The first thing Elena noticed only after she was edging toward consciousness would be the simple fact that she couldn't move her body, not even her limbs responded to her mental urging. Which in her current condition, her body wasn't exactly the most comfortable position at the moment? Thankfully, she wasn't laying on her side with the sore hip. Did someone drug me? No, it had to have been magic, Elena groaned mentally.
It didn't help that her face was at a rather odd angle and with how her hair was obscuring her vision; but she knew she was in a fairly well lit room and although she disliked being sprawled helplessly on the rock hard ground, it felt cool on her bar skin. Elena tried to remember what had exactly transpired before her current predicament, but her mind was still somewhat fuzzy. How the hell did I get here she mused. How long had she been out, and then a stray memory leaked inside her recovering consciousness? The strange statue! Knowing that would mean she had gone to the place from her dreams, but that still didn't explain how she ended up here. Did someone bring her here and just dump her on the floor like a dirty load of laundry? Too many questions and not nearly enough answers, Elena thought.
"Well, I can honestly say I wasn't exactly expecting the spirits to do it, but they had been so insistent that I see it through. And now you're here." An oddly familiar feminine voice spoke from somewhere behind her. Elena would have turned around to face the newcomer, but her body still refused to budge.
"Mmphf…" Elena tried to speak but soon discovered she couldn't even open her mouth.
"Oh… Sorry about that let me unwind the spell just a little to make you more comfortable." The melodic voice said. Strangely, Elena found comfort in this person's voice. She didn't know why, but whoever she was, her voice sounded rather familiar. Almost like Bonnie's Grams, but that was impossible, right?
"Th…. Thank you, um… whoever you are, could you perhaps allow me to move around a bit? Its rather uncomfortable being sprawled on the ground like this, and if you wouldn't mind, I'd prefer to see the person I'm speaking with." Elena said, to her surprise. Whoever this person was, they apparently had a sense of humor.
"Well said stranger, I'll unwind my spell a little more just so you can sit up at least, but I wouldn't recommend standing your badly dehydrated. I'm afraid that would be the unpleasant side effect of the summoning spell the spirits gave to me for the ritual they asked me to perform."
Before Elena could demand to know why, the spirits had summoned her, of all people. She felt whatever was holding her body lessen just enough for her to roll over and sit up. Whoever she was had been correct: Elena's head was throbbing enough that she briefly considered laying down again. It took her moment for her double vision gradually returned to normal. When it finally did, it only took her a few seconds to realize that she was still in the round shaped chamber. It was the same place, but cleaner and better lit. The large crystalline structure she had noticed was now emitting a soft white glow that was the cause for the chamber to be so well lighted. The woman had turned her back to Elena and was mixing something together at one table she noticed the first time. But they, like the place, were now intact. They still looked crude to her standards, but even she had to admit it was serviceable.
"Who… Who are you?" Elena asked. The woman swung around but spoke gently to her would be guest.
"My name is Ayana of the Bennett Coven, and who might you be?"
"But… But that is impossible you're… supposed to be…" Elena spoke brokenly she was slowing putting everything together, but she knew that even admitting what she feared would somehow make it reality. The woman turned around and froze when she finally got a good look at her guest.
"You look like a slightly older version of a young girl I'm quite familiar with. Her name is Tatia, but by your expression, you already know who I'm referring to, don't you?" Ayana breathed, and gingerly moved to sit on the stone floor with her.
"What is your name, child?"
Elena would have answered, but the blackness returned with a vengeance, and she fell back into oblivion. With a exasperated sigh, Ayana put the goblet aside to wait for the young girl to awaken. As she waited, she performed a few spells to get an idea of who this stranger was, and the result left her shocked and only left her with more questions.
Sometime Later
Elena's return to wakefulness this time was easier, and she wondered if the witch peering down at her might have had something to do with it. Elena had hoped that she'd been having a really intense dream, but she would be a strange companion and the surroundings she knew from whatever was happening to her were far from a simple dream.
"Here, drink this it will help with the thirst and calm your nerves as well. I believe we both have much to talk about, such as that your arrival in my personnel spell chamber is less about where and more of a matter of when." Ayana smiled as Elena's expression then continued. "But I would really like to know what your name is. So how about we start with that and see where it takes us?" Ayana said, smiling at the girl laying in the middle of her summoning circle holding a goblet for her guest to drink.
Elena was too stunned to say anything, so needing a diversion, she drank the cool liquid to stall long enough for her brain to reconnect with her tongue.
"My… My name is Elena, Elena Gilbert, and if I were trying to hazard a educated guess, I believe I come from a little over one thousand years into your future." Elena breathed. Ayana looked backed at Elena with a dumbfound expression she'd guessed that the person the spirits had indicated was from the future, but this revelation was probably way beyond her expectations.
"Uh…. So Elena, is it?" Ayana studied Elena for what felt like an eternity, then she finally nodded her head, satisfied by what she found. "Now if you would please tell me what will be the year of your birth and how old are you?"
"Uh… sure. I was born in what would be the year nineteen ninety-two, and I've just recently turned eighteen. Ayana, I'm almost afraid to ask what the current year is?" Elena said at first her voice was strong, but as she spoke her voice grew weaker till. It was just borderline intelligible.
"Witches use a slightly different calender, but it probably is clearer to you to say that it is the year of our lord 998 AD."
Elena knew she was in denial but she still asked Ayana to repeat the year once more and she suddenly felt freezing almost as if someone had just walked over her grave and that was disturbing considering she won't be born until almost ten centuries into the future.
"So… In my time there will be a town called Mystic Falls where we are now and its where I grew up." Elena said, figuring it was her turn to say something. As she waited for the older woman to say something, Elena felt a little unnerved once she finally recognized the brown soft eyes peering back at her. "Ayana I… I know or I should say I will know one of your future decedents she is one of my closest friends we grew up together." Elena blurted.
"Truly?!"
Elena smiled at the older witch reaction and after only a moment of hesitation she decided it should be safe enough to reveal a few details about her future descendant. "Yes, her name is Bonnie Bennett, and she is a witch just like you are and her Grams. Bon came into her power about a year ago in my time. She's learning to use magic effectively, but regardless of all that, she is one of the most pleasant, loving, and loyal friend a person could have, especially after what happened to my parents." Elena said, but only trailed off as the memory of that night that changed her and Jer's lives forever. Ayana's look of motherly concern started with an emotional flood that quickly escalated into full-blown tears. Before she knew what had happened, she was enfolded into the older witches' embrace. Elena's body quaked with raw anguish from memories of the last time she'd hugged her mother.
"There… There, do you want to talk about it?" Ayana's voice was calming, salved to her reopened wounds of her soul. It only hurt now, because she didn't even know if she could go back to her own time. After a while Elena put on a brave front, not entirely confident that she could pull it off, but she needed answered and the Bonnie's ancestor had to have some idea to help with getting back to the future.
"No… No, don't worry, it's just sometimes." Elena started, then stopped, taking in a deep breath and released it slowly to control her breathing better. "Sometimes my mind dredges up memories of one of the worst possible of moments in my life and even after all that I've gone through the pain and loss from this one instance is is almost unbearable."
"Perhaps another time, then. So I have an idea I have some bread and cheese we can share for our midday meal and we can continue talking." Ayana said patting Elena's shoulder strangely familiarly, and it actually brings back comforting memories of her Bonnie doing that same thing for her, especially right after her parents died.
"Yes, please, can I help with anything?" She smiled genially, happier than she was just a short time before as they both entangled themselves from one and other. Elena was the first to stand and offered the older woman help to right herself.
"Thank you, my dear, yes if you would, you can set the table. Child, you can find the plates and table utilities over on that small shelf by the water basin."
Elena nods her head and they both proceed with their assigned food preparations for tasks. Elena was a little dubious about the definition of cleanliness these people in the past had regarding some matters, but it seemed at least Bon's ancestor did. She didn't know how long or if she could even go home again and getting sick or dying from an infection before even attempting such a daunting task would be a hard pill to swallow. To Elena's relief, it wasn't too long before they were seated and enjoying their meal together.
"So you'd mentioned that in your future there is a township in this area. Do you know if our tiny village turns into it or does someone else moves in how many people live there. We have roughly one hundred and fifty-two people." Ayana preambled for their renewed talk.
Elena looked a little sheepish: how does one tell someone in the past that practically everything they worked so tirelessly to build will not be around in the distant future. Elena rolled the question around in her mind, hoping to find a truthful but still respectable answer. If it hadn't been for the cave pictograms or ironically enough meeting some of these same individuals from this very time period she and just about anyone, she knew of did not know humans had even settled in same area what will one day become her home.
"Uh… I don't think so this continent will only be inhabited by the indigenous population still living here and the town I know won't be founded until the year 1860. I'm not ashamed to say, but my family is or will be one of its founding families." Elena said, feeling rather proud of her family.
The witch finished swallowing and smiled sadly back at her table mate. "I figured that would be the case the Patriarch of founding family for our settlement has fanciful dreams of establishing his own kingdom here in this unknown land. The arrogant fool only knew of its existence because I had told his own wife about it." The older witch spoke with such an aggravated air about her if Elena had to guess wasn't directed towards her or the wife of this individual.
"Sounds like a rather charming man to behold." Elena said diplomatically. Ayana, to her surprise, broke out laughing, and Elena's laughter soon joined in.
"My, you have a rather sharp tongue young lady, your husband must at his wits end some days."
"Oh… Ah… I'm not married." Elena answered without really thinking.
"Did you not say that you turned 18 in your time period?" Ayana asked carefully, in a such tenseness that immediately put Elena on edge. Then it slowly became very clear that for her own social norms might not exactly align with theirs. Oh crap, this might complicate adjusting for however long I stuck in the past, Elena thought morbidly.
"I'm sorry Ayana, if I was being deceptive, please understand that my culture is structured differently from your own. For instance, a sizable portion of people in my age group don't get married until they are much older. Most children starting from the age of six spend the next twelve years in school." Elena explained, hoping that hadn't broken the trust they had been slowly building since her arrival.
Taken aback by Elena's own words, the witch considered what been said and after a time her tension eased, which helped to ease Elena's own growing anxiety. It had been slowly growing apparent to Elena that if things didn't change, she could end up spending the remainder of her life in the past alone and not having anyone she can talk to would be the worst probable fate she could imagine. And considering Klaus had sacrificed her as part of a means of breaking a curse on a 1000 year vampire was saying something.
"Thank you for seeing my concern. In truth, I've been deceived by others in the past and it has led to some trust issues on my part." Ayana said. Elena smiled and reached out and took the older woman's callused hand in her own. "So why do children from your time need to attend over a decade of learning, shouldn't that be the responsibility of the father?"
"Father?" Elena asked, perplexed.
"So their sons of your town know what they need to do when they become men and need to raise a family." Ayana replied. Her attitude indicated to Elena that her answer should have been obvious, and it took Elena a moment to grasp what was indeed being said or in this case not.
"Ayana, in my time, both boys and girls attend public schooling and its just not our town. Most of our country receive an education in fact, it is the law." Elena tried not to laugh at the older witch's shocked expression.
"So that means you have gone to school as well? What are you learning, why does it take twelve years to complete an education, and how could it be a law?" Ayana asked, stilling reeling from this new bit of information about the future.
"Yes, I've been going to school since I was six and I am… Or I was in my last year of public school and I am, or I should say was, going to college for an extended education. Our learning curriculum covers a wide range of topics. I enjoy reading, writing, and I'm good at Science but I probably get that from my father he was a medical Doctor. The twelve years is in part that there is so much to learn that it just takes time to get the basics taught. Our country leaders want citizens that can be productive members of society and to do that people need to be educated." Elena explained.
"Simply Amazing! I had never considered." Ayana uttered. Studying Elena with a unique expression boarded on amazement and awe, which when Elena considered it bothered her for reasons she didn't need or want to explore.
"How many people live in your town?" Ayana continued, apparently not realizing that she had already asked it some time ago, Elena noted. But she couldn't blame Ayana she was still reeling from the fact that she was back in time and didn't have a tricked out fusion powered Delorean or dimensionally challenged dated blue police box to get her home. My life is one never ending conundrum, Elena thought wearily. Only then did Elena realize Ayana had been patiently waiting for an answer.
"Sorry about that I was lost in thought about home. Ah… last time Mystic Falls did a census, the town was stable at just bellow seven thousand people." Elena answered carefully. She had to wrack her brain for the number and the only reason she remembered this seemingly useless fact was they did shortly it after her parents' death.
"H… How does your town protect its populace every month, then? How many witches do you employ?" Ayana demanded with a hint of urgency and hopefulness that Elena couldn't comprehend why it was so important to the witch, but she couldn't quite follow the question. For an inexplicable reason, Elena had the strangest feeling that this question was very important not only to Ayana but to the populace of the settlement of Pre-Mystic Falls.
"Uh… We have a police department that one of my best friend's mother is the town sheriff, and as far I know you decedent Bonnie Bennett is the only witch I know of, but what does this have to do with the month? And why would the month matter?" Elena asked, her brows knitting together habitually both Stefan and Caroline had described as being quite adorable.
"Your friend's mother is the…. Never mind that we can discuss that perhaps later ah… I mean, what do you every time there is a full moon." Ayana asked, growing visibly flustered now.
"Full Moon?!" Elena asked, but a voice in the back of her head was already whispering into her brain a single word. It didn't matter that the witch beat her to it.
"Argh…. Child! How do your people deal with the Werewolves!?" Ayana demanded.
