Thank you do much for the reviews and the favourites! The chapters are starting to get longer and longer, I've noticed. Well, I hope you enjoy this one. Much love.

Annetta's sister's house was called La Rosa Colta, and it was not what Ana had expected, at all. It was a brothel, that Annetta's sister Paola ran. Paola was a skilled woman, and during the days spent there she thaught Ezio and Ana the ways of the courtesans, including blending in with the crowds and pick-pocketing. Ezio had protested when Ana too wanted to learn, as he didn't see any reason for her to. Luckily, Paola had agreed with Ana.

"You try to protest this girl learning to fend for herself Ezio? Perhaps you are afraid of women exceeding you in your skills" she had said.

"Of course not!" Ezio had answered.

And Ana did exceed him in some ways. She wasn't a very good at pick-pocketing, too nervous to manage to discreetly remove someone's wallet, but she managed to blend in with the crowds very well. Perhaps it was since she had gotten more comfortable as she could get out of Petruccio's old clothing and into a more proper attire.

When they had arrived, heart-broken and tired, Paola had asked the courtesans to take care of Ana. They had bathed her, and when they filled the warm water with ethereal oils and let her rest, she could feel the stress and anguish reaching the surface. For the first time since the arrest, she had cried. The courtesans had been nothing but good-willed though, chatting with her, trying to cheer her up, complimenting her and carefully washing her hair.

"You don't have to do all this" Ana had said, but they had just laughed.

"Oh signorina, we all know how it is on the streets, and we are all so grateful for what Paola has done for us. A friend of her's is a friend of ours."

When Ana finally got some time alone, having been busy from the training and smelling sweeter than she had ever done before, she did something that had scared her for a long time. She read her father's letter.

"My dear Giovanni, brother in arms,

I am afraid. I have decided to leave home and continue my work somewhere else. I fear that it is no longer safe for me here, and if I shall succeed I must not have to watch my every move. Dark eyes follow me wherever I go. I am grateful that you are willing to take in the one thing that I love the most, my beloved daughter, and I trust that you will keep her safe for the years to come. I cannot promise that I will return, we both know that. Our enemies have too long tried to spill my blood, and I fear that they will only try harder. I have hidden the truth for Ana all these years, and I beg of you to continue. I cannot lose her like I did her mother. She will be safe with you.

Giacomo Gravago."

No. This was not at all what the letter was supposed to say. Ana stared at it, reading and rereading it over and over again. What did he mean that he might not come back? What truth? Her mother died of child-birth, didn't she? Her head started to spin. Even if her father returned, there was nothing to come back to. Giovanni was dead and they could not return to the Palazzo. He would never find her like this. And she still had no idea where he was. She didn't even know if he was still alive. The conspiracy that had killed Giovanni had it's eyes set on her father too. The letter had not cleared anything up, but rather raised more questions. It hit her. She was all alone. She had no one. The guards where looking for her, her father was gone, and she stood without home or family. She would've given anything to be back at her house in Corniglio, but going there meant certain death. Now more than ever, she needed to learn how to fend for herself. The remaining part of the Auditore family was all she had.

A few days later Ezio knocked on the door to her temporary bedroom.

"Yes?" Ana asked.

He opened.

"Paola told me about Leonardo, she said that he could be of some use when it came to fixing up the blade and bracer we found in my father's chest. I'm heading there now, and I figured you might want to meet him again as well."

The offer made Ana's heart a bit less heavy. She had spent the days after reading her fathers letter cooped up in her room, trying to figure out where to go from here. She knew Ezio didn't exactly need her assistance in visiting Leonardo, but rather tried to cheer her up. He didn't know what she had found in the letter – no one did – but with everything that had happened recently she had too many reasons to be sad. Ezio was just trying to make her feel better and with everything going on in his life right now, it was a gesture she took to heart.

"I'll be right down".

Leonardo was just the same as she had remembered him, a personality like no other. Talkative, easily excited and with the spirit of a young boy, unable to be subdued. When Ezio showed him the blade, he had to clear out bunch of other projects he was working on, but immediately threw himself onto the new one.

"Fascinating..." he mumbled.

Working for hours, Ana and Ezio sat and watched. Eventually, he finished.

"There!" he said. "It's finished! Now all that's left is to remove your ring finger."

"Really?" Ezio said.

"I'm sorry, but this is how it must be done. The blade is designed to ensure the commitment of whoever wields it."

Ana stared with Leonardo with horror in her eyes. Could it really be? But it was. Leonardo held up a knife.

"Bene" said Ezio. "Do it quickly." He put his finger on the table.

"Ezio no!" Ana yelled out. "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry Ana" Leonardo said. "It'll be over in a second." He raised the knife and Ana closed her eyes, unable to watch. She heard the swishing of a knife in the air and the sound of it burying in the table.

"Is it done?" she asked, without daring to open her eyes.

Leonardo started laughing and she looked, just to see that Ezio's finger was still intact.

"I was only having fun, Ezio!" Leonardo said. "Though the blade once required a sacrifice, it's been modified. You can keep your finger."

"That was horrible!" Ana said.

"Signorina, I was only playing around, though it's good to know how committed your friend is to this blade" Leonardo answered.

Ezio himself stood silently, putting on the blade. "Incredible" he said.

"Oh well, you seem to have gotten over the potential loss of a finger quite fast" Ana said, sourly. "We could always take it off anyway".

"I'm good, thanks" Ezio answered, staring fascinated at the blade on his arm.

Leonardo ignored their dispute and instead inquired about the pages he had used to construct the blade. While talking, there was suddenly a knock on the door.

"By order of the Florentine guard: open this door!" a loud voice came from outside.

"Wait here" Leonardo instructed. He opened the door and a guard stood at the door.

"Are you Leonardo da Vinci?" the guard asked.

"Si. How may I be of service?"

"I need you to answer some questions" the guard ordered.

"Certainly" Leonardo responded, his usual friendliness shining through his voice. He left with the guard and Ana and Ezio looked at each other.

"We should probably stay close" Ezio said and the pair went to the door, so they could listen in on the conversation.

"He's asking about you" Ana whispered.

As the guard didn't get the answers he was looking for, he pushed Leonardo to the ground and started beating him.

"This ends now" Ezio said. He readied his blade and before Ana could react, he had with swift motions stuck it deep inside the guards back. The guard instantly fell to the ground, dead. Ana ran up to them, and helped Leonardo back up on his feet.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes. Grazie" he answered. "You should probably be getting back now though, it's late and I wouldn't want to worry about your safety".

As they walked back to Paola's, carefully blending in with the crowds, they carried on a whispering conversation.

"You killed that man" Ana said.

"So?" Ezio asked. "I've killed before."

"I know. But that was in self defense. This was different."

Ezio shrugged.

"The city didn't care when they took the lives of my family, why should I care about theirs?"

Ana didn't have a good answer, so they continued the rest of the journey in silence.

As they returned, Paola met them at the door.

"You were gone for quite a while" she said.

"Leonardo likes to talk" Ezio said, not mentioning the death of the guard.

"That he does. According to my girls, Uberto will be attending an unveiling tonight of Verrocchio's latest work. It will be held at the Santa Croce cloister."

Suddenly Ana understood what the blade had been for.

"You're going to kill him" she said, more as a statement than a question.

Ezio didn't answer. Instead, Paola did.

"There is only one way to repay betrayal."

"Watch over my mother and sister while I'm away" Ezio asked Paola. Then he turned to Ana.

"Don't worry. Uberto dies tonight." And with that, he left.

"I was going to ask you to join me and Claudia, we were going to look through some book-keeping. I'm trying to teach her a bit about running a business, to take her minds off of things. But I sense that you have something else you'd rather be doing?" Paola asked Ana.

Ana blushed. She was much too obvious.

"I wanted to visit Leonardo" she said. "Alone" she added.

Paola nodded.

"No questions asked. But..." she hissed up her skirt and revealed a garter, holding a small knife. "As women, we need to constantly be at our watch". She took the knife and gave it to Ana. "Take this. Walking the streets alone at night is dangerous as it is, doing it as a teenage girl is like sleeping next to an active volcano."

Ana stared at the knife in her hand.

"I have never killed anyone" she mumbled.

"And I hope tonight won't change that" Paola answered. "But relying on a man for safety is a dangerous habit. Be safe out there."

As Ana hurried down the streets of Firenze, she thought about what Paola had said. She was right, of course. She was constantly miserable because she felt like a burden, so the most logical step was to learn to take care of herself. Make herself an asset rather than someone that needed protecting. And this was something she wanted to do alone. The streets were rather empty, not only of common people but also of guards. They were probably all at the unveiling, protecting Uberto. Waiting for Ezio. Ana felt her worries rise, but found herself outside the door of Leonardo's home. She knocked.

"Yes?" a voice came from inside.

"Leonardo, it's me, Ana Gravago" she answered.

The door opened, and Leonardo opened. Ana had worried that she might wake him, but he was alert as always, smiling as he saw her.

"Signorina, of what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked, and moved away from the door so Ana could step inside.

"I... um..." Ana mumbled nervously, feeling rather stupid. "I thought about what you said about the pages with code, for the blade. And I thought, well, I don't have any but I have a letter I wondered if you maybe could take a look at?"

Leonardo smiled.

"Of course".

Ana gave him the letter from her father, and he quickly skimmed through it.

"It doesn't seem to be any code in this..." he said.

Ana's hopes diminished.

"Maybe... maybe you can keep it and look at it a little more?" she asked. "I just, it would really mean a lot to me."

Leonardo nodded.

"Of course, signorina. I will do what I can."

"Thank you. I'm really sorry to be bothering you at this hour" Ana said.

"Don't be! I was up anyway, working on a new project. Would you like me to show you?"

Ana shook her head.

"I'd love to, but I probably should be heading back. It's dark out and it's really not safe for you to have me here, with the guards looking for me and all."

"Nonsense" Leonardo replied. "But as you wish. When we meet again, maybe I can bring you some good news about your letter".

"Thank you signor. It means more to me than you know". And with that, Ana left.

It wasn't as easy getting home as it had been getting to Leonardo's, Ana soon realized. There seemed to be guards in every corner, and her dress didn't exactly make it possible to travel by the rooftops. Though the huge amount of guards everywhere meant that if Ezio had succeeded, Uberto was dead. At least the thought made her a bit happier. Except the "if". Though she managed quite well, despite the guards, but the fear of getting caught made her sneak around gripping the small knife so hard her knuckles turned white. She was almost at Paola's door when she heard a voice.

"Hey! What are you doing out this time?" Ana turned and saw a guard walking towards her. Without hesitation, she started running.

"Hey you! Stop! I know you!"

Shit. Ana heard his footsteps behind her, and even though she had thought it impossible, her grip around the knife tightened. The streets never seemed to end, and she decided that the best course of action would be to hide. She just had to find somewhere easily accessible. As she ran, she searched for small alleys to turn, hoping it would either shake the guard of her trail or give her a back door to sneak inside or something. Eventually she decided to trust blind faith, and ran into a small alley-way. As a huge wall met her gaze, she realized her mistake. The footsteps had stopped. She turned around and pressed her body against the wall, watching as the guard came closer.

"You're that girl. The friend of the Auditore's."

"Please, leave me alone" Ana begged.

The guard laughed.

"I'm sorry, it pains me to capture a woman. But it seems like I have no choice. Give yourself up quietly and I won't hurt you. I'll leave that to the executioner."

With one hand, he grabbed her arm and Ana screamed. She was going to die. Somehow, driven by something other than herself, she used her free arm and stabbed her knife into the guards chest. His eyes, filled with surprise, met hers, before he took his last breath and his dead body fell onto her, taking them both down. Ana could feel the warmth of his blood covering her body, and with all her strength, she pushed it aside. Her hands and her chest were covered with fresh, warm blood and the knife was still stuck in the guards chest. As she begun to rise, too numb to realize what she had done, she heard a voice.

"What is going on here?"

She turned her gaze upwards, just to meet the eyes of another guards, staring at her in horror.

"Guard down! Guard down!" he started yelling, and drew his sword.

It had all been for nothing. Soon there would be an entire troop here, and there was nothing she could do. Unarmed and alone, Ana closed her eyes, awaiting her inevitable death.

But death did not come. Instead, she heard the sounds of sword-fighting, and that too familiar grunt a man makes when life leaves his body. Ana opened her eyes, and to her surprise she saw Ezio, fighting of guards one by one. He was skilled, she had to admit. In just a matter of minutes, the guards were dead. He put his sword down and turned to her.

"What are you doing out?!" he yelled. Then he saw the blood, and ran towards her. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No, it's not mine" Ana answered, and glanced down to the dead guard besides her.

Ezio's gaze followed hers.

"How did you find me?" Ana asked, more thankful that she had ever been in her life.

"When I returned Paola was still up, waiting for you. She was worried, and I went out to look for you. It turned out it wasn't that hard, since you managed to draw a crowd." He shook his head. "What in the world did you think you were doing? There's an arrest-order out for you!"

Ana started to cry.

"I thought I was going to die" she said.

Ezio sighed, and then lifted her up in his arms.

"We need to get back, you look horrible" he said.

"I can walk myself" Ana protested.

"Yeah, but you can't jump in that dress. And after all this, I suspect we should keep of the streets."

Ana put her arms around his neck.

"Stupid girl" Ezio mumbled.

"We're the same age" Ana complained.

Ezio sighed.

"Don't remind me."