So, the fourth chapter on the fourth day. I'm on a roll! Sadly, I'm most likely gonna have to break that roll tomorrow. See, for the entire summer I've been living at my dad's, five hours away from my home, and tomorrow I'm going back. And while we do have a computer back home it doesn't work right now so I won't be able to update another chapter until Monday and I will try my best to do a double update on Monday to make up for tomorrow. And who knows, may be the Computer Gods will favor me and allow me to get my computer up and running. Cross your fingers!

I don't own any of the Assassin's Creed games or their characters. I just twist them to my own amusement.

ONWARD!

Chapter 4: Trusting

I opened my eyes and stared at my ceiling, barely illuminated by the candle I left burning through the night. Fire hazard, I know, but I kept it over the stone portion of my room and I had my reasons for keeping it burning. End of story.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the fat tall candle I've been using had almost reached the end of its life. I'd need to pick up another one from the village this afternoon.

Sighing, I sat up and blinked my eyes tiredly. Despite going to bed earlier than normal, I still woke up exhausted. "Stupid worries," I mumbled. A part of me wanted to blame Altair for making me act that way last night, but no one could make me do anything. I'd done all those things under my own mind. I stretched out my wings, or at least tried to. They were stiff from not moving all night and they shook as if they were going into convulsions as they slowly unfolded as much as the room allowed. I wasn't exactly happy about putting my half-stiff wings back in my back, but I did so anyway, wincing only slightly at the pain.

Then, I forced myself to get up and go about getting dressed. I found myself sighing again when I realized my hair wasn't going to work with me today. It's thanks to my weariness that I patiently worked through my hair. I felt it was too much energy wasted to get frustrated right now. It took me a bit longer than usual to get outfitted, but I was soon making my way through the sleeping castle and walking out of the gate.

I was just about to step foot into the forest when I sensed I was being followed. Again. Turning, I saw a figure coming down the hill towards me from the castle. He is cocky, I thought without emotion, too tired to dredge them up. He's not even bothering to use the shadows or try to hide his presence.

Altair stopped 5 feet from me and waited. I sighed and crossed my arms, not bothering to try and hide what I was feeling. "What are you doing up so early, Altair?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Shahin," he replied cooly, not moving a muscle.

"So you are following me again. Out of curiosity as well, I assume."

"Of course." He said nothing else. Just waited. Not even an explanation for why he was being obvious today.

I rubbed my face. I don't want to deal with this right now. "Fine," I said suddenly, and looked up at the man. "Fine. You can follow me, but only if you can keep up and not get lost. I won't give you a free pass today like I did yesterday when I let you know where I was going. You will find out more about me when you've earned it." With that I turned on heel and ran into the forest.

I sprinted and heard the pound of Altair's footsteps as he followed me. There was no need for us to be quiet as we speed through the quiet sentries that were the trees. My superior speed soon had me putting distance between the two of us as I speed down the faint trail. My sleepy muscles were fully awake after the first quarter mile and I relished in the feeling of wind rushing through my lungs and my muscles stretching and contracting as they easily and eagerly obeyed my every command. I loved the sight of trees and foliage flying past me in a blur. More than a few birds flew out of the trees as two white blurs thundered by.

We didn't slow down from our sprint the entire mile. Assassins sometimes had to sprint for miles on end over roof tops and through streets and alleys in order to escape guards. A flat out sprint was no problem for us, but the gap between Altair and I grew and when I turned after running three-quarters of the mile I saw that there was a good 30 or 40 feet between us.

I didn't notice my hood flying back as the wind caught it at the new angle presented when I turned my head. Nor did I notice my braid pulling up from my shirts and robes. And I couldn't help but laugh and call, "Come on, Altair! You'll never be able to keep up if you keep falling behind like that!"

I turned back around and focused on locating the fallen tree that would mark my new direction. Seeing it, I followed the faint trail that had come to be through the many journeys I'd made out here. I ran up to it, jumped, smacked my hands on to the rough bark, and vaulted over the thick tree. While airborne I did a flip and a twist before landing on my feet. I rolled to soften the impact before I was off sprinting again.

I'd covered only a short distance before I heard a crash and a curse. I looked over my shoulder to see that Altair had caught his robes on a branch as he was jumping over the tree. And now his robes were pulled up to his armpits as he hung from that snag. I saw him kick effortlessly and only got his toes to brush the ground. I laughed again and saw he stop to look at me. I grinned and called, "I think you've just made my day, Altair. But you still have to work for what you want!"

He cursed again as I ran off again, leaving him to untangle himself on his own. I came upon the river and didn't slow down as I jumped from rock to rock. When I reached the other side I heard Altair curse again. I turned to see him on the other side, regarding the swiftly moving water with more than a little distaste. I smiled and moved into the shadows.

I was about to leave him again, but I stopped when I saw him step on to a rock with more caution then was needed. My smile fell from my face as I watched him move from stone to stone with slowness and carefulness. He really seemed concerned about falling into the water. I wondered briefly if he was afraid of the water before I saw one of Altair's foot slip. I gasped and jumped forward when he dropped down and clutched the rock he was on for dear life. He was lucky it was one of the big ones and not one of the ones the size of my fist.

I was moving out of the shadows and on to the rocks before I knew what I was doing. Altair was just pulling his foot out from the water when I held my gloved hand in front of his face. He looked up, startled, and I saw his entire face for the second time in the fading moonlight. I memorized his handsome face again before saying, "Come on. I've taken a dunk or two in this river. It's never pleasant this early in the morning."

He gingerly put his left four-fingered gloved hand in my left four-fingered glove hand. I patiently pulled him up at his own speed. Then, kept hold of his hand and guided him over the remaining stones until our feet safely touched land again. I let go of his hand and discreetly wiped it on my pants, trying to get the tingling to leave. I smiled a bit and nodded up at him, "Looks like you've earned your information."

I saw him open his mouth and close it. I watched with a little too much fascination as he pressed his lips together in a white line while casting his eyes up, as if he was searching for a way to say something in the dark sky. I don't know if it was my imagination or not, but I swore I his cheeks were pinker than what I remembered.

"What is it?" I asked as he met my eyes again.

For a second, I thought he would say 'thank you' for helping him, but, to my horror, he mumbled, "Your hood…"

I felt my eyes widen as my hands fly up in hopes of feeling my hood there. I didn't. I gasped as I jumped back into the shadows with my head down, reaching desperately for my hood. My horror grew as I felt my braid first and registered it was resting over my shoulder in plain view. Of all the days for my hair to have a mind of its own! I thought while biting my lip. I quickly stuffed my braid down my robes and pulled up my hood. I held it down over my head with white knuckles before releasing it and raising my head, but only a little. No need to give him a chance at seeing my face a second time. I didn't even want to think of how far back my hood fell off. I couldn't recall.

I cleared my throat and said quietly, "Well, you did keep up. Even if you did have difficulties. Follow me." I turned and led him the last few paces through thick brush. When we emerged in my clearing, I didn't glance to see his reaction. I only mumbled, "This is where I come to train every morning."

There was a pause before he asked, "Why don't you train at the castle with everyone else? This looks like the same equipment we use." He walked up to one of my targets and looked at the marks where my knives and bolts have hit.

"These aren't the same," I corrected, waving a hand at the dummies. "I've modified them. And I train differently than the other Assassins. Plus I do not like people knowing my capabilities. I prefer to be an unknown."

I moved to the empty center of the clearing. I waved a hand in his direction without looking and ordered, "Now no more questions. I need to train." Silence answered me.

I took several deep breaths and forced my very tense muscles to relax as I closed my eyes. I stood still much longer than usual, trying to forget that Altair had seen my face and hair, trying to forget that Altair himself was watching me, trying to forget the entire world and my worries and get my mind to go blank. I opened my eyes once I'd achieved this mind set and exploded into action. My warm up was unnecessary after the sprinted mile, but I did it anyway to just go through the paces.

Time lost meaning to me as I went from one move to another and, eventually, one exercise to another. I only felt my body. I felt each individual muscle work, I felt my shoulders rise and fall with each impossibly deep breath, and I felt my weapons move with my body. I could also feel my phantom wings shifting with my movements of my body.

I pushed my mind and heart away to only focus on completing my training.

The next thing I know I hear the twang! of a bolt being released from my crossbow and I'm reaching for an empty quiver at the small of my back. I'd just fired my last bolt. I lower my crossbow and wipe as much sweat from my face with my sleeve as I could while looking at the targets. I'd hit every single one dead center again. I also felt the developing bruises in three places form being wacked by the dummies.

"You do that every morning every day?"

I jumped at Altair's question. I'd completely forgotten he was watching. I turned towards him to see him looking around at the targets with obvious shock. "When I can," I answered. "I can't help it if I'm away on missions."

He faced me and bluntly asked me, "Why?"

I frowned and cocked my head at him, thinking the answer was obvious, "To keep in shape. I need my skills sharp to keep my rank as a Master Assassin."

He was silent as he stared at me, and then suddenly blurted, "Why do you hide your face?" I visibly jerked at the reminder that he'd seen my face. I lowered my head and turned it away to eliminate any chance of him seeing my face again. He continued, "I don't like being without my hood in public too, but you seem to take it further. Why? You have no scars to hide or any such thing."

I turned to gather my knives and bolts, checking their edges to see if they needed to be sharpened. I was silent for several minutes as I went from target to target, waiting for Altair to demand an answer as I took my time. But to my surprise, he did not. He only watched me with his amber eyes. When I pulled out my last knife, I stopped and lightly tapped my palm with the deadly blade. "My life depends on hiding," I whispered, talking about my wings as well as my face. He said nothing again so I took that as a sign to continue. "My entire life I have been hiding. No one has seen my face until you. Only you, Altair. It goes against my every instinct to let you see as much as you have. My face, my books, my knowledge, and now my abilities." I raised my chin and met his amber eyes with my golden ones. "You have the advantage of knowing some of my secrets that no one else in the world has and it makes me fear what you could do with it. I'm giving you a gap in my armor and I'm even sure why. I have no clue why I'm letting you get this close to me. I have no clue why I'm trusting you. I've never let anyone even remotely close to where you are now." I paused and tapped my hand once more. "Please don't betray that trust." I snorted at a suddenly thought and I turned a humorless smile towards him. "You're the first and unexpected blow to me. And we both know how that blow always wins. But the question is: will you catch me when I fall? Or will you kick me while I'm down?"

Altair was silent as I put the knife into its sheathe. I could tell he was mulling over every word I'd said and I felt fear go through me. I'd just told him that he has the power to hurt me. If he didn't realize it before he certainly does now. I walked towards the hot spring's entrance when is stopped. I would be bathing with Altair nearby. He could discover a very, very important secret if he decided to peek. I continued forward, calling over my shoulder, "I'm going to take a bath. I can trust you won't come near this rock until I come out, right?"

I heard his quiet "Of course".

Ducking through the hole I stripped as fast as I could out of my equipment and hopped into the steaming pool, keeping one eye on the light coming through the hole. If Altair did come down I would see him block the light and I would have enough warning to hide. I quickly scrubbed my body and rinsed off before getting back in my robes. I stepped out of the hole a short time later and was met with a surprise. Altair sat with his back to the hole, sharpening one of his knives, with his hood down.

I immediately recognized the gesture for what it was. I knew Altair didn't like having his hood down except when he was alone. I'd heard him tell Malik this once. And here he was, casually working with his hood down. He was trusting me. I'd told him I was putting enormous trust in him and he was trying to return the favor.

He turned at that moment and I memorized his face again but added on his shortly cropped brown hair to my mental picture. "Is there really a pool down there?" he asked. I saw his eyes looking me over for a reaction.

I nodded after a pause, "A hot spring."

He raised an eyebrow in surprise and glanced at the hole with an otherwise emotionless face. "Really? This place seems to be perfect for training."

"It is."

"The place Malik and I found to train years ago isn't anywhere near as good as this place," he said, and I knew he was being vague to try and get me to ask a question.

I sat down smoothly before asking, "Where was your training place?"

One corner of his lip kicked up in amusement as he turned his eyes back on his knife. "Behind the castle."

I snorted a laugh. The area behind the castle was very frequently visited by Novices and Assassins wishing to escape the castle briefly. Its ground was also covered in shifty small rocks, making walking, let alone training, difficult. "That's awful," I murmured.

He nodded in agreement. "We were Novices then. We wanted a place to spar without everyone watching, so either of us could lose without everyone taunting the loser. Just a quiet place where our only judge was ourselves."

I nodded this time, but in understanding. I looked up at the sky and saw that it was turning grey. Getting up I said, "We should go back. We should make it back in time for breakfast to just start."

He got up and followed me as I walked towards the river. It was silence between us until we reached the bank and I held out a hand for him. Altair glowered at it and I raised an eyebrow he couldn't see in the shadow of my hood. "It's a precaution. Do you want to fall in?" He didn't answer but took my hand, looking away. I saw his cheeks turn faintly pink. "What's wrong?" I asked as we slowly made our way across the water.

He opened his mouth and I could tell by the anger that flashed in his eyes that he was about to snap at me, but, to my surprise, again, he closed his mouth and looked to be deep in thought. Altair whispered so quietly I barley heard him above the water. "I can't swim." I blinked in surprise and saw his eyes fly to me for a reaction.

But I was curious. "Why haven't you ever learned?"

His cheeks turned a brighter pink and I realized he was blushing! Altair was embarrassed. He worried the scar on his lip before murmuring, "I'm afraid of water." I blinked again and his sharp eyes left my face to the water passing swiftly between the rocks we were stepping on. "I know it's silly and ridiculous for a Master Assassin to be afraid of water, but-."

As our feet touched the ground I cut him off by blurting, "I'm afraid of the dark." My cheeks instantly warmed from the admission. I knew he was taking a huge leap in trust by telling me his fear and I wanted to soothe his fear like he had mine after I'd told him he had the power to hurt me. His sharp amber eyes flew up to mine and it was my turn to look down. "My fear is more ridiculous then yours. I have to keep a candle lit in my room or I can't sleep. And I'm a Master Assassin. A Master Assassin whose heart races with fear every time the candles go out."

Altair was silent before saying, "I think both our fears are stupid."

I barked a laugh and was startled into meeting his eyes. He only held my eyes and I smiled a bit, "Then I guess we're both stupid."

He smiled. Smiled. His amber eyes lit up with a little laughter and I instantly impressed the picture into my mind. "I guess we are," he murmured as we crawled over the fallen log.

We walked a quarter mile in silence before I gathered up the courage to ask, "How did you become an Assassin?"

His stood tall and raised his chin proudly. If he had been an eagle he would've been puffing out his chest and strutting around with pride. "With my skill and knowledge with a blade, of course."

I rolled my eyes at his arrogance, "I mean, how did you come to be in the Brotherhood? Did you volunteer?"

His pride instantly deflated and I watched with interest as he thought of how to answer. Altair slowly shook his head after a long pause. "No. I was brought here as a child. An Assassin took pity on me when he saw me being beaten by guards for stealing."

"So you were living on the streets?" He nodded stiffly. "Where?"

He glanced at me briefly before returning to just looking straight ahead, "Jerusalem."

I nodded. "Ah. Well, I came from Acre, but we both did live on the streets before being pitied." Altair's eyes swung to me quickly and I nodded at the question they held. "Yes. I'd been a street urchin until I protected an Assassin out on a mission by distracting the guards. They were about to kill me when the Assassin should up and returned the favor. He took pity on me when he thanked me and brought me back to Masyaf. I suppose that's the closest I've ever gone to trusting anyone."

He nodded and appeared to be thinking.

We walked the rest of the way in silence. Altair stopped just out of sight from the tree line and pulled up his hood. He motioned for me to go on when I stopped to wait on him. "You go first. A lot of questions will be raised if I'm suddenly walking with you."

I blinked. I hadn't even thought about that. I was too busy enjoying his company a little more than I should. I turned and walked a few paces before stopping and turning to the man. "Thank you, Altair."

He cocked his head at me and he suddenly reminded me of a bird. "For what?" he asked, honestly wondering why I had thanked him.

"For trusting me." I walked off before he could answer. My chest, right where my heart was, was really warm, and I felt the ridiculous urge to sing in happiness. It was a part of being part bird: I was very vocal and often wanted to sing. I settled for humming as I walked up the hill to the castle. I wondered if this is what it felt like to have a friend: someone close to you. Well, Altair and I were just starting to become close so I guess we weren't friends yet. The thought entered my head that if I was feeling this way before we were even close enough to be called friends I could only imagine this feeling magnifying to blinding happiness.

I smiled at that thought and hummed louder.

—Altair's POV—

Altair watched as Shahin made his way up the hill towards the castle. He was humming quietly. This was going beyond getting close to see if Shahin had wings. It had been made obvious when Shahin told him that Shahin was trusting him and he was afraid of what he would do. And he was a little happy it was going farther. The Master Assassin was an interesting person and Altair could tell he was incredibly isolated and lonely, though he wondered if Shahin realized it. Altair couldn't imagine being as alone as that. He'd always had other street boys and Malik and Kadar after he joined the Brotherhood. He always had someone with him.

So when he finally realized how alone Shahin was he felt the irresistible urge to be there for him, which was totally out of character for him and worried him a bit. But that didn't stop him from pulling down his hood and goading Shahin to asking questions. The fact that he'd told the other man his worst fear was still sinking in. As was the fact that Shahin had returned the favor.

There had been quite a few shocks this morning. And it wasn't even dawn yet! One of the other big surprises was Shahin's laugh, his face, and his attitude. He acted so differently than before. His laughs and smile had been carefree, caught in the moment. Rare. It picked his interest when he saw how long the other man's hair was, but he knew he'd find out sooner or later. He had all the time in the world to figure out the puzzle that was Shahin Al-Hira.

But what kept playing over and over again in his mind was when Shahin had been training. The man had moved like water and struck like lightning. It was a sight to see him flip and jump and strike with so much ease and grace. It was no wonder Altair was caught off guard last night. The Master Assassin trained himself to move faster than anybody else. He also knew that the training he did was incredibly hard at the level he was operating. He was mature enough to realize that may be Shahin was close to him in skill. May be.

Altair's thoughts quieted as he watched Shahin disappear through the gates. Yes. Shahin will be an interesting and reliable ally. One I wish to keep like Malik and Kadar. Though this trusting thing is scary when you're purposely trying to do it. He thought of Shahin's smile and laugh and smiled himself.

But the reward is worth it.

So now you see how little Shahin actually knows when it comes to relationships and you see that Altair is not all arrogance and pride. He has his soft caring sides too. But don't worry. Those sides will disappear in the next chapter as we actually begin to get into the games plot! I apologize again for not being able to post a chapter tomorrow but ill make up for it as soon as I can!

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