Fleeting

“Tilt your head forward; it’s really not that bad.” Maria held the cloth to Azurelle’s nose as she bled, “you should get used to these.” The two women were sat in Azurelle’s room a few days after the incident with Hannan. Maria had been forced to move into one of the five private rooms, she kept Hannan with her instead of the little nursery that had slowly been filled and decorated originally for the unborn baby but was now equipped with everything her own son could need or want – she just didn’t want Altaïr to have easy access. It wasn’t easy having a room besides Azurelle’s; she’d wake up every morning and run into her, the girl’s sister wouldn’t acknowledge that Maria existed at all but Azurelle smiled shyly at her and often attempted a conversation – the English woman wanted to strangle her! Maria wanted to hate her, she wanted to be as horrid to the girl as Nazeera was to her but Azurelle was so benign and sweet it was impossible! “I used to get nose bleeds all the time with Hannan…he moved a lot as well.”

“I’m sorry…I don’t usually bleed over people in the hallways.” The brunette would be lying if she said that the woman didn’t intimidate her, she had watched Maria physically throw Altaïr against a wall in anger, the woman had been in more fights than Azurelle had done flips, she had been second to a Templer commander. Maria was amazing! The woman wiped her face of the remaining blood and nodded.

“You’ll live.” Maria stood up and made her way to the door

“w-wait!” Maria looked over her shoulder at her, “do you want to eat breakfast together?”

Maria nearly scoffed at the request, Altaïr’s little mistress wanted to have breakfast together?! Was she joking? Regarding the girl with a bewildered look Maria wasn’t sure what to say, ‘no’ was running through her head, she didn’t want to make friends with Azurelle, she was only here because she thought Altaïr would take her back and bond with his son, now she was here because the Assassin wasn’t going to let her run off with the boy and she needed somewhere safe for him to live. “I need to feed Hannan.”

“I don’t mind.”

“…I do.”

They looked at each other for a long moment, Azurelle bit her lip and looked down at the floor, “that’s alright, it is strange to have anything to do with the man that you love’s ex…” she paused, “not sure what, but it’s definitely over.”

“I don’t love him!”

“You so do.” Azurelle hid the smirk on her lips as Maria flustered and looked startled. She could tell the dark haired woman wanted to argue over the matter but she was having difficulty. The brunette had been acting as innocent and as doll like as she could for Maria’s benefit – it was hard to yell at someone you couldn’t hate, so far, it had paid off. “I know for a fact he loves you, Altaïr may be smart and know a lot but he is ditzy.” Maria chuckled at the description, she’d never thought of the Assassin as ‘ditzy’ before. “he doesn’t like feelings, he doesn’t know what to do with them and he carries them, over flowing, around in his arms and occasionally he’ll drop one but hesitate to pick it up in case the rest fall too.”

“that’s…a very odd way to put it…” she wandered back to the girl and sat beside her again, “what are you trying to prove with this metaphor of yours?”

“Altaïr’s a clumsy bastard and shouldn’t carry lots of things.” Maria looked at her, was the girl being serious? It was difficult to tell until she saw a smile break on the girl’s face, “he has dropped a feeling for you – you need to pick it up and return it. I was simply helping him carry a few things.”

“So…don’t pick things up for Altaïr because you’ll get pregnant is the moral.” They both laughed at that and it was surprisingly easy to laugh together, Maria stood up again, this time with her hand around Azurelle’s, “come on, I’ll tell you all about the unwelcome changes you will have next month over breakfast.” They collected Hannan and were about to head down the stairs when Altaïr appeared in front of them; he glanced over their joined hands and regarded them curiously. “Stop staring as if we have extra heads! You dropped something, Assassin.” Altaïr frowned and looked behind him; he hadn’t had anything to drop! Opening he mouth to retort he found himself with an armful of sleepy baby. “He’ll want feeding soon, enjoy.”

The two hurried off leaving him with the boy, “M-Maria! I do not know what to…” what did babies eat? Well, he’d wanted to spend more time with his son and this was a chance.

00

Breakfast was easy; they had talked long after they’d finished eating and then the name ‘Friedrich Bosque’ popped up in one of Maria’s stories. They had chatted about him endlessly, apparently he woke up at the crack of dawn each day to trim, brush and take care of his beard, his hair had fallen out years ago and since then he’d been obsessed with his facial hair, he didn’t carry whisky around for medicinal purposes and he did have an obsession with pregnant women! After that Maria had decided that she wanted to look around at the little market going on in the village below, Azurelle hesitated, wouldn’t Altaïr be angry with her for leaving the fortress.

“Oh, fuck him!” Maria said as she practically dragged the girl toward the exit.

“That’s what got me into this mess!”

Rolling her eyes the older woman made the girl follow, the comment hadn’t stung like she thought it would – this girl was almost like a bandage over Altaïr’s heart and she was so willing to peel away to make room for Maria. It didn’t make sense. Azurelle glanced backwards toward the windows of the fortress in case anyone saw her escape but mostly everyone went about their training and chatting as if she wasn’t important. And she really liked the idea of not being the main topic of conversation! She was lucky, whenever she ventured into the garden, little Nikil always seemed to materialize and he would stare anyone down who spoke badly of her or anyone else for that matter.
Letting go of the girl’s hand, Maria smiled smugly as if to say, ‘look, we’re not dead!’ it wasn’t until they reached the bottom of the hill that Azurelle pointed in a direction and said the Assassin's name.

“I swear if that man followed I’ll make sure he can’t walk!”

“Sorry, I meant the eagle, over there on the wires…eating yet another pigeon.”

“Malik should tie Altaïr up…both of them.”

The market was tiny compared to the variety and vastness of Jerusalem’s market place. It was mostly craftsmen and food but the two women managed to find a clothing stall run by an attractive young man who was more than happy to ignore other customers to fulfil their needs. He offered them huge discounts on anything they wanted, Maria whispered in the girl’s ear that merchants gave discounts to pregnant women to get rid of the larger clothing and that because Maria looked wealthy he was just being nice. So they decided to rob him blind! By the time they were through, Azurelle had all the clothing she would need for the next few months to wear as her belly would no doubt get bigger and Maria had clothing to fill a mostly empty wardrobe – not only was the discount crippling the young man but Maria had gotten her hand’s on Altaïr’s coin pouch when handing over the baby.
After that they decided to get lunch as the brunette’s back began to ache and her feet were sore, she didn’t want to return though. It was nice to be out in the sunshine with normal people bustling about and ignoring her because they had no idea she was pregnant with the Grand Master’s baby and sitting next to a woman who had had the Grand Master’s baby already. “So, you and Altaïr.”

“You don’t give up! And I now realise you’re not as cute and sweet as you make out to be! This was all a ploy to get me to talk to you.”

“And you fell for it! So, Altaïr and you.” She wasn’t going to give up, “I know you still love him and I know that he still loves you…I’m not stopping you and like I said, we’re not together! You can’t be angry at him because you weren’t even together when we had our little sessions. He hasn’t done anything wrong!” she didn’t enjoy seeing Altaïr so torn up, he wanted to hold Maria, his hands always twitched when he was close to her and the woman had the Assassin's full attention, his eyes followed her every move! Azurelle knew she was an inconvenience; it was her that was hindering the couple’s reunion. “We’re just friends. Well, sort of…we barely have any similar interests, I have no idea what he’s babbling on about most of the time and he finds my subjects terminally boring! So really, I guess we’re not even really good friends.”

“Don’t you see it’s always going to be, me, Altaïr and you…it doesn’t make sense!”

“After this baby is born I am having a house down here, Altaïr suggested that I could teach basic skills to the really little novices while our son stays at the fortress and when I am done, I take him home again. We don’t want to be together but we have to share this baby.” It made perfect sense to her! “You could marry Altaïr, it would be you and him all the time…don’t you want that?”

Maria wanted that very much, she didn’t know if she could share him, even partially, with anyone else though. Maria saw the way Altaïr’s eyes would watch over the brunette, he stalked her often from the shadows just to see that she was healthy – that she was happy. His eyes rested on her with a gentle adoration that made Maria jealous often and she wondered if the Assassin loved the girl, even a little bit. No, as long as Azurelle was around, Maria would never fully have Altaïr’s attention. “That day, when you walked in on Altaïr and I kissing…what went through your head?”

“I was sad. I thought he would abandon me and I don’t know how I’d look after my baby if that happened – I’m just a performer, my money, the roof over my head, food and drink I was given, I worked to keep all that but it’s not an option anymore…I’m not a fighter like you, I’m not hugely clever and I’m about as graceful as a drunk cow in the mud – so I have to rely on him until I find my feet in Masyaf. I ran to my room and threw a couple of things around, choked on my own breaths and fell asleep for a little while. When I woke up, I was relieved – Altaïr doesn’t need me anymore, he’ll be happy with Maria. I’m not going to have to waste good coin on having him killed while he sleeps just so he’ll leave me alone and stop pestering me about this bump!”

Maria shook her head in disbelief, “you let him use you? Why?”

“I was curious and he needed someone to hold…it worked out well, we had the whole thing planned from the beginning, not the getting pregnant bit, we could stop at any time and I said stop.” She gazed mournfully at the woman, “please, Maria…give him a chance.”

00

Altaïr wondered where the two had gone, he’d been informed that they’d left the fortress and someone would keep an eye on them, he knew they wouldn’t leave, Maria had left her son as a guarantee they’d be back. The baby dozed against his shoulder peacefully, his little breaths puffed over the skin of Altaïr’s neck as the Assassin wrote a few things down in the coded language he was working with, he didn’t think he’d get any rest from the boys constant want for attention, his crying and definite calls for his mother – his father still so much of a stranger to him. He would work hard to change that, he didn’t care how long it would take but he would have Hannan recognise him as his father. Though one thing he hoped never to do again was change any baby, it was not his greatest moment and he’d been sorely tempted to seek out one of the women for the job!

Another thing that weighed heavily on his mind was Maria and Azurelle, when had they become such good friends? Perhaps they were destined to get along and it was Altaïr’s presence alone that caused the friction. He loved Maria but Azurelle he adored completely, both annoyed him so much that he wanted to strangle them, one beat him with her fists while the other cried him into submission and he could argue with both of them until the world ended because they were each so damn stubborn! He would be content with Maria…Azurelle would always be a temptation within his grasp, “what am I supposed to do?” Hannan didn’t respond to the soft rumble or the quiet question, his little eyes were shut and he looked quite peaceful – would the child that Azurelle bore look similar? Would he have a light spattering of freckles like his mother? Whose eyes would he inherit? Hair colour? Would he be as white as this baby in his arms or more tanned? Would he call for his mother or his father first? …what if it was a girl?

He would not know these answers for a little while yet, it was easier to contemplate his unborn child and the one in his arms than of his feelings for the two women. As gently as he could he stood and transferred the baby from his arms and into the crib of the nursery, Maria would be upset he was in here but that was tough. “He’s adorable…” Altaïr straightened up and looked toward the doorway that held Azurelle, he nodded at her statement and crept silently from the crib, one of his hands found it’s way on to her belly and he ducked down to kiss the top of her head, “I think the walk back made him sleep, I might go lay down myself while he’s not kicking.”

“You do look tired.” He noticed the odd way she stood; she wasn’t just tired it seemed, “backache?” she nodded against his chest, her body leaning against him slightly as she sighed. She didn’t think she’d be so tired! She decided to return to her room, Altaïr followed her, which didn’t surprise her at all, she wasn’t even surprised when he helped her with her shoes and found a pillow to rest under her lower back. He pulled the blanket over her, his fingers playing in her hair, it had grown, it now rested on her shoulders instead of above and he actually quite liked it, it was better when she wore her hair loose – that was why he always destroyed, lost or found a way to stop her wearing hairpins. He kissed her forehead and couldn’t help the urge to kiss her lips but she stopped him.

“Maria is waiting for you…in your room.” He pressed his lips to her cheek instead, his thumb tracing her cheek as he stood from the bed, he couldn’t look at her – she was too tempting and he couldn’t have them both.

“I will wake you in time for dinner…” he left her to rest then, knowing she needed it and that if he stayed any longer he would do something foolish. Instead he closed the door quietly and walked across the hall into his room where he was greeted by Maria’s warm embrace – what was he supposed to do? He stroked Maria’s face and was pleased when she excepted the touch, rubbing his thumb over her cheek his brows furrowed for a minute second, he’d left a wet trail on her skin and leaning forward he ran his lips over the dampness to remove it. Tears? Maria was not crying and nor was he…where had he collected the little drop from?

000

Started revamping chapters today! Won’t be posting them for a few days though!

Don’t worry SafetyPinStitches, I have plans for Azurelle! She’ll be happy…somehow.