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Epilogue

Late Summer, 1512

Over the horizon, Ezio could see the towers that decorated the Venetian islands (and warned would-be invaders of the military power they could expect to face). Despite the frantic activities of its crew as they prepared for arrival, however, the vessel on which Ezio found himself had no intention (or capability) of waging war. Its journey had been far too long and rough for any of its passengers, even the Assassin himself, to put up much of a fight. Needless to say, land was a welcome sight for everyone, even if the city's odor matched that of the ship.

Ezio smiled to himself. The city, scent and all, was something of a second home to him. He liked to believe that he even knew its layout better than most native Venetians, but he could think of several voices that would contradict such a claim.

At the very least, he was more familiar with Venezia than was his travelling companion, Venetian though she was by her heritage. She had spent most of her life in Constantinople, returning to Venezia only for safety when the two cites were at war. Ezio was grateful that an end of a battle, rather than its beginning, had prompted their current relocation.

Under normal circumstances, the Assassin and his companion would have each made a point to pack as light as possible for such a long journey, but the latter had brought along a few crates of books with which she was unwilling to part. As soon as they reached the docks of the Piazza San Marco, they hired a porter to collect most of their belongings for them. For all Ezio knew, the bulky fellow could have been a thief in disguise, but that wouldn't have made much of a difference; the cargo was going to the same place either way. Besides, Ezio recognized another thief on the docks who almost certainly wouldn't have allowed his items to be stolen. The thief, despite a wrinkling face and graying hair to match Ezio's own, greeted them with as much charm and warmth as Ezio remembered.

"Welcome back to Venezia, Ezio," Ugo said. "Your ship was due here three days ago."

"It is good to see you again, Ugo," Ezio patted his back. "Our voyage was delayed by storms, and I am afraid I had little control over the weather."

Ugo nodded, then looked to Ezio's left at the woman who stood by him. "You must be Sofia," he observed.

The woman in question bowed. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Ugo, was it?"

The thief did not seem to hear the question, or perhaps (more likely) he was simply uninterested in the pleasantries. "Come," he beckoned them. "I will escort you to the den. Many of our newer recruits will not recognize you; they may try to pick your pockets if they don't know you to be allies of the guild, and they might just succeed. We've trained them well."

Ezio tried to wrap his head around the thought of Ugo leading the Venetian thieves. Antonio had passed away several years prior, but what Ugo lacked in his predecessor's charisma, he more than made up for in discipline and sobriety. Besides, his personality would be balanced out by that of the thieves' other leader.

Once they escaped the chaos of the Piazza San Marco, Sofia turned to Ezio as Ugo led the way a few steps ahead of them.

"It's starting to come back to me now," she said, watching a boat glide by. "There is a way of life here that simply does not exist anywhere else."

"Have you missed it?" Ezio asked. "It must be something of a relief to be home."

Sofia laughed. "You know better than most, amore mio, that home is not a fixed place. In a way, this is your home too, is it not?"

"Sì," Ezio answered thoughtfully as they rounded a corner and entered the thieves' den. Many of the newer members stared at the visitors in confusion at Ugo's apparent choice to recruit a sluggish old man and a book collector who seemed to be lost, but they said nothing as the party approached a few figures in the middle of the courtyard. The first figure, a woman around Ezio's age dressed in the robes of an Assassin with her back to them, was shouting at two younger men who clearly knew better than to interrupt her.

"I'll let you catch up," Ugo told Ezio as he left the way he came. At the same time, the two men left at the woman's command and slipped into a nearby alley.

"I've got more where that came from, if you don't watch your tongue, Ezio," Rosa said without turning around. "And don't think I'll spare you a broken nose just because you're an old man now."

"If they've gotten on your nerves, they must be doing something right," Ezio chuckled.

Rosa turned around, rolling her eyes. "I've seen their kind before. Youthful, cocky, reckless...and passionate. I hope that one day only the last quality will remain while the others vanish, but too often the opposite is true. The passions of thieves can be terribly fickle."

"That sounds like something Niccolò would say," Ezio told her.

"He DID say it, when I started leading the guild. The man offers few encouraging words in the face of adversity."

"To be fair to him, the challenges we've faced are not ones that should be tackled with blind optimism. That would be foolish of us, knowing what we do now."

Rosa sighed. "It is a strange thing, to be at this point in my life with so many answers, and yet to have more questions lingering than ever before...to be more uncertain about what I know to be true than when I started."

"Nothing is true," Ezio reminded her.

She nodded. "Of course, but where does this all end?"

"I am not sure that it does," Ezio shrugged, turning to Sofia. "That is why I ended it for myself. This is a new chapter."

Rosa eyed Sofia without discretion as the latter smiled back. "So I see," Rosa said, turning back to Ezio with a hint of a smile. "Why am I not surprised to find you with a Venetian woman?"

Ezio and Sofia laughed, and Sofia bowed to introduce herself more formally.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Rosa," she began. "I have heard a great many stories."

"Piacere mio," Rosa returned, "but don't believe everything Ezio tells you. The man is getting senile, after all. Try to keep him young for me, if you can."

"I'll certainly do my best," promised Sofia.

"I hear you two are to be married in the Frari, no?" Rosa asked. "Where will you go after that?"

"We are still uncertain," said Ezio, "but most likely back to Toscana, to raise a family. Somewhere peaceful, where our enemies will not bother us."

"Mio Dio," Rosa rolled her eyes, "you really are settling down."

"What will you do, Rosa?" asked Sofia.

The master thief considered for a moment. "I have not given much thought as to how I would like to end this part of my life. Perhaps one day I will settle down and start a family as well, when the guild no longer needs me. Perhaps that day will never come. Assassins and thieves have been enough of a family for me."

Ezio nodded. "Many years ago, my uncle told me that our fight must be driven by love of our friends and family, not hatred of our enemies. It is what binds the Order. I hope we have passed on that lesson to those who will succeed us."

"I hope so too," Rosa smiled.

They spoke for a while longer until the sun set over the city and they went inside to escape the cold of the night. The thieves continued their races across the rooftops as boats passed under nearby bridges, but the world around them was otherwise quiet.

[A/N]: And with that, I'll sign off on this fanfic. It's difficult to believe I've been writing it for over two years. As I think I may have mentioned once, this is by far the longest writing project I've ever done. I've visited Italy twice in that time (and I'm going again)!

Thank you all for your reading, reviews, PMs, follows, etc. It was always nice (and motivating) to know someone was enjoying this with me.

If you're interested in what I'm doing after this, I honestly don't know yet. I've been working on a long one-shot piece for another video game that's really close to my heart, so I should be putting that out soon. Other than that, nothing is planned at the moment, but who knows?

Always feel free to PM me if you want to talk about this story, you have any story ideas yourself, you want me to read your story, or if you just want to talk to someone who likes the same stuff you do.

Ciao (for now)!

TomRPy