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SynthesisSurge: Thank you very much and especially thank you for review no. 100. I'm glad that you like the sequel, too. :) But I hope you´re not disappointed when I tell you that Caleb will never call Lillian and Connor "Mum and Dad". In my headcanon for him, his parents died not long before he met Lillian and Connor and I cannot imagine a child, who still has clear memories of its beloved parents, calling others Mom and Dad. They certainly are like parents to him and Emily is his little sister, but they will always be Lillian and Connor. :)


What disappears, eventually returns

I sat my little one down on the bed, stood up, shortly washed myself and got dressed. My gaze fell on Connor's pile of clothes and for another time in the last hours I felt a shiver running down my spine. The necklace with the blue stone was missing. Hastily I began to rummage through Connor's clothes, in the pockets of his robe and his pants and finally even searched the floor for the object. It was nowhere to be found. Connor had probably taken it with him and this thought caused more uneasiness than the imagination that someone could have stolen it, which would mean that somebody had been here while we had slept.
Calm yourself, Lillian. There will be a simple explanation for this, I told myself and took several deep breaths to get rid of this uneasy feeling inside of me. I lifted Emily onto my arms again, left the room and went downstairs into the dining area where several people were already having their breakfast or their morning ale. Like yesterday, I was looked over but like yesterday I didn´t pay attention to it.
"Bonjour, Stephane", I greeted the assassin behind the bar who was polishing a mug. "Did you see Connor today?"
"Connor? No, I didn´t. Why do you ask?"
"Because I woke up and he wasn´t there. His clothes and weapons are still in the room."
"Maybe he had to relieve himself. In this case he will return, you can be sure of it." The sneering tone in Stephane's voice didn´t escape my notice. Probably he thought I was hysterical but I shook my head.
"In this case you should think about what you´re serving here. I sat and waited in our room for quite a while before I stood up. He didn´t come back."
Now Stephane lowered the mug and the sneering expression about his mouth disappeared. "And he took nothing with him?"
I shook my head. Nothing except of this damn blue thing, but I didn´t say it. I felt hysterical myself about this.
"Vraiment, c'est très bizarre. But I think he will be here somewhere. He wouldn't run around in the city without his weapons or robes. Go upstairs and see if you can find him there. Maybe he is in one of the empty rooms. I will search for him downstairs and outside. We will find him."
I only nodded and went upstairs. I was really worried about Connor, especially because I couldn´t explain his disappearance. It wasn´t like him. Why should he leave his weapons and clothes behind but not the stone? Or had it really been stolen and Connor was following the thief? Quite unlikely. Even if Connor had surprised the thief, he certainly would have been able to take his tomahawk. But right now I wasn´t even sure if it had been among the other weapons. I hadn´t paid so much attention to it. I just hoped that Stephane was right when he said that Connor was here somewhere. That he was in one of the empty rooms suddenly appeared quite plausible. Maybe he hadn´t been able to sleep. Either because he hadn´t had enough space in bed or still because of my sparse clothes. But I excluded the latter. Connor really wasn´t so weak that he couldn´t restrain some low desires. So I carefully knocked at every door, sometimes looked into the rooms where I got no answer and soon had reached the end of the hallway. No Connor. Only two grumpy guests who felt deprived of their sleep.

I already wanted to go downstairs again as I noticed a narrow staircase in a dark corner of the hallway, leading upstairs. Maybe it caused no harm to see where it led to. I adjusted Emily on my arm and carefully climbed the stairs which creaked under each of my steps. There was no railing so that my only support were the walls on both sides of the staircase. I climbed up into the darkness, step by step until a trapdoor appeared over my head. It wasn't locked. I only stemmed one arm against the smooth wood and actually managed it to push the door open. With a loud bang, it hit the other side and cold morning air blew into my face as I climbed the last stairs and finally was on the roof. They had built a platform up here with provisional railings and wooden planks and you had a wonderful view over Boston's roofs. Fine fog was rising from the streets and was illuminated by the sunlight. It was a beautiful sight but I could hardly pay attention to it. At first the platform had appeared to be empty but when I came closer to the railing, I saw a bare foot next to a nearby chimney. My pulse quickened in an instant and I crossed the short distance to the chimney to walk around it and to find Connor. He was lying half on his belly, his arms crossed under his head, his face buried in them. He appeared to be lifeless but the blue stone next to his head was shining even more lively in the light of the rising sun. Could this thing…kill someone?
"Connor?" A fearful tremble was in my voice when I kneeled down next to him, laid my free hand on his shoulder and carefully shook it. I allowed myself a certain relief when I saw that he was breathing. At the same time, I tried to see if he was injured. There had to be a reason why he was lying here unconscious after all. Or why he was here at all. I didn´t want to think about the possibility that the stone was to blame. I was scared enough.
"Connor?" I shook him again and tried to turn him on his side and it was more than difficult with only one arm. But then Connor began to move. He murmured something before turning on his side alone and adjusting his arms under his head. This was when it became aware to me that he wasn´t unconscious. He was sleeping. Soundly.
"You can´t be serious", I growled. I was worried about him and asked myself where he could be without weapons and only half dressed, thought this stupid stone had killed him and he was lying up here and was slumbering.
"Hey, sunshine!" I pushed against his shoulder. "Wake up or you will miss breakfast."
Again Connor murmured something but when I shook him once again, he finally opened his eyes. He blinked several times, lifted his head from his provisional pillow and ran his hands over his face.
"Did I really fall asleep up here?", he asked with a dull voice and I uttered a snort.
"Well, obviously. While you were in peaceful slumber, I searched everything for you downstairs. Stephane is looking for you, too. Why did you come up here anyway?"
"I had chaotic dreams and when I woke up in the middle of the night, I had the need to go outside. I did not want to wake you up", Connor explained and sat up. I nodded slowly and pointed at the stone that was now dangling on his chest again.
"But this has nothing to do with it?"
Connor's eyes followed my hint and he laid a hand around the object around his neck. "No. I just took it with me because I wanted to think about everything again."
So he had been aware of putting the necklace on at least and hadn´t been…induced to do it.
"Well you´re fine after all. I was concerned after you were gone and left your clothes and weapons behind."
"Not all of them." Connor grabbed, also smirking, next to himself and pulled the tomahawk out of a plank where I hadn´t noticed it before. Always armed after all. "I actually did not want to stay here for long. But well…sleep intervened."
Yes, it did. In retrospect, I felt almost ridiculous because I had been worried only because Connor hadn´t been near to us. That he had left without his weapons and clothes was really an absurd thought, as well as that the stone was harming him somehow. So he only had had a nap on the roof and was unharmed. Maybe I did slowly become hysterical.
"Do you want to catch up some sleep?", I asked and added smirking: "I mean in our room."
Connor rolled his shoulders, stretched his arms forward and only shook his head after these thorough stretching. "I will go to the others and talk with them about what you have learned. I think we can ride home after that."
"And you´re sure that you don´t want to proceed against Callaghan as soon as possible?"
"Not as long as you two are here. I will talk to the others, ride home with you and there I will decide how to go on."
I agreed to that. Not for my sake but for Emily's. I still remembered my conversation with Callaghan too well, as well as his warning that we should stay out of the business around Ray. Because Ray was dead now and Connor had what Callaghan obviously wanted, I didn´t want Emily to get into firing line. Furthermore a considered approach was better than a stoic burst-in. But Connor's experiences would lead him and I trusted him fully.


In the early afternoon we were finally on our way home. While Connor had talked to the other assassins, I had visited Maria once again until Connor had come to pick us up. The new farewell had been as terribly difficult for me as the last. But I had promised Maria to come back in two months at the latest. When she would hold her own child in her arms and I was really looking forward to it. Connor hadn´t told me about the meeting with the others. Probably because he had told them what I had learned or because their recent plans had never been of interest for me. Connor was also very silent during the ride. Nothing unusual, but from time to time I could see his thoughtful face under the hood. Although I inwardly asked myself what he was thinking about, I left him to his thoughts and occupied myself with Emily who had her safe place on my hip again. I picked some leaves from deep hanging twigs of some trees, held them under her nose and she told me in her more or less articulated toddler-language, what she was thinking about them. Although I had noticed many similarities with Connor about her, it seemed like she had inherited my talkativeness at least although I had the feeling that only every forth word was recognizable as such. But like always I was glad about how lively and curious she was. Also now she tried to parrot some words I said and eventually it became a game between us that helped us over most of the way. Connor didn´t let himself be flustered by our chatter but when we had a break for the second time, he didn´t look so thoughtful anymore. I even saw a small smile flitting across his face as Emily included him in her explanation about God and the world with her obligatory "Dada". She only became silent when I took her out of her sling and handed her over to Connor. I had been seized by a too natural need and it seemed like Emily didn't like it at first when I disappeared from the clearing, where we had stopped and was out of her sight. I heard her calling for me until I had crossed a small stream. Then it was silent and also after I had followed my need I only heard the cold water where I dipped my hands in. I knew that Emily loved her father as much as she loved me so it should have been easy for Connor to distract her from my disappearance and to calm her. I was right.
When I returned to the clearing, Connor was sitting in the grass, his legs crossed and holding Emily's hand with stretched arms. She was standing in front of him on wobbly legs and even from the distance I could see her highly concentrated face while she approached him with small, clumsy steps. Occasionally she staggered a bit but Connor's hands gave her enough support so that she was able to find her balance again and walk on. When she reached his knees, Connor let go of her hands and Emily stood freely for a moment before her legs gave in and she fell into the arms of her father, who pulled her on his laps and into his arms. I had watched everything from the shadows of the trees and felt incredibly proud of both of them. Of Emily because she was developing so tirelessly and of Connor because he always attended to his daughter despite all of his duties and continuing problems and made me forget my initial fear that Emily could never have the chance to develop a relationship to her father.
With a happy smile on my lips, I stayed where I was and enjoyed the sight of these two beloved persons who obviously got along with each other alone, too. I could see how Connor talked to Emily who looked at him attentively with big eyes, as if she wanted to absorb every word he said. But apart from this, I forgot every attention for my direct environment. Connor, who was about ten steps away from me, noticed what happened in my two meters radius. His head shot up and into my direction and at first I thought he was looking at me under his hood but was soon disabused, when he raised his voice and said: "I was wondering when you would give up following us."
"I would have been surprised if you hadn´t noticed it."
It felt like I jumped several meters high in shock when this female voice sounded right next to me and I must look like a scared rabbit as I looked at Olivia who was leaning against a tree, entirely relaxed. Her gaze shortly met mine and an ironic smile appeared on her lips as she said: "I certainly didn´t want to interrupt this family idyll."
No, of course not. I uttered a snort which was basically a result of my shock and moved from my stiffness to go to Emily and Connor, who was still sitting relaxed on the ground.
"For how long is she following us now? Why didn´t you tell me?", I hissed to him as I lifted Emily onto my arms to put her back into the sling.
"Calm yourself", was the only answer I got as Connor stood up and looked at Olivia who was slowly approaching us. She had a broad short sword and a pistol on her belt. If she had wanted to, she could have caused trouble already, but this didn´t seem to be her intention. Although I was a bit irritated about Olivia's sudden appearance, I remembered that she had helped, maybe even rescued me. I didn´t know what could have happen in the night of Ray's appearance if she hadn´t shown up. This hadn´t been the only time she had proved to us that we could trust her. Although we basically didn´t know anything about her and it was hard for me to like her. But if Connor said I should calm down…I calmed down.
"I would have come to you anyway to apologize", Olivia just said and surprised me again.
"For what?", I asked and the gaze of the blonde young woman turned to me again.
"For disappearing after everything that happened with Ray. I just thought that you don´t need me around, too."
Strictly speaking, I hadn´t thought about Olivia anymore. I had been too busy with my own family. I wouldn´t have reproached her for disappearing anyway. Basically Ray had been our problem and Olivia had done her part with standing up against him and helping us.
"It is alright. There was nothing you could have done", I heard Connor saying in this moment. "Furthermore, it is good that you are here. I need to talk to you. But not here. I ask you to accompany us to Davenport."
I looked Connor over from the side, but unfortunately I could see nothing from his face but the tip of his nose. Was this the reason why he hadn´t said anything about Olivia following us? That he had expected her to follow us to Davenport where he wanted her to be anyway? It was no secret to me what he wanted to talk about to her. Certainly he hoped that she had some knowledge about the stone's origin and if this was the case, it would be fine with me. If you asked me, I wanted to get rid of this blue piece of mischief as soon as possible.

Connor's peacefully formulated request fell on fertile ground at least. After she had cocked her head shortly and had looked him over with an expression I couldn´t interpret, she nodded and pointed at our horses.
"I´m only on foot but I can keep up."
She could if she had followed us before. Connor only nodded and indicated to me with his gaze alone, that I should follow him to Aldah. While Olivia stayed where she was, Connor grabbed the black horse's reins and held me back when I wanted to mount it.
"I hope it is fine with you that we take her with us."
"Of course." I shortly glanced at Olivia who was standing there with her hands on her lips and looked over the clearing, seemingly uninterested. "She already was a big help. I only asked myself for how long she will stay until she disappears again all of the sudden."
"Time will show us." Connor patted Aldah's neck, waited until I had climbed into the saddle and turned to Cobalt. Probably out of solidarity to the horseless Olivia, he only grabbed the reins of his horse and went back to the street without saying a word. Olivia and I followed him and from now on, the rest of our journey was silent and once again I was glad to have Emily with me. Otherwise I would have been tempted to ask Olivia any questions that came to my mind. What she had done so far. What her plans were…all these quite irrelevant and curious questions. But sooner or later the day would came when I wanted to learn more about this young woman who had supported us against Ray and who Connor had found in our stable bleeding.
When we arrived home after about an hour and stopped in front of the stable, Caleb and Noir ran out of the house only to give Olivia attentive gazes.
"What is she doing here?", the boy whispered to me after I had climbed off Aldah's back.
"Connor wants to talk to her about the stone he found at Ray's body", I explained to him whereupon he looked Olivia over again, who was leaning against the stable's wall, waiting for Connor to finish the thoroughly care of his horse.
"I think she´s strange", Caleb grumbled and earned a light push into his ribs from me.
"Don´t be so mean. She helped us, don´t forget that. And now do me the favor and take care of Aldah, would you? Then I can bring Emily upstairs. She´s very tired."
Caleb nodded and took the reins to lead the horse to its box. I went into the house but while caring for Emily, my thoughts were running in circles around Olivia and what she could probably tell us about the blue object which made me feel an almost abnormal aversion for it.