"What's the plan, then?" Shea asked. "Learning the language will take time."

"I'm kind of hoping the Piece will just do something about that," Desmond said with a shrug. "Teaching you two Italian would take too long, especially to get to the point that you can instruct someone else in Italian."

"You think it will, though?" Shea asked. She would defer to Desmond on the subject; he had more experience with the Pieces of Eden, indirect or not.

"Maybe," Desmond said slowly. "It does want us here, it wouldn't have activated otherwise. There's always a reason one activates, so it will do whatever is necessary to make things go well." He paused. "At least, in theory."

Shea nodded.

"We'll see what happens, then," she said. "I trust your judgement on this one."

Desmond nodded. "We'll see what happens. If after a few days nothing has happened, then we'll start teaching you what you need to know."

Shea nodded.

"Sounds like a plan," she said. She grinned a bit. "So is the city like you remember?"

"It is, actually, exactly like I remember." He grimaced a bit. "I'll have to be careful, I think he suspects that I've been here before or something."

Shea grimaced as well.

"Yeah, that's not good," she agreed.

Desmond sighed a bit before he shrugged.

"Oh well. I'll just have to be careful. I won't tell you not to go exploring, because I know you will, just try not to get lost. You can't just call me for directions here."

"We'll be okay," Shea said. "Plenty of high points around here to get a good look at things. We'll find our way back."

"You'd better." But Desmond grinned a bit as he stretched out in the sunlight. It was warm and he felt like relaxing while he could.

Shea just grinned and stretched out again as well.

Two days later, Desmond didn't have to worry about the language problem anymore. He'd been right; when nothing had happened, the Piece of Eden had switched them all over to Italian.

Plus the girls now had their own clothes so they could go around the city.

Shea was still a little weirded out by suddenly speaking Italian, but she tried to take it in stride. And now that she had appropriate clothes, she was taking every chance she could to explore the city.

Harper was a bit more comfortable with the Italian, and she also took her chances to explore the city more and get herself oriented. It really was a neat city, and she found she was rather fond of it.

Desmond gave them another day or two to finish adjusting before he decided they needed to start actually working, so he went to go track down Shea first. He figured she'd be a bit easier to find.

Shea was busy climbing the spire of a church, trying to get to the top to get a good look at the city. She was having fun exploring the city, even though she knew they'd have to get to work soon.

Desmond spotted her and headed up after her, although at first he just sat next to her and relaxed there, looking down at the people.

"So, feel up to working soon?"

"It's what we're here for," Shea said. "I just hope I'm a good enough teacher."

"You'll be fine. We won't take any individual apprentices, at least not for now." Desmond smiled a bit. "We'll all help. Just in case anyone has problems. Of course, if someone does give you problems, you could always smack them down for it. That would earn you some respect real quick."

"This is true," Shea said, grinning a bit. "And this time we don't have to deal with the recruits who watch too many ninja movies."

"Thank god," Desmond muttered. "If I had to deal with one more of those recruits..."

"No kidding," Shea said. She grinned. "But you know, they're the ones who made some of the best Assassins afterwards."

"Some of them," Desmond agreed. "Some of them are still terrible." He shook his head and huffed. "Oh well. Nothing we can do about it now."

"Yeah," Shea said. She stretched a bit. "Nice view from up here."