Elena tried to be as quiet as she could, feeding the last of the sizable pieces of wood to the fire. Which was noticeably smaller than it had been when she had last seen it. It was silly; she knew. Somehow, she had slept so soundly that she hadn't even heard Ayana waking Tatia up for her turn to watch the fire. Glancing at the significantly smaller candle, she estimated that she only had another two hours before sunrise. It was still pitch black when she glanced out beyond the clearing. She did her best to ignore the sounds of the wild forest beyond. Despite what she felt about the growing familiarity of this place, she had to remind herself repeatedly that this was not yet her home.

To distract herself, she mentally attempted to figure out by determining where, in relation to where this outpost was with the waiting colonists, was in relation to her modern understanding of the local geography from her own time. The previous day they had been hiking in the general direction of the rising sun, so it was a reasonable assumption that they were going due east from the village. But Elena didn't know if that would always be the case. When Ric, Damon and she had been trying to track down Stefan in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, Damon had taken no small amount of pleasure in teasing her for her lack of direction. Which was true. But she'd always had a knack of finding things when no one else could, so it was only a minor annoyance for her.

"God, I really miss you guys, even Damon, of all people," she muttered to herself, watching the fire lick at its meal. Glancing upward, she marveled at the sheer number of stars she could see. It was odd to think that even her Mystic Falls in her time had enough light pollution to mask such a beautiful sight. If she had to describe it to someone, she didn't really think that she could and still do it justice.

"Well, so much for wanting to become a writer!" she groused, only remembering to keep her voice low at the last instance. Feeling disgusted with herself, she picked another piece of firewood and placed it in the fire before standing up and stretching her back and arms. Glancing at her jumbled bedding she had to admit that it hadn't been that uncomfortable, but that didn't mean she'd turn down the next actual bed if the opportunity showed itself.

Ayana had been right about the flame on the candle. The wind had been rather brisk when Tatia had woken her up and despite it flickering, it still had shown no sign of giving up. Needing to stretch her legs, and despite resisting the need, she knew she couldn't avoid answering nature's call. Wincing at the thought of not having any toilet paper she eventually resigned to her fate as she gathered herself up and moved to just before the wolfsbane, picking a spot, and muttering several Damon-worthy expletives about never discounting the true value of modern plumbing, set about her task.

Almost finished with her unpleasant business, Elena felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and still in a crouched position she carefully surveyed the surrounding tree line. It was on her second pass that she finally noticed the pair of yellow eyes staring right back at her. Her blood froze as her body tensed up, ready to fight or flee, and she wasn't stupid enough to know she could with the former. But she also knew that she couldn't outright flee back to the others and the safety of the fire. Which, after a quick glance, was still burning merrily away.

"I'm just going to head back… Ansel. I… I hope that you've had a productive night hunting as it were," she stammered. Elena did not know why she suspected the wolf was the former man she had just met only a few hours ago. But cold logic and the fact that the wolf whose features were more distinct appeared to be, despite lacking any human features, laughing at her. She almost demanded that he stop when she realized what she had only subconsciously realized that twilight was upon them. So that meant the sun would be up in approximately thirty minutes. Thank god Ric had drilled that detail into her head during one of his many training sessions.

"I can actually see you better, so that means…" she said, slightly louder. Earning her a low growl from the werewolf still within the tree line it still hadn't moved out from. She slowly backed away, keeping her eyes locked on the beast. Once she was halfway to the camp, she turned around and ran. Back in retaliative safety of the fire, she grabbed all the remaining wood then threw it onto the fire and glanced nervously back the way she had retreated. Half expecting to hear the howling cry of a werewolf trying to press through the wolfsbane. Only the crackling sound of the fire taking hold of the new offered wood reaching her ears. Resting tensely back on her haunches, she couldn't mentally urge the sunrise to happen fast enough.

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Day 2 of Trip
September 29, 998

Elena's legs ached, but still she wanted- No!- she needed to keep pressing onward to their next intended campsite. So focused on her goal, she didn't hear either Tatia or Ayana telling her to stop. She didn't have time to stop. The events during her watch kept her moving, so she reacted out of instinct when she felt someone grab her wrist from behind. It had taken weeks getting to this point under Ric's tutelage, but he wanted her reaction to be near instinctual.

"Elena w… what are you doing?! You're hurting my arm!" Tatia cried. Elena blinked, then quickly eased up how she'd twisted Tatia's arm behind her back. Only when she was sure that Tatia wouldn't topple over from their combined center of gravity did she finally release her.

"I'm so sorry Tatia-" Elena apologized profusely.

"Oww… How did you do that? One moment I grabbed your wrist to tell you that were stopping for a quick break. Then next thing I know, you have my arm pinned behind my back?" Tatia asked in a mix of awe and hurt in her voice. It didn't lessen Elena's guilt when she noted how Tatia was holding her wrist.

"Um… Well, you see, it is a little self-defense training a mentor of mine had been teaching me before I ended up back in the past. He had a habit of surprising me to see how I would react. It sort of became second nature for me." Elena explained apologetically.

"But why would you need to learn that?" Tatia asked, rubbing her wrist to ease the residual ache away.

"It's complicated. Before showing up here I'd been having issues with men grabbing me and he wanted to show me I had it within me to try defending myself."

"Girls, I only meant for us to stop for a temporary pause. If you wish to continue with your discussion, might I suggest we do it while on the move. Thanks to Elena here setting the pace for us we have made superb time today, but we still have about an hour worth of walking to go before we reach the next clearing," Ayana suggested coolly, but Elena could still see by the older woman's expression that she was interested as well. After Tatia and Ayana had collected their belongings, they started off again. Elena slowed her pace from earlier so she could have a reasonable conversation with Tatia, but she still tried to keep her aware of their surroundings. She was trying to do it covertly, but Tatia's next question proved otherwise.

"Are you okay Elena? You've been acting jumpy ever since we left our previous campsite earlier this morning."

Seeing Ansel in his wolf form had unnerved her, and in between watching the perimeter of the enchanted clearing with the steady increase of the ambient light till finally the morning sun crested the horizon, she'd resolved to push as hard as she could till they reached the next stop wherever it lay. They had still needed to clean up whatever mess they had made, and Ayana's magic had ensured the fire in the pit was extinguished.

"I'm fine, Tatia, why do you ask?"

"Elena, why are you lying to me? Did something happen last night?" Tatia pressed and not for the first time did Elena wonder if there was a subtle tell when she was lying that she wasn't aware of. With a sigh, she explained the events that had occurred during her time minding the fire.

"But if Ansel didn't enter the clearing, why was he even there?" Tatia asked, looking confused.

"He was waiting to see if any of us, and on that occasion Elena was foolish enough to step outside the protection of my magic. Congratulations Elena, you did well." Ayana answered before Elena could relay her own suspicions, which did not surprise her, as they mostly coincided with Ayana.

"Ayana, I do have a question about his Moonlight Ring?" Elena waited for a half beat before pressing onward. "My very limited interaction with the werewolves in my time has never shown having any intelligent awareness of the world while still in their wolf form, but I could see an intelligence lurking in Ansel's eyes. Does the ring allow him to keep that portion of his humanity intact?"

"Yes and no, the ring does grant some limited control of a wolf but never forget that the animistic beast inside of them is always present. The ring should allow the wearer to maintain a small portion of their humanity."

Tatia stopped walking with a horrified expression when a thought occurred to her. "But if that is the case, then why did a witch in our community create such an item? What is to prevent more of them from being crafted, and what happens if another werewolf were to steal Ansel's ring?"

Ayana rested a calming hand on the younger doppelgänger shoulder before speaking. "The ring can only be worn by the intended and his descendants; it will not work otherwise. Why the ring was created, let's just say that it was done as a personal favor and leave it at that."

"But-" Tatia started, but Ayana cut her off. "Don't pry, child, it will only spawn more questions than genuine answers. Just accept it. Now come, we are almost there and lest you forget, we still need to gather enough firewood for the night."

Both Tatia and Elena stared at Ayana's back and followed Elena would occasionally bend over to collect a fallen branch or two. After a moment of hesitation, Tatia did the same.

"Elena?"

"Hmm," Elena responded, dropping a stick for a slightly bigger one.

"Do you perhaps think that once we get back to the village, and after you've been introduced to our community, that you might consider teaching me how to defend myself, just as your mentor did for you? Although I'm about to get married, the menfolk in the village in the past can be, how can I say, quite handsy at times," Tatia looked hopefully at her. Elena didn't hesitate; she nodded and held out a free hand to Tatia. After a brief instance of confusion, Tatia smiled and accepted Elena's hand.

"I promise Tatia to show you what I can."

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Day 4 of Trip
October 1, 998
One week till the full moon

Elena relaxed in the warm spring waters, letting the warmth soak into her very being. It had been a grueling couple of days, but the pace they had set had earned them all a brief respite from their long journey into the wilderness of what will eventually become the state of Virginia. Everywhere she looked she felt an odd sense of familiarity. Sometimes she half expected to find signs of the modern world or even a park ranger, who'd no doubt be demanding to know why they were trekking in the wild with the minimalist of survival gear. Growing up in Mystic Falls, she had heard about these springs being scattered all around her birth state, but she until now had yet to partake of one. She thought it was quite the irony that despite Caroline's best efforts, she until now had resisted her earnest attempt to introduce warm mineral springs to her repertoire of experiences. That Elena Gilbert would finally succumb to her pushy blond friend's bucket list nearly one thousand years prior to their respective births.

"Elena?! Whatever are you so amused about?" Tatia asked from her side of the small mineral pool. Ayana had already exited and knew she was probably about to press the issue, that as nice as their needed break was, they still needed to get to their next campsite.

"Nothing really, I'm just remembering something my friend Caroline was always trying to get me to do. I just could never find the time," Elena sighed and stood up and carefully made her way over to where she and Tatia had disrobed. Tatia was already drying herself off as best as she could, sans having a towel. Which, as Elena knew, had yet to be invented, and it was just too impractical to carry that as well as extra clothing during their journey. Just the thought of pulling on the same dress she had been wearing since their departure made her skin crawl. But neither Tatia nor Ayana seemed bothered, so she couldn't really complain.

"Caroline?" Tatia paused long enough to pull head through the neck of her dress. It was so strange to see another version of herself that was biologically younger than her. Had she really changed that much, Elena wondered. "Isn't she the friend that can't do magic?" Tatia asked, finally letting her dress fall around her bare legs. Seeing her near twin legs only made Elena's mind wander. Had it been almost a week from the last time she had shaved her legs? A tiny part of her had mixed feelings on the matter of continuing the ritual. She'd been doing it for so long it had become almost second nature. A random thought of how Caroline would have exploded if Elena had showed up for cheer practice with unshaven legs brought a sad smile to her lips before she quickly suppressed it. Now was not the time to think about her home and the people she missed. Push come to shove, she could always use a very sharp blade and some soap, but wasn't about to do it now in the middle of the forest.

"Yeah and my other best friend Bonnie Bennett is a descendant of Ayana's." Elena answered reaching for her own dress.

"That is incredible; and there are two brothers competing for your affections and one of them, Stefan, was once your boyfriend," Tatia continued. Elena had to hide a brief smile. Their understanding of what a boyfriend and girlfriend were was vastly different between their respective time periods. Tatia had turned beet red when Elena had so causally spoken of her sexual encounters with Stefan. Thankfully, she had remembered to edit out that both Stefan and Damon were vampires. In retrospect, while it still hurt to think about the world she may have lost forever, discussing it with her would-be ancestor was oddly comforting. After Elena had opened up about her issues with the Salvatore brothers, Tatia had shared her somewhat tamer experiences with Elijah and Niklaus Mikaelson. Elijah apparently hadn't changed that much, being as noble bearing as he apparently still is. Once he'd learned of Tatia's pending marriage he had accepted it with grace but Klaus was still pursuing her, although covertly away from his parents watchful eye. It still felt ominous to her that if things had turned out differently Klaus could have been her many times great grandfather. Elena shuddered at the thought that would be just too weird even for her.

"Come on, girls. We need to leave now. We have much to discuss before we reach the camp the others are currently waiting for us at," Ayana called.

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The flames that danced in the fire pit were strangely hypnotic to watch, Elena decided. They had arrived early thanks to the pace they had set the last few days. Tatia had even shared details of her own encounter with Ansel during her shift before sunrise on what had been their second night. They had kept the same rotation just shifting it enough that no one ever stood the same watch, at least till today when Elena would have the same watch from their first day. Thankfully, the three of them all had worked extra hard to collect more than enough firewood for the fire they would need to nurse through the night hours. As expected, the moon had steadily grown with each passing night. As if they needed another reminder, Elena thought sardonically.

They were still eating when on a whim Elena glanced up and noted the moon's location: it was still light out, but even the half moon was visible on the ever darkening horizon.

"What other great machines or achievements will humanity make Elena?" Tatia asked and Elena cursed herself for trying to describe what a cell phone was, and she knew Tatia was most likely still having trouble believing her. But she had believed her when Elena had labored to describe cars to them both. Glancing at the moon, a small mischievous glint appeared in her eye and she figured why not, neither of them would likely believe her, anyway.

"Well let's see… Possibly one of the greatest achievements people will undertake actually happened a little over two decades before I was even born. In the year nineteen sixty nine, three men will ride on a column of flame generated by one of the most complex machines ever conceived. On an incredible three-day journey to the moon where two of the intrepid voyagers would climb aboard a smaller spider looking craft and subsequently land on the lunar surface. Then the first man to ever set foot on another world would be immortalized. He took advantage of the occasion with words that everyone in my own time will almost know by heart," Elena said with as much honesty as she could. Her travel companions sat dumbfounded for what felt like forever and before commenting on her revelation.

"Impossible!" Ayana exclaimed with a snort.

"Who was this pioneer and what did he say?" Tatia demanded.

"His name is or I should say will be Neil Armstrong and he is remembered for stating 'That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.'" Elena stated with as much conviction as she could.

"OMG!" Tatia squealed and Elena had to smile at Tatia's apt use of the word abbreviation, ironic that she'd finally pestered Elena to explain it to her. "How did they get back or did they stay and send for their families to join them?"

Elena smiled at her doppelgänger's sudden enthusiasm in the world she had come from. As she considered how best to answer her, Ayana cleared her throat, drawing their attention to her instead.

"Elena can tell you more stories of her world when we are not so pressed with time. We really should go over a few details first. There is something I need to share with the both of you that concerns your Petrova Heritage and this is the best place to divulge this family secret to you both."

Elena and Tatia exchanged a look and something unspoken was exchanged between them. At least for Elena, she had thought it was rather odd on how accepting Tatia had been when confronted with someone that for all intents and purposes had the same face. Granted Elena's had at least four years of maturity over her ancestor, notwithstanding several worry lines she'd developed over the last three years in her own life. One benefit during their journey was that she had been doing a lot of thinking, and lately things hadn't really been adding up with the whole supernatural twist of her doppelgänger nature. Based on how Elijah had explained the Petrova Doppelgänger existence to her. The very reason Katherine and she even existed was tied with the fact that Tatia's blood had originally been used to seal the curse on his brother.

"Elena, as you probably have realized based on Tatia's initial reaction to finding you in my spell chamber." Ayana started.

"Well yeah… I mean, at least for me it was like waking up and seeing a reflection of myself. From sometime in my past, but Tatia didn't seem all that surprised. Did she know?" Elena asked.

"Your arrival in the past wasn't accidental Elena, the spirits of nature having been preparing the way for you for some time. They didn't give me a precise date, but they did indicate that the last to ever wear Amara's earthly visage will appear and finally set about ending the eternal curse placed on the entire Petrova line," Ayana stated, watching them both. Tatia, Elena noted, must be familiar with their shared heritage, but Elena still had so many questions now. Maybe she could ask two of the most pressing in her mind at that precise moment.

"Who is, or should I say was, Amara and what exactly is this curse on the Petrova line about?" Elena asked, partly surprised that her voice hadn't cracked yet, but the night was still young. While waiting, she did something to distract her and fed the bonfire a few more branches.

"Amara was the first to appear as you are now Elena and Tatia. Much has been lost concerning her family but what is known is that one thousand years from current time a Grecian family of four older brothers and a younger sister named Amara lived, and at the time they were some of the most powerful magical users in recorded history. My mother had once told me they were the world's first and only sorcerers and in regards Amara's was the only known sorceress," Ayana explained, and Elena's heartbeat thundered inside her ear.

"There must be some big mistake. Ayana, I can't do magic, and my relatives from my time as far as I knew never showed knowing or even using magic. The only people I know who can do magic are a handful of witches from my own time, and two of them are descendants of yours Ayana," Elena blurted, not knowing what else to say or do she wrapped her arms around her stomach waiting for the world to make sense again. Feeling the need to backtrack, she focused her attention on things she could at least make sense of.

"You mentioned that this Sorceress Amara had four older brothers, do you know what their names were?" Elena asked and Tatia, who had been silent much of the time, finally broke her self-imposed silence.

"Yeah, Ayana, you've never mentioned their names. Mother would never say and on the rare occasion I did ask, she always said that it would be best if I wait to ask you," Tatia chimed in excitedly. Elena felt she could be mistaken, but she had the strongest impression that this topic about their shared family hardly ever came to light. Just how many were there that knew of my family's supposed magical heritage. Her mind buzzed with still too many questions.

"Child, much of this has ultimately been lost to time and what we do have is fragmentary at best. What I can tell you is that one brother was named Silas. The two eldest brothers were murdered by others who coveted their magical gifts, and the remaining siblings sought a means to prevent that tragic event from occurring to their family ever again. It was Amara, the youngest of them all, who is said to have come up with the solution and for time they were without peers."

"W… What did Amara and her two remaining siblings do?" a shaky voice asked, and it surprised Elena when she realized she had been the one to ask about it.

"The spirits of nature wish that I do not tell you just yet, and before you make a fuss, I still have proven resistant to Tatia's attempts to pry that detail about your shared family out of me. So please don't ask I get it enough from young Tatia here." Ayana smirked wearily.

"Can you tell me what they did? The real reason that curse to be placed on the Petrova line and resulting in Tatia's, I, and supposedly many others to all share Amara's visage, as you termed it. By the way, at least in my time we are called Doppelgängers," Elena was surprised that she couldn't easily find a Norse equivalent, so she needed to rely on expressing it in English, which to her internal alarm was getting harder to do. As of the last four days now thinking and even speaking in Norse, she did indeed feel like it was her native tongue and English was now a second learned language.

"Sadly if only it was that simple Elena, but I can say that the seed for the cause of the curse was planted the day Amara came up with her answer; it would take decades before it bore any fruit," Tatia spoke, and the glare she garnered from Ayana made Elena feel guilty for her. Wordlessly, she reached over and held her younger doppelgänger's hand in support.

"Thank you Tatia for that but in truth she is right, Elena. As to the eventual fruit, as Tatia had described it, was a full scale war raged with magic. On one side were your ancestors and their few supporters against everyone else. It should be easy to guess who the ultimate victors in this terrible conflict were, and like all that are victorious they were the ones who wrote the historical narrative. So I believe that some of the supposed facts have been subtly altered, but what is known is that Amara and her two remaining brothers were magically locked away in a place very few know of or can even reach, except only in the most dire of situations. Before being placed in their eternal prison Amara's bloodline was cursed, sealing all of her descendants' magic from them," Ayana added.

"So what does that have to do with why Tatia and I even exist as we are?" Elena demanded. The stunned expressions of her companions instantly made her regret her outburst. It really wasn't their fault they were in the knowledge about her origins, while she languished in the dark.

"My apologies to you both for my rude outburst, Tatia, and especially to you, Ayana. You've been nothing but kind to me ever since I appeared in your world," Elena apologized. looking meaningfully at Tatia. She considered her next revelation about herself. "In truth I'm feeling that I've been unjustly deprived of our family's true heritage, and at least coming from me I was envious of the simple fact that you, Tatia, already knew so much about it, while I've had to piece it together on my own."

Tatia surprised her when she hastened, and for a brief second Elena thought her counterpart was going to strike. So it came as a complete shock when her tenses to prepare for a blow that would never come; instead Tatia was embracing her in a sisterly hug she had yet to experience even from her two best friends that for all she knew were lost to her in the future.

"Elena, I'm sorry. I really don't know what might have caused the break in communication of this information I'm sharing with you now. But getting back to your last question, as much as I would like to answer you, that has been lost to us as well," Ayana paused, considering her two charges, and shared something else she had not yet fully done with Tatia.

"Tatia, do you recall what I said about your blood being special?" she waited until Tatia acknowledged her before continuing. "While we don't exactly know why spirits of nature see fit to create essentially a near identical copy of Amara, it might be the side effect of the very curse placed upon the Petrova Bloodline. When your magic was sealed away, they couldn't exactly make it disappear, it could only be made inaccessible to you as well as those in your family, but as the result your doppelgänger blood is now a highly magically potent substance to exist. What's more, with each passing century the potency only increases."

Ayana looked directly at Elena before speaking. "That means your blood Elena is far more magically powerful than Tatia's will ever be." To say that Elena was stunned would understate the latest revelation. It was Tatia who broke the silence between the three of them.

"Is that why you sometimes have need of my blood for some of the magic you perform, as well as why you forbade me from ever sharing this with anyone, especially another witch in our village?" Tatia asked.

"Yes, and when we finally return to the village in a week's time away, neither of you will share any of this when anyone, Agreed?"

"Yes." Tatia and Elena answered, somewhat staggered.

"I should add that I strongly suspect that Elena already might have some inkling about the magical potential of your shared blood already. Elena must never share the reason you might know to anyone, especially regarding Tatia, and before either of you protest, the spirits of nature will extract an exorbitant price if you do. So think carefully," Ayana cautioned them both. Glancing at the fire and then at the night sky, she sighed and motioned for the girls to bed down for the night.

"Girls, there is still much we need to discuss, but its getting late and I want you both rested as best as you can for tomorrow. We are less than a full day's walk from our destination, but I still need to go over a few things before we reach it. I'll be taking the first shift just as we did the first night."

Elena stifled a yawn and wordlessly climbed into her bedding. Part of her was too excited to know more, but the need for sleep was pulling her into the welcoming abyss. The last coherent thought she had was wondering why for the last couple of nights. Why did she always seem to find a spot that had either a root or rock hidden under her bedding? Because seriously! It's not like she didn't check beforehand and the cynical side of her pondered the possibilities that the who or whatever the spirits of nature were just might have a sense of mischief too.