Altair is back in his own body when he next wakes. It is not a pleasant awakening. His head throbs, and he feels light somehow, insubstantial and impermanent. When he looks down at himself, he can see the ground through his legs, and it sends a chill through him that he tries his best to ignore.
He watches in silence as three people- a man and two women- hurry to the car and help Desmond out. He looks unwell, and it takes all four of them together to get him moving. Even so, one of them should have noticed Altair. He stands feet away, unhidden, and not one of them sees. When they leave the car behind and make for the building nearby- old, falling apart, apparently abandoned- Altair follows, still unheeded. Whatever binds him to Desmond, it is the only connection he still has to home. It is a thin thread to base his hopes on, but it is all he has.
He wonders, as he follows the group through a large, open room filled with boxes and up a metal staircase (Desmond is hissing in pain by the time they reach the top), why he is no longer in Desmond's head, and then dismisses the question as foolish. He is in a place as unlike home as he can imagine, and he wonders why he isn't sharing a body with a near stranger.
Although, Desmond has been in Altair's mind for months. He decides stranger isn't an appropriate word anymore.
They come to a suite of rooms at the top of the stairs, and Altair is surprised by how different they look from what he has seen of the building so far. Most of the rooms' contents are strange to him, but it is clear that the area is still lived in and used. Desmond glances around as the first woman- Lucy- guides him into a chair. He seems to be looking for something, and his eyes sweep, unseeing, over Altair. It hits him, then- all the times he felt eyes on him, in Jerusalem, Damascus, Acre, Masyaf- that was Desmond, just as it was Desmond in his head at other times.
He wonders why Desmond seems confused. Altair still has no idea why all this is happening, or how, but if Desmond has been inside his mind, he should know all this already. But he seems to know as little about what's going on as Altair does. Which means he won't be getting any answers from Desmond's mind.
He watches in silence as Lucy and the two strangers look Desmond over. Altair can't understand what they're saying- he seems to have lost that ability when he left Desmond's mind- so he focuses on their tone of voice, the way they stand, the hundred little signs that show how a person is really feeling.
Lucy's voice is worried, and she stands a little way apart from Desmond when she can, not quite looking at him. Altair thinks it might be guilt- the careful way she helps with his injuries says she blames herself, somehow. But Altair remembers when he was in control of Desmond's body, and knows that Desmond couldn't have done what he did to the guards. And he thinks Lucy might be a little afraid.
The other woman's voice is upbeat- she isn't making light of Desmond's injuries, but she's seen worse. Every action she takes has a confidence behind it. But she watches Desmond, even as Altair watches her. She doesn't know him, and she hasn't quite decided if she can trust him yet.
The man retreats to the other side of the room until the woman calls him back. He says something- his voice alone is enough to tell Altair that the something is sarcastic- and after a brief but loud argument he crosses the room again. For the next several minutes he stands by the others, hands his companions supplies when they ask for them, and provides a near constant commentary. When he looks at Desmond, he keeps his eyes away from the injuries, away from the blood. And when they disband a few minutes later, he hurries into a nearby room. Altair thinks he is the only one that hears the sound of the man being sick for several minutes after.