Fleeting

Azurelle slept peacefully the entire night; she wasn’t woken by her dreams and for that Altaïr was relieved. She needed rest more than anything and their tension between each other had not helped in the slightest. She hadn’t even put up a fight when she was woken in the early dawn, usually she whined and tried to ignore them all, Nazeera noticed how perky her sister seemed to be and couldn’t help question it as she cleaned her wound carefully, “so you and Altaïr?”

“over.” Azurelle said as she handed the healing balm to the woman, “but we’re still friends!” she hummed to herself and continued chewing on her breakfast as she watched Nazeera bandage herself up.
Nazeera was perplexed, her sister had no hint of sadness on her person, she had her appetite back and she was humming. “You seem so happy! What has really happened?” the brunette rolled her eyes, couldn’t she just be pleased in general?

“I’ll tell you a secret.”

0

A scream of delight alerted both Assassins’ as they packed the horses, they looked at the two females hugging and squealing delightedly at each other before degenerating into fits of giggles. Neither knew what to make of it and decided that it would be best to keep their distance – women were strange creatures. “I think the desert heat has gotten to their brains.” Malik commented and Altaïr nodded his head in agreement, they’d gone mad with the heat. “Anyway, about the next leg of this journey – if we take this route we can cut a few days off our journey.” They went back to discussing the pros and cons of one route over the other, their planning interrupted now and again by giggles. “If they are going to do that the entire way, I am leaving them here.”

“We could travel faster without them.”

“And the whining would decrease drastically.”

It was truly tempting. Though they’d come this far, it would be a shame to leave them behind now. With the route chosen and the horses ready they called the others to get ready to leave. Nazeera leaned up and kissed Malik chastely before hauling herself up onto the animal, she’d gotten most of her energy back and didn’t faint or sleep as often as she had been, he was both relieved and pleased with her progress. She had decided she wanted to hold the reigns today and he supposed he’d let her, she wanted to learn and it was a long trip, “you seem in high spirits, habiba.”

“Hmm, my little sister does that sometimes.” The brunette shushed her as Altaïr climbed onto the saddle behind her, he was curious as to what this secret was between the sisters but he would have to be patient – she would tell him eventually. “Let’s go! The sooner we get there the sooner I can sleep in a real bed!”

00

There seemed to be a pattern; every time Azurelle made a noise or glanced at the other woman, Nazeera would grin and they’d both have a laugh about whatever it was that had seemed so funny that morning. Altaïr should have been pleased that she was so happy; he should have been pleased that the girl relaxed against him easily and made conversation – something that wasn’t easy as their interests varied widely. There were a few hours in which she didn’t seem so overjoyed but more content; they’d stopped in the shade to avoid the harsh heat of the day and after only an hour she started up again! What was going on?! Not long after that the horse’s steady rocking forced her to fall asleep against him, he had hoped for some peace but she stirred even then.

“What is going on with her?” his question was aimed at Nazeera who seemed to be leading her horse towards the edge of their path, Malik moved them back on the right course with slight panic - she wasn’t very good at horse riding.
Nazeera cocked her head to the side and regarded the Assassin with a smug grin, “can she not be happy, Altaïr?”

“Of course she can, I would just like to know why.”

“Well tough.” He wanted to jump off the horse and strangle her and he was willing to go through the Dai to do it too.

00

The next two days passed the same way and it wasn’t until after they’d begun travelling after the most severe heat had dissipated that she asked him to stop the horse for a moment, “why?” she sighed at him and he decided to humour her, Nazeera winked at them and urged the horse onward despite Malik’s protests – what was happening? “Why are we stopping, Azurelle?”

“Because if we carry on you’ll miss it!” she took his hand and spread his palm across her stomach. “So shut up and use your legendary skills to feel this. Altaïr was now convinced she’d gone mad, they waited in silence, the Assassin’s patience wearing the longer they were at a stand still, the horse swayed and whinnied.

“What am I fe - !” he pulled his hand away as if he’d been bitten and the acrobat laughed at his reaction, “what was that?!” she grabbed his hand again and pressed it back against her body.

“That is our baby, very much alive and…” another tiny flutter trembled across Altaïr’s palm.

Altaïr looked at her, he felt as if she’d just hit him and he couldn’t hide the shock or surprise on his face, “Kicking?”

“It feels more like a trapped butterfly trying to get out.” She smiled brightly at him, “I really thought he was gone, I couldn’t feel him for so long and then I felt this strange fluttering…I finally figured it out after a persistent little episode.”

“Are you two going to poke the child all day or are we going to make the village by nightfall?” Altaïr commanded the horse forward and it trotted quickly to catch up. He wondered how long Malik had known, probably the first day that Nazeera had been told. “Wipe the grin off your face, novice, you look like the fool you are.”

“Not a chance.” Altaïr tightened his hold on the reigns in one hand and kept his hand planted firmly on her belly, “how long will he move?”

“Usually the rocking of the horse settles the movement and it won’t start again until I try to sleep or relax…he’s obnoxious like that.” Azurelle smirked, “like his father.”

00

Masyaf was a welcome sight to the weary travellers, the best thing for Azurelle was the masked Assassin waiting at the gate, “Nakim!” he was there to help her down from the horse and he stared down at her in confusion, “I’m still pregnant.”

“I thought you were just fat, but that makes more sense!” she punched his arm grumpily, how dare he call her fat! “You know I do not mean it! You’re still the cutest thing I’ve ever seen – unless you see my wife, then you’re some chick Altaïr picked up.”

Azurelle flashed a sly smile in his direction, “I bet your wife would love to hear about that woman in Jerusalem…”

“Now, now, don’t be cruel; she would have my balls for certain.” A hand clapped down on his shoulder and a man Azurelle had never seen before gave Nakim a crooked smile, “ah, Abbas, you would be wise never to tell anyone what you just overheard.”

“How much is it worth to you, brother?” the man’s dark eyes gave the brunette the once over and then moved to look at the other woman with Malik, “you took so long to get here because of that gobby woman, Malik?” Nazeera rolled her eyes at the man and continued to stretch her legs.

“Abbas,” Malik greeted the moody Assassin, “it has taken me six years to get her to agree to marry me, I was going to get her here if it killed me!” they were a little earlier than expected but a small entourage had come to greet them, the fortress walls had been buzzing with what Altaïr and Malik had planned for the Brotherhood and they were eager to hear from the leaders.

“She will make you miserable, Malik,” Abbas dodged the shoe thrown at him by the woman, “she will also throw a lot of things and miss…who is this?” Azurelle gave him a small wave, if this was the same Abbas that Altaïr disliked she had a feeling this would not go down well.

“Nazeera’s sister, Azurelle, she was last here…seven years ago, she was the one who accidentally kicked you in the face during a performance.” Abbas frowned at the memory, she’d broken his nose. His eyes lingered on her stomach; she wouldn’t be doing any acrobatics for a while at least.

“I’m sorry about your face.” Azurelle gave him a sincere smile before adding, “You can hardly tell it was broken at all!”

“Shame he is still so ugly though.” Altaïr’s arms wrapped around her round waist and he glared daggers at Abbas, they’d never gotten on and they never would. The two regarded each other coldly and the girl grew quite uncomfortable with their alpha male display, a nudge against Altaïr’s hand made him stand down – now wasn’t the time to put Abbas in his place. He ignored the man in place of talking to the girl, “it will take a little while to get a room prepared for you, Nakim has suggested you and Nazeera stay at his house until it is ready…maybe you could speak to his wife about her pregnancies?”

She nodded, over the last three weeks the fluttering had turned into more noticeable kicks; she felt that a little walk would calm the baby before he really started, “it would be nice to have someone with personal experience to talk to. My back aches from all the riding too.” She followed after her sister, it was obvious they would only be in the way as
Malik and Altaïr had to organise a few things at the fortress before they even thought about moving them in.

0

Nakim’s wife was a lovely woman, she was very welcoming and filled them up on tea and any food she felt she could force down their throats, she had a son who had moved into the fortress, a younger daughter who had just gotten married and moved out and the only ones left at home were her ten year old twins, the little girls followed their mother around everywhere! It was obvious the woman wasn’t used to so few people living in her home as she baked so much food she was packing some for the sisters to take away with them! “So how old are you…was it Azurelle? What an odd name…oh well! Are you as young as you look I wonder?”

“I’m eighteen.”

“Really? Well I suppose that’s not so young to be having a child! I was twenty when I had my first; I thought I was going to die! he seemed so big when he was born that I thought I would never get him out!” she put more food down on the table, “you should probably eat more, you’re a very tiny girl and that bump looks huge for someone your size – I will be very surprised if you don’t tear while giving birth!” she continued to go on about how agonisingly painful and messy childbirth was for what seemed like forever. Nazeera watched her sister blanch as the older woman continued her horror stories; perhaps this was not such a wise idea. It couldn’t be as terrible as it sounded, this woman had four children!

“…surely your experiences weren’t so bad.” The older sister chimed in, hopefully this would put Azurelle’s mind at ease.

“Oh, I was made to have babies, I have child bearing hips and I’m not as small as some women. I had no problems at all – some of us are just made to have babies!”

Azurelle spoke up then, “do you think I’m made to have babies?” the woman regarded the girl for less than a second and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Not at all.”

00

“After talking to that woman – I am never having children!” Nazeera exclaimed as she collapsed onto the chair in the study, “if you thought Azurelle was worried before; she’s deathly afraid now!”

Malik looked up from the book he was writing in and gave Altaïr a, ‘I told you so,’ look. Nakim’s wife wasn’t known for her tactfulness, she was blunt and honest and she would feed you until you burst. For five solid hours the women had learned every item of interest going on in Masyaf, who was doing who, how to make the perfect bread and of course the most appalling pregnancy stories known to man. “Where is she now?” Altaïr asked, he was in the middle of wrestling with an eagle; the bird had killed one of the carrier pigeons and was refusing to let the Assassin get the message from the dead bird’s foot. The eagle actually belonged to the Dai, he had done everything he could to train the bird of prey not to kill the pigeons but the creature persisted to disobey him – he’d named it Altaïr. “Malik! Can you not do something with this thing?!”

“Leave him alone, he will drop the message when he has eaten the bird – you will have your message then.” He knew better than to take food from the talons of a full grown eagle, besides, it wasn’t a message for him. Altaïr could wait.

“She’s in her room, I think she said she was going to take a nap, the travel and the pure trauma of that old bat has exhausted her! She wanted to look around the fortress but I convinced her to wait.” She watched with great interest as the huge bird screeched at the Assassin and spread its wings in a warning; this bird had captured its meal and he would fight the Assassin to the death for it. “To be honest, I am also tired…I’d like to bandage the hole in my body and pass out for a few days.”

Malik paused in his writing again and looked at his soon to be wife, “you do not know where I sleep do you?”

“No, Malik, I have never been in this place before…” he nodded dumbly, that’s why she’d been hanging around him for the past hour, “You’re a novice, Malik.”

00

She’d managed to sleep for a few hours but the combination of strange noises and a strange place was keeping her awake now. The room she had been given was large, the arched window gave her a beautiful view of the water and the mountains beyond, she was placed in the private rooms where it was customary fro the grand master to stay, it meant she didn’t have to hear what hundreds of Assassins got up to in their spare time. She knew that Malik’s room was at the end of the hall and that Altaïr’s was opposite her own; what she didn’t know was how long she would be living here. Altaïr wanted her to go through the pregnancy at the fortress where she would be safe and there were doctors and female healers should she need them, but after the baby was born would she be expected to stay? Would her baby be trained as an Assassin? It seemed likely…that’s if she even got through giving birth.
Was she really too small? Was the baby too big? Would she tear or pass out? Would her baby be healthy? There were so many questions floating in her head, so many of them too frightening to even consider! There was a constant movement in her belly; she wasn’t sure if it was the baby moving or her stomach turning in her anxiety. Throwing the covers back,

Azurelle crept through the darkness and slid out of her door, the stone beneath her feet was cold as she padded over to the door in front. She could have gone to Malik’s room to bother Nazeera with her problems but she didn’t have the heart – or courage – to wake them. There was a yellow glow coming from the bottom of Altaïr’s door, he must still be awake. The acrobat knocked on the hard wood and waited in the cold hallway for an answer…maybe he was asleep? She was about to try again when she heard a bolt slide across on the other side, he had a lock on his door?! She wanted one!

The door cracked open and his half naked body appeared, “what is wrong?”

“I can’t sleep…your son is the size of a baby camel and he keeps kicking me.” He moved aside to let her in and told her to get into the bed. Grateful for the chance to warm her now cold feet, Azurelle tucked herself under the blankets and watched as Altaïr blew out the candle on his desk, “did I disturb you?”

“no, I was trying to piece together a message Malik’s eagle decided to destroy…I am not sure how to respond and I am far too tired to write back tonight.” He got into the large bed beside her and pulled the girl to him so her back rested against his chest, he rubbed her stomach lightly and muttered a command for the baby to stop kicking its mother while she tried to sleep – another movement was his response and he had to sigh, his baby was obnoxious. He let his mind drift and forgot about the letter on his desk;

The one signed,

Maria.

000

Some of you are probably thinking, WTF just happened?! Did I miss a few chapters – did I blink?! No, this is me super fast forwarding because really, what are they supposed to do for three weeks on horseback?! Haha! Malik is a novice …seriously, who puts eagles and pigeons near each other?