[ From what he's heard so far of the timing of Malik's own draconic abduction - and doesn't he have words for the creatures when they fail to warn or consult about them even after professing a care for human concerns - it was only a matter of time and finding the privacy before one or the other of them started this conversation. In the wake of festivities, Altaïr's temporary study has moved from the couch to Desmond's desk, and it's there Malik finds him. ]
Speak, then. [ There's little of the imperative in the two words. ]
I do, though it remains safe in Seahaven for now. [ As much as he would have preferred, in hindsight, that it remained in Masyaf. He raises a hand to delay Malik's reply, needing to confirm something first. ] From your perspective, we had taken it from Al Mualim? Nothing more.
Perhaps such a moment is required, to attract a dragon's attention.
[ Times of choice or change, where reality is thinner. It isn't difficult to cast his mind back to that moment, the confusion of the master's dying taunts and the dizzying light from the device as Malik and his men broke through into the courtyard. A scene important enough that Desmond was kidnapped to relive it.
Still, it is something from his past. ]
It has been almost three years since that day. In that time, our attempts to hide or destroy the artifact have led only to failure, or betrayal. Against wise counsel it remained in my keeping... and so came here with me.
[Malik can only shrug at that judgement. He hasn't heard about nearly enough arrivals to make any distinction about why that would happen. And right now, the dragons and their actions aren't his foremost priority.]
Three years?
[If there was any chance that Malik was not going to pace his way through this conversation, it's gone now.]
What of our Brotherhood, in the time since then? [He's seen plenty of strange men claiming to be assassins, but none that he knows. In the meantime, though, the wheels in his head keep turning, bringing his attention back to the Apple once more.] Is there nothing in this place that could destroy that wretched device?
[ One day Malik will have to talk whilst seated and he'll wear a hole in the floor. ]
The Brotherhood flourishes, stronger and more prosperous than we were under Al Mualim. [ It's less conceit and more fact, but no they fought for it and he's permitted some pride. But his expression clouds as Malik continues. ]
I am sure there is. Against the magic and machinery I have seen here, the Apple is nothing. But we cannot know what will happen if it is destroyed in this world, when it is necessary for the future of ours.
[Someone will have to make that happen, because he isn't about to sit of his own choice. And, while he's relieved to hear that the brotherhood manages, despite the loss of Al Mualim (perhaps because he was brought down) everything Altair says next keeps him from celebrating it.]
So I am told. [ And he is conflicted still. But that won't change for decades yet, really, so he straightens. Whilst they're on the topic: ]
I have looked into it since, but it is silent on the crisis facing us now- the 'World-Eater'. Whether that was a limitation placed on it by Those Who Came Before, or if they simply did not know what was to come...
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agestocome) wrote2013-08-23 02:44 pm
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Speak, then. [ There's little of the imperative in the two words. ]
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The Apple. Do you have it?
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[And that wording isn't escaping him.] What of your perspective?
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[ Times of choice or change, where reality is thinner. It isn't difficult to cast his mind back to that moment, the confusion of the master's dying taunts and the dizzying light from the device as Malik and his men broke through into the courtyard. A scene important enough that Desmond was kidnapped to relive it.
Still, it is something from his past. ]
It has been almost three years since that day. In that time, our attempts to hide or destroy the artifact have led only to failure, or betrayal. Against wise counsel it remained in my keeping... and so came here with me.
no subject
Three years?
[If there was any chance that Malik was not going to pace his way through this conversation, it's gone now.]
What of our Brotherhood, in the time since then? [He's seen plenty of strange men claiming to be assassins, but none that he knows. In the meantime, though, the wheels in his head keep turning, bringing his attention back to the Apple once more.] Is there nothing in this place that could destroy that wretched device?
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The Brotherhood flourishes, stronger and more prosperous than we were under Al Mualim. [ It's less conceit and more fact, but no they fought for it and he's permitted some pride. But his expression clouds as Malik continues. ]
I am sure there is. Against the magic and machinery I have seen here, the Apple is nothing. But we cannot know what will happen if it is destroyed in this world, when it is necessary for the future of ours.
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What do you mean, by necessary.
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I mean that the knowledge it contains must be- no, has been passed to others, centuries from our own time, in a codex I have not yet completed.
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It must be a great knowledge indeed, to be worth the danger of keeping it.
[He's skeptical still.]
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I have looked into it since, but it is silent on the crisis facing us now- the 'World-Eater'. Whether that was a limitation placed on it by Those Who Came Before, or if they simply did not know what was to come...
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Do not ask me for an explanation. You surely know more of the Apple than I, whether or not I approve of it.