A very… Strange letter came to Haytham one lovely autumn morning. It was a letter from his son – unusual as when his Assassin-sided son wished to communicate with him. The younger Kenway sought him out and they spoke face to face. This was for a number of reasons, some of them dealing with the fact that finding a courier that could be trusted enough to carry and deliver mail without it being intercepted as they were the leaders of the Templars and Assassins in the area was nearly impossible. There was also the fact that both of them were highly mobile people and the chance of one of the missing a letter of import was fairly high, depending on the intensity of certain situations, and the progression of plans.
But he did have several previous letters from his son, for which Haytham was grateful, as it allowed the Templar Grand Master to see whether or not the sender of this bizarre letter was his son, or simply someone claiming to be such to draw him into a trap. Haytham went over every inch of those letters - with his normal vision and his second sight - and the Grand Master found the handwriting to identical. Either there was a very clever forger with unknown intentions or... His son had actually written this letter. If the latter was true, the colonial Grand Master did not know whether or not to take the news at face value... Or that Connor was desperately trying to tell him something, but Haytham could not decipher the code that the young Mentor was using.
In any event, it took the Englishman a few days to prepare to head to New York - where the... Event that Connor wrote to him about was to take place. He informed his people of where he was going and why, forestalling the congratulatory words from the others by telling them of his concerns, and gave them instructions on what to do and whom to contact, should he go missing, or his correspondence with them change suddenly or cease without warning.
The silver haired Templar was uncertain as to whether or not he would prefer his son to have actually... Was close to being married to someone in the letter Connor had written, as it was obvious by the way it was written that his son was very, very much in love with, or if he would prefer the other to be in considerable danger because of - or perhaps threatened by - the man his son professed to be engaged to. Perhaps Connor's beloved was in possession of a Piece of Eden and had gained control of New York by using it's terrible power, and a letter like that was the only way the young Assassin could get any correspondence of any kind through to someone who could help him deal with the situation, and not be instantly snared in the grasp and the power of the Piece of Eden...
Or his son truly was hopelessly besotted by George fucking Washington and the two of them were going to be happily married to one another... Although how the sly general had manage to win his naive son's heart... Somehow... And he, Haytham was jumping to all sorts of conclusions or was thinking of only the worst possible situations. As... As unlikely as it might be (Or rather, as unspeakably strange and irritating) the latter option could be... The latter could simply tiding of - and an invitation to - Connor's wedding to a man that Haytham did not get along with well at all for a number of reasons. He should have told Connor sooner as to who had been the one to order the British soldiers to burn down his village, but Haytham had been gathering evidence to show Connor, rather than making the accusation without any proof whatsoever.
But if the letter was true, and Connor was marrying the man - be it for love, or for the fact that the British were losing steadily and it was quite likely that if the Patriots did win the war, whatever system of governance they did come up with, Washington would likely either end up as the head of state or very close to it, and marrying such a person would potentially allow Connor to bend the man's ear, so as to better protect his people and the other native tribes who were likely to be very, very hard hit once their usefulness in the fight against the British had dried up... Leaving the settlers low on goods and other services once the British stopped sending their wares. It would be part of a tactic to try to break the fledgling nation, and after a few decades of struggle and misery, the British would likely attempt an invasion and retaking of the colonies on some pretext... Likely through the northern colonies of Canadia who, as a whole, had refused to participate n the rebellion.
Perhaps, if Connor was entering this union willingly and of sound mind, it was partially a symbolic gesture to the native tribes - one of the most influential of the rebel leaders marrying a native (half-native but few seemed aware of this fact) of a desire to work more closely with them and to share the land, rather than taking all they could and slaughtering and disillusioning anyone who stood in their way. It was a pretty sentiment and one the Grand Master knew that his son would fight with every ounce of his being, to be seen done... If that was the case... Haytham did not think that the sentiment would ring true for long.
Nor, Haytham thought, was Connor yet subtle and politically minded (some might call such manouvers devious and underhanded, but the Templar Grand master found such things to be practical, as well as essential for the longer term and more permanent changes to suit what was necessary for the betterment of many and for the pursuit of Order and peace) enough to be able to pull such a thing off, at least not yet. Or if Connor was marrying Washington for either or both of those ends, it was likely due to Achilles' machinations, rather than his straight forward and occasionally painfully honest son's method of doing things.
In any event, the Templar Grand Master was very determined to get to the bottom of all of his, and for that he was headed to New York with all possible speed... And secrecy. Haytham had the formal invitation to the wedding carefully tucked into a pocket in a secure spot that would stay with him, even if he took off most of his clothing. Haytham had of course written a letter sending his... Joy at the news of his son finding someone he wished to marry and of course he would be able to make it in time to the winter wedding - though he did lightly chide the other's sense of timing, pointing out that Spring and Summer weddings were preferable as the weather better lent itself for travel and enjoying a beautiful outdoor reception, but that he understood that in these uncertain times - and tying oneself to a man being hunted down by the British Empire for trying to oppose their authority - that when it was decided between the two loving partners, that the wedding was something they wanted, moving with haste was understandable.
Haytham assured his son in the letter, that he would be able to be in New York by the tentative date set, but made sure that the details of when he was arriving were as vague as he could make it, while still sounding as though e was delighted to be attending the upcoming nuptials. He hinted that he might have to come closer to the date of the wedding, rather than sooner, hinting towards needing to tend to Templar Business - as well as harassing the Regulars so that they did not notice a rebel wedding was to take place, and thus would be a very tempting target to march on with the bulk of their forces.
Then again this... Wedding could be a clever ambush on for the British regulars, and the letter was simply part of the act. It would most certainly be one of the strangest set ups for an ambush attempt, but possibly very successful. Although if was the case, why Connor wouldn't have hinted at such a thing in his letter... Haytham would be a tad disappointed about, if very amused and curious as to who had managed to convince Connor that this was a good plan that might actually work... And about whom Connor had actually written so lovingly about, as the older Kenway could tell that his son felt such deep affection for someone . He was going to terrorize the potential plan maker thoroughly for putting his son potentially so firmly in the sights of the British Empire for a gamble that was just as likely to fail as it was to succeed.
Haytham rode hard and paid for fresh horses at the small settlements he had to rest at when he came across them in the still largely wild area of the frontier between Boston and New York... It took a couple of weeks, and while travelling by ship might have been faster, horseback was less easily detected. besides there were only ever two ships he was ever going to willingly sail on, and one of them was on the other side of the Atlantic. The other - his son's - would entirely defeat the purpose of him trying to enter the city stealthily and not alerting anyone who might intercept or read the letters to Connor as to more accurately when he would be arriving in New York City.
Besides whatever... The letter signified, it would be cruel of Haytham to ask his son to leave his beloved's side simply to sail down to Boston and to come back to New York city. The time spent travelling to... Whatever he was going to find in the city... Passed slowly. Haytam tried not to think overly much on what possible scenarios and events had happened to - or might currently be happening - to Connor... That his son would send him such a letter. Such thoughts were a pointless waste of time and energy and the Grand Master (not worried himself over the fate of an Assassin, that would be preposterous and very strange) did not want to concern himself with such what-ifs and perhapses. Whatever the scenario, Haytham could do little as he traveled to even try to change things.
Instead, Haytham went over what he knew of New York City and it's inhabitants. Who he knew that he could trust to give him information, exits and entrances to the city, choke points and weaknesses that could be exploited. He was also very glad to know the tunnel system underneath New York City, as they would help him stay undetected in the city for much longer. With the city only recently under Patriot control, there was likely to be pockets of Toris working against them... Or afraid for their lives. Most, if not all of the British soldiers would be either dead, imprisoned or or the ones worth it, ransomed back to the British for money and/or supplies, but a few deserters and spies might also be lurking in the city.
Considering all of that, the Patriots would have regular patrols running in the key areas of the city - their forces stretched thin enough with the smaller battles with the British forcing them to do so, along with having to depend on local guards - the ones who had stayed at their posts and were either neutral or patriot-aligned... Which meant that Haytham should be able to get into the city fairly easily undetected, so long as he did not use a main entrance, or chose to enter at a time of high traffic - of which, he planned to do both.
~
Haytham knew that something was wrong as soon as he saw the city's walls. There were far too many soldiers in blue uniforms - some of whom he recognized being British soldiers - one of them being the commander of the fort that had fallen last in New York... In the blue uniforms of the Patriot rebels. Another strange thing was, though there was a reasonable amount of people coming into the city, few seemed to be leaving it... And those who were, they were in the dress of patriots - strangely glassy-eyed and walking in tight formation, despite some of them looking as if they wouldn't know one end of a rifle from the other. Whatever was going on in New York, something was definitely off .
In order to determine what was going on, the Templar Grand Master tailed one of the roving patrols and whistled from inside a bush, to attract the attention of the last man in the patrol... Only to find that the whistle did not attract attention, as it should have. Frowning a little, the Templar whistled again, louder this time, in the hopes that he would arouse curiosity of one of the soldiers, rather than all six of them, as he'd rather not have to subdue all of them - it would get bloody, and on the off-chance that he was being paranoid, if Connor ever found out that he had harmed or even killed patriot soldiers to slake his own paranoid curiosity, he'd never hear the end of it.
Again, all of the soldiers ignored him. He huffed silently in irritation... It seemed as though the direct approach was the only thing for it, unfortunately. He ducked behind a tree, darting until he was ahead of them, a bend in the road hiding him from their sight before straightening hi clothes (Haytham brushed out a couple of stray leaves that had gotten stuck in his hat from when he had hidden in the bushes) and rude down the street on the current horse he was riding on, calm and collected as the patrol came into sight. He called out "Good morning, gentleman." Nodding politely and nudging the horse off to one side a little, to allow them passage.
They stared up at him for several moments, identical blank expressions on their faces before the leader of the unit stepped out of formation and spoke up "Who are you and what is your destination?"
"I am Haytham Kenway, and I am headed to New York on private business." The Templar Grand Master responded, voice calm "Is something the matter?"
"By the order of General Washington, everyone coming into town must be coming in on foot, after being searched." The squad leader responded.
"Really, now? And I heard that the patriots were looking to expand the freedoms of the people who lived here, not curtail them further. What may I ask, is the general worried a lone traveler might be carrying that is so dangerous, hmm?" Haytham responded, deliberately making his words provocative, to see what kind of response he would get.
The squad leader blinked quickly once before continuing "Those are the orders we have been given, Mister Kenway. Will you submit to a search? If you do not, I am afraid that we cannot allow you passage into the city, and ask that you turn around and leave ."
Haytham arched an eyebrow at that, amused and unimpressed by the reaction that he had received. Given that he had unfavorably compared their dearly beloved leader to the British, he had expected a different response than that... Unless they were serving Washington because they though that things might improve if they switched to the winning side, rather than because they believe the propaganda that the Patriots had been feeding to the public... It was something worth testing.
Before Haytham could say anything else however, a familiar and welcome face appeared - it was Charles, who was riding quickly over to them, a small scowl on his face "Just what do you lot think you are doing? You are meant to be patrolling around the city, not bothering random people!"
"But sir! This man wishes to enter New York and has not submitted to a search yet." The squad leader protested, still sounding calm and strangely blank.
Lee rolled his eyes at that "Master Kenway is a very dear friend of mine, and he has been secretly aiding the Patriots for years now. He is not and has never been a British Spy or sympathizer. Now, off with the lot of you." He shooed them off, glaring and waving his hands until the patrol left the area.
Determination part 1/?
But he did have several previous letters from his son, for which Haytham was grateful, as it allowed the Templar Grand Master to see whether or not the sender of this bizarre letter was his son, or simply someone claiming to be such to draw him into a trap. Haytham went over every inch of those letters - with his normal vision and his second sight - and the Grand Master found the handwriting to identical. Either there was a very clever forger with unknown intentions or... His son had actually written this letter. If the latter was true, the colonial Grand Master did not know whether or not to take the news at face value... Or that Connor was desperately trying to tell him something, but Haytham could not decipher the code that the young Mentor was using.
In any event, it took the Englishman a few days to prepare to head to New York - where the... Event that Connor wrote to him about was to take place. He informed his people of where he was going and why, forestalling the congratulatory words from the others by telling them of his concerns, and gave them instructions on what to do and whom to contact, should he go missing, or his correspondence with them change suddenly or cease without warning.
The silver haired Templar was uncertain as to whether or not he would prefer his son to have actually... Was close to being married to someone in the letter Connor had written, as it was obvious by the way it was written that his son was very, very much in love with, or if he would prefer the other to be in considerable danger because of - or perhaps threatened by - the man his son professed to be engaged to. Perhaps Connor's beloved was in possession of a Piece of Eden and had gained control of New York by using it's terrible power, and a letter like that was the only way the young Assassin could get any correspondence of any kind through to someone who could help him deal with the situation, and not be instantly snared in the grasp and the power of the Piece of Eden...
Or his son truly was hopelessly besotted by George fucking Washington and the two of them were going to be happily married to one another... Although how the sly general had manage to win his naive son's heart... Somehow... And he, Haytham was jumping to all sorts of conclusions or was thinking of only the worst possible situations. As... As unlikely as it might be (Or rather, as unspeakably strange and irritating) the latter option could be... The latter could simply tiding of - and an invitation to - Connor's wedding to a man that Haytham did not get along with well at all for a number of reasons. He should have told Connor sooner as to who had been the one to order the British soldiers to burn down his village, but Haytham had been gathering evidence to show Connor, rather than making the accusation without any proof whatsoever.
But if the letter was true, and Connor was marrying the man - be it for love, or for the fact that the British were losing steadily and it was quite likely that if the Patriots did win the war, whatever system of governance they did come up with, Washington would likely either end up as the head of state or very close to it, and marrying such a person would potentially allow Connor to bend the man's ear, so as to better protect his people and the other native tribes who were likely to be very, very hard hit once their usefulness in the fight against the British had dried up... Leaving the settlers low on goods and other services once the British stopped sending their wares. It would be part of a tactic to try to break the fledgling nation, and after a few decades of struggle and misery, the British would likely attempt an invasion and retaking of the colonies on some pretext... Likely through the northern colonies of Canadia who, as a whole, had refused to participate n the rebellion.
Perhaps, if Connor was entering this union willingly and of sound mind, it was partially a symbolic gesture to the native tribes - one of the most influential of the rebel leaders marrying a native (half-native but few seemed aware of this fact) of a desire to work more closely with them and to share the land, rather than taking all they could and slaughtering and disillusioning anyone who stood in their way. It was a pretty sentiment and one the Grand Master knew that his son would fight with every ounce of his being, to be seen done... If that was the case... Haytham did not think that the sentiment would ring true for long.
Nor, Haytham thought, was Connor yet subtle and politically minded (some might call such manouvers devious and underhanded, but the Templar Grand master found such things to be practical, as well as essential for the longer term and more permanent changes to suit what was necessary for the betterment of many and for the pursuit of Order and peace) enough to be able to pull such a thing off, at least not yet. Or if Connor was marrying Washington for either or both of those ends, it was likely due to Achilles' machinations, rather than his straight forward and occasionally painfully honest son's method of doing things.
In any event, the Templar Grand Master was very determined to get to the bottom of all of his, and for that he was headed to New York with all possible speed... And secrecy. Haytham had the formal invitation to the wedding carefully tucked into a pocket in a secure spot that would stay with him, even if he took off most of his clothing. Haytham had of course written a letter sending his... Joy at the news of his son finding someone he wished to marry and of course he would be able to make it in time to the winter wedding - though he did lightly chide the other's sense of timing, pointing out that Spring and Summer weddings were preferable as the weather better lent itself for travel and enjoying a beautiful outdoor reception, but that he understood that in these uncertain times - and tying oneself to a man being hunted down by the British Empire for trying to oppose their authority - that when it was decided between the two loving partners, that the wedding was something they wanted, moving with haste was understandable.
Haytham assured his son in the letter, that he would be able to be in New York by the tentative date set, but made sure that the details of when he was arriving were as vague as he could make it, while still sounding as though e was delighted to be attending the upcoming nuptials. He hinted that he might have to come closer to the date of the wedding, rather than sooner, hinting towards needing to tend to Templar Business - as well as harassing the Regulars so that they did not notice a rebel wedding was to take place, and thus would be a very tempting target to march on with the bulk of their forces.
Then again this... Wedding could be a clever ambush on for the British regulars, and the letter was simply part of the act. It would most certainly be one of the strangest set ups for an ambush attempt, but possibly very successful. Although if was the case, why Connor wouldn't have hinted at such a thing in his letter... Haytham would be a tad disappointed about, if very amused and curious as to who had managed to convince Connor that this was a good plan that might actually work... And about whom Connor had actually written so lovingly about, as the older Kenway could tell that his son felt such deep affection for someone . He was going to terrorize the potential plan maker thoroughly for putting his son potentially so firmly in the sights of the British Empire for a gamble that was just as likely to fail as it was to succeed.
Haytham rode hard and paid for fresh horses at the small settlements he had to rest at when he came across them in the still largely wild area of the frontier between Boston and New York... It took a couple of weeks, and while travelling by ship might have been faster, horseback was less easily detected. besides there were only ever two ships he was ever going to willingly sail on, and one of them was on the other side of the Atlantic. The other - his son's - would entirely defeat the purpose of him trying to enter the city stealthily and not alerting anyone who might intercept or read the letters to Connor as to more accurately when he would be arriving in New York City.
Besides whatever... The letter signified, it would be cruel of Haytham to ask his son to leave his beloved's side simply to sail down to Boston and to come back to New York city. The time spent travelling to... Whatever he was going to find in the city... Passed slowly. Haytam tried not to think overly much on what possible scenarios and events had happened to - or might currently be happening - to Connor... That his son would send him such a letter. Such thoughts were a pointless waste of time and energy and the Grand Master (not worried himself over the fate of an Assassin, that would be preposterous and very strange) did not want to concern himself with such what-ifs and perhapses. Whatever the scenario, Haytham could do little as he traveled to even try to change things.
Instead, Haytham went over what he knew of New York City and it's inhabitants. Who he knew that he could trust to give him information, exits and entrances to the city, choke points and weaknesses that could be exploited. He was also very glad to know the tunnel system underneath New York City, as they would help him stay undetected in the city for much longer. With the city only recently under Patriot control, there was likely to be pockets of Toris working against them... Or afraid for their lives. Most, if not all of the British soldiers would be either dead, imprisoned or or the ones worth it, ransomed back to the British for money and/or supplies, but a few deserters and spies might also be lurking in the city.
Considering all of that, the Patriots would have regular patrols running in the key areas of the city - their forces stretched thin enough with the smaller battles with the British forcing them to do so, along with having to depend on local guards - the ones who had stayed at their posts and were either neutral or patriot-aligned... Which meant that Haytham should be able to get into the city fairly easily undetected, so long as he did not use a main entrance, or chose to enter at a time of high traffic - of which, he planned to do both.
~
Haytham knew that something was wrong as soon as he saw the city's walls. There were far too many soldiers in blue uniforms - some of whom he recognized being British soldiers - one of them being the commander of the fort that had fallen last in New York... In the blue uniforms of the Patriot rebels. Another strange thing was, though there was a reasonable amount of people coming into the city, few seemed to be leaving it... And those who were, they were in the dress of patriots - strangely glassy-eyed and walking in tight formation, despite some of them looking as if they wouldn't know one end of a rifle from the other. Whatever was going on in New York, something was definitely off .
In order to determine what was going on, the Templar Grand Master tailed one of the roving patrols and whistled from inside a bush, to attract the attention of the last man in the patrol... Only to find that the whistle did not attract attention, as it should have. Frowning a little, the Templar whistled again, louder this time, in the hopes that he would arouse curiosity of one of the soldiers, rather than all six of them, as he'd rather not have to subdue all of them - it would get bloody, and on the off-chance that he was being paranoid, if Connor ever found out that he had harmed or even killed patriot soldiers to slake his own paranoid curiosity, he'd never hear the end of it.
Again, all of the soldiers ignored him. He huffed silently in irritation... It seemed as though the direct approach was the only thing for it, unfortunately. He ducked behind a tree, darting until he was ahead of them, a bend in the road hiding him from their sight before straightening hi clothes (Haytham brushed out a couple of stray leaves that had gotten stuck in his hat from when he had hidden in the bushes) and rude down the street on the current horse he was riding on, calm and collected as the patrol came into sight. He called out "Good morning, gentleman." Nodding politely and nudging the horse off to one side a little, to allow them passage.
They stared up at him for several moments, identical blank expressions on their faces before the leader of the unit stepped out of formation and spoke up "Who are you and what is your destination?"
"I am Haytham Kenway, and I am headed to New York on private business." The Templar Grand Master responded, voice calm "Is something the matter?"
"By the order of General Washington, everyone coming into town must be coming in on foot, after being searched." The squad leader responded.
"Really, now? And I heard that the patriots were looking to expand the freedoms of the people who lived here, not curtail them further. What may I ask, is the general worried a lone traveler might be carrying that is so dangerous, hmm?" Haytham responded, deliberately making his words provocative, to see what kind of response he would get.
The squad leader blinked quickly once before continuing "Those are the orders we have been given, Mister Kenway. Will you submit to a search? If you do not, I am afraid that we cannot allow you passage into the city, and ask that you turn around and leave ."
Haytham arched an eyebrow at that, amused and unimpressed by the reaction that he had received. Given that he had unfavorably compared their dearly beloved leader to the British, he had expected a different response than that... Unless they were serving Washington because they though that things might improve if they switched to the winning side, rather than because they believe the propaganda that the Patriots had been feeding to the public... It was something worth testing.
Before Haytham could say anything else however, a familiar and welcome face appeared - it was Charles, who was riding quickly over to them, a small scowl on his face "Just what do you lot think you are doing? You are meant to be patrolling around the city, not bothering random people!"
"But sir! This man wishes to enter New York and has not submitted to a search yet." The squad leader protested, still sounding calm and strangely blank.
Lee rolled his eyes at that "Master Kenway is a very dear friend of mine, and he has been secretly aiding the Patriots for years now. He is not and has never been a British Spy or sympathizer. Now, off with the lot of you." He shooed them off, glaring and waving his hands until the patrol left the area.