"I will admit," he began, "that I did not see a fighter when I first saw you. My own biases that I must leave behind, especially as my wife was as much a fighter as I. Thank you for opening my eyes to that." A shortcoming he would work to eliminate in himself. Maria had done much to help young women in Masyaf learn to fight, but so many of them were entrenched in the ways of the Saracens, certain that their place was in the home rather than in the shadows. Fighting that had been an uphill battle, and one that Altaïr had let go with Maria's death. But then, he had let a very great deal go when she was killed.