It was cooler than she expected when she opened her eyes. For a brief, hazy few minutes Maria found herself unsure of where she was, as though she found herself caught up in a strange dream fuelled by poppy tea and herbal remedies designed to ease her discomfort. Even though her body had recovered remarkably in the short space of four weeks since her second son had struggled into the world, she still found herself at the mercy of aches and pains that had never troubled her in the early days of motherhood with Darim.
"Mama?" Speaking of Darim, he was tugging insistently at her skirt, his sweet round face crumpled in an expression of surprise and confusion as he looked at her. "Mama look!"
"I'm looking, I'm looking," Maria replied sleepily, rubbing her eyes and pausing instinctively to let her hand hover over Sef's head as she lowered it to her side.
The baby was snuggled against her chest, thumb in mouth and sleeping contentedly in his papoose, utterly oblivious to his surroundings. His mother chose to ignore the urge to sweep her fingertips over his fine, downy soft hair in favour of letting him sleep- Sef was nowhere near as sweet or as biddable as his brother had been and was a veritable maelstrom of temper when woken before he was good and ready to be roused. Darim, on the other hand, was nowhere close to sleepy as he tugged again at his mother's clothes.
"Mama!"
"Ssh najmee you'll wake your brother," she whispered, finding no reason not to fondle Darim's dark head of curls which made him giggle. "Shall we read something?"
"Where's Baba?"
That was a very good question, and one Maria had no answer for as she began to take in a little more of her surroundings than she had first realised. And then it hit her, like the same awful moment of clarity that would follow from a night of revelry when one remembered precisely what they'd done after helping drain that first keg of mead (only without the aching head and sense of vertigo that followed sudden movements.)
Was this... Asgard?
It couldn't be. It had been over a year surely? And would she not have found herself in Freya's halls again? And- and how was it that Darim had come with her? And Sef too- and thank whatever god who had brought her here again for that merciful allowance, what a relief for her and Altaïr-
Altaïr!
Where was he? Had he been brought here with them too? And what of the others, what of Desmond and Ezio and Alistair and the small but thriving Brotherhood that had embraced her when she had last been there, what of them? Was she alone with her boys now? The thought was unsettling, Altaïr's presence had always given her strength the last time she was here and now she had the children with her and it just wasn't right to face it without-
"Baba!" Darim yelled. "Baba hello!"
That was enough to wake Sef, and sure enough it was the work of a few moments to turn a contentedly sleeping newborn into a caterwauling nightmare.
And that was how Maria Thorpe came to be sitting on a low brick wall in what was once Odin's district, desperately trying to soothe a screaming baby and supervise his wildly overexcited elder brother.
B
It's more crowded than she remembers, and the people are far more adoring and wanting to come up and garland her and fuss over Darim and- while he loves the attention- Maria is less than keen to have strangers come up to her two and a half year old and the longer she goes on like this, the more anxious she becomes. They'd only gone out to get something to eat- a burger, she has missed burgers like nothing on earth- and found themselves surrounded.
Sef has, at least, stopped crying and is placidly dribbling all over his mother and peering back at whoever gets a peek at him before Maria readjusts the papoose to hide him away. She is not relaxed enough yet to let strangers get a look in and- much to Darim's annoyance as he's perfectly ready to make new friends...
Which he demonstrates by slipping away from his mother and introducing himself at every given opportunity.
Maria Thorpe (and sons!) | OTA
It was cooler than she expected when she opened her eyes. For a brief, hazy few minutes Maria found herself unsure of where she was, as though she found herself caught up in a strange dream fuelled by poppy tea and herbal remedies designed to ease her discomfort. Even though her body had recovered remarkably in the short space of four weeks since her second son had struggled into the world, she still found herself at the mercy of aches and pains that had never troubled her in the early days of motherhood with Darim.
"Mama?" Speaking of Darim, he was tugging insistently at her skirt, his sweet round face crumpled in an expression of surprise and confusion as he looked at her. "Mama look!"
"I'm looking, I'm looking," Maria replied sleepily, rubbing her eyes and pausing instinctively to let her hand hover over Sef's head as she lowered it to her side.
The baby was snuggled against her chest, thumb in mouth and sleeping contentedly in his papoose, utterly oblivious to his surroundings. His mother chose to ignore the urge to sweep her fingertips over his fine, downy soft hair in favour of letting him sleep- Sef was nowhere near as sweet or as biddable as his brother had been and was a veritable maelstrom of temper when woken before he was good and ready to be roused. Darim, on the other hand, was nowhere close to sleepy as he tugged again at his mother's clothes.
"Mama!"
"Ssh najmee you'll wake your brother," she whispered, finding no reason not to fondle Darim's dark head of curls which made him giggle. "Shall we read something?"
"Where's Baba?"
That was a very good question, and one Maria had no answer for as she began to take in a little more of her surroundings than she had first realised. And then it hit her, like the same awful moment of clarity that would follow from a night of revelry when one remembered precisely what they'd done after helping drain that first keg of mead (only without the aching head and sense of vertigo that followed sudden movements.)
Was this... Asgard?
It couldn't be. It had been over a year surely? And would she not have found herself in Freya's halls again? And- and how was it that Darim had come with her? And Sef too- and thank whatever god who had brought her here again for that merciful allowance, what a relief for her and Altaïr-
Altaïr!
Where was he? Had he been brought here with them too? And what of the others, what of Desmond and Ezio and Alistair and the small but thriving Brotherhood that had embraced her when she had last been there, what of them? Was she alone with her boys now? The thought was unsettling, Altaïr's presence had always given her strength the last time she was here and now she had the children with her and it just wasn't right to face it without-
"Baba!" Darim yelled. "Baba hello!"
That was enough to wake Sef, and sure enough it was the work of a few moments to turn a contentedly sleeping newborn into a caterwauling nightmare.
And that was how Maria Thorpe came to be sitting on a low brick wall in what was once Odin's district, desperately trying to soothe a screaming baby and supervise his wildly overexcited elder brother.
B
It's more crowded than she remembers, and the people are far more adoring and wanting to come up and garland her and fuss over Darim and- while he loves the attention- Maria is less than keen to have strangers come up to her two and a half year old and the longer she goes on like this, the more anxious she becomes. They'd only gone out to get something to eat- a burger, she has missed burgers like nothing on earth- and found themselves surrounded.
Sef has, at least, stopped crying and is placidly dribbling all over his mother and peering back at whoever gets a peek at him before Maria readjusts the papoose to hide him away. She is not relaxed enough yet to let strangers get a look in and- much to Darim's annoyance as he's perfectly ready to make new friends...
Which he demonstrates by slipping away from his mother and introducing himself at every given opportunity.
"Hello! Who are you?"
C
[Choose your own adventure!]