#interactive conversation

Connor: Norris! How is the mine? Is there anything worth your time down there

Norris: Most definitely. Copper, Connor. And a healthy amount of it.

Connor: Excellent. I am glad. I have been meaning to ask, is Norris a common French name?

Norris: My real name is not Norris. It's Maurice.

Connor: But you told me...

Norris: I did. When I arrived in Boston, people started calling me Norris and I got tired of correcting them all the time. Just before we met I had been talking with that lady in the pub, she said she liked my name "Norris". I decided to stick with it.

Connor: Would you prefer I called you by your real name?

Norris: Nah. Everybody here knows me as Norris, Myriam included. Names can change but people stay the same, isn't that right, Connor?

Connor: The season for war is fast approaching, Commander. Have you decided upon a strategy?

Washington: You cut to the core of things, don't you, Connor? We are divided. The British have Philadelphia and we hold Boston. Howe won't try for Boston again, there is no sense to such a maneuver. The port in New York - and by extension the Hudson - will be his prize and we will march there to meet him. For glory or for ruin.

Connor: Are you sure that wise, Commander?

William: Son? I... I owe you an apology. I shouldn't have lashed out like that. You have to understand I've never been very good at this. Nevermind that we live rather... extraordinary lives.

Desmond: Yeah... I kinda liked my ordinary one.

William: You can't escape who you are, Desmond.

Desmond: So I've noticed.

Duncan: Oi, lad! How's it going then?

Connor: I am well. And you?

Duncan: Oh, can't complain. There was something I've been meaning to tell you... 

I met your Da. It was a long time ago in London. I was just a boy – well, I didn't meet him really, just saw him do a fella in at the London Opera House. I was sitting in the balcony with an uncle of mine. Went to have a piss and when I came back, there's your Da. Dashing as they come, he was - shirt, jacket, immaculate. My uncle was just slumped there. Looked like he was sleeping. But I knew better even if I was a child. 

Your Da locked eyes on me. And I don't think I've ever been so frightened as I was in that instant. It wasn't a fear that he was going to cause me pain, it was a sense that he saw right through me – into my heart – and he'd crush it if it pleased him. 

But he didn't. He just raised his finger to his lips and gestured for my silence. I complied. Then he was gone.

Connor: That must have been in the days before his betrayal was made public. He would have sailed for the Colonies not long after. I'm astonished that you were actually there.

Duncan: You can imagine my surprise when I saw his face. Took me a while to piece it together but... there you have it. Thought you'd like to know.

Lafayette: Ah! Connor. What do you think of my work thus far?

Connor: The men are bolstered. Focused. It is good you have come.

Lafayette: You are too kind. Lord knows my journey was far from certain. The trials we suffered getting here were strange and many. I dressed as a woman, Connor, to evade British spies. Did you know that?

Connor: I did not. As a woman you say?

Lafayette: It is the truth. King George had already stopped our crossing once in Bordeaux, threatening to seize my newly purchased ship, La Victoire, and arrest me. But I was born stubborn and such a warning could not dissuade me. So we rode for Spain and bought passage aboard a ship there. George's spies had followed us every step of the way. Disguise was the only remaining option... mon dieu (my God).

Connor: No man can doubt your commitment and you are invaluable to the cause. You did what you needed to do. I am certain I would have done the same.

Haytham: So, a question for you: why medicine?

Church: I'm supposed to tell you I care for my fellow man - right? That I chose this path because it allows me to accomplish a greater good.

Haytham: Are these things not true? 

Church: Perhaps. But that's not what guided me. No... for me it was a less abstract thing. I like money.

Haytham: There are other paths to fortune.

Church: Aye, but what better ware to peddle than LIFE? Nothing else is as precious - nor so desperately craved. And no price is too great for the man or woman who fears an abrupt and permanent end.

Haytham: Your words are cruel, Benjamin.

Church: But true as well.

Haytham: You took an oath to help people, did you not?

Church: I abide by the oath, which makes no mention of price. I merely require compensation - fair compensation - for my services.

Haytham: And if they lack the required fund?

Church: Then there are others who will serve them. Does a baker grant free bread to a beggar? Does the tailor offer a dress to the woman who cannot afford to pay? No. Why should I?

Haytham: You said it yourself, nothing is more precious than life.