I am very sad to inform all of my readers that I'm gonnahave to do about only one chapter update a week. Thanks to school, my only free time is on the weekend, so mark all your Saturdays as a chapter update. On a brighter note, I want to tell you all that I'm changing my penname(or gonna try at least). I finally got tired of this one, seeing how it's a character name of a very long ago finished story. Good bye, Alyssa! Hello, GoldenEagle! (hopefully).

Chapter 15: Secrets Revealed

—Altair's POV—

His head was one big ball of pain. Despite his failed attempts to ignore it, the throbbing only got worse in his head. Altair tried to go back to sleep, but something was nagging him. He couldn't go to sleep despite how comfortable and warm he felt. It wasn't just the pain that was keeping him awake, but a sense of danger or being vulnerable.

He frowned and blew a harsh breath out of his nose before opening his eyes. For a second his vision was blurry and out of focus, but then he blinked and saw white and smooth tan skin. His foggy brain wondered for a moment if the skin was as smooth as it looked before he felt a soft warm breath hit his face. Altair blinked in confusion and slowly lifted his head to avoid the pain. What he saw took a moment for him to fully understand.

At first he thought he was seeing the peaceful sleeping face of a woman, but then his brain registered that the face was scrunched up slightly in pain and that the face belonged to Shahin. Altair was really confused. What was he doing so close to Shahin's face? And why was he in pain? He then realized he was lying on top of Shahin and Altair felt his cheeks warm.

He placed his hands on the sand on either side of Shahin's sleeping form and was lifting himself off the smaller man, when he felt something holding him down. He peered over his shoulder and saw something that made his breath catch. Even though it was dark out he could clearly see the large pitch black wings limply covering his back. His mind was blank as his eyes flew to the tip of one wing and slowly traced it back to where it disappeared underneath Shahin. His slow, shocked, foggy mind finally came to the obvious conclusion.

Shahin had wings.

Shaking his head roughly to try and clear it, he got on his hands and knees and regarded the wings and how to get out from under them. He couldn't pull them off of him: they were a little over ten feet long each like his own. Altair sighed and slowly backed up awkwardly so that the limp wings slid up his back and over his head to rest on Shahin. As he was backing up he realized that Shahin's hands had been resting on his as well. One hand had been on the back of his neck while the other had been resting on his middle-back.

He finally sat away from Shahin and looked over the other Assassin. He felt something squeeze his heart painfully at the image. It was so…wrong to see someone as deadly and on guard as Shahin look so vulnerable and defenseless. It just wasn't right. He watched as Shahin shivered slightly and breathe out a fog of breath. It was then that Altair realized that it was night and the air was almost freezing cold.

The former Master Assassin blinked to his bird eyes to see better in the dark and went about gathering firewood quickly. Within a few minutes he had a small fire going. Thanks to the fire and his enhanced vision he finally saw the ten foot long furrow in the sand that ended where Shahin rested. His brain, although still throbbing, was mostly clear, and he was able to deduce that Shahin had crash landed with him in his arms. It was also as he worked that he was able to recall the last few moments of his memory.

He remembered talking with Shahin, tensing when they were hailed by the bandits Shahin had mentioned, fighting, taking a hit, seeing Shahin go down after taking a hit to the head, watching Shahin get kicked to the ground when he tried to get up, arguing with the leader of the bandits, getting hit in the head, and then… He wasn't sure. He could've sworn that he had been falling and that he had seen Shahin while he was falling, but he wasn't sure. That's when his memory got foggy and full of holes.

Altair slowly approached the sleeping Assassin and gently lifted the man to fold his wings to his back. It was so strange to feel feathers that weren't his own: to feel to muscle and fragile bones underneath the said feathers and not feel them as his own. It was as he was folding up Shahin's wings that he realized why Shahin wore that suffocating cloak, for he saw the twin cuts in the back of the others man's robes where the man's wings came from. He must wear the cloak to hide the cuts, he thought and wondered why he had never thought of cutting slits in the back of his robes.

After Shahin's wings were safely tucked against his back he lifted the surprising light man and laid him closer to the fire on his side, for he knew that it was uncomfortable to lay on folded up wings. He watched as Shahin shivered violently enough that his hood came away from his face a little. Still shocked that he had been right about Shahin, Altair pulled the hood away all the way and observed the Master Assassin's sleeping face. The pain was gone from his face now that Altair was no longer crushing him and Altair could really observe a Shahin that had no guard up at all.

Shahin looked… ethereal. If anything he looked like a woman again. After a brief hesitation, Altair let himself see the other Assassin as a woman instead of a man.

She had such soft looking smooth skin, full red lips, long black eyelashes that fanned her cheeks beautifully. He incredibly long black braid had gone slack in its weave and framed the woman's sleeping face. His eyes fell to the smooth strong column that was her neck and saw the chocker that Shahin had bought in Damascus. Altair felt his head cock to the side as he observed to jewelry hugging Shahin's smooth skin.

His mind briefly flickered back to what the old man had said and out of the state of mind that saw Shahin as a woman. Shahin had gotten the comb and necklace for a girl back in Masyaf, and yet Shahin used both on himself. Altair felt his curiosity flash to an impossible height as his eyes fell on the fellow Assassins flat chest. Without even realizing it, his gloved hand came to rest on other man's flat chest. He felt nothing underneath, obviously, nothing except the armor that Shahin had so cleverly put inside his robes. Altair looked down at the hem of Shahin's robes and bit his bottom lip in indecision, worrying his scar.

If Shahin was a woman like he expected, a look at his—her…whatever—chest would tell the truth. But that was a major invasion of the other man's privacy, and Altair didn't want to do that to the other man. But then another part of his wanted to for the sake of sating his curiosity. Altair crouched there for a long time before sighing and praying to whatever all powerful deity that was listening that Shahin wouldn't wake up and realize what he'd done or at least forgive him.

Barely breathing, Altair gently maneuvered Shahin and lifted his robes enough to push the other man's shirts up his chest. Thanks to the armor he couldn't take the robes off without making a lot of fuss and he couldn't hike it up like he was doing to Shahin's shirts. So he settled for lifting it enough to see under what he was revealing. He was mesmerized briefly by the smooth toned skin he was revealing that was marred by many scars. Ignoring the guilt of his actions, he shook off the fascination and continued lifting the shirts slowly. He threw glances up at Shahin's face and was relieved as well as tortured when he saw that the other man slept on. His hands stopped when he felt his thumb brush something. He looked and saw the edge of a bandage. He frowned and felt his concern flare. Was Shahin injured? He maneuvered the shirts to see the whole of the bandages and froze at what he saw.

Shahin's entire chest was wrapped tightly in those bandages, but what held his attention was the almost imperceptible twin bumps under the bandages. Not quite believing what he was seeing, one hand brushed softly against one of the lumps. His heart started beating hard when he felt Shahin shift a little and make a small sound. Altair glanced up at Shahin's face and saw that the Assassin was frowning in what looked like confusion. He quickly pulled the shirts back down into place and rearranged Shahin's robes to make it seem as they had never been touched. He then walked calmly to the other side of the fire and plopped down on his behind.

He stared at the fire for a moment before saying aloud, "Shahin is a woman." It was then he realized what he'd done and he buried his face in his hands as the guilt swamped him. He'd just seen and touched a woman's body. That was something only the woman's husband had the right to do. He had violated his friend's privacy and body. His body shuddered and he began to pray for forgiveness quietly.

After who knows how long he finally stopped and thought that Shahin, a woman, was an Assassin. A Master Assassin. A small smile touched his lips as he thought of what his brother s would think if they knew a woman was a Master Assassin and they were not. It was gone in an instant as the guilt returned. It didn't matter that he had prayed for forgiveness. He needed Shahin's forgiveness.

"Altair?" came a sleepy voice.

Altair's head shot out of his hands and he watched as Shahin roll on to her back and try to sit up. She didn't get far before she grimaced in pain and a hand went to her head to rub her temples. Altair's brain was struggling to realize that the deadly lethal Master Assassin in front of him was a woman as Shahin forced herself to sit up fully and then to her feet, where she swayed unsteadily. Altair was by her side when she stumbled.

Shahin blinked blearily up at him as he scooped her up in his arms and laid her down again. She frowned up at him before trying to sit up again. Altair pushed her back down with a hand on her shoulder. She glared up at him with her fiery golden eyes and demanded, "What do you think you're doing?"

"You need to rest," he replied in a calm voice that took his entire will to force. "You took a blow to your head from the bandits."

Shahin blinked again and looked like she was remembering. Altair waited for her inevitable reaction and got it when she froze completely and the color drained out of her face. He saw her wings shift a tiny bit, as if she was making sure that they were, in fact, out in the open. Altair watched with interest as she shuttered her eyes and peered up at him through her eyelashes, a curiously feminine gesture. "You know," she whispered.

More than you think, Altair thought with guilt, but he nodded, "Yes. I do." He paused before saying, "It's so strange seeing wings that aren't my own."

I'm awful. Altair isn't the only one feeling guilt. I can't believe I made him do that to her! God, I'm . Sadly that was the only way I could think of for Altair to find out Shahin's secret. I wanted Altair to feel guilty like he does now and for Shahin to try and figure out why he was feeling that way and then for Altair to confess and for Shahin to react… I don't know how I'll have her react yet. This scene wont come for a little while…. I'm awful.

Well, heres the chapter for this week and I suck with the cliffhangers don't i? I know I do, but youre just gonna have to wait for next Saturday. Sorry.

Safety and Peace, Brothers and Sisters.