A/N: Apparently this account has now permanently less chapters than my AO3 account and I don't really care because this place is dead and nobody seems to care :D

Malik was frustrated. The emotion was welcomed after months of fearing losing his mind, but it did nothing to lessen the annoyance he was feeling. He had slowly over the course of weeks come to terms with the fact he had already lived once before, but he had yet to accept the way he had been cast aside from any serious monster hunts.

At first he had not paid it much attention, since he was just glad to get out to kill something and to distract himself from what he thought at the time were hallucinations. But as the weeks kept rolling on and after Altaïr had left to do whatever a possibly immortal man did do, he realised he had been chasing endless amounts of animals possessed by evil spirits, while Ezio was killing water hags and basilisks.

The implications were obvious. Giovanni thought him incompetent after the whole issue with the fiend in Venice. It irked him to no end, because he was perfectly qualified to kill bigger monsters. He had been doing so for years, so why was one mistake, which was partially Ezio's fault, counted so heavily against him.

Then there was the issue with Kadar. His brother didn't have the problem with recurring memories, which he himself had, leaving Malik confused about the whole issue. It also didn't help, that he had not yet seen any signs of Kadar in his own memories. The reason for his brother's absence could be dismissed as his memories just not having caught up to that point, afterall it had taken awfully lot of time to see Altaïr in them and even now they were only fragments.

Most of his memories were surrounded by books and sheer wonder at the surrounding environment. He was still feeling rather disconnected to his past life's memories, because while he could recognise himself in them, he really wasn't the same person as he used to be. It was like viewing his own actions through a window at times.

Oddly enough it had been Altaïr who had brought a sense of connection between the past and the present. The familiarity he felt with the other hunter, brought him a sense of peace and belonging. The man was infuriating for the most part, but even that was something Malik found himself missing when Altaïr was gone. There was of course no way he would admit missing an overconfident bastard like Altaïr, but he really did. He felt like he wasn't challenged enough, especially since he wasn't given any demanding missions.

That is how his thoughts had circled back to being frustrated at Giovanni Auditore undermining his abilities. He wanted to be sent on a mission to lop off some creature's head while the blood ran over his arms instead of chasing after demon-possessed chickens and as much as he loved cartography, he had been drawing enough maps to last a lifetime while he had been recovering from his injuries.

He had attempted to subtly hint how his talents could be put to better use elsewhere, but his pleas had fallen to deaf ears. He knew it wasn't his place to openly challenge the head of the Auditores but he was damned if he didn't want to do just that. Luckily there was nothing to stop him whining about it to Ezio, who surprisingly enough sided with him instead of gloating about his superior skills.

That was how he found himself counting the knots in the wooden floor of some peasant's hut, while pretending to listen the story of how the man's cow had disappeared. He had listened such stories by handfuls that evening, because that was apparently now the extent of skills could be used.

"Are you sure your cow didn't just wander off by itself?" he asked the farmer, while attempting to stay neutral in his tone. In reality he wanted to shout in frustration. The man looked at him, as if he was a simpleton, even if the truth was far from it.

"She was in the pasture behind my house. The field is fenced. There's no way to get out from that by herself," the man said agitated. Malik hated dealing with people for this reason. They had their mundane concerns without any aspiration to reach higher.

"Somebody could have opened the gate and let her out. Maybe pranking children or maybe even cattle thieves," Malik suggested. The peasants were way too happy to blame everything that ever happened on supernatural monsters, so it wasn't uncommon for thieving to be blamed on monster attacks. The man didn't look convinced at his suggestion.

"My dog would've started barking, if anyone got too close to the pasture," the man countered, still agitated. Malik sighed. There was no convincing this man. It wouldn't help to tell the man how many ways there were to silence a dog or how somebody with some skill could simply sneak around it.

"Right. I will look into this. Thank you for your cooperation," Malik said stiffly and left the hut.

He stepped outside the hut into the cool night air. He had had enough of researching the bovine stealing monster and decided to look into the matter more hands on. He couldn't deal with any more idiotic peasants shrieking about their cows being taken away in the dead of the night. He decided he would find a cow, hide somewhere nearby and hope for the best, if not he would go back to Monteriggioni stating he could not find anything. He just didn't care enough.

That was until he saw Ezio greeting him with a smug expression.

"Good evening Malik, my friend," Ezio greeted in his usual overly-friendly manner, which included patting Malik in the back and invading his personal space.

"The evening was good until I saw your ugly face," he didn't even attempt to cover his sourness.

"Yes, I kind of thought so, especially since you had such a pleased expression on your face," Ezio jested smugly and threw his arm over Malik's shoulders.

"Why are you even here, Ezio," he asked exasperated, while shrugging Ezio's arm off. He couldn't deal with this now. He wanted the hunter gone.

"I saw your horse and decided to come and see what you were up to," the hunter said with a tone that suggested sincerity.

"Congratulations. I am very thrilled about your interest in me," he said with a voice dripping in sarcasm and threw his arms in the air in annoyance. The other hunter shut his mouth up for a while, giving Malik a chance to start walking towards his horse.

"Chasing after some demon-possessed chicken, are you?" Ezio's voice had nothing nice in it anymore. Malik scowled hard.

"No," he said with utter seriousness. There was no way he would admit to Ezio that he was doing just that. He didn't want to give the man the satisfaction of knowing he was solving mysteries involving disappearing cows.

"Really? I could have sworn the farmer was crying after his lost cow," Ezio said with fake contemplation. Malik felt his anger rise to the surface like flood waters breaking through a dam.

"You were eavesdropping," he condemned loudly.

"I did not have to. The man was shouting loud enough to be heard all the way from Monteriggioni, my friend," Ezio gloated. Malik wanted to shout profanities at the peasant and at his friend, who thought he was funny coming to revel in his misery.

"Go away, Ezio. I cannot deal with you right now," he growled while getting on his horse. As soon as he was on his horse he turned away from Ezio, but stopped when he heard,

"Fine. I will go, but if you happen to see a griffin here somewhere let me know," Ezio said sounding annoyed.

"You are targeting a griffin?" he asked in disbelief. Normally griffins were left alone, unless they caused harm on people or their property, which was rare since they tended to stay as far away from humans as possible. They were also quite hard to fight, hence hunters greedy for trophies didn't go after them.

"I am. There is apparently a hefty price on that thing from some collector," Ezio said sounding like he wanted to say something more, but whatever the hunter had wanted to say did not leave his mouth. Malik steered his horse away from the hut and the other hunter in search of a hiding place and a cow.

Finding a cow wasn't a difficult thing to do, the whole Italian countryside was full of them and since the nights were still so warm, there was no reason to shut them inside either. Having the cows on pasturing was easier for the peasants, because they wouldn't have to feed them either.

He dismounted his horse and tied it down to the fence surrounding the meadow. He gave the horse a quick pat on the neck, before leaving to find a hiding place. He didn't want to be seen or smelled by the cow thief, so he could capture them red handed and be done with the whole farce.

He managed to find a thick enough bush to lie under, so he could still see the grazing cow. It took some wiggling to make himself reasonably comfortable. There were still few branches sticking into him and a rock pressing awkwardly against his right shoulder, but he could manage.

His thoughts returned to Ezio's hunt for a griffin, which was an odd thing. They did accept contracts, like the one in Venice, but they didn't go after monsters purely for the money, or that is what he had thought. Until now there had been an underlining reason behind killing a creature, but killing something to add to someone's collection wasn't in line with the logic. He found himself questioning the logic behind Giovanni Auditores decisions even more than he had.

He lay under the thicket for over an hour, while ruminating on his thoughts and was about to give up, when something happened. He had started to hope nothing would happen, because he didn't really care enough about peasants and their cows, but there was no denying of the sounds he heard.

A sound of wings flapping through the wind broke the silence of the night. Malik could not see the creature making the sounds, as the shrubbery blocked his view to the sky. But the sound was starting to become louder, indicating that the maker of the noises was closing in. The wings had to be big ones to make so much noise, and judging from the slow rhythm they had, made it safe to assume the creature they belonged to was also a big one. The words Ezio had imparted with came to his mind.

Then he saw it; a great griffin landed on the poor cow still grazing unsuspectingly on the pasture. The griffin was almost twice the size of the cow with colourful fur and feathers. The cow mooed and squirmed in panic.

Malik scrambled out of the hiding place. A twig pricked his skin open under his right eye. He managed to get on his feet just in time to see the griffin take off with the still living cow.

He made a mad dash to his horse so he could follow the beast. He grabbed the reins and removed them forcefully from the fence they were tied to frowning when it broke from his handling of the reins. The horse was visibly agitated with its head held high.

Malik jumped on and as soon as he was seated the horse took off, unable to stay still from being so nervous. He didn't mind since all he had in his mind was following the griffin. He ushered his horse into full gallop to make up the distance between himself and the beast.

It wasn't terribly hard to follow such a large beast flying through the silent night sky. The wings made a loud noise and the cow was mooing making it easy to track the griffin. He rode through several meadows, jumping over a few fences on the way and through a small forest dodging trees while doing so, until he reached what was the griffin nest.

The cow stopped mooing, so he assumed the griffin had finally killed its prey. The nest was atop a cliff in a very typical fashion to griffins. He dismounted and tied his exhausted horse to a tree. Now that he knew where the griffin nested he had all the time in the world to plan for the best action.

He snuck around the cliff, careful to avoid being detected by the beast. Hundreds of bones littered around the nesting ground, which mostly consisted of bovine bones. The griffin was the most likely candidate for the missing cows, he decided. Not a normal thing for a griffin, but not completely unheard either.

Malik had now two options to choose from on how to proceed. Ezio had been assigned to kill a griffin, which most likely was this exact one, which meant he could go back to Monteriggioni and notify the location of the nest.

Or he could kill the griffin himself, since he was assigned to deal with the problem of missing cows. The griffin was, after all, taking the cows and killing them. He could then bring the head as a trophy and notify Giovanni Auditore where the rest of the body was located. He would kill two birds with one stone and end up proving himself to be capable of doing things more challenging than chasing after demonic chicken.

With a face full of determination he set to the task of killing the griffin. He would have to incapacitate the creature's wings, so it wouldn't take off into the air. The griffin was not nearly as fast, nor as deadly as the fiend he and Ezio had been fighting, but it did have a lot physical strength and since the beast wasn't demonic, salt or silver wouldn't work against it. He would have to defeat the creature with old fashioned violence.

The griffin was gorging on the cow, ripping pieces off meat of the carcass, as Malik made his way up the cliff. The griffin's beak was covered in blood and entrails were stuck between its claws. Malik crunched his nose in disgust at the sight. He made sure he did not step on any bones or anything else that would give his presence away to the animal. He had to be the one to surprise the griffin if he wanted to win this.

He had made it only a few metres away from the griffin thanks to the animal being distracted by crunching loudly through the cow's ribcage and chewing on its heart and lungs as if they were the sweetest honey in the world. Malik drew a dagger. He was coiled up in anticipation, with his whole body tense waiting for the right moment to pounce on the unsuspecting griffin.

Then the griffin shifted its tail to the side, making Malik spring into action. He sprinted towards the creature and jumped between its wings. The griffin attempted to turn around and bite him in two with its strong beak, but Malik was faster managing to avoid the creature. He gripped the wing with his left hand and at the same time struck the dagger into the base of the wing as hard as he could, with his right hand. The creature screamed in pain. Malik smiled in satisfaction.

The griffin then reared in an attempt to take off into the sky, making Malik fall off. He rolled backwards to ease the landing, but knew he would have a few bruises. The griffin flapped uselessly with its other wing, while letting out ear shattering screeches. Malik felt like his ears might start bleeding.

He got to his feet as quickly as he could and drew his sword. He lunged at the beast, which was still attempting to escape through the air. He sunk his blade into the side of the griffin while avoiding the erratic movements of its various limbs. A spray of blood erupted from the stab wound colouring him in red from head to toe. The griffin reacted by turning violently towards him and managed to throw him off balance when the beast's body slammed into his own.

He put slightly more distance between himself and the griffin to recover his stance. The griffin was still oozing blood onto the bone-covered ground. Malik attempted to wipe some of the blood out of his face but only managed to smear it more. The griffin ruffled itself to appear bigger and more intimidating.

Malik attacked again. He dodged the strong beak which snapped close right next to his head. He avoided the front paws, which one of them ripped a gash in his cloak. He dived under the creature's chest and plunged his sword to the griffin's furry chest, where he hoped to reach the heart or at least puncture a lung. More warm blood flowed on him by the bucketful as he sunk his sword in ever so deeper.

The griffin screamed in pain while uselessly thrashing with its front limbs. Malik nearly lost his grip on the sword as his hands had become so slicked from the blood coating him. He pushed his sword in to the hilt and then withdrew it. He rolled away from under the griffin to put some distance between himself and the creature.

The monster's attention was all drawn to the puncture wound in its chest, which the creature attempted erratically reach without much success. Then the beast fell down causing a small shockwave, which rattled the bones littered all around the ground. The griffin drew a few spastic breaths before letting out a gurgling sound as it choked on its own blood.

Everything was eerily silent. Malik's breath sounded like thunder in the silence. He felt tingles go through his body. He was so high on the post-battle feelings he didn't even notice when he had cut off the griffin's head. He cleaned his sword in a daze while the monotonous movements lulled him more into himself. He felt content in the way he had not fel in months. He was powerful. He was challenged. He had purpose. He was alive!

He snapped back into the present only when he was already half way back to Monteriggioni. The head hung strapped to the back of the saddle dripping blood on the horse's flank.

Ezio looked on annoyed when a bloodied griffin's head was thrown on his father's desk. The impact shook the objects on the desk and a few papers fell off. He had his arms crossed and brows furrowed. He was fairly sure Malik had just taken his kill. He had spent the entire night and three previous nights tracking the griffin without a success, but as soon as he had told Malik he had a griffin to kill the hunter had turned up with a griffin's head. It was quite the coincidence, especially since his friend was tracking a cow-killing monster.

He made an eye contact with his father, who looked disapproving and slightly disgusted, judging from the way he wrang his nose. Malik was covered from head to toe in blood and entrails, looking pleased with himself. Though the hunter attempted to appear cool, he knew his friend was feeling very good about himself by the way he was currently not currently. Malik's face was set on two basic emotion, which were an angry frown and a furious scowl, but almost never indifference.

"What is this?" his father asked while motioning with his hands towards the monster head. The blood was staining the desk red.

"It is a griffin. Well, technically it was a part of a griffin. Specifically a head of a griffin," Malik answered nonchalantly while shrugging his shoulders.

"I know what it is, but you were supposed to be finding the culprit behind the disappearing cows, while Ezio was after the griffin," father said with a condemning voice

"I did find the culprit for the bovine disappearances. The griffin took them and flew them into its nest, where it killed and ate them. I killed the griffin, since that was my mission. The cattle should be safe for now," Malik countered with a tone suggesting annoyance. Ezio couldn't take it. Malik had stolen his target and was now attempting to justify his deeds.

"The griffin was my kill!"Ezio burst out angrily. Both Malik and his father turned to look at him.

"What does it matter whose kill it was? It is killed and the peasants can sleep easy without having to worry about their cows being taken from the pastures," Malik questioned impatiently and rolled his eyes at him, as if Ezio was a simpleton.

"I was assigned to kill the griffin and you knew it! I told you when we parted ways at the farmer's cottage," Ezio snarled.

"I was supposed to just leave my target, because it also happened to be your target?" Malik asked with exaggerated disbelief while wildly waving his arms around.

"Yes!" He full on shouted. He could not understand why the other hunter did not realise that he had stepped into a territory that did not belong to him in the slightest.

"I thought it was the end result that mattered," Malik defended and crossed his arms.

"You should have reported back here and waited for new orders. You were aware of Ezio being sent after a griffin and decided to ignore that knowledge," his father interrupted their argument.

"What is this? I did not break any orders. Why am I painted as if I did?" Malik argued back with aggravation clear in his voice and a posture that demanded respect from everyone around him. The reason he was angry at his friend wasn't just because he had trambled on his kill, but also done so with some mystical god given right, which had been emanating from the man with an increasing frequency. He had grown sick and tired of Malik's frequent undermining of everyone around him, especially when he himself had finally managed to prove to his father he was a competent hunter.

"You did not break orders, but you did not follow them as they should have been followed," his father said with authority. Malik looked as if somebody had slapped him in the face. Ezio smirked. He was pleased his father had for once taken his side on the matter.

"For what reason should I have reported back? I am perfectly capable of judging whether or not I am able to take down a target as you can see." Malik looked like he wanted to rip someone's head off.

"It is not your call to make. We need to follow protocol!" Ezio countered. He slammed his fist to the wall next to him. A painting fell off the wall, shattering into pieces. He was boiling. If Malik had reported back, he would have been deployed to deal with the griffin, but now there was nothing else to do, but go to the nest and pick up the body.

"Yes because protocol was followed so well in Venice, was it not, Ezio?" Malik looked at him with a deadly scowl and voice full of venom.

"I do not know what you are talking about, my friend," he feigned ignorance. This was a completely different matter, but of course Malik would not just forget things like this. The man had a talent for remembering everything that ever happened and twist the truth on its head.

"Of course you do not," the voice Malik used was simply pure evil and his gaze full of predatory malignant intent. He hated the man more than anyone in the entire universe at the moment, and yet for some reason he felt he was playing with fire when he challenged the hunter. It was a stupid thought though, because no matter how terrible a human being Malik was, he did not use unnecessary violence.

"Enough!" his father shouted, effectively shutting them both up and making them return their attention to him.

"Ezio, go and cool your head. This doesn't concern you," his father said sternly while directing his disapproving gaze at him. He let his own disappointment show on his face, but turned around to make it out. He was furious at Malik.

He closed the door behind him and heard his father muffled through it saying,

"And you Malik. What am I supposed to do with you?"

'Hopefully give him a beating,' Ezio thought to himself.

"Help me here will you, brother?" Kadar said while sitting on Malik's bed watching his brother hunched over a map. Malik gave him a glance over his shoulder before returning back to map making.

"But how exactly did you get yourself grounded?" Kadar asked because the whole affair was a mess with Ezio looking like somebody had taken a piss to his food and his brother looking like he had been denied some basic human right. He did know it somehow involved a griffin and cows but that was the extent of his knowledge.

"I did not 'get grounded' as you put it. I was punished for speaking against the master," Malik answered defensively while not looking up from his map and doing a dismissive gesture with his quill. Kadar noted how his brother used the word 'master' for Giovanni Auditore, which meant Malik was more hurt than he let on.

"What's the difference? You are not going out on any assignments for a whole month," Kadar countered, though he was not even sure what he was trying to achieve with his statement. Malik turned to look at him with murder written all over his face. At least he succeeded in getting his brother's attention. Kadar put on his biggest smile.

"The difference is something your brain is obviously unable to comprehend," Malik spat venomously before scrunching up the map he was working on and throwing it at Kadar. The crunched up map hit Kadar in the forehead. His brother turned back to his desk, and took a new paper out of the small pile sitting on top of it. Kadar straightened the crumbled up map except it was not a map, but a sheet full of crude drawings of violence happening to various people. He raised his eyebrow questioningly.

A silence stretched between them. Malik seemed to be content to ignore him infinitely but Kadar wasn't about to be dismissed so easily. He decided to try to approach the subject a slightly differently.

"So, I was thinking -" Malik interrupted him with a snort. Kadar rolled his eyes at his brother's display of immaturity and then continued,

"Anyway, I was thinking since you don't have to go anywhere for a month, why don't you change your sleeping patterns back to normal? In fact now that I think about it why didn't you do so after Venice?" Kadar asked hoping to make his brother see reason. If Malik returned back to normal daily life he would have more time to spend with him. He was sure his brother needed only to socialise more and it was nearly impossible to do when Malik spent his days asleep.

Malik stopped whatever he was doing, putting down his quill and turned around to face Kadar. Malik sighed, leaned on his desk and crossed his arms. He looked like he was contemplating hard on what to say next, judging from the way he had his brows furrowed.

"I tried. I really tried but I could not. It is as if I am hard wired to fall asleep come morning and wake up in the evening. People are not supposed to operate like that," Malik said with a weary voice. What his brother was saying was insane and Malik even seemed to be aware of it.

"What do you mean?" Kadar asked in disbelief. Malik gave him a glare.

"It means just that. I cannot sleep during the nights as normal people would," Malik said annoyed, shrugging as if he didn't care. Kadar attempted to think a solution for his brother's problem but could not come up with anything. He was still convinced Malik should go out more because he felt like his brother was slowly turning into something unrecognizable and he was sure it had everything to do with the way Malik isolated himself.

"But people are meant to sleep at night," Kadar insisted because he could not think anything better to say. Malik rolled his eyes.

"Your comprehension clearly exceeds that of an average individual," Malik delivered with sarcasm dripping from each word. Kadar cringed.

"But don't you want to be like all the other people? Don't you want to fit in?" Kadar asked because there just had to be something he could do for his brother.

"No. What I want is to go out there and lob off some monster's head. What I want is for the master not to undermine my abilities by sending me after demonic chickens! I do not care what people think about me!" Malik snapped at him while fuming furiously. Now Kadar understood what this all meant. His brother wanted recognition and had attempted to get it by stealing Ezio's assignment, but the plan had backfired. Now Malik had his pride hurt and was at odds with Ezio. All the more reasons he needed to try and get his brother to go out.

Maybe he could introduce Malik to a girl. He was sure Claudia would help him to get his brother hooked up. If his brother had something else to think about in his life, apart from map making and monster hunting, he could forget his stupid pride and his feud with Ezio. Kadar grinned. His plan was perfect though he would have to try and work around his brother's impossible daily routines somehow.

"What you need, brother, is to get laid," Kadar said smugly despite the dangerous way Malik was regarding him currently. Malik looked at him as if he were touched in the head.

"What?!"

"You need to find a woman, get laid and possibly even have a romance. I'm sure there's bound to be at least one woman in this country who isn't scared of your looks," Kadar managed to barely finish his sentence when he saw his brother leap towards him with the most terrifying expression he had ever seen.

The next thing he knew, he was standing outside Malik's door with the slightly crumpled not-map still in his hand. He could hear the door being locked behind him.

"What just happened?" he wondered to himself stunned.

As he decided to walk away he remembered the paper in his hand. He decided to discard it in the nearest flower pot or whatever he could find, but before doing so he took a quick look at the drawings. The other side had the crude drawings but on the other side was a drawing of what he assumed was Altaïr without his hood. He had never actually had an unobstructed view of Altaïr but he assumed it was him from the clothing and the scar on the man's face. Now that was odd. Why would his brother draw a picture of Altaïr? As far as he knew Malik hated the man since they were always arguing with each other and looking ready to rip each other's heads off.

Kadar shrugged. 'Who knew his brother's motivations,' he thought and threw the drawing away.

Malik found himself sitting on a tree branch staring at the starry sky while contemplating his situation. He was feeling lonely in a way he never had before. Ezio held a disdain towards him, his brother thought his problems would be solved with more socialising, and Altaïr was gone. However he did not want Ezio to hate him, he did not want his brother attempt to push him towards people and he wanted Altaïr to come back from wherever the man had gone.

He sighed and plucked a leaf off the tree, which he started dissecting into pieces. He had no idea how to reconcile himself with Ezio because his intention had not been to injure his friend's pride to begin with, but the situation had somehow spiralled out of control. Malik still thought Giovanni Auditore had been wrong in his judgement and felt like he owed no apology to anyone.

He was furious at the decision to punish him with a month away from active duty. He was not even allowed to leave the walls of Monteriggioni which he thought was definitely going overboard. He had to restrain himself everytime he saw Ezio leaving for an assignment because he could see the man gloating smugly at his own misfortune, which of course widened the rift between them even further.

He was made to feel useless which he supposed was the purpose of his punishment. As he had no other talents besides hunting for monsters and his cartography, he did not have much to do when monster hunting was deducted from the equation. He was not like his brother who could invent endless ways of busying himself.

He cringed when thinking of the last conversation he had with his brother. Kadar had obviously reflected his own desires on Malik but it did not make the suggestion any less repulsive. It was not even the first time Kadar had attempted to coerce him into socialising or wooing a girl.

This time around the situation was different for him though. He found himself missing Altaïr almost painfully, which was stupid he knew, but still could not help it. He could not obviously tell his brother about his illegal and morally dubious relationship with Altaïr. He just wished the man would hurry up and return or he would find a way to beat him to pulp through the sheer willpower of his thoughts.

It was not even the sex he was missing, though he did miss that too, but the countless arguments they had in the small hours of a night. The way he was challenged everytime Altaïr appeared in his presence, which was something neither Kadar nor Ezio were ever able to reproduce. Kadar did not have the patience to educate himself and Ezio was a brute with his mind set on sleeping with as many girls as he could and killing as many monsters as he possibly could.

He sighed, again, this time in defeat. He heard a door open somewhere in his left but paid it no mind. He started counting the stars as a means to clear his mind of all the emotions occupying it, even if it was just for a little while.

"Malik? Is that you sitting in the tree like an owl?" He recognised the voice belonging to Leonardo. All of a sudden he felt like an idiot for forgetting Leonardo's existence. He slapped himself in the face and groaned. He jumped down, landing almost silently.

Leonardo was smiling looking very amused. The artist wore paint-stained clothes as usual. Leonardo had probably been working on a project, making him forget to sleep.

"Come on inside. I will make you tea and I might even have some cookies somewhere," Leonardo said before giving Malik a hug. Malik sighed in relief. Leonardo moved to the door gesturing Malik to follow.

"I can see from your face, something troubles you, my friend," Leonardo said slightly concerned.

"Yes. I guess you could put it like that," Malik answered and after considering what to say next he continued, "It has something to do with bovine-eating griffins, prideful Italians, misunderstanding little brothers, and imbecile ugly-faced Syrians."

Leonardo chuckled good-naturedly.

"In that case, I suppose I need to make an extra-large pot of tea," Leonardo offered, which already made Malik feel better. He allowed a small smile to creep on his face.