Altair nodded. "I have found that things rarely go as planned." His lips thinned a little at that before he ignored the memories.

Iris hummed a bit in vague agreement and settled against him. A brief flash of movement caught her eye from a rooftop, and she glanced up in time to see a person-shaped shadow disappear from view. She grinned a bit.

"I think they think they're on to us," she murmured. She knew Altair had to have seen it too. "They're watching us, and normal people don't hover on the rooftops like deranged pigeons anymore."

Altair snorted. "They are not very stealthy," he agreed. "Clearly they need some reeducation." And he would be more than happy to do that, if it came down to it. If they were who he thought they were.

"For living in the twenty-first century, they aren't bad," Iris replied. "Hanging out on rooftops isn't common anymore, and nobody ever thinks to look there." She leaned against him a bit, letting their watchers pretend she hadn't seen them. "We just know better."

"Even so, that was sloppy." Altair shrugged, careful not to dislodge her, looking around again. He paused when he noticed Anna and Ezio hiding in the gelato shop but he said nothing.

Iris glanced around, and noticed the other two as well.

"Well, they're almost back," she commented. She knew where Anna had taken Ezio. "Should we go tell them about our woefully-undertrained stalkers?"

Altair nodded and released her, getting to his feet smoothly and glancing around again. Because he was always careful.

Anna was, yet again, having fun at Ezio's expense.

Iris got up as well, albeit cautiously; she was never sure what exactly would set off her morning sickness, so she was careful about moving. She made sure to stay close to him, though.

"Why must you try to torment me like that?" Ezio asked Anna. Because yes, that's what it was.

Altair led her back over to the other two, watching as another rooftop watcher vanished from sight, probably trying to find a better vantage point.

"Because's it's fun," Anna said with a shrug. "Come on, you know I wouldn't give you anything bad."

Iris walked with him, but didn't reach over to take his hand like she wanted to. She knew better than that; he would want both hands free, just in case.

"And why are proper pastries not acceptable?" Ezio asked. He glanced at the gelato and back. "It just doesn't seem right."

Altair held the door for Iris, slipping into the store after her.

Anna rolled her eyes. "You're no fun at all." Then she looked over at the other two and decided to be smart and not comment on their earlier snuggling.

"So, know anything new?"

"We seem to have picked up a few stalkers," Iris replied, glancing out the window as she spoke. "They seem to think they're on to us, but I don't think they've realized yet we're on to them instead. We spotted a few on the rooftops, they weren't trying very hard to hide."

Ezio's attention immediately turned to the topic at hand, and he glanced at Altair to see if the other Assassin had anything to add.

Altair shrugged. "No evident weapons, substandard training, no awareness of their surroundings or that we saw them. They made no move to hide themselves better."

"In other words, you're disdainful of them." Anna grinned.

Altair snorted and gave her a very even look.

Iris saw the look and touched his arm slightly.

"We're in public," she reminded him softly.

"Unlikely to be apprentices, if they were set to tail us," Ezio commented. "Although also unlikely to be much more than freshly inducted."

"I wasn't going to do anything," Altair said, although he did not try to remove her hand. He looked down at her for a moment.

Anna nodded. "Newbies sent to track us and see if we notice." She snorted. "I'd almost pity them but somehow I don't. So, think it's about time we paid the good man a visit?"

"You were thinking it," Iris replied, giving him a bit of a Look.

"I think so," Ezio replied. Yes, it was time to see who would send out such untrained recruits, even if it was just on a scouting mission.

Altair just shrugged. He hadn't done anything wrong, and he hadn't actually been about to do anything to Anna, so he didn't see why Iris was upset.

Anna nodded and dumped her trash. "Alright, you two. Stop bickering, time to go."

Iris nodded and went to follow Anna.

Ezio glanced at the two as Anna spoke. Well, they'd certainly gone from affectionate to bickering quickly... Although in this instance, he was willing to give Altair the benefit of the doubt and assume Iris's mood was getting the better of her for the moment. It was the most likely reason.

Anna led the way back to the house, knocking on the door again. This time an older gentleman opened the door, looking at her for a few moments.

"You must be the historians that visited earlier, then. What can I tell you?"

"We'd like to know about an Ezio Auditore." Anna watched him.

"I'm sorry, miss, but you must have mistaken the name. There has never been an Ezio in the Auditore family. The two surviving members of the family moved from Florence to Monterrigioni, and then to Venice, and the daughter stayed here and had children. But there was never mention of an Ezio in the family, just the three children." The gentleman shrugged.

"Sure about that?" Anna watched him. She knew he was lying, and lying well, too.

Oh yes, he was lying, Iris could see it too.

"The thing is," she said, "we have a reliable source that tells us otherwise, but the records we have are just so incomplete that we need all the information we can get." Of course, she wasn't going to flat out say that their 'reliable source' was firsthand information and Ezio himself. Not yet.

"Signore," Ezio broke in smoothly, "perhaps we could discuss this inside? I doubt the threshold is the best place to attempt to hash out family lineages."

The gentleman looked at them for a few moments. "Very well. Come inside, then." He moved aside to let them enter and immediately herded them off to a sitting room. "And I do not know what your source is, but your source is mistaken."

"I don't think so." Anna did not sit, instead standing by a window.

"I will let you look at what records we have, but none of them mention an Ezio."

Iris didn't sit either. No, they were still far from safe, even if there wasn't any immediate, visible danger.

"If it isn't too much trouble, could we look at the records?" she asked. "We need to be absolutely certain." That, and she was fairly sure that Ezio could, and would, point out anything that didn't match the real truth.

"Of course." The gentleman got up and went over to another door, opening it and slipping inside briefly before returning with a box, which is placed on the table. "These are not originals, obviously, as they are in delicate condition. But these are copies. Feel free to peruse as long as you'd like."

Anna took the lid off the box and took a small pile of papers, starting to rifle through them, scanning their contents.

Ezio went to look through the papers as well. He trusted Anna and Iris, but he wanted to see them with his own eyes. He paused when he came across what looked to be a timeline of the family. Pulling the page out, he scanned in quickly.

"These dates do not seem right," he commented. They weren't right at all. "And here, where Maria and Claudia are said to have moved to Monteriggioni, there is no reason listed." He looked at the gentleman. "I think, perhaps, your documents may have been tampered with, Signore."

The gentleman shrugged. "It is possible, I suppose," he said, smiling a little. "I have found that many old documents are innaccurate. Besides, families didn't keep track then as we do now, or if they did their records are largely lost to us. These survived stored away in the attic of a building not far from here."