Once he deemed it time to go again, Altair looked at her before climbing back down the tower. Now to find a good place to practice falling...

Miles away, Ezio was wandering about the mansion on his own for a bit. His uncle said that a servant would draw him a bath, but it hadn't happened yet, so he was waiting for it. As he wandered, he came across the statue of the most famous Assassin Mentor. He'd seen the statue thousands of times, so he didn't pay it much mind, until his gaze caught the name at the base of the statue.

Altair Ibn-La'Ahad

Ezio paused and stared at it for a moment before things clicked into place in his mind, and he put a hand to his face.

"Dio, io sono un deficiente," he muttered to himself. Oh yes, he was a moron.

Anna had stayed in bed up until she heard water and movement. Then she got up, reluctantly, to go investigate. And found a bath. A nice hot steaming bath. She had no ideas whose it had been, but it was hers now.

Shutting the bathroom door, she got out of her clothes in record time, leaving them in a pile off to the side so she'd remember to wash them before she sank into the hot water with a blissful sigh. Oh god she'd missed hot water. And twenty-first century plumbing.

Still marveling at his own blindness, Ezio left when a servant told him his bath was ready. He headed back towards the bathroom with his things and opened the door. He didn't expect someone else to be in there already, and he expected it even less to be Anna.

Anna didn't hear the door open, too relaxed. She'd pulled her hair up out of the way and sat with her back to him, the top of a fully colored peacock feather just visible over the lip of the tub.

Ezio immediately noticed two things. One, Anna was naked in the tub. And two--

"What in God's name is on your back?" he asked.

Anna let out a startled little shriek, reached for a weapon that wasn't there, and turned to look at him while hiding in the tub. All at the same time. And she somehow managed to not fall out.

"What the hell, Ezio?!"

"I could ask you the same!" Ezio retorted. He suppressed a flash of disappointment that she hadn't been startled enough to stand up. No need to be thinking that now. "What are you doing in my bath? And what in the name of God is that on your back?"

"It's no longer your bath, it's mine," Anna sniped back. "Since you weren't here. And what do you mean what's on my back?" Because she'd had that tattoo for a while and just didn't even think about it.

"You know very well what's on your back," Ezio retorted. "That... drawing." Because he didn't know what else to call it, even though the water didn't wash it off as it would have any sort of artistic medium.

Anna blinked, and then realization dawned. "Oh, you mean my tattoo. Huh. Guess you guys don't have tattoos yet." She looked at him for a few moments before half-turning so he could see it again. "It's called a tattoo. It's just a bunch of ink under my skin."

"Inks don't come in those sorts of colors," Ezio replied, cautiously stepping closer to get a better look. "And how does it get under your skin?"

"They do in my time." Anna shrugged a little. "Basically they put ink on the end of a needle and insert it that way. Mine took a long time."

"That sounds both painful and insane," Ezio said flatly. "Why would anyone want such a thing?" Although, he had to admit... It was strangely attractive on her, especially the way the colors contrasted with her skin.

Anna shrugged, shifting so she was mostly under the water again. "Decoration. Although they usually have meanings behind them, too. Now shoo so I can finish my bath."

Ezio lingered for a moment longer, watching her, and then left the room. He needed to alert the servants to draw him another bath, anyways, since Anna had taken his.

Anna grumbled but got back to her bath, not taking as long as she'd wanted since Ezio had already interrupted her once. But at least she was clean and happier now, and she managed to find clean clothes to wear for the moment, until she got hers cleaned.

She just didn't realize that those clothes were a set of Ezio's.

Ezio had no idea how women managed to take so damn long to bathe. He managed to have a second bath drawn, bathe himself, and get dressed by the time he saw Anna again.

He stopped in his tracks and did an honest-to-god double-take when he saw her, though.

"Those are my clothes," he managed to say. But oh how good she looked in them.

"I'll give them back once I get these washed," Anna said, looking at him. And then she realized he was almost staring and she bit her lower lip, turning red.

Ezio opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when he realized almost everything that would have come out would have been easily classified as flirting. And one did not flirt with one's own apprentice.

"Come with me," he said instead, "there is something I would like you to see." He gestured for her to follow him, and led her to the statue of the Mentor. "Tell me what you see."

Anna followed him, very confused, and then paused when she looked at the statue of Altair.

"Good god it's the crazy Arab."

"I should have realized it sooner," Ezio said, nodding. "He is a legendary Mentor in the Order. Much of what we know about the Creed and the Brotherhood comes from his teachings." He made a bit of a face. "And I did not even know him when he was staring me in the face in my own hideout."

Anna had to snicker a bit at that. "Sorry," she mumbled. "Okay, think of it this way. You didn't even try to make the connection. Yes, a giant stone statue is a good start, but it's also not the man himself. It's a good likeness, but it's not him. And you weren't trying to connect the dots, so the dots didn't even get close in your head." She shrugged. It made sense to her.

Ezio just looked at her as she spoke.

"What in the world are you talking about?" he asked after a moment. "That made no sense whatsoever."

"I was afraid of that." Anna shrugged after a moment. "Eh. Go back to beating yourself up, it's okay." She smirked and stifled a yawn. "I'm going back to bed."