The Road You Tread [Assassin's Creed III]

Sequence I - IV

Weeks passed. Months passed.

Summer turned to autumn, autumn to winter and winter slowly faded into spring.

Bonnie's life went on.

At some point, the mysterious figure of Haytham Kenway had drifted from her mind and she only rarely thought about him. Sometimes, when she lay awake at night, she would remember a tall, dark-haired man in a navy blue coat, but the memory seemed so far away that sometimes she wondered if it had all been a dream.

February went and March came. It was this month that found Bonnie standing in front of her backdoor one morning, wrapped tightly in a dark brown shawl. Smiling lightly, she took in the paw prints in the muddy ground before picking up the dented tin bowl that sat next to her doorway.

Retreating into the warmth of her little house, she closed the door behind her and removed her dirty shoes.

She kept her shawl on. The roughly woven wool was scratchy but it held of most of the cold. Pulling it tighter around her shoulders, she quickly cleaned out the bowl in a bucket full of icy water from the well she shared with her neighbours when a knock at the front door sounded.

"Coming!" she shouted, setting down the bowl and wiping her hands on her apron. Throwing a quick glance at her discarded shoes, she decided to leave them. There was no way she was going to wipe her floor again after she had done so just yesterday. In only her stockings, peeping from beneath her heavy skirts from time to time, she hurried to the front door and unlocked it.

The rusty key turned with some difficulties, but finally Bonnie managed to pull open the door.

Locking down, she couldn't help but smile at the all to familiar face.

"Mickey!" she exclaimed. "What a pleasant surprise."

The little boy peered at her from beneath thick lashes and gave her a cheeky smile, showing off adorable dimples in the process.

"Good morning, Aunt Bonnie," he said somewhat sheepishly. Stepping back while scanning the street for any signs of Anne, the blonde woman opened the door further and ushered her best friends son inside.

"Come in, come in. Where's your mother?"

Stepping past her, Mickey waited until she had closed the door behind him, then removed his boots and put them down neatly near the entrance.

"You can keep on your shoes, I don't want you to catch a cold," Bonnie offered but he shook his head. Looking stubbornly at her, he firmly answered, "No."

Bonnie blinked, then nodded slowly. Grabbing her hand, Mickey invited himself into her home and pulled her along into the back room. "I can see you have cleaned the floor."

Bonnie couldn't help the smile that blossomed on her face. "You are such a cute boy, Mickey." Ruffling his hair affectionately, she pointed him towards the bed.

"You can sit over there. Much more comfortable than the chair. Do you want a cup of tea?"

At Mickey's unhappy frown when she mentioned tea she burst out laughing.

"Oh, don't worry. You'll like this one."

The boy didn't look completely convinced, but nodded his head obediently. Smiling, Bonnie turned to potter around with some cups, filling them with tea from a small pot standing on the oven. When she was sure Mickey wasn't looking, she added a big spoon of her small honey supply to his cup. Handing it to him, she sat down next to him, grabbing her mug with both hands and blowing softly to cool it of.

Mirroring her actions, the young boy took a little sip, throwing her a surprised look.

"This tastes good! Not like the stuff mom always makes. What have you done to it?"