The Eagle and the Lion

Happy little Accidents

"Leonardo, what's this?" Ezio reached for a towering stack of paper beside Leo's desk.
"Ah, it's nothing," the artist muttered, dismissing the pile with a wave of his hand.  Ezio leafed through the yellowing pages.  Each one had an elaborate charcoal sketch on it, some with a few illegible notes scrawled on as well. 
"They're nothing," Leonardo persisted, "really." Hwle gently moved Ezio aside and grabbed the papers away.  Ezio snatched a page again and peered at it closer.  It was of the Roman Coliseum, with an astonishing amount of detail put into it.  He looked up at Leonardo.
"These are beautiful! If you have no use for them," he asked, "Could I keep a few I like?" Leo looked over at the assassin, and sighed with a smile.
"Sure, if you really want to, I guess." Ezio beamed, and proceeded to flip through the pages.  He was astonished at the delicate beauty of each sketch, and gazed at each small idea Leo's mind had conjured on paper.  He pulled out a larger folded sheet, and opening it up, gasped at the drawing.
The sketch looked like some sort of bug, with large oak-seed wings and rods attached to a sort of strange mechanism in the middle.
"Leonardo, what on Earth would you call this sort of thing?" Ezio stared, mesmerized at the intricate details drawn into the sketch.  Leo looked over, and his eyes grew wide.
"Mi Dio, you've found it!" He took the poster and clearing his desk, laid the paper across.  He pointed at the small wings atop the mechanism.
"It's a design for a airborne propelling device," he explained.  "I was inspired by an oak tree I saw when traveling abroad during my school days.  The spinning technique of the blades are like the spinning seeds in Autumn. If they rotate in the proper directions, I theorize that they could create lift," Leonardo continued, using his hands as a visual now.  "If the drone continues forward, it could potentially create a completely self-efficient way of hovering above the ground!"
Leonardo pulled Ezio into a close hug, still muttering about his diagram excitedly. Ezio returned the embrace, a bit confused but happy for his friend nonetheless. 
"Well, I'm glad I could help in some way," he said to Leonardo.  "Well, I'll keep looking through, and I'll show you my favorites, just let me know if you want to keep any I find." Leonardo nodded enthusiastically, and turned back to the mechanism blueprint.
Ezio picked out the drawings he liked the most, and showed them to Leonardo for approval. He tied the papers together into a roll with twine, and added,
"I'm going to give these to Claudia as a birthday present. She can hang them in her room." Leonardo smiled brightly. "How sweet, that's so thoughtful of you! Well, I should return to my work now.  Tell your sister I wish her a happy birthday for me, won't you?"
Ezio nodded. "Grazie, dear friend.  I'll make sure of it. Good day!" And with that, Ezio climbed out the window and dropped to the street below nimbly.  Leonardo looked out the window and watched Ezio race down the streets, and smiled.  It was bittersweet that he couldn't stay a while longer, but he knew Ezio would always return to him.