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Chapter 17

Things remained relatively unchanged for the next year and a half or so. Rosa and Ezio did not pursue the subject of romance, as other duties beckoned them. Rosa claimed not to remember the conversation she had with Ezio after leaving Leonardo's house (on account of her state of mind), although Ezio noticed that she blushed a little whenever he brought it up. Eventually, they silently but mutually agreed to forget about it and focus on more important things.

Around six months after that night, Antonio began to notice that his thieves were running into some bad luck. Too often they came back empty handed, or not at all. Some of his thieves were wandering off and returning at strange times of the day. Antonio had little faith in the power of fortune, so he naturally assumed that something was forcing this frightening trend.

He carefully had some of his more trusted thieves tail the suspicious ones, and he found that many of them were meeting with city guards that had no connection to the guild. At first he was hesitant to jump to conclusions, but then one of his trusted thieves reported that a corrupted thief and some guards had staged an ambush that killed some of his men.

Antonio called Ezio into his office and relayed the information, and Ezio agreed to eliminate them. Rosa had a hard time with the news.

"They…they what?" Rosa asked, stunned.

"Mi dispiace, I know it is not welcome news."

"I'm just…surprised. I've known some of them for years. What could have possessed them to do this?"

"I don't know," Ezio frowned, "but Antonio has asked me to stop them."

Rosa sighed as her eyes began to fill with water. "I understand, Ezio. Antonio is right. I'm just disappointed, that's all."

Ezio sat with her and attempted to put his hand on her shoulder, but Rosa pushed him away, requesting only that he "do it quickly."

Of course, speed was not an option when tracking targets. Over the next month or so, Ezio hunted down the traitorous thieves and sent updates back to Antonio. By the time he returned, Rosa had reluctantly come to terms with the unfortunate situation. She was pleased to see Ezio back safe.

A few months later, Ugo sent for Ezio, so Ezio was again occupied, this time with a few more months of locating shipments of city guard uniforms and stealing them in small quantities, so as not to arouse suspicions about the thieves' plans.

Ezio and Ugo exchanged a few formalities, but Ugo was not very talkative. He was no longer annoyed by Ezio's presence, but he still expressed no desire to for a familiar friendship with Ezio. He was pleased with Ezio on a professional level and seemed to prefer that their relationship stay that way.

A letter found its way to Ezio around six months after that. His Uncle Mario expressed his desire to see him again and catch up on his activities. Mario requested that Ezio return to Monteriggioni as soon as he could. The letter also included an addendum from Claudia stating, "Your chest is full and I have purchased a new dress."

Ezio went to Antonio's office shortly after receiving the letter to ask the thief if he could leave the city for the next six months to take care of personal matters.

"Of course!" was Antonio's response. "We need to wait a while before making our next moves anyway. The city guards have become worried about their missing uniforms. They will be on high alert for a little while."

"Va bene. I will return as soon as I can."

"Ezio, I have a request," Antonio told him as he turned to leave.

"Si?"

"If you are able, take Rosa with you. She has never been outside the city, and she would likely be bored here otherwise, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"I will ask what she thinks of the idea," he promised.