Under the Claudian Aqueduct

In the heat of the midday afternoon, farmers began returning from their fields, gradually filing towards the bath houses. Amongst them, Meris ran frantically, tearing Rome upside down to find the letters where his wife claim they would be.

Meanwhile, a well dressed young woman of about 14 rested in the shade of an aqueduct, easing her back, still sore from her husband's wrath, onto the cool stone. Valene took her punishment somewhat philosophically, after all she did hide some important documents for him, and even now, though he didn't realize it yet, had sent him on yet another goose chase.

Most of the letters were where she claimed they were- scattered through several of the city's libraries. One letter in particular, however, remained in the folds of her robes. Valene scanned the faces of the crowds, searching for Eudokia.

Eudokia saw Valene in the distance. She was unsure of how she knew to be here or if she understood the implications of inviting her husband to meet under the aqueduct. Still, if Meris was nowhere in sight, then good. She wouldn't have to touch the man. Not that she wanted to touch him anyway. Eudokia approached her anyway.

"What happened to you?" Eudokia asked the battered wife with concern in her eyes.

Evilgoodguy wrote:"What happened to you?" Eudokia asked the battered wife with concern in her eyes.

"Nothing I didn't plan for. It can be troublesome trying to visit with men hovering over us," Valene replied with a mischievous smile, suppressing a wince as she stood up. All good things came with a cost, unfortunately.

Valene's hand disappeared into the folds of her robes, and pulled out a letter, pristine other than a slight wrinkle in the corner with the wax of the Assassin's seal still in tact. "For Lucanus, if I'm not mistaken?" Although the letter was in sight, Valene kept in close, "I'll give it back and forgive you for teasing my husband in exchange for some of your adventurous tales." She ended her demands with a wide grin, her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Stories of what?" Eudokia played dumb. She didn't know how much Valene knew, but it wouldn't hurt to find out, lest the wrong information slip, "Sleeping with Caesar?"

The housewife huffed, "If that is what you have, I suppose it'll have to do, but I was hoping for something more exciting. I thought you to be a warrior- one of the Assassins. I wanted to hear about your adventures. At the very least could you tell me about the places you have traveled?"

Valene was always looking for excitement, but as a married woman she was lucky to leave the house, let alone the city. And of course, there were even places within Rome- the palace, certain temples, and so on, that the common woman simply lacked access to.

"Well, while I am an Assassin, I don't get to have quite as many adventures as the others. I've never even killed anyone. . . at least not directly. . . or violently. Most of what I do is spy work and, being a woman, I'm normally only called upon to seduce men of power until they give me secrets. I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell you a story of one of those missions. Name a place, and I'll do my best."

"Have you ever been as far as Gallia or even Hispania?"

(a/n modern day France and Spain, respectively)

"I've never been to Gallia, personally, but I have been to Iberia many times. So, would you rather hear a story of passion, politics, or adventure?"

Eudokia struggled in her mind to find either an unimportant story she could embellish or a story where she could show the less heroic actions of the Assassins.

Evilgoodguy wrote:"I've never been to Gallia, personally, but I have been to Iberia many times. So, would you rather hear a story of passion, politics, or adventure?"

All of the options sounded intriguing, but in her quest for excitement, Valene had little trouble choosing, "A story of adventure."

Eudokia sat down, feeling the grass between her fingers.

"I was to meet one of the governors of Iberia. He was holding an Assassin captive and it was my job to free him. He was a handsome enough man, so I had a few ideas. Then I saw his wife. She was very much the jealous type, so I would have to be careful in my approach. First, I would need to locate the Assassin. Then, I would need to locate the key to his cell. I would need to bypass security the entire time, just to be safe.

I first isolated his wife by talking about the merits of Gallic wine. She was very in depth on her opinion of why Iberian wine is superior (it isn't). I managed to work that into a conversation about getting into the wine cellar to compare the wines side-by-side. She agreed and took the keys. We ended up spending a lot of time in the cellar, telling jokes and exchanging stories. She drank heavily while I pretended to drink and pretended to be inebriated. She eventually confided to me that she feared losing her husband to another woman and would only allow him near a woman if she was there as well. The look she gave me was suggestive, but I was already figuring out a way to finish this job without touching either of them. So, I began discussing the keys. She pointed out which keys would go where -except for one. She never mentioned the jail key, so it was safe to assume which key to use. As soon as she passed out, I left for the jail. The guards were easy to disable and soon I had opened the cell. My ally thanked me and fled with my hidden blade.

By the time I had washed myself and returned to the party, word had spread that the Governor was killed at his orgy, along with the other participants. I fled to the rooftop, and surely enough, I saw the same man I had rescued covered in blood. I still question why the Governor didn't die alone, but I haven't received an answer."

As Eudokia conducted her story, the younger woman's facial expressions became increasingly etched with awe. "Do you speak truthfully? Your cunning would leave even Odysseus envious. I can't believe you actually saw the governor's blood."

Stilling her own chatter, Valene's hand disappeared into the folds of her robes, retrieving the letter with the Assassin's sigil on it, "My words were sincere, this is what you came for, yes?"

Her eyes darted towards the crowd, instantly spotting her husband tiredly trudging up the hill. "Huh, I didn't think he'd locate my decoy this soon. Perhaps he has become more crafty himself," she spoke forlornly, disappointed that their visit was cut short. "Greet him, if you wish, or better yet, you could leave and let him worry." Smirking, Valene scampered towards a street, allowing herself to be curried away by the current of people.

"Thank you, Valene," Eudokia accepted the letter which was addressed to her. It wasn't the letter she wanted, but that was irrelevant right now. Valene had already disappeared. The Templars could use a woman like her. Then again, so could the Assaassins. She would need to tread carefully if she wanted to recruit this one.

Then Eudokia saw why Valene had fled. Meris was coming to the arch with a triumphant look in his eyes. Perhaps he thought he'd succeeded. Ugh, Eudokia didn't want to have to fulfill her suggestion from before.

After all he had been through, trekking across Rome, trying to untangle his wife's riddles, Meris did indeed feel accomplished, if not down right prideful in finally retrieving the lost property. His speed, in reality, was actually due to the assistance of another set of eyes and ears, but the merchant's mind temporarily skimmed over this detail.

Now to get the hard part over with- interacting with Eudokia herself. Why couldn't the Assassins just send a man, like normal people did? Except the Templars were no better in this matter.

She was where she said she would be, even if earlier than their original rendezvous agreement. "Good evening, fair Eudokia, I have finally located the letter you had sought," he announced, presenting what was in fact, unbeknownst to him, Valene's decoy, complete with a decent replica of the Assassin's sigil.

"Thank you, Meris," Eudokia snatched the letter. It still was not what she wanted, but she was in no position to be picky. Any more snooping would be too suspicious. On the other hand, the eyes he was laying on her indicated that he wanted to lay more than eyes on her. Once again, she would need to weasel her way out of this one, but a sexual suggestion to a man is usually a hard one to escape, especially when he's gone through these kinds of lengths to fulfill his end.