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Chapter 23

Another two months passed and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Rosa insisted they continue their training exercises in the mornings and Ezio scrambled for excuses to stay in bed a little while longer.

Rosa, who had already won substantial favor with Mario, began to acquaint herself better with Ezio's mother and sister as well. One night, Rosa found the door to Maria's room open. When Maria saw her, Rosa excused herself to give Maria some privacy, but Maria beckoned her to come in. Without words, she invited the thief to kneel at her bedside and pray with her.

"I wasn't sure exactly what to do," Rosa told Ezio later. "She just held my hand and closed her eyes."

"That is strange," Ezio told her. "She usually prefers to pray alone. What did you do?"

"I don't know. I just stayed quiet and closed my with her. I'm not sure if I helped but she smiled at me afterwards."

"I'm sure it helped somehow," Ezio assured her. "Grazie for doing that for her."

Maria invited Rosa to pray with her several more times, and Rosa eventually became more comfortable with her. She even recounted a few stories about Ezio that made his mother smile a bit more.

Claudia would also demand some of Rosa's attention, and Rosa enjoyed Claudia's company, even though the two had entirely different personalities. Unfortunately for Rosa, Claudia insisted on having conversations late at night, so the thief was often forced to stay up with her. It was one of these conversations that Ezio happened to hear when he was walking one night through the hallway near Claudia's room. The two voices coming from his sister's room piqued his curiosity before he realized who else might logically be in there, but by then it was too late. He found himself eavesdropping.

"No, not lately, but I was engaged once," Ezio heard Claudia speaking to Rosa.

"Once? What happened?"

"He was a pig. Our engagement meant nothing to him once he learned he had other options."

"He made a mistake. I hope he got what he deserved."

"Si, from what Ezio tells me, he did."

"Ah, so your brother got involved?"

"My brother nearly killed him," Claudia giggled. "I heard his nose was broken and he lost a tooth."

Rosa laughed. "I'll never admit it to him," she said, "but your brother impresses me sometimes. He fights for the people he cares about, but also for people he doesn't know. He saved my life before I even told him my name."

"Father always said things like that were important," Claudia told her. "He told us to help people who need it, because that is a good enough reason to help. Zio Mario says he's making me work for a good reason like that too, but I don't know what it is. I think he just doesn't want to hire someone to manage his books."

"It's possible," said Rosa. "Perhaps you'll find a use for it. I've found uses for many things I used to hate."

"Like what."

"Like your brother," Rosa laughed. "He becomes a bit more tolerable day by day."

"Tolerable, hmm?" Claudia asked. "That is a good word for him."

"Si, but more tolerable every day," Rosa elaborated, "but enough about him. You told me you wanted to show me a new dress."

Ezio decided to leave at this point, as Claudia had already filled his ear about her most recent purchase. He wandered off to bed with the dreadful knowledge that no matter how late she and Claudia stayed up to talk, Rosa would force him out into the arena first thing in the morning.