Chapter 8

Antonio's "couple days" turned into about a year and a half. Ezio had underestimated just how costly the failed infiltration attempt had been to the Venetian thieves. With Antonio scrambling to rebuild his guild and collect information from his thieves, nothing was as organized as any of them would have liked.

After a couple more weeks of chess, Rosa was able to match Ezio, besting him about as often as he bested her. Within about a month after his visit to Leonardo, however, Ezio found that Rosa was fed up with the game.

"May I ask you something personal?" she inquired one day.

"Perhaps," he responded warily. "It's your move."

"Forget that for now," she said, scooping up the pieces with her hand.

"We could have just moved the board," he sighed.

"Si, but I wanted to spare you the shame of losing again."

Perhaps he should have thanked her. It may have been his worst game to date, he thought. Beside that, he was tiring of chess a bit himself.

"Fine. What would you like to know?"

She leaned back on the bed and paused for a moment, carefully eyeing him.

"What was your family like?" she asked. "I mean, before you lost them."

"I only lost my father and brothers," he reminded her. "My mother and sister are still quite alive."

"Ah, si, that's right," she remembered. "Then what were they like before…all that happened?"

Ezio leaned back as well and thought for a moment. That time seemed like another life to him, as if Ezio had been separated from himself and thrown into a life of chaos. To recall his previous life was like recalling a story he had read in a book. None of it seemed real anymore, but the clarity remained.

"I suppose they were like most families..." began Ezio.

"I don't know what most families are like, Ezio," she reminded him sternly.

"Ah, mi dispiace. I had a father, a mother, two brothers, and a sister."

"And?"

"And what?"

"What were they like? Your father, for example. Tell me about him."

Ezio scratched his chin. "My father was…a banker, at least as far as I knew him. He lived another life in secret."

"What kind of life?"

"That is something I am still trying to understand. It is why he was killed."

Rosa nodded, though Ezio could tell she would have preferred a better answer, and he wished he could give one. "Was he…a good man?" she asked.

"Si, he was. He loved his wife and his children very much."

"What of your mother?"

"She is gentle, loving…but she is still mourning our loss. She has not spoken a word since it happened. I believe she has taken it the hardest."

"Small wonder," nodded Rosa. "And your siblings?"

"My older brother and I were close. He knew how to have fun around Firenze, although that fun usually came with a bit of trouble. My younger sister was spoiled, but she knows how to put up a fight."

"What about your other brother?"

Ezio sighed and scratched his neck. "To tell you the truth, I think about him often when I'm around you."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"He was very sick, so he spent most of his time in bed. He was rarely ever able to go outside."

"That must have been difficult."

"Si. He wanted to go outside more than anything. He would even sneak out sometimes."

"Ah," Rosa understood, "Much against the wishes of his caretakers?"

"Precisely, quite like a certain friend of mine."

"So you're a bit used to monitoring the bedridden?"

"Si, but I do not enjoy it as much as you think" Ezio smiled.

"Am I an unpleasant companion?" she frowned.

"No, it isn't that" he chuckled. "I only hate to be the one to keep you from doing what you want."

"I hate it as well," she remarked.

Ezio sat thinking for about a minute, and then got up. "Then I propose we try something different," he said.

"What did you have in mind?"

He grabbed her crutches from the table and walked back over to her bed. He held them out for her to reach, then pulled them away slightly as she grabbed for them.

"One condition," he told her.

"Merda," she muttered.

"You need to let someone help you with these until you recover a bit more. Don't use them unless someone is with you."

"So I need to be supervised while I walk?" she rolled her eyes.

"You're welcome to stay in bed instead."

"Fine, stronzo!" she yanked the crutches away from his hand and he helped her to her feet.