discovered something after all- that is if they could catch it…
"Do you see anything, Leonardo?" Ezio asked, nudging him as he dipped closer to the water, squinting his dark eyes.
Leonardo focused, but he couldn't make out even the slightest silhouette of a marine animal. No tail darted through the water, no scales glinted in the afternoon sun. It was truly as if there were nothing there. Then what could have caused that splash? It was large enough to cover the gondola, so whatever made it had to be big…
"Al diavolo," Ezio sighed finally, defeated, "I can't see anything." However, when the younger explorer turned back to his bag, he noticed something very odd.
At first Ezio gave out a small gasp of surprise, but then his expression underwent an interesting change. His features morphed from surprised, to confused, to thoughtful, to hurt, to angry.
"Oh, very well done, Leonardo." He grumbled, staring accusingly at the artist in question.
"What?" Leonardo finally pulled himself back into the boat.
"I see what you did, there's no use trying to hide it."
"Ezio, did you drink the water?" Leonardo frowned, "I think you may be delirious."
Ezio shook his head, "Basta! You threw a rock over the side of the boat, and then you took my money pouch!"
Leonardo was now genuinely confused. So many questions were popping up in his mind he couldn't organize them fast enough to ask them.
"How could you? You were like a brother to me!"
"Ezio," Leonardo began calmly, "we've been on this gondola together, in the middle of nowhere, for hours, without ever touching land. Where could I possibly have gotten a rock?"
"You could have easily found one wedged between the benches." Ezio reasoned stiffly.
"And that little rock caused a huge wave that drenched us both?"
"Words cannot get you out of this, Leonardo!" The younger man shouted, face growing hot, "If you did not steal my pouch, where is it?"
"You probably dropped it into the water without realizing." Leonardo explained coldly, hurt that his friend would accuse him so lightly.
"It's always my fault, isn't it?" Leonardo's comment only seemed to fuel Ezio's frustration. The Auditore stood, approaching the engineer carefully.
"Yes, Ezio," Leonardo found his patience had dried up, "it's always your fault. Is that what you want me to say?"
Suddenly, the dark-haired one leapt on his blonde companion, rocking the boat dangerously. He yelled out something unintelligible as the two began to struggle. Leonardo eyes were wide as saucers and it was all he could do to keep Ezio's fists away from his face as the fight progressed. It seemed the younger man was beyond reasoning, and before Leonardo could stop him he rolled to the right, causing the gondola to swing sideways. It would have capsized if Leonardo had not quickly yanked Ezio back onto it and thrown their collective weight to the left.
Water seemed to restore Ezio's sanity and he blinked hard. Leonardo panted and squeezed some of the warm liquid from his tunic. His hat, thankfully, had remained dry.
"Are you happy now?" He gasped, glowering.
"Leonardo, look at this." Ezio replied, eyes alight with wonder as he held up a large, round shell. It seemed only a bit bigger than a soup-bowl, and it would easily fit on one's head.
"It's…" Leonardo stammered, surprised at his companion's sudden mood change. Perhaps it had been the sun that caused him to act so hostile, and once cooled the real Ezio had returned. "It's beautiful. How did you get this?"
"When the boat rolled over," Ezio explained, "I saw it floating nearby. So I grabbed it. Isn't it amazing?"
The shell was crusty on the outside, bearing an interesting rim of shells near the bottom. However on the inside, it was as smooth as marble and warm to the touch.
Leonardo nodded when he received the object, running his palms over it. "Indeed it is."
"Now, I wonder just how much this will sell for at the Venetian market?" Ezio asked slyly, coaxing a small smile from his friend.
The moment was shattered when the gondola suddenly lurched onto its side once more, only this time neither man had moved. Two pairs of eyes turned, widened with fear, to rest on the enraged face of a woman who appeared to be clinging to the boat's port.
"Give me back my hat!" She demanded angrily. Her voice was thick and commanding, with a very threatening undertone.
Leonardo watched in mute shock as Ezio replied, "We do not have your hat!"
The woman's scowl deepened.
"And you can't have his!" Ezio added, haphazardly gesturing to Leonardo.
"Liars!" She shrieked, "You say you do not have my hat, yet he is holding it!" The wild woman pointed a long-nailed finger at Leonardo's white face.
The artist gulped and glanced into his lap. There sat the green shell that, if looked at properly, could actually be a hat.
"Is this…Is this what you are looking for?" Leonardo asked quietly, holding up the object. The young woman nodded curtly and Leonardo made to give it to her, but when he extended it a pouch fell out- to the alarm of all three.
"Hey!" Ezio recovered first, "That's my money!" He grabbed it quickly before it could slip off the railing and into the water.
"What was your money doing in her…?" Leonardo began, but trailed off as his mind met the conclusion first. The bright look in Ezio's dark eyes told him he'd met the same end.
The woman's expression fit somewhere between guilty and indignant.
"You're a thief!" Ezio accused, more bewildered than angry, "You're the one who made the splash and grabbed my pouch!"
"So what if I did?" She protested, squirming along the gondola's side, "You're just as much a thief. You stole my hat!"
"And we are willing to give it back," Leonardo interrupted, spreading both hands to calm his companions, "for a favor."
"A favor?" The woman repeated incredulously, "You bastardi have done nothing to earn a favor from me!"
"But if you don't oblige us, we won't give you your shell." Ezio continued.
"Then I'll capsize your boat and take it." She replied darkly.
"I actually think you do owe us a favor, seeing as you tried to steal from us for no good reason." Leonardo explained gently.
The woman had no response to this.
"So," The engineer proceeded, "either you will apologize to us, or…You will lead my friend and me back to Venezia."
"What?" Ezio looked at him, distressed, "But we're not-"
Leonardo hushed him immediately and returned his attention to the very strange looking woman. As she thought, apparently having an inner battle, he studied her. She was fascinating; her face was not foreign, bearing a small, pointed nose, almond eyes, and a thin lipped mouth. Set into that face were a pair of deep green irises, and framing her troubled expression were locks of dark hair that ended jaggedly, as if their owner had cut them much shorter herself. Her skin was very pale, and she seemed to be wearing an interesting bodice of seaweed around her torso. Her arms and neck were bare.
"Well?" Leonardo prodded, "What will it be?"
She groaned, "I will lead you to Venezia…"
"Molto bene," Leonardo nodded, "Here is your hat." She snatched it from him the moment it was in reach, rocking the gondola somewhat.
"I am sorry my friend pinched it from you."
Ezio glared at him, but the woman had no response. Instead she merely popped the shell back into place on her head and relinquished her grip on the boat's side, allowing it to move back into its natural position. She then disappeared beneath the water, prompting both men to lean over the side to find her.
"Over here, idioti," She called from the opposite side of the gondola. The explorers turned, flabbergasted at how quickly she had traveled. "Venice is this way."
They sailed in silence, as the woman refused to answer any questions they posed upon her, and one had even earned them a filthy look: 'why don't you come in the boat'. So all the men could do was wonder who this beautiful donna was as she led them back home, and what business she could possibly have in the middle of the ocean.