[Altaïr doesn't even need to answer to confirm it. Even if he hadn't been aware of the truth five minutes ago, Ezio knows him well enough to understand immediately—who he was, who he is now, and what the difference between the two means.
So he just listens when Ezio speaks again. Here, too, is an example of knowing the broad strokes of a man's background without the intricate shading. And he finds that he understands it just as well.]
It can take a long time to learn where one has erred, and longer to fully accept it. But the lesson is no less important.
[He shakes his head as some small amount of humor comes back into his voice.]
Another thing we have in common. I only wish I could have helped your younger self, rather than slam him into the ground repeatedly—but it took several months and the deaths of nine Templars before I learned the lesson my master sought to teach me after that day.
Which is why I believe that the time spent and used to learn them is crucial, along with what is gained and lost in the process.
[Even if it breaks his heart, even if it whittles a man down to his raw bones, destroys a woman's ferocity and her wit, it is necessary. Loss is a common theme for all Assassins, no matter the age or era. Lessons happen and occur for them to learn, even if they are hard, otherwise they would never be given in the first place.]
Even if you had, I doubt I would have listened. My uncle was the only one who could shake sense into me at that point.
[Though he does pause at that, because there was one man who mentioned something similar...]
Nine Templars? Was that given to you by Al Mualim?
[Darim spoke of it a long while ago. Only now is Ezio making a connection.]
[Ezio understands. It's why they can speak so freely together, why two very singular men are able to lead the brotherhood here in such harmony. They've learned their lessons through blood and loss, and gained a wisdom that cannot be found any other way.]
It was. Nine lives in exchange for mine. With each life I took, a rank was restored to me, and I came to understand more of the brotherhood that bound Crusaders and Saracens together.
[One by one they had opened his eyes, until the last bit of blindness was removed with the revelation of Al Mualim's betrayal.]
[He remembers this. Reading it in the Codex in his spare time, the words of an old mentor, a wise man who had many years of knowledge written into a book for safekeeping. The one who foretold of the Vault, of the Prophet and something that needed to be discovered. A message Ezio, as the Prophet, would deliver to Desmond.
It is still incredible to realize that they are centuries apart and yet still connected by the smallest things. Asgard has brought that to him in the quietest of times, a reminder of how everyone is somehow intertwined.]
[And for the betrayal of Altaïr personally, the one he had taken as a son. Yet on the day he extended his hidden blade to take his mentor's life, it had been the good of the brotherhood that was his foremost concern, not his own anger.
He had learned, just as Al Mualim had wanted. He still wonders sometimes whether a part of the man had been proud.]
I like to believe that he had changed--that the words he used to teach us our creed were not always hollow. But it's impossible to be sure. Even if he had been sincere once, there was no other way it could have ended.
And so the old man of the mountain, leader of the Assassins, revealed himself to be the tenth Templar--the one who would not share the treasure they found.
[It is spoken with a bit of surprise, but he cannot fathom the betrayal felt by Altaïr upon his discovery of his own Mentor. To have hidden his true intentions the entire time and led others still through the Brotherhood...]
[Altaïr can acknowledge it calmly now; enough time has passed that the memory stirs regret more than any other emotion.]
It was the Apple, but I didn't know that until much later—I thought it merely a piece of silver when he first showed it to me. He revealed its true power when I confronted him, and it was a near thing that I survived that battle with my life, and not him.
[And it sounds it, at least, to Ezio. That itself is no small feat, to face a Mentor of the entire Brotherhood and not only accuse him of straying from their ways, but to face him and fight him after the revealing... Ezio has no words.
Only that Altaïr is an incredible man.]
When I had received all the pages of the Codex, on the back of them was a map- a map of the world, that you had drawn yourself. I did not believe there were so many lands outside our own but- being here has proved otherwise.
[Altaïr hasn't drawn that map, not yet, but he can easily picture it based on the many sketches he's made and on his own searing memories of a golden globe.]
That is when I first understood how much more of the world there must be, and how much of it I wanted to learn about. I'm glad that I'll be able to pass that much on, at least.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
voice;
So he just listens when Ezio speaks again. Here, too, is an example of knowing the broad strokes of a man's background without the intricate shading. And he finds that he understands it just as well.]
It can take a long time to learn where one has erred, and longer to fully accept it. But the lesson is no less important.
[He shakes his head as some small amount of humor comes back into his voice.]
Another thing we have in common. I only wish I could have helped your younger self, rather than slam him into the ground repeatedly—but it took several months and the deaths of nine Templars before I learned the lesson my master sought to teach me after that day.
voice;
[Even if it breaks his heart, even if it whittles a man down to his raw bones, destroys a woman's ferocity and her wit, it is necessary. Loss is a common theme for all Assassins, no matter the age or era. Lessons happen and occur for them to learn, even if they are hard, otherwise they would never be given in the first place.]
Even if you had, I doubt I would have listened. My uncle was the only one who could shake sense into me at that point.
[Though he does pause at that, because there was one man who mentioned something similar...]
Nine Templars? Was that given to you by Al Mualim?
[Darim spoke of it a long while ago. Only now is Ezio making a connection.]
Re: voice;
It was. Nine lives in exchange for mine. With each life I took, a rank was restored to me, and I came to understand more of the brotherhood that bound Crusaders and Saracens together.
[One by one they had opened his eyes, until the last bit of blindness was removed with the revelation of Al Mualim's betrayal.]
And then, when it was done, I came for him.
voice;
[He remembers this. Reading it in the Codex in his spare time, the words of an old mentor, a wise man who had many years of knowledge written into a book for safekeeping. The one who foretold of the Vault, of the Prophet and something that needed to be discovered. A message Ezio, as the Prophet, would deliver to Desmond.
It is still incredible to realize that they are centuries apart and yet still connected by the smallest things. Asgard has brought that to him in the quietest of times, a reminder of how everyone is somehow intertwined.]
Re: voice;
[And for the betrayal of Altaïr personally, the one he had taken as a son. Yet on the day he extended his hidden blade to take his mentor's life, it had been the good of the brotherhood that was his foremost concern, not his own anger.
He had learned, just as Al Mualim had wanted. He still wonders sometimes whether a part of the man had been proud.]
I like to believe that he had changed--that the words he used to teach us our creed were not always hollow. But it's impossible to be sure. Even if he had been sincere once, there was no other way it could have ended.
And so the old man of the mountain, leader of the Assassins, revealed himself to be the tenth Templar--the one who would not share the treasure they found.
voice;
[It is spoken with a bit of surprise, but he cannot fathom the betrayal felt by Altaïr upon his discovery of his own Mentor. To have hidden his true intentions the entire time and led others still through the Brotherhood...]
And the treasure-- was it the Apple?
[It's as good a guess as any.]
voice;
[Altaïr can acknowledge it calmly now; enough time has passed that the memory stirs regret more than any other emotion.]
It was the Apple, but I didn't know that until much later—I thought it merely a piece of silver when he first showed it to me. He revealed its true power when I confronted him, and it was a near thing that I survived that battle with my life, and not him.
That's when the Apple showed me the world.
voice;
[And it sounds it, at least, to Ezio. That itself is no small feat, to face a Mentor of the entire Brotherhood and not only accuse him of straying from their ways, but to face him and fight him after the revealing... Ezio has no words.
Only that Altaïr is an incredible man.]
When I had received all the pages of the Codex, on the back of them was a map- a map of the world, that you had drawn yourself. I did not believe there were so many lands outside our own but- being here has proved otherwise.
voice;
That is when I first understood how much more of the world there must be, and how much of it I wanted to learn about. I'm glad that I'll be able to pass that much on, at least.