Home at Last
October 6, 998
Two days till the full moon

Exhaustion felt as if it permeated through every inch of her aching body. Not even twenty-four hours had passed since the fateful encounter with Jade and her and Romana. Then their subsequent rescue by Ansel himself. Everything since then had almost been a blur of activity. After returning to the campsite and what felt like a ceaseless rain of questions, she tried to sleep, but after one too many nightmares of what could've transpired, she sat up the entire night. Jade's face haunted her dreams, and she wanted no part of them. Romana had bedded down next to her and Elena had watched over her through the night into the morning. It didn't help matters that the story of what actually had transpired had grown in the telling. She hadn't stood her ground against a half a dozen werewolves while bodily protecting Romana. It didn't help that others had mistaken her lack of desire to sleep because she felt the personal need to watch over the young girl.

It was by sheer willpower, the need to place one foot in front of the other, and repeating the process again and again that she finally walked into the center of the village. Under her own power. Her limbs were like leaded weights pulling her down. There was a cacophony of murmuring voices around her. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or that it had been so long since she had a cup of coffee, that finally now her coordination faltered. Stumbling once, then twice, her foot caught on something and she tumbled over. So it was a pleasant surprise to be caught up by a pair of very strong masculine arms just before falling to the roadway.

What is with Mikaelson's siblings and their propensity for catching stumbling Petrova Doppelgängers as if late, Elena's exhaustion addled mind mused. After all, she couldn't think of anything better to do at that precise moment. So why not, right? If she was being honest with herself, she probably couldn't remember her own name. She was that tired. Because the lucid side of her wondered if she was actually dreaming when her would-be rescuer finally rolled her over, still in the embrace of his warm arms was a face she hadn't seen since the day before his brother sacrificed her to break a millennium old curse. It almost felt as if she had come home at last, and if she was in her right of mind, that stray thought should have worried her. So it was not surprising that when she reconnected her vocal chords to her brain, the filter was inconveniently misplaced at the worst time.

"Damn… Now I can't honestly decide which way I like it better, long or short," she breathed a little too huskily for the still rational side of her brain's liking. But her eyelids felt so damn heavy to her, the last semi coherent thought in Elena's mind that she'd just close her eyes for a moment.

"Pardon?" Elijah finally asked, not really caring about her responding with an answer. He found himself strangely content just to be enraptured with the doe eyed beauty still ensnared within his arms. He didn't know her name but somewhere deep within him he wanted to know more about whomever she was. Her eyes lids drifted closed and at first he worried that she may have passed on, which for him would be travesty indeed. To his relief, he noted her slow, steady breathing. Whatever had transpired before now she must have felt safe enough to surrender to sleep, and that filled him with a touch of male pride. Because she had gifted him with her trust into a stranger. But it still felt odd how it almost seemed that she knew him already.

"Just who are you Lovely?" Elijah asked her.

Elijah could hardly believe his own eyes. She looked so unerringly alike in comparison to Tatia that it was an uncanny preternatural to behold. Still, as he took in everything about her he started seeing the subtle differences between the two of them, as attractive as they were. From his closer inspection he could honestly say that whoever she was, her facial features were more matured and alluring. If he didn't know any better, it was as if someone had ever so slightly aged Tatia to perfection. However, for Elijah it really was her eerily expressive doe eyes that just pulled him towards her. If it wasn't for the voice of his father demanding to know what was going on as he pushed his way through the circle that formed without his notice, he might have surrendered to his desire to press his lips into hers. Not since Tatia had he felt such an attraction to a woman. And there were plenty of fair maidens in their community.

"What in Niflheimr is going on here? Why is everyone-" Mikael's voice cutoff as he finally pushed his way into the where his second eldest child held a prone unconscious woman. "Tatia?"

"Jarl Mikaelson, please forgive me for my interruption, but she would be my older cousin, Elena Petrova. Ayana and I mentioned her before we'd departed for the outpost," Tatia's voice rang from off to the side. He did a double take between the girl he last saw in the Village over a week ago and the girl he had first thought was Tatia.

Mikael pursed his lips as he took in the sight of his second eldest holding the attractive brunette in his arms.

"So, is anyone going to tell me what happened to her then? Elijah?" he pressed.

"I'm not entirely sure, Father. I was discussing our preparations for moving the new arrivals into the caves during the full moon with Joachim here when I noticed Elena." He took a moment to relish the sound of her name on his tongue before pressing on. His father was not a patient man. "She seemed to be walking in a daze before finally stumbling and I only caught her before she collapsed fully to the ground. I think she might be delirious or something akin to that," Elijah concluded before peering back down at her.

"What makes you think she was, as you say, delirious?" his father questioned. Growing up, Elijah had learned from an early age that their father always demanded obedience and if he asked a question, he had better get an answer. Still, he was reluctant to do so, and he wasn't sure why.

"Elijah?" Mikael said, his brow creasing in irritation with the one child he could always depend on, unlike his worthless younger brother Niklaus.

"Sorry, Father, I was trying to make sense of what she said myself. I could be wrong but it almost seemed that she was talking about my hair?"

"Your hair?" Mikael asked confused, glancing at his son's hair he couldn't find anything about it.

"What about it? It looks fine to me?"

"I'm not sure, but-" Elijah stopped looking back at Elena, who appeared to be still asleep in his arms. He felt suddenly protective of her, and a ghost of a smile started before he quickly squashed it behind his mask. Another skill he'd learned early in life.

"But it seemed to me as if she already knew me and that wouldn't be possible," Elijah concluded. He waited as his father digested everything he had just described. Sometimes his father was an enigma to him, there were times he would lash out for what he perceived as a slight against him or their family. Then just as quickly he would have the patience of a saint.

"If she was delirious as you said, then maybe she thought you were someone she knew back in the old country. But regardless, I still want to know why is she like this in the first place?"

"Elena is like this because this poor girl has not really slept for almost a full day. But of course she would be exhausted." Ayana exclaimed, having only just arrived.

"And just why would she be in such a state?" Mikael demanded, his eyes roaming over the new arrivals. "None of them seem to appear to be suffering as you suggest."

"That's because none of them would, with an exception to young Romana here," Ayana paused long enough to indicate the preteen standing shyly next to the witch before she continued.

"She and Elena unfortunately had an encounter with Ansel and according to Elena his beta Jade as well."

Elijah's body went rigid upon hearing the name of the man who his father swore to kill for the part he played in the death of his childhood friend. Ansel and his pack of werewolves had become a threat to their community for the last few years. It took Elijah a few heartbeats to notice that the girl named Romana was holding a cloth bundle to her eye. Thanks to having a witch as a mother and two warlocks as brothers, he knew what a poultice was, but it still didn't explain why she needed it. As if prompted by his thoughts the girl lowered her hand, exposing a blackened eye.

"Elena Petrova saved my life, Jarl Mikaelson!" a soft but still resolute voice spoke, bringing all eyes on her. While everyone was focused on Romana, now Elijah was not one of them. His own thoughts were solely focused on the girl in his arms. Elijah didn't know who this Elena Petrova was, but he felt a strange well of admiration for someone doing something either very foolhardy or brave, there being a very fine line between them.

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October 7, 998
One day till the full moon

What the hell? What type of radio station is this? She didn't remember setting her alarm and she sure as hell doesn't listen to talk radio. Had Damon snuck into her room again and, Damon being Damon, tuned into the worst possible talk radio station and then turned it on as a prank? It would be the first time he pulled something like that; he'd made her late to class one time by turning the volume way down. Damn it, taking too long to wake up was a sure sign she'd definitely need a cup of coffee soon. Something was gnawing at the back of her mind, and it took Elena nearly a full minute more to realize her mistake. Her dream of home had been so vivid, and she really didn't want to face reality. So she tried not to sit up or alert anyone that she was awake. She was content just to listen for now. Besides, she was curious now once she heard her name being mentioned.

"Mikael I'd allowed her to sleep here as you so ordered, but I see no reason to wake her up now since you've already heard Romana's side of their ordeal earlier this morning," Ayana tried to reason with their village chieftain.

"Yes, she did, and now I know about her involvement. Yesterday, I had no other choice considering her less than ideal condition at the time. But I say we've waited long enough for that girl to recover. I want to hear her side of the story." Mikael stated.

What a colossal egotistical prick, Elena thought. She actually considered joining their conversation when another person responded.

"Didn't Elijah say her name is Elena Petrova, Father?" a fresh voice added, and it sounded familiar, but something was off about it and she couldn't quite put her finger on why it should be. She wasn't sure how she ended up here. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't recollect several things at that precise moment. Then, as if a switch had been flicked, on her search for Romana and subsequent encounter with Jade came roaring back in what she would loosely term her conscious mind. What did she just say? Elijah, how does he know about me? Then part of what she first thought was a dream came back and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment?

"Thank you Rebekah, I am already well aware of her name. But since you're so willing to volunteer yourself, go find where your older brother has gotten himself off too. And tell him I require his presence here," Mikael instructed his daughter. Elena, however, was trying to make better sense of the disparity she felt, if that was Rebekah she sounded younger than she remembered.

"Yes father," she answered solemnly and once again Elena felt sympathy for the future Original.

From what she knew about Rebekah she'd loved her mother and in a rare moment of vulnerability she'd revealed to Elena back when she was trying to convince Rebekah to help kill her own brother. Rebekah has said that their father terrified her and Klaus would always be there for her. That had been just before Elena had revealed the truth about who really had murdered their mother in cold blood. Before now Elena had never been certain if that terrible feeling of abandonment or fearing her own father had developed when the siblings spent for her future perspective the last thousand years running from him. Based on what she had seen or more accurately heard just now, she couldn't help considering the possibility that at least the terror regarding their father had roots from when they were still human. Elena couldn't help to consider the implications of growing up in such an environment.

After hearing what must have been a door opening and then closing, Elena hazarded a quick peek. From her prone vantage point, she could see that they were all in a very large, elongated room. She was in the far corner on what felt like a narrow bed or perhaps a cot of some sort. Finding out would mean sitting upright, but that would alert them before she was ready to deal with them. If only she couldn't be seen, she might even sneak out here, wherever she was. Then wait till after Ayana leaves. It still took her a moment to recall that maybe she did. Moving slowly, she carefully reached under the blanket to her dress pocket. If Elena could retrieve what she last remembered was where she put Ayana's bracelet, perhaps there was a viable chance of getting out of here. But try as she might, her fingers couldn't find the telltale feel she'd grown accustomed to having there in her hidden pocket. Elena quickly dismissed the possibility she'd dropped because of how it concealed its contents. Its absence could only mean that someone had taken it for themselves, but she didn't know why? The imbued magic was only spelled to work specifically for her, so unless it was stolen for financial gain she didn't have that many options.

Her thoughts were interrupted by what she was now certain was the door opening. She waited till a familiar voice spoke and although no one thankfully could see her face she smiled in response. There was just something about his voice that always made her feel safe.

"You sent for me, Father, is this about the girl-" Elijah paused mid sentence then just as quickly corrected himself. "I mean Elena?"

She felt a swell of joy that he'd remembered her name. Although her memories of what exactly transpired between them when found herself embraced within his arms was the fact she had simultaneously confused him while embarrassing herself by bringing up, of all things, the conflict with the length of his hair. She must have really pushed herself past exhaustion point. Ric would have oddly approved of her perseverance to keep pushing on. The other more important detail was the fact he somehow did know her name. But she couldn't actually recall telling him.

"Yes, Elijah, I figured since that it might as well be you who wakes her up so I can hear her story first hand." His father answered.

"There is no need for that, husband. She is already awake and I might add she has been listening to our discussion this entire time," a recently familiar voice finally spoke. Esther, where the hell had the Mikaelson's matriarch come from and Elena herself, why hadn't she spotted her. She quickly considered her options: she could play possum but that would probably only infuriate him, and considering how limited her options were she relented and moved aside the blanket and sat upright on the edge of the cot. She greeted them all, only remembered in time to add the honorific for the head of their family as well as their settlement.

"Jarl Mikaelson, what do you wish to know about my encounter with Ansel and his beta, Jade?" Elena asked respectfully.

Inwardly, she marveled at how she even knew how to address him. Was it the results of Ayana's memory alteration spell or something else? A dark part of her was tempted to use his given name and see how he reacted, but she quickly suppressed such a foolish notion. She still didn't know how long she'd be here before Ayana found a way of sending her back.

"Come join us at the table and we can talk more comfortably than from across the great room," Mikael stated, motioning for her to do as he said. Perhaps it was the fact she had met him briefly in the future she knew that what he had said had not been a request. As she sat down with them at what she could only guess was called the great table, a worrying thought plagued the back of her mind. If she only had some privacy, she might have coaxed it to the surface. All things she really managed free was the errant thought of what was going on back in her own timeline. Did anyone miss her yet?