"Just kill her already." Altaïr told Malik grimly, barely sparing the unconscious woman at their feet a glance. He moved to stride away when Malik grabbed his arm.

"This is the same arrogance that led you to your current predicament, Altair!" Malik snapped, annoyance crossing his shadowed face. "She risked her life for us. We cannot just leave her to die here like some wounded animal. We will take her back to Masyaf with us. Al Mualim would wish to reward her, of that I am sure." Malik told his friend firmly and Altaïr snorted in mirthless laughter.

"Do what you want with the thing. I want nothing to do with her. She could be a Templar for all we know, and you want to willingly bring her to the Brotherhood. Who is behaving arrogantly now, Brother?" He spat as he jerked his arm from Malik's grasp. Malik sighed quietly before gently lifting the woman onto his back and following his companion out into the dark streets. The dust clouded around their feet and clung to their robes as they melted into the shadows and returned to the bureau.

Altaïr dropped down through the opening in the ceiling, grudgingly taking the young woman from Malik so he could lower himself into the Bureau. Altaïr tossed the female carelessly over Malik's shoulder once the one armed man had landed. Malik glared at him at the sound of the woman's quiet groan of pain, but Altaïr simply rolled his eyes in annoyance. The rafiq looked up with a smile when they entered his lobby.

"Ah brothers, the sounds of your success have been ringing throughout the town all evening! Who is that?" the rafiq asked suddenly, noticing the figure that Malik held carefully.

"That is nothing." Altaïr said shortly.

At the same time Malik replied, "This young woman is part of the reason we are still breathing." He shot a frustrated glare at Altaïr's back as he left the lobby.

The rafiq began clearing maps and other small pieces of parchment off of the well used counter, nearly knocking over a vial of ink in the process. The old and slightly stained wood quickly came into view as the old man cleaned, and he gestured for Malik to continue telling him of what happened.

"She just appeared suddenly, from where I have no idea, and she helped save us. If she hadn't helped us, I can say that neither Altaïr nor I would have escaped as uninjured as we are right now. She pulled a group of guards away from their pursuit of us and we found her surrounded by a group of guards. She had been heavily injured, yet still fought bravely, although I can't say as to why she felt the need to step in." Malik paused as he considered the unconscious woman between them."

"They had backed her into an alleyway. Altaïr and I were able to make fairly short work of the guards that remained. I saw her collapse as we engaged the guards, but there was nothing I could do at the time. When we had finished, we found that she had already fallen unconscious and she hasn't awoken yet... I made the decision to bring her with us; thinking that we would be her best chance at survival. Al Mualim will be able to decide what to do with her when we reach Masyaf, but for now, her wounds should be tended." Malik finished, and the rafiq nodded slowly as he searched for bandages.

"Altaïr seems unusually upset at having her here…Do you know as to why?" the old man inquired, helping Malik settle the wounded woman from his shoulder onto the countertop. Malik shook his head with a sigh, "I couldn't say."

"I don't want her here because she is an unnecessary burden to us. She will only bring us problems if we continue to help her. We still don't know if we are bringing destruction into our folds or not." Altaïr stated as he strode back into the room and Malik started angrily towards him, his hidden blade unsheathing silently.

Altaïr stared coldly at his friend, his brown eyes speaking the challenge that he didn't dare speak out loud. The rafiq caught his elbow and shook his head at Malik when he looked at him.

"Ignore him. If you want her to live on from these injuries, we must attend to them swiftly." The old man told him quietly.

Malik nodded and shot a glare over his shoulder at Altaïr, "Leave. If you aren't going to help, then get out of my sight. I hardly even recognize you any longer, Brother." He finished softly, but Altaïr had already left. The rafiq and Malik set to gently cleaning and bandaging the woman's wounds.

She was dressed oddly underneath the dark cloak that she wore. Bloodied as her clothes were, they had obviously been made to represent some kind of uniform, but neither Malik nor the bureau leader could decide what. Both of them ignored her odd attire for sake of making sure she didn't bleed out there on the table as they watched, and her shallow breathing slowly evened out as they worked. The leather guards on her arms were badly damaged from the fight earlier, but underneath there were no injuries. Malik tossed them to the side and they clinked against the tiled floor. Malik made a mental note to have a new pair made since hers were evidently far beyond repair.

Malik turned to look at the old rafiq when he heard the man whistle quietly. He had uncovered the woman's torso, and what lay underneath made him wince and turn away momentarily. The ache in his missing arm flared to life as he studied her injuries and his anger at Altair flared once more. Underneath the dark leather vest she had worn, she had a kind of wrap around her breasts that Malik had never seen, but he placed those thoughts in the back of his head until later. Her chest was unscathed, and upon further examination, her vest that she wore had light but sturdy metal plates lining the inside. The ones that covered her chest and shoulders were still intact, but the ones that had been covering her stomach and back were nearly shattered.

The plates over her lower torso had helped to shield her slightly, but not nearly enough to have really done any good Malik noted with a frown. 'What kind of warrior fights with damaged armor and so few weapons?' Malik wondered, remembering that she had only had a short sword that had belonged to one of the soldiers when they had found her.

Her stomach and back had suffered the worst of the injuries, with only small scratches on her arms and legs. Lacerations and several near puncture wounds that appeared to be from arrows skidding against her ribs and a hip bone. The arrow wounds marred her tan skin and the dark blood gleamed black in the candlelight. The bleeding had mostly slowed but began anew as Malik gently began wiping away the blood with a clean cloth that had been wet with water. As the blood slowly came away from her body, the once tan colored cloth turned a shade of bright red and the extent of her injuries could be seen.

"The fact that she fought alongside Brothers and has survived thus far is truly remarkable… Al Mualim would surely be interested in meeting this one." The rafiq murmured quietly, and Malik nodded silently in agreement as he finished washing her wounds.

Altaïr waited impatiently on the roof of the bureau for Malik to finish his work inside. "Stupid woman. No one asked her to help us, we would have been just fine without her. With her injuries, our return will be delayed…" he muttered to himself in irritation as he toyed idly with the sand that covered the rooftop.

"Without that woman, you and I both would have many more injuries than what we have. We would not have escaped the guards had she not led some of them from us. Saving her was the least we could have done. If you didn't want to help her, why fight with me to fend off the soldiers?" Malik asked, silently pulling himself through the grating. Altaïr simply gave him a flat stare, which Malik chose to ignore.

"I helped because I wanted to battle those guards. It had nothing to do with rescuing her. What good can come of having a woman on our journeys? Answer me that brother." Altaïr said, and Malik smirked.

"Oh come now. You're a functioning man, surely you find a woman who can at least somewhat hold her own in a fight, and who looks like she does at least slightly alluring. Underneath the blood, I assure you, she had a certain charm. It might do you good to have a woman like that around." Malik told Altaïr, who laughed for a split second.

A smile flit across the assassin's face, something Malik had not seen in months. 'Who knows…perhaps she will be the one to soften the ice surrounding his heart…Al Mualim and I did agree that if he continued down this path of destruction, that something would have to be done. If he continues like this, all he'll become is a heartless fiend that kills for the enjoyment of it…I will propose the idea to the master and see what he believes best.' Malik thought to himself, and Altaïr noted his friends' silence.

"Thinking of that woman? I still believe we should have just killed her and put her out of all this." Altaïr told Malik tonelessly, the short-lived cheerfulness that he had displayed vanishing. Malik sighed in dismay at Altaïr's attitude change, and shook his head slowly.

"No, Altaïr. But seeing as you seem to have no reverence for someone who would assist us without caring about the potential peril to themselves, you will be the one to keep watch over her tonight, and she will be your responsibility from now on. I will not stand for any argument on this, Altaïr. You will do as I say, as I am currently your superior. Is that understood?" Malik said firmly when he saw Altaïr's mouth open to argue.

Altaïr quickly closed his mouth and nodded curtly, anger glinting in his shadowed honey-brown eyes. "As you wish, Brother." He told Malik tensely and Malik stood with a nod.

"Good. Head inside. I will send a message to Al Mualim that we will be bringing a guest with us. I will notify him of the events that occurred and wait for his judgment. We will linger here until Al Mualim sends word for us to come back." Malik told Altaïr, who merely grunted in assent before disappearing back into the bureau. Malik sighed as he watched his friends retreating back, and then followed him to send the letter to Al Mualim via messenger bird.

Altaïr settled himself on a cushion and leaned back against the cool wall as he regarded the sleeping woman lying on the blankets next to him. Faint pink showed through the bandages that were wrapped around her torso, and her head lay pillowed on a small cushion. Her honey blonde hair fanned out around her head, and Altaïr could see where the blood from earlier had caked and dried into her tresses. He studied the figure beside him with veiled curiosity.

'As much as I abhor to admit it, Malik was right. She is striking. But still, I can see no good of having a female around us. She would only prove to be a distraction, no matter what she may be. And she could very well be a Templar spy for all we know…one that we brought into the Brotherhood. Malik and I would have to take the fault for that, and Al Mualim could never pardon us for even unknowingly betraying the order…' Altaïr thought, before Malik interrupted him.

"Goodnight, Altair. Keep a safe watch over our guest and wake me if anything happens." Malik told him, and Altaïr nodded brusquely.

"As you wish." He replied, and Malik strode back towards the spare room, feeling Altair's glare burning into his back as he did so.

Altaïr waited until he heard Malik begin to snore and then returned his attention back to the woman. Her honey blonde hair was abnormal to him, even darkened by blood as it was. He glared at her for a long moment before setting back onto his cushion across the room. After about half an hour, he stared at the lone candle burning and noted with a groan that the time was crawling by.

Grimacing, he stood and moved to stand beside the counter where she lay. She hardly stirred when he began to gently clean the drying blood from her hair with the cloth Malik had used earlier. After carefully working for over an hour, Altaïr leaned back on his heels and looked with approval at his effort. Her hair, although damp, was free from all the blood.

'I hate to admit it, but there is a certain quality to her that is…fascinating. Where did you come from?' Altaïr wondered as he settled back on a cushion.

A/N: Ok so I'm going to apologize in advance for the soon to be bombardment of emails to your inbox…I'm going to be posting the edits of the chapters that I have done so far so you're probably going to receive a couple notices…Anyways, I promise I'm still working on this! I'm just juggling finals and about 5 bajillion papers that I have to write in addition to that =[ Keep an eye on your inbox in the next few weeks and there should be some new chapters up shortly! Much love to all of you wonderful readers 3 You guys really are amazing =]

And as usual- read, review (but no flames as I will just delete them), and enjoy!