Rookery ~ Assassin's Creed Syndicate

Chapter Sixty Five ~Epilogue~

Summer, 1908

My father had bundled me into a carriage to send me off to my grandparents. I fiddled with my skirt, its irritating fabric beginning to stick to my skin. The heat was something which I had often hated. It always made my fancy gowns seem heavier, made my skin wet with sweat and caused my hair to need washing much more often. In the carriage, I pulled a book from inside of my soft cardigan and flicked to the page I had been reading previously.

Getting lost in the fiction in front of me, I hadn't realised that the carriage had stopped until a knock came at the window. I jumped at the sound, turning to see a fully grown man with a wide grin on his face. He had messy brown hair and these eyes that shone ever so delicately in the low light of the carriage lanterns. He wore a smart, brown suit. He opened the door with an outstretched arm to welcome me. I took his hand to help myself out of the carriage and breathed in the strong smell coming from the bluebells around the estate. The man in front of me cleared his throat.

"Mother and father are waiting for you in their study. Come with me, I will take you to them." He stuck out his elbow. I looped my arm with his, feeling as if I was unnecessarily being treated like a lady, despite being only fifteen.

The cobbled path up to the house was free from weeds. It had obviously been tended to very recently, since there was no sign of anything growing back either. There were bushes right the way up along the sides of the path to separate it from the lush grass. I watched as a gardener carried a small bunch of flowers indoors and set them into a vase by the front window. He then exited again, stopping in front of me and the other man to bow slightly.

"Master Frye, Miss Frye." He smiled widely. "One of the maids inside will take your jacket from you." I nodded.

"Thank you."

The man beside me lead me into the main entrance hall and began to peel my cardigan away from my shoulders. Around us, teenagers, who were possibly only a few years older than me, were dashing about. I knew that my Podge trained young people into some kind of Order. I knew little of the Order, apart from what my father told me. These people where here as my Nana and Podge had bought this manor - previously known as Owers Manor - and turned it into a training facility. The teenagers and young adults usually lived here as well, making training a lot easier as the students were rarely late to a session.

"You don't remember who I am, do you?" The man beside me asked.

"No, sorry. I don't." I blushed as he hung my cardigan up.

"Your uncle Elias!" I widened my eyes and gasped, jumping into his arms.

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!" He chuckled, hugging me tightly.

"I missed you, wee one."

"Missed you too, Eli." We treated each other like we were siblings, and I loved that our relationship was like that. "You're twenty six now, aren't you? I think I see a few grey hairs." I pointed out once I had stepped backwards.

"Aren't fifteen year olds supposed to be taller than you?"