[b]Title: Master and Mentor[/b]

[b]Characters: Ezio Auditore and Azumi Ian[/b]

[b]Summary: Ezio Auditore da Firenze, having just left his world, arrives in Haven City's South Town. He aims to see how the InterAssassin Order is faring under Azumi's leadership, and to help her find a way of setting up a communication system among the Order.[/b]

The crowds of Haven City's South Town region were large and closely packed enough for Ezio Auditore to conceal himself from the Krimzon Guard patrols as he wandered the area. He had been looking for any signs of the Haven City Assassins. While the task would have been difficult, seeing as how he had no idea how the current grandmaster handled robe appearance. But with his ability known as Eagle Sense, Ezio just had to look out for a person glowing blue, and then trail them back to their den.

Suddenly, Ezio caught the faint glow of blue footstep marks, all of which lead into an alley.

[i]How fortunate...[/i]

Walking into the alley, Ezio followed the footprint trail closely, and after an hour of walking, he found that the footsteps lead up a building beside the Hip Hog Saloon. He smirked, "It is comforting to know that she has kept with tradition..." Muttered Ezio, before scaling the building with the aid of his hookblade. Climbing onto the roof, Ezio saw a few loose planks. Pulling them aside, he let himself drop into the building and into a crowd of surprised men and women with large, pointy ears. Their clothing consisted of mismatched articles of clothing that resembled hooded robes, and Ezio assumed that the improvised assassin robes would do better to fool the intelligent Krimzon Guard.

The Assassins paid Ezio no mind, mostly because of his robes that resembled theirs marking him as one of their own.

Ezio kept looking into Eagle Sense, trying to single out the grandmaster of the den, whom he assumed would wear similar robes to the Assassins before him. As he made his way through the building, he found himself curiously fascinated by the metallic appearance of the interior. Dim lights lit the small rooms linked by long hallways, and various men and women were conversing all over the area. The South Town den had a large force already, and Ezio was already impressed. He would have an interesting time talking with her, once he found out what she looked like of course.

Someone was in the office at the back, yes. She had on black combat boots, brown pants, a blue, V-neck shirt, and a green jacket over it all. Over her head, a green, makeshift hood was hung, made from some gathered materials from the next door saloon. It was more for some privacy than a need to fit in, as she was busy with a great many things.

A hand was to the side of her head as she leaned over the table, switching between VISR channels... And he came in.

Ezio saw her at once as he entered what he assumed was an office, sitting behind a desk was a woman, and Ezio saw that she was illuminated in a gold light. Focusing out of Eagle Sense, Ezio saw that she was dressed in an attire unlike any of the Assassins in the building.

"Well, that was a waste of time," Ezio chuckled, "I assume you are Azumi Ian, correct?" Ezio asked, while approaching her table and taking a seat in a chair close beside it. He leaned across the table, resting his arms on it and staring straight at Azumi.

The woman froze, turning off the VISR as she opened her eye, keeping the hood down to hide her eyes and hair. The mouth made a very small frown. She had been careless again. Lack of sleep was getting to her, letting people sneak up on her. Still... hm, the hood and such did look familiar, like the files Cetea had shown her. By the age of the hair... more than forty a least, the rest too hard to tell due to her own perspectives with slipspace. She put her elbows on the table, looking at it, tense, almost on the verge of attack as usual. "I don't like to use my name around here, but yes. Who let you in? Or do you normally barge in where people didn't invite you?"

Ezio couldn't help but smile slightly. The bags under this woman's eyes showed signs of sleep deprivation, she seemed like she wanted to work past the need for rest. He could almost admire that, if not for the fact that it seemed to be taking a toll on her body.

His observations on Azumi's current physique, he thought on her tone, and the personality it might entail.

From the way she spoke to him, she either did not know about his status in the Order, or did not care. That alone told Ezio that she was fiesty, no-nonesense, and a judge of character rather than rank. If he were a younger man, he might have found her a worthy conquest.

After his assessment was complete, Ezio withdrew his hood and interlocked his fingers over the table. "I usually do, yes. Allow me to introduce myself, Ezio Auditore." He then chuckled, "And I must tell you that you remind me of my sister in many ways." He was sure that Claudia would have agreed.

Azumi froze for a moment. She was forgetting rank. Again. A sigh, and she nodded, pulling off her own hood. Short orange hair, baggy, brown eyes. At least she knew here men understood her rank and prowess in at least strategy. She hadn't shown much more here openly. "Sergeant Azumi Ian. I heard about you from a friend. No, not the way things normally go." She didn't bring up Interfering. "About your organization, about what I'm getting myself into here."

She lowered shook her head, trying to get her thoughts clear, to stifle a yawn. "Before we go on, is there any particular rank I should call you? You've been in this longer than I have."

Ezio shook his head, "Please, call me Ezio. Should I refer to you as [i]madonna[/i] Ian, or just Azumi?" He asked, his tone expressing a twinge of amusement. He had the habit of letting his assassins call him by name.

Azumi nodded to the informal attitude. She supposed that was good. "Call me what you want as long as it doesn't insult me. Not like it matters, what with us being on either equal rank or myself below yours." She looked into his eyes for a moment. He seemed nice enough, his posture not showing him to mean any harm, whether by accident or no, by unwilling or no. So she let herself relax, if ever so slightly. "Now, Ezio. Why are you here? Did one of mine send you over? I don't give out my name to random people. The Creed and all."

"You are partially correct, one of yours did come to me. Though she wanted to assist me, after doing so, I questioned her about the Interference Assassin Order. I then decided to put my current task aside for a moment and become an Interference once more. I did so mostly because I was curious as to how this sect is run." Ezio paused for a moment, "I must say that I am impressed. Though I do have one objection."

Ezio was silent once more as he thought of Azumi's talk of rank. Once she had introduced herself as a sergeant, he had no more need to guess. "My objection is reasonable, we are not a regular military group. We are a brotherhood, men and women united by the Creed. I will never do anything to remove your current authorative powers, but I will make a suggestion: focus less on rank. The Order is built on the foundation of trust, you should know every recruit on a personal level. They must dedicate themselves to you and your orders." Ezio then leaned forward again, "Of course, these are just suggestions. You can do as you wish as long as you are an efficient leader, which I have guessed you are."

Ezio then decided to ask only one question, "How is this sect faring?" He said.

The soldier sighed. "Sorry about that, Ezio. It's instinct. I'll try to keep that low." She looked at him, suddenly embarrassed at having missed such a key piece of all of this. Maybe she had to try and help her brotherhood more. She coughed into a hand in embarrassment to hide it, and answered. "On the whole, things are going well enough. We have a den here, and across the city in the slums. Most things here are relatively small. Kill a guy harassing someone here, help someone move out of the city there, pickpocket those guys. It's hard to make a serious impact. But we've expanded well enough."

She took out a map from under her chair, spreading it out on the table, pointing to key points, to the separation areas, the marked up portions. "Central castle here in the middle, as you probably saw. Too heavily guarded, and if we kill the Baron, it's too hard to keep things from falling into chaos. We need to know someone can fix the situation and not make it worse." A pause. "That's why we're allying ourselves with the Underground, stationed here in the slums. They help give troop movements, and we intercept what we need to." She looked to the door. "The Assassins are expanding, taking in more and more members. I'll try to slow the tide to keep us from getting to big too fast, but it seems like people like to have us as long as things don't go... less than stellar." She didn't really want to talk about the first mission.

She looked up at him again. "Any particular questions, Ezio?"

Ezio crossed his arms as he listened to Azumi's explanation of the current events, nothing too extraordinary had happened, but this sect was still young. It would soon grow into something better, it was only a matter of time.

Once Azumi had asked him if he had any questions, Ezio had thought of a few. "Some, yes. First, do you have enough resources? Second, how well are the recruits trained? Finally,  do you have any reliable allies besides the Resistance?" He asked Azumi, and while he knew that expanding onto different worlds was not the highest priority as of now, having a few contacts on other worlds could not hurt.

She sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Nothing yet. We have a few Interferences helping, but... well, you know how that is. It's something, but it's still outsiders, right? We can't be here all the time." She looked down. "Cetea's got some plans. Dunno if that's the one you mean, but she's a nice woman, and has some ideas for contacts in her universe. Believe it or not, it's a whole galaxy. Many worlds. Good to expand by getting into an interstellar group's good side. From what I hear, we have at least training and resources for the members. Don't know much else yet, but she'll say once we figure things out. Then we've got another we heard of for later, but will need to do some more searching to get the specifics of. Medical allies from a wasteland."

After Azumi had answered his questions, Ezio felt that Azumi had things under control despite the current situation. He knew that getting an intergalactic alliance would not be easy, but he had a feeling Azumi could handle it just fine. "One last question, how does this sect communicate?" He asked. He assumed communication would be easy in such a technologically advanced world.

Azumi pointed to a small device, looking like an orange television set that had a floatation device under it and an antenna out of the top. "Communicators, they call them here. I've been trying to figure out how to get trans-world comms down, at least ship-to-world, but..." She sighed. "To be honest, the only person I think I can ask, I'm afraid to even go near. I... I don't know if he'll turn me down for being a failure. Cid Highwind, in Radiant Garden."

Ezio stared silently at Azumi for a few seconds, "I will go and see him, and leave your name out of the negotiations. You can focus more on your current plans this way. Is this acceptable?" He said, feeling sympathetic towards Azumi. To lose the trust of somebody was always painful.

She nodded slowly, sighing. "Hypnosis. I know I couldn't stop him, too many against me, but... but what if I could, you know?" She shook her head. No need to think on that, on he guilt complex. "Look, I just want to know...how am I doing? I mean... the closest I've had is a military op. That's all I'm used to. It seems to work for Interferences, but... I don't want people to distrust me or anything. And I don't want to go against what you think is right unless I think it goes against my personal values. I don't think there will be a problem there, though, Ezio."

Frowning slightly, Ezio stood from his chair and drew his hood once more. "You are doing well, in my personal opinion. Your military experience serves you well, although some habits must be broken. But my opinion is not the same as the opinion of your recruits, I cannot be sure if they are loyal to you, though I imagine that they are either are, or are becoming that way." He then walked towards the door, turning once he had reached it, "As for what is right... What I think is right does not matter in your sect, and I will not be taking any control away from you. As long as you follow the Creed, anything is permitted." He said in a tone meant to reassure.

Opening the door, Ezio gave Azumi one last nod before he left the room.

A call after him as the door closed. "Thank you." She waited a few moments, sighing, looking at the table. Paperwork, paperwork, more paperwork. Most of this was just looking over information. Filling out ways for people to kill, to get information from and to the Resistance. She needed sleep, she knew. Couldn't operate like this... but she would sleep back "home". Later.

The woman stood, pacing, thinking. Work, work. So much work. So many different ideals, factions, loyalties... it was a wonder she could even keep a coherent identity, trying to keep things in order. She was lost in thought, hood off. All she could do was think about how to plan these things. Only a few hours left before she had to go.

Azumi was soon snapped out of her thoughts as the door to her office opened once more, and a man with short black hair and a long dark blue robe with noticeable patched areas around the shoulders stepped into the room. "Grandmaster," He said, bowing he cleared his throat, "We have received a confirmation from Master T'Zumo, she is en-route to Omega. Also, she had also written about Samuel Hammond's death. She says he was killed by a... Wallace, I recall." He said, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.

Azumi frowned, doing her best to keep her face emotionless. "I... understand." [i]Can't let it show. Can't let my "team will not die" attitude get in the way right now.[/i] A breath. "I'll be going over there as soon as I can. Just gonna fix up some things." She took her small etherspace bag, the one she had for when in casual attire, and slipped her papers into it. Some of that was for the Collective. She had to stop being so careless.

Slowly, she realized. She had to stop just being "the boss" and be a person. It was going to be a hard transition, but she was used to being shot at on a regular basis to sacrificing herself to save her squad. How was she going to grow if she just ran from these things? Just another kind of "hell" for her, to a degree. She looked back to the man. "Hey... what's your name again?"

The man blinked, before coughing into his hand. "Michael Ackers, grandmaster. Er... Why do you wish to know?" Said Michael, unsure if he had done something wrong. He was sure that he had done what had been asked of him to the best of his ability, anyway.

Azumi nodded a bit. "You can call me Ian. You can tell the others, just as long as it doesn't get outside the Order, alright?" She walked by, clapping him on the shoulder lightly. "Was talking with top brass, as you might call it. Just... thought I'd do things a little differently. Sorry for being cold. Kinda hard habit to break." She could do her work on the way back, or the way to Omega. She needed to just finish it.

"Believe me," she said, trying to keep her mind off of the death. She could deal with that later, suppress it now. "The only mistake that's happened that I know about so far came when I started out with the Order, and it wasn't anyone here's fault." She let down her hand, trying to force a friendly nature. How Ezio did it was beyond her. Maybe it came with practice. "If you guys need help, just try to help each other out, okay? Kind of hard to have a lot of friends in the Assassins, but it wouldn't hurt. Plus, it keeps us from letting problems come up in the group. Just understand that I can't help with everything."

Michael merely nodded, staying silent for a moment. He had never known his grandmaster to be, as most would say, friendly, but he had always kept his mouth shut and silently respected her for running an efficient Order. Now that she appeared to be actually trying to get to know her recruits, he felt he could appreciate the effort. "I understand, most of us aren't the perfect example of social normality, but at least you're trying, gran- Ian." He faintly smiled, "Don't worry about us not getting along, we all hate the KG." He said, and he felt positive that his assumption was true.

Glancing back towards the door, he coughed into his hand again. "If that's all, Ian. I'd better start my patrols." He then turned towards the door, as he opened it, he turned back to Azumi briefly, "Thank you, by the way. Glad to know that you're not going to be an ice queen, er... ma'am." He said, before leaving the room.