(no subject)

[madeinacre]

Dahi had said that he was better than Sef at climbing trees and that he could climb higher and faster than him anyway, so there. Sef had said he was lying, and anyway he was only seven and one half and not seven and three quarters like Sef so of course Dahi couldn't be better than him, that was stupid.

And then Hasan had said they should climb that big tree by the road and see who could climb the highest.

The three of them had gone along quite happily, Sef full of bravado and certain that he could make it to the top without fail and what was more, he was going to make it to the top faster than Dahi could. Hasan had picked up two sticks and whoever picked the longest went first- Sef's was only a stubby one so he had to sit pouting as Dahi got to go first. He made it up as far as the first big branch before he laughed and said that Sef couldn't go higher, and of course Sef knew that he could.

And he did.

But now he was stuck.

"Sef it's not funny anymore," Hasan wailed. "My mother will scold me if I'm late!"

"Go home then!" Sef called back, trying to sound like he wasn't scared as he clung to the branch like a cat.

"Come down, stupid!" Dahi shouted. "We're hungry, you've been up there for hours!"

It had of course only been twenty minutes, but when it came down to the serious matter of trees and being stuck in them, trivial matters like time tended to pale into insignificance.

"I bet I could stay up here all day if I wanted," Sef boasted, trying to make it sound like he really did want to and he wasn't scared half to death up the tree. "Watch me, I bet I can!"

Only Darim would probably pinch him and tell him he'd been reckless and silly and an Assassin shouldn't let something like pride get in the way of asking for help, and Mama would tell him he'd acted like an ass and would probably tell Master Rauf that he was still a baby after all and he couldn't possibly start training yet.

He didn't want to think what Uncle Malik would have to say. Probably that he was a reckless novice and his father would be ashamed.

Sef could feel his eyes getting hot and he sniffed; it wasn't worth wiping his eyes because then he'd have to take his hand away and he knew that if he did that he would fall and probably die and then it wouldn't matter what anybody thought and he'd never be an Assassin.

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[pushesgently]

The journey had been long and he and his men were weary, but the familiar sight of the foothills that led to the mountains of Masyaf did much to lift Altaïr's heart, and by the time they reached the road that led directly home—its entrance guarded by two alert Assassins who couldn't hide their smile when they recognized the Mentor and his party—he was energized anew, only common sense and his mount's contrary opinion keeping him from galloping the rest of the way.

He nearly missed the pair of youngsters standing around a large tree that grew a few meters away from a bend in the road, but they ran for Nasib, who had taken point, and the rest of them halted as the young man bent down to listen to the children's chatter. After a minute, Nasib sat up again and drew his horse around to come alongside Altaïr's, looking almost embarrassed for some reason.

"My apologies, Mentor," he said. "It seems we've arrived in good time—one of their playmates has climbed the tree and is unable to come back down." He glanced at the tree, then back at Altaïr. "Your son, in fact."

He'd been ready to ask one of the others to rescue the child as they continued on their way, but that caught Altaïr's attention, and he stared at the tree, squinting to look for—Darim? Sef? Probably Sef, he was smaller—though he could only make up a small form a few meters up.

"I see," he said. "Give me a moment and I'll fetch him."

He quickly dismounted and strode over to the tree. This close, he could see Sef through the leaves, clinging with all his strength to a branch. He wouldn't have to climb very high to reach him, but of course it was much farther to a seven-year-old boy.

"Sef? I'm coming." The decision made, Altaïr found the lowest branch and lifted himself into the tree. A few seconds later, and he reached his youngest son, and carefully lifted him by the waist into his arms.

[madeinacre]

It had been quite a while since Sef had heard his father's voice, and as he was currently hugging a tree to keep his balance with his eyes screwed shut, he didn't have the luxury of confirming his rescuer's identity with his own eyes. It was nice to hear that someone was coming for him though.

When someone grabbed him by the waist though, he started to panic as his balance shifted and he flailed about before he flung his skinny arms around his rescuer's neck and it was only then that he registered the familiarity in the man's voice.

"Baba?"

The man was whiskery and covered in dust, but as Sef clung to him and peered at him through bleary, tear filled eyes, he was able to recognise him and he hugged him all the tighter.

"Baba!"

[pushesgently]

Up a tree or not, nothing could stop Altaïr from holding his son tightly, and not to keep him from falling to the ground below. It had been months, and Sef didn't fit the same way in his arms—he was a little larger, his arms and legs a little longer. But he was a welcome presence nonetheless.

"This is a surprising welcome," he said, smiling into Sef's hair. "Hold on tight."

It was a little tricker to climb back down with arm, as the other was wrapped firmly around Sef, but a minute or so later and they were on the ground.

[madeinacre]

Sef clung to his father like a limpet, not caring that Altaïr's robes were caked in dirt and that Dahi and Hasan would see; it was Baba and he was home! He had kept his promise he'd come back before he started training and what was more, he was rescuing him. He snuggled in as close as he could, trying to stop crying and to be brave but he couldn't help it, and it wasn't just because he was scared of being up the tree.

Even when they were on the ground, he still stuck to his father like a vice.

"Baba, Baba!"

[pushesgently]

"It's all right, Sef, you're safe now." He held the boy for a few moments longer, stroking his hair with his free hand. It looked a little curlier now. "Don't be scared."

This was what he'd kept in mind all the way back from Constantinople—one-third of it, anyway. It was some distraction from his frustration and bitter disappointment at their failure. Here and now, that began to fade away.

[madeinacre]

"Are you really back home now Baba? Are you going to stay?"

He sniffed back his tears but still kept his face buried against Altaïr.

"I wasn't scared."

While he might have been clinging to his father as though he might never be torn away from him again, he couldn't admit to being scared in front of all these people. He would never live it down.

"You're not going away again are you?"

[pushesgently]

"I will be home for a long time, Sef," he said, squeezing him tight once more. "Do not worry."

He couldn't promise never to leave, but it would take a matter of great importance to draw him away from Masyaf for the indefinite future. Over Sef's head, he caught Nasib's eye and nodded toward Sef's little friends, then walked over to his horse.

"Let's get you up here and we'll ride back home. Do you know where Darim and your mother are?"

[madeinacre]

"Darim is with Master Rauf and he said that he was going to learn the fence," Sef hiccuped, getting his words muddled as he snuggled into his father's embrace, completely ignoring everything else that was around him. "Mama is maybe with Negma because she is getting really big now and Mama wanted to try a saddle for her and she said maybe that but I don't know and Baba what does the fence have to do with being a novice?"

He was happy to be lifted into the saddle, but as soon as his father joined him he was right back to asking questions.

"Baba did you bring me a present? Did you kill any Templars? Did you bring me a helmet? Can I start my training now that you're back because seven and three quarters is almost eight?"

[pushesgently]

None of the questions were funny, but Altaïr chuckled all the same. It was wonderful to hear the excited stream.

"We brought a few things back," he said from behind Sef. "I'll save the tales of our journey for when we're all together, so your brother and mother can hear them as well."

It might have been his imagination, but it felt like his horse picked up on his mood or their proximity to home and moved with more spirited, despite the additional rider.

"As for your training, we'll see. Have you been good while I was gone?"

[madeinacre]

"Yes," Sef said a little too quickly, and then decided to elaborate. "I washed behind my ears and went to bed when Mama said I should and I even didn't use that word you told me not to use before you went away Baba, even though Dahi really was one when he said you weren't going to come back."

Although he had got in trouble with Mama for that and sent to bed with no sweet after dinner, because he had punched Dahi in the nose and then that grumpy man Abbas who always frowned at him and Darim had had to pull him off him by the collar of his shirt and it had torn, and Mama had been really annoyed because after Abbas had gone she had called Abbas the same thing that Baba had told him not to call Dahi.

"Baba you can tell me about Constandynosepull now and I'll pretend that I didn't hear when you tell Darim and Mama, I promise."

[pushesgently]

Altaïr frowned as Sef explained, not particularly bothered by boys scrapping but very much against his sons' hearing that he might not return. Yet he couldn't deny such a thing was always possible; he trusted in his skills and his men, but none of them were immortal.

"It would take a great deal of time to tell you, Sef, and we are nearly home. Have patience."

Indeed, he could now see the spires of Masyaf rising above the hills as they came around them. They were nearly home now, and might as well consider themselves already there for being on Assassin land.

[madeinacre]

"Oh but-"

But Sef knew how to recognise his father's tone and pouted just a little as he knew it was an argument he couldn't win. Instead, he busied himself with playing with the horse's mane and tried not to sound too disappointed. Suddenly though, he was reminded of something and he turned back to look at his father, his small face full of concern.

"Baba, you're not going to tell Mama I was up a tree are you? Because she would be upset and you always say we shouldn't upset Mama."

Especially when Mama had made her views on him climbing trees without an adult knowing extremely clear, and her displeasure even more so.

"So we shouldn't tell her. That would be good."

A SHORT TIME LATER

[pushesgently]

Altaïr panted against his wife's neck, more winded by his efforts than he should be, yet feeling no shame. It was as if he'd saved up all his energy for this reunion, and now his strength was gone, along with all the bones in his body, it seemed.

"I missed this," he said, pulling away to prop himself up on one elbow. "And you."

[womanfromacre]

They had scarcely had time to remove their clothing before desire had overwhelmed them both, and Maria had no mind to care for all of the fulfillment she had gleaned from their encounter. Her husband was home, in her arms and she was satisfied. It had been nine months since she had been able to claim such a thing. Idly, she brushed her fingers through his hair- longer than he habitually kept it- and then kissed his temple.

"What, you chose not to preoccupy yourself with some pretty young Turk? I am flattered." Her tone was mocking, but she kissed him again and could not stop touching him. "I love you."

[pushesgently]

"Hardly." He chuckled and leaned into her touch. "Ana behibek, habeebti."

He let out a content sigh, then moved just far enough to resettle himself. "You look well, Maria, but how have things been in my absence? How are the boys?"

[womanfromacre]

"They've missed you, as we all have. Darim has taken his responsibilities very seriously since you've been away, it will be good for him to remember to be a boy again. Sef has been much too adventurous for his own good, do you not see all the new grey hairs he's given me?"

She found herself gravitating towards him; it was too soon for him to be any sort of distance from her as far as she was concerned.

"They've grown, I have been marking their height on the doorpost." Idly, she reached out to brush her fingers over her husband's cheek. "You've lost weight."

[pushesgently]

It was heartening to hear that about his sons, though he'd had every faith in them from the start; Darim was more than capable of being responsible, and Sef...well, he'd demonstrated his adventurous spirit earlier. But not was not the time to bring that up with Maria.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and sighed. "It was a hard ride home, and a long one. We had had to make more than one detour."

[womanfromacre]

"There is something you must know, habeebi."

Maria's eyes fell to Altaïr's collarbone as her fingers splayed over his chest.

"While you were gone... there was a terrible accident. The goats got free somehow, something upset them dreadfully. We sent men to stop them but Abbas... Abbas was killed."

She looked up at him with a deadpan expression.

"It was very sad," she said flatly. "Those poor goats. They have not been the same since."

[womanfromacre]

"Well then, I hope Malik will not begrudge you a few days' respite to recover from your journey before you return to active service. You will make yourself ill if you do not recover."

She could not stop touching him, almost as though she were afraid that this was not real and she had to continue to reassure herself that he was not a phantom her longing had conjured.

"You seem subdued. Is it only the tiredness?"

[pushesgently]

Altaïr welcomed each touch; for all that he seemed half-far away, caught up in remembering the journey he'd just finished, the other half of him could only fixate on her hand, her face, the feel of her next to him. He'd missed his family all along, but it only came into sharp relief how much he'd missed them once he didn't have to anymore.

"We failed, Maria," he said. "At first, I thought things would go well—but then the Crusaders arrived in the spring. They sacked the city, and we had to flee."

[womanfromacre]

She was very quiet for a moment, well aware of what this failure meant to him. All his efforts, all his careful planning for the expedition, his hopes for the Brotherhood in Constantinople, all dashed. She could see it now in his eyes just how heavily the loss weighed upon him.

"Oh my love," she murmured, then drew him into her arms again so that she could hold him. "There will be other chances, perhaps if we were to send men to help drive the Crusaders out..."

It was a vain hope and she knew it, but the news came as a shock and in truth she did not know what to say to console him.

"You weren't to know."

[pushesgently]

He went into her arms easily, breathing into the crook of her neck and perhaps relaxing for the first time.

"Whatever the fate of the city, it's long done by now," he said. "It was too long a trip back. And it's not our fight; we're not soldiers."

Any of his men who completed their training could be, of course. But it was not their way. Violence was one of their methods, but under his guidance, the Assassins would not seek to conquer the world, only guide it.

"I'm not the first man to fail in his goals." He dropped a kiss on her shoulder. "Disappointment is something I'll have to cope with."

[womanfromacre]

"Not on your own." Maria dropped a kiss to the top of his head brushed her fingers along his arm. "You have Malik and you have me, we are here for you. Even the boys, though they will likely not understand."

She closed her arms around him and rested her cheek on his head.

"Habeebi, I have never known you to face a disappointment and not risen to overcome it. This setback shall be no different. What matters is that you and our men are home safe. Next time you enter Constantinople it will be with your sons and me by your side, and we shall lay the foundations you could not this time."

[pushesgently]

He was more grateful for them than she knew—or maybe she did, having lived through the yearning of separation herself.

"But not for a long time." He propped himself slightly up on one elbow so he could see her face. "As a leader, my priority has to be Masyaf. And as a man, I want to spend time with my family for a long while."

[womanfromacre]

Maria rolled to adjust her position with Altaïr's so they could both be comfortable and, more importantly, remain as close to each other as she craved.

"As a woman, I have no intention of allowing you to be away from me for that long ever again. I meant what I said earlier Altaïr. I cannot spend another night without you."

She suddenly found herself feeling rather vulnerable and dropped her eyes to his collarbone, but soon enough she dropped her shyness and met his eyes again.

"I felt as though I had lost air in my lungs without you here."