"And it's impressive you managed to do so," Ezio replied. "Most apprentices don't for at least three or four attempts."

"I didn't because I'm not fond of the idea of breaking something. Had a broken leg before. It was not fun." Anna scowled and brushed a hand through her hair, trying to get rid of as much hay as she could.

Ezio nodded, but didn't comment on that. He'd had worse than a broken leg before. Reaching over, he picked another bit of hay from her hair, his hand brushing her cheek as he did so.

Anna blinked but didn't move away. Sure, she was a little startled, but not horribly so. And if she was honest with herself, she'd been wanting to touch him for weeks.

Then again, perhaps this was a little too close to temptation.

"I suppose you want me to jump off the building again," she grumbled, mostly so she could hide behind her grumbling.

"Once or twice more," Ezio agreed mildly, pulling his hand back. He was trying very, very hard not to think about how soft her skin was.

Anna heaved a sigh but went to go scale the building again, muttering to herself. Mostly to distract herself from thoughts of him.

And she even managed to not land on him again when she hit the hay.

Ezio watched as she took another Leap and almost managed to convince himself that he was watching to make sure she was doing it right. Almost.

Once Ezio was satisfied, Anna started brushing herself off, trying to pick all the hay out of her hair and clothes. Because damn this stuff was itchy.

Ezio was about to reach out to help her, and stopped himself. No, that was straying into dangerous territory now.

"That's enough for today," he said instead.

Anna nodded and yawned briefly. Good. Now she could go take a bath and go to bed. Because she was sure she'd have to do more tomorrow.

Ezio watched her go, already mentally estimating how much longer before she would be a proper Assassin. Because he wouldn't be able to wait much longer, he was already sure of that.

Anna stood silently next to Iris a few weeks later at the top of the same tower Ezio had taken his Leap of Faith from. She was nervous as hell, but she was managing to not show it.

Altair stood back, watching for the moment. They were both about to become Assassins, and he was busy distracting himself so he wouldn't think about what he got to do next.

Iris wasn't nervous about the Leap of Faith, really. She'd practiced more than enough for it, and she was sure she could do it. No, she was a bit nervous about actually becoming an Assassin. Training was one thing. A career was another.

Ezio was also distracting himself from such thoughts. Even though he knew Anna was going to get to this point, it still seemed like an unbearable way off. It was still an unbearable way off, but in a different way. Instead of having months or weeks remaining, he would be free to act in a matter of minutes.

Anna held out her hand and took the burn silently, stiffening only a little. Yeah, that would be hurting for a good long while, and she'd probably have a nice shiny scar there after this. Oh well. In a way, it was worth it.

Altair watched Iris closely, his eyes bright. The two girls would take their Leaps, and then the group would disband and he'd be free to drag Iris off to a little place he'd already scoped out so they wouldn't be near the other two.

Iris clenched her teeth as she took the brand on her finger. Goddamn, that would hurt for a while. She wasn't even going to want to use her hand for a while, much less move that finger. Finally, she stepped up to take her Leap of Faith.

Ezio watched Anna. He could see the expression flicker across her face when her finger was branded, and resisted the urge to comfort her. He knew this was part of becoming an Assassin, and stayed where he was. But he wanted to put his arms around her and tell her that the pain would fade eventually. For the moment, he stood still and watched.

Altair watched Iris take her leap. He knew she'd be fine; he'd made sure of that himself. By now she was used to jumping off towers and buildings, and this would be easy for her.

And once she landed, she would be a full-fledged Assassin. The thought almost made him shiver.

Anna waited until Iris had jumped, giving her time to move out of the way, before she stepped over. Oh crap. Long way down. Really really long way down. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she did her own Leap of Faith.

Iris landed at the bottom easily, and got out of the way so Anna could jump. That was it, then. She wasn't an apprentice anymore. She glanced back up at the top of the tower, and could see Altair looking back down at her.

Ezio watched as Anna took her leap. And now he could finally act on all the thoughts he'd been having about her recently. He glanced around, not wanting to be the first one to leave, but wanting to leave quickly regardless.

Altair didn't care so much about that, so he jumped as soon as Anna was out of the way. And wasted no time in taking Iris's hand, starting to pull her away.

Anna blinked at that before she snorted. Oh this was going to be great to use to tease Iris later on. Grinning broadly, she shook her head and started to head back to the hideout. She figured Ezio would have other things to go take care of now.

Ezio jumped just after Altair, and caught up to Anna easily.

"Don't go anywhere just yet," he said softly, catching her unbranded hand.

Iris blinked in surprise when Altair grabbed her hand. She hadn't been expecting him to be so close.

Altair didn't say anything, just tugging her along behind him until he got to the place he'd found. The house was clearly abandoned, the windows boarded up. But it was clean. And it wasn't falling apart.

Plus Altair had made sure no vermin remained alive in the house.

Anna blinked and looked back at him, not having expected that. "What? Don't tell me I have to do that again?"

"No, you don't have to do that again," Ezio replied. "But there is something I wanted to do." With that, he leaned in and kissed her gently, and then retreated again to gauge her reaction.

Iris let herself be pulled along, although now she had a fairly good idea of what was going on. Because she would admit, she might had fantasized once or twice about finding a secluded place with him, and now he was dragging her to one.

Anna blinked at that. "Oh," was all she said for a moment as her brain rebooted. Then she grinned briefly. "What, had to wait until after you pushed me out of the tower to do that?"

Altair led the way inside before cornering her against a wall and kissing her. Because if he'd misread her and she tried to stab him for this then he deserved it.

"Yes, in fact," Ezio replied, giving her a crooked little grin in return. "Because now you are not my apprentice anymore."

Iris was surprised by the kisses, but returned them readily enough. But god, he was good at kissing, it almost made her weak in the knees.

Anna snorted. "Well, at least you follow some rules," she teased. "Although if you don't do that again I might have to prod you into it. And you gave me sharp pointy objects with which to do so."

Altair smirked against her lips and moved in closer, quite happy with how this was turning out. And now he had a lot of lost time to make up for, too.

"I assure you, bella, I intend to," Ezio replied. Leaning in, he kissed her again, this time slowly and with more heat.

A few moments later, Iris broke the kisses to breathe.

"You've been waiting for that," she accused breathlessly.