Elena's body ached, not to mention that almost every joint on her body felt stiff from laying on the cold rocky floor of the cave. From what she could tell, she was alone and the only sound of dripping water somewhere nearby was almost acting like a metronome trying to lull her back to sleep. Did they leave her in here to sleep it off? And why had she drunk a little too much ale last night? She couldn't help to ponder on exactly how much did she have to consume to feel as bad as she did now?
The previous evening with her future husband and his family had been a pleasant experience, her mottled recollections of the night before being dredged up in her semi lucid thoughts. She made a vow the last time this happened in what felt like a lifetime ago to cut back on the amount of alcohol she did binge drink in a given hour. But there was without a doubt that she was hungover, or what else could explain her splitting headache, which still hadn't diminished since she regained consciousness. She hadn't felt this bad since her sixteenth birthday when Caroline and Bonnie had, thanks to Tyler's clandestine birthday gift and his father's rather extensive liquor cabinet- he had gotten her a bottle of vodka- polished off the entire bottle. After mixing it with orange juice to cut the harsh burn of it going down, of course.
She'd learned two important lessons that night: the first being that Tyler's father really knew his choice of said spirits and second, Elena Gilbert was in fact a lightweight when it came to hard alcohol. Like all teenagers probably going back to the first time the first proto-hominids tried eating a piece of fruit that was a little too ripe then afterwards when faced with punishing hangover they'd inevitably swear never to touch another drop or piece of the mind altering stuff if someone would just do them a huge favor and make the world stop from spinning madly around them. Her head throbbed.
Laying on her back, she groaned, rubbing one of the heels of her palms into her eyes for some relief. Hangovers are the absolute worst form of self inflicted torture any human being can allegedly do to themselves all in the name of having a good time, she decided. Her head felt like someone had weighed it down with sacks of lead or it had become a blacksmith's anvil and someone was repeatedly pounding on it with a very large hammer. So she shouldn't have been that surprised when she missed the sounds of footsteps coming closer from somewhere in the darkness. But it was the telltale flicker of a flashlight that only threatened to bring on a full-blown migraine.
"Ric, I just want to check down there and see if she might have come down and not bother to tell anyone as usual," a very familiar voice somehow burned through the haze surrounding her aching head. The lucid part of her brain started to issue commands to lift her stiff body upright. They were only partially successful. She held up a hand to block the sudden blinding light that assaulted her beleaguered senses. She felt the urge to vomit from the wave of nausea by her sudden movements, but if she could make it across the Atlantic on a viking longship, then she could handle this. Her mind was still too hazy to really understand why that didn't sound right to her. What was she missing?
"What? Jer?" Elena mumbled, still trying to sit up with one arm. But the gods of teenage alcohol consumption thought otherwise, her head swimming from the rather sudden change in elevation and she promptly decided the cool rocky floor wasn't so bad, at least for the moment. She groaned at the echoing noise. She wasn't sure if it was the cave or inside her head.
"Elena! God Ric, I found her! She's down here!"
The bright light faded and Elena felt someone rolling her over and before she could ask a half decent question about anything, she found herself enfolded in her brother's arms as he cradled her in his lap, sitting there on the rocky floor.
"God Elena, you've had us worried! We've been looking all over for you!" Jeremy choked out, holding her tight. She wasn't sure if it was her or he that started to cry. All she cared about was that she was in her brother's arms and that was what was important. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something. Her crying invited a hiccup fit and the after taste only alarmed her when it had the odd taste of cheese and beer. No ale! But how? Elena, reluctant to do so, eased herself away from her brother to really look around. What she found only made her question her overall sanity.
"Look at all this blood. I think she must have hit her head on something around here," Jeremy said and while she was still trying to tell him she didn't hit her head on anything like he claimed, another all too familiar voice joined in. And the hits kept on rolling, she mumbled.
"Look kiddo, you're going to give me gray hairs, you know that?" Ric breathed, kneeling down next to his two teenage charges. The look he gave her despite her headache made her feel that everything would be alright, she was safe. "You should already know that you're the closest thing I have in this crazy world for a daughter. So stop running off like some noble martyr or something."
Elena hugged her brother, then her technical stepfather did the same. During a round of bone crushing hugs from her family, her jumbled thoughts started to percolate through her brain. Something wasn't right, some things weren't adding up, had she somehow hit her head she wondered. Acting on impulse, she reached up and felt the back of her head and winced immediately, pulling her hand back.
"What's wrong?" Jeremy and Ric asked in near perfect sync.
"My… My head hurts I… don't know how, but I think I must have bumped my head?"
Maybe that's all this has been. How long had she been unconscious? Did she dream that she'd been pulled back into the past? It felt so real meeting the Mikaelson family, Elijah in particular, Ayana, Tatia, Adric, Romana, Ansel, and everyone else in Pre-Mystic Falls. She didn't know if she should be relieved or saddened if it was just that, and that worried her. What would she do if she saw any of them in the present? Knowing that they were once human is one thing, but seeing them, or at least in her dreams, is something else entirely. Just thinking about it made her head hurt. Still, something didn't feel quite right. She felt as if she was missing something. Or it could be that I tripped and bounced my head off the rock when I fell, she thought, trying to regain her equilibrium.
Ric handed off his light to her brother, who thoughtfully held it off to the side so as not to completely blind them all with it, and took her chin gently in his hands as he studied her face.
"Jer, could you very briefly hold the light up so it shines on her face before moving it back to where you have it now?"
"Ric what-" Elena started before Ric hushed her before telling her to try keeping her eyes open. The sudden burst of light made her wince, but thankfully her brother moved it off to the side as requested.
"Well… Your pupils are dilated just as they would be normally, so I don't think you're suffering from a concussion," he informed her before he moved behind her, inspecting the back of her head. She winced when his probing fingers touched a too sensitive area.
"Sorry… Ouch is right, I'm no expert, but I think you're going to need either stitches or staples for that nasty looking gash. I don't see much bleeding now, which is odd for a scalp wound, but it could just be the poor lighting down here."
"M'kay," she muttered.
"Okay, Elena, before we take you to go and get that taken care of, would you care to tell us what the hell you are doing down here and why didn't you call anyone beforehand?" Jeremy asked, his tone taking on an accusatory tone.
"Don't start, Jer, please; my head is still throbbing. Say, does anybody have any water or something? I've got a rather odd taste in my mouth," Elena pleaded, trying to shake the feeling that something was missing, but she didn't know what it could have been.
Ric handed her his water bottle, which she drank in greedily to the point of almost finishing off the entire bottle. Slightly abashed, she handed the nearly empty bottle back to him. She felt guilty taking so much of his water, but she really needed something to get the odd cheesy taste out of her mouth.
"Just out of curiosity, what time is it?" Elena asked carefully, standing up. Her head still hurt, but thanks to the water, it helped rehydrate her.
"It's almost time for school for all of us and it is the next day if you're wondering about the date." Jeremy almost growled.
Elena glared at her little brother before responding in kind. "Seriously, Jer, what's up with the attitude? I just came down here because I saw something in Ric's pictures and I had to check it out. Oh and don't be a smart ass. I know for a fact it's the fourth day of Mörsugur in the year nine hundred and ninety-nine. Seriously, I've got a killer headache! Cut me some slack, why don't you?" Elena's voice grated. She found her smart phone and turned the light on, and panned it across the wall in search of what she originally came in search of. The haze around her head still hadn't lifted, and she was getting rather annoyed now.
"Elena? What did you say the date is again?" Ric asked, his voice sounding strange, almost as if he was speaking as if they were standing in a very long tunnel.
"Ric, not you too? I said the date is the fourth day of Mörsugur in the year nine hundred and ninety-nine. Now come over both of you and see what I've found," she ordered, not bothering to turn around, but she had the strangest feeling that they were not looking at what she found but her instead. Turning around, she found them sharing a look of concern. What is up with them?
"Okay… Uh… Sure Elena, yes. How about you show us what you found?" Jeremy asked, his voice neutral and his distorted voice sounded just like Ric's had become.
"That spot right next to Elijah's name. It is a little hard to make out but with the right amount of light you can read it," Elena explained. She proudly pointed at the Norse runic script. She started hearing other voices nearby, but that wasn't what concerned her now. Something was off. Elena frowned when she realized that she could read it. Since when did she know how to read Norse?
"Elena?"
Studying the script, she smiled, wondering who had carved it. She leaned in and allowed her finger to trace over the runic lettering. Had Elijah carved that for her she wondered.
ᛖᛚᛖᚾᚨ
"Elena!"
Startled, she quickly turned around and stumbled back in shock. Both her baby brother and the man she'd thought of as a father figure were standing there speaking, but she couldn't hear them now. But it was seeing their bodies had started to fade that really alarmed her. Elena watched in horror as they gradually turned translucent and then, without warning, they one by one started fading fast. Ric was the first to go, and her brother was next. She reached out to her little brother in desperation.
"Jer, don't leave me!" she cried. Yet she could do nothing but stand there watching them both fade into nothingness. She was alone.
"NO!"
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January 5, 999
Mystic Falls Cave Network
"NO!"
She sat upright, reaching for her baby brother. She prayed that she'd never forget his face; it was almost too much for her to bear. Her throat constricted as she sought to cry out in anguish. Jeremy and Ric were forever cut off from her, up until recent events they were the only family she had left.
"I'm here, Elena. Lovely Elena, are you alright?" Elijah asked. His voice helped to calm her startled nerves. She looked about the lit cave expecting to find more people in the cave with them, but other than Elijah and Rebekah, who she found standing nearby with a concerned expression gracing her still youthful features, they appeared to be alone. Which only added to her confusion. Had it only just been a dream?
"Um… I think so. What happened? I mean, I remember having dinner with your family and then you invited me to stay while we finished off that cask of ale my cousin and her husband gave to your family as a sign of gratitude for Lodur being accepted into the village's militia. Unfortunately, it becomes a little hazy after the first round," Elena explained sheepishly, surprised with herself that she could verbally walk through the events of last night. I really need to build up my alcohol tolerance.
"Elena, you probably should know now, but you don't seem to have a very high tolerance to drink. I believe after the third round you were, um… quite amusing to be around." Elijah coughed. Elena, flushed by her fiance's obvious embarrassment for her it didn't help that his sister started to snicker at her reaction to the news.
"Um… I see. D… did I make a fool out of myself?" Elena asked hesitantly, already feeling her ears burning from whatever embarrassment she inflicted on herself.
"Nothing that paints you in a poor light with me or my family," he stopped to consider what she was really asking. When it occurred to him he shook his head in denial before saying. "My mother and father have no reservations about us getting married. Mother does want us to take it slow when we start thinking about having children of our own though."
Elena didn't want to argue so she let the matter drop but in the back of her mind it still bothered her that her future mother-in-law was so hesitant about having grandchildren at least within the first couple of years after their wedding day.
"So if it wasn't so bad as to cancel our courtship, what did I do that seems to keep your sister tied up in knots by suppressing her mirth?" She said instead, eying her best friend speculatively. Elijah opened his mouth to respond, but his little sister beat him to it. Elena privately wondered how long she'd been waiting for this moment.
"Oh Elijah, I can take that from here. It seems that you are a rather humorous person when you indulge too much. I and I think most of us didn't follow many of your limericks, as you insisted they were so called, but it was fairly easy to grasp the concept of some of them. I don't know where Nantucket is but there is a how should I say a rather well-endowed-" Rebekah interrupted with ill concealed glee.
"Rebekah!"
"It's alright Elijah. I guess I either need to build up a tolerance for it or just learn to be a one drink limit girl," Elena sighed.
Elijah, still looking like he wanted to spring to her defense, warmed her heart, and suddenly feeling adventurous, she leaned over and gently kissed him on a side of his chiseled jawline. "It's alright really, but I am curious. Why did I wake up here and where is everyone?" she whispered softly into his ear.
"Well, after you finished your last tankard of ale, you, um… passed out right where you were sitting. My apologies to you, but I didn't notice until Niklaus pointed it out to me. I didn't want to disturb your sleep, so I moved you over to where I normally bed down and just watched over you," he paused, then smiling he took her chin in between his fingertips and tapped the tip of her nose playfully. "I had no idea that you snore!"
"Elijah Mikaelson! I do not snore!" she stated with mock indignation. Already knowing from her brother and Stefan that she did, in fact, snore, but she wasn't going to tell him that. Not that it mattered, the mirth that wreathed his expression said otherwise.
"I think thy lady does protest a little too much," he teased. Elena could help to laugh at him calling her on a lie. She absently wondered if Shakespeare would've been the originator, or Elijah? Feeling a touch of melancholy as she wondered how her decision to alter the history of creation of vampires would possibly affect humanity's history as a whole.
"Kærasta, I'm sorry if I said something to upset you."
"No! Really, it's fine I… I was just thinking about my brother. I… I sometimes wonder what type of man he might have grown up to be if my… that man hadn't killed him so young," she lied. It helped that the magically implanted memories could invoke so much emotion but it still hurt that she would never see Jeremy again.
"You were dreaming about him, weren't you?" Rebekah asked gently. Elena smiled and nodded her head. She couldn't quite bring herself to say his name aloud without invoking the memories of her dream. It had been so real. In her dream, she honestly thought that everything about her being pulled back might have been a hallucination induced by maybe head trauma. Nor could she shake the feeling that this oddly felt like a sitcom her grandparents and father forced her to watch when it was still in syndication. Something about the series finale. But she couldn't quite remember the show's name other than it was related to the main actor's name. Shaking herself, she took her friend's hand in hers.
"Its hard losing someone Bekah but I have Elijah and you for support when I need it."
She almost laughed out loud when with a trembling lower lip Rebekah pushed her older brother to the side and swooped Elena up into a crushing bear hug.
"I can't wait till you're officially my sister!" Rebekah declared. Elena hugged her back, all the while watching the man that had captured her heart. If anyone had told her this was a possibility, she wouldn't have given it a second thought. Tatia was with someone about to have her first child and Katerina Petrova won't even exist for nearly five hundred years, so she didn't doubt his feelings towards her.
"Nor can I Bekah, but we still have the niceties of the courtship to consider." She pulled back, meeting some reluctance from her future sister-in-law before she finally relented.
"Why do you think I'm here? I'm here chaperoning the pair of you."
Elena rolled her eyes, earning a punch in her shoulder from her would be guardian of her supposed virtue.
"Don't make me take back what I said about you Bekah," she warned, but her smile was taking most, if not all, the bite out of her statement.
"Can we leave now? I think I'm starting to feel a little hungry and I need to check on Ayana for any chores needing my attention."
With Elijah's help, she stood up and, taking advantage of his proximity, used him to help support her smaller frame. She smiled when his brown eyes expressed in more ways than one that he knew she was just using that as an excuse and that she was ultimately after and didn't appear to want to admonish her for her clandestine action.
Not that they should have bothered really, Rebekah saw through her act, but she was content with waiting till they finally departed the caves before breaking them up with some reluctance on her part.
"This is going to be a very long eight months," Elena muttered into her fiance's chest before they reluctantly separated.
"No doubt my Kærasta" Elijah muttered back.
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January 5, 999
Ayana's Spellchamber
Ayana sat at the table with her tea in hand, waiting for her guest to say something. She was starting to enjoy their discussions, and she didn't know if it was the repeated exposure, but it was getting easier to maintain a corporeal presence for this particular guest with her magic.
"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been there watching it with the rest of you. Still, I can't believe that my daughter came that close to killing the bastard! I would've cheered her on if not for-" Isobel hissed, but cut herself off. She had watched the entire ordeal of her daughter being kidnapped and subsequent rescue. The raised eyebrow of the witch was the only sign she gave that Elena's mother was avoiding telling her something.
"It's the Petrova fire she carries in her blood as well as for you too to a lesser extent." When Isobel frowned, Ayana elaborated further. "I'm not disparaging your biological relationship you share with your daughter, Isobel. No, in fact, you do share many of its effects. It must have helped you a time or two in the past, but what I'm referring to is the fact that every time a Petrova Doppelgänger makes an appearance, the fire is only amplified. The witches that cursed your family's magical bloodline couldn't suppress everything about it. Hence its unusually high magical potency, especially in her case since she is the last."
Ayana's statement penetrated, and Isobel stiffened in response. "What do you mean last?"
"All in do time, Isobel. Your daughter is going to change things for many people, including herself. Children of Destiny often do things like that," Ayana replied calmly. It wasn't necessary. A ghost of a former vampire could do little to harm her, but she had grown to care and enjoy Isobel's companionship.
"In all my years of research I have never come across what exactly a Child of Destiny is." Isobel said, slightly changing the topic.
"I would suspect so. The witches that were responsible for cursing the Petrova Bloodline did everything they could to suppress such knowledge both in the supernatural world and the mundane one. My grandmother once told me they slaughtered an entire coven of witches who'd disagreed with them. Have you ever wondered what happened to the few scrolls that survived the destruction of the first Library of Alexandria?" Ayana smiled at the stunned look of her ghost friend.
"The witches had discovered evidence that somehow, supposedly, the one remaining scroll that survived the first Library contained the full text of what a Child of Destiny actually entailed. I regret what happened to all that accumulated knowledge all the more so since the copy they burned was a decoy," Ayana said sadly.
"Decoy?"
"Yes, a very detailed forgery, but nonetheless a decoy. Fortunately, a passing Bennett witch came across it and replaced it with the fore-mentioned forgery. The original scroll is safe and guarded, or so my grandmother told me on her deathbed."
"Th… That's incredible!" Isobel breathed.
"Indeed, but I believe we've strayed somewhat off our current topic of the day. We were discussing your daughters actions." Ayana reminded her friend.
"Yes… You're right! I would never have believed that my daughter compassionate Elena Gilbert would have gone so far as to have a dagger ready to thrust into a person's heart. I'll be honest with you while I waited for the three of you to arrive I was there with my daughter and I wanted her to make him pay for even touching her as he did. Why did you make her stop?"
"I have my reasons," she ignored the pointed glare her friend directed her way. She knew that Isobel was aware that she was holding back something important, but thankfully she didn't seem willing to press the issue.
"It's my fault if you really think about it, Ayana."
"I don't understand. Why do you believe that it's your fault for Elena being kidnapped and what Jade was about to do to her?" Ayana asked, feeling somewhat perplexed.
"If it wasn't for you appearing in this Spellchamber and not going away as you'd normally do if I'm not inclined to communicate with you like I was, I wouldn't have found out that Jade had taken her." It still bothered the older witch. She disliked uninvited people coming into her home and Jade was no exception.
"But that's just it, Ayana. I failed her because I wasn't thinking right at the time!" the former vampire grated out. Ayana could see the utter anguish in her friend's expression and she wanted to do something physical like taking the near inconsolable woman into her arms, but magic did have its limitations.
"Please tell me Isobel." Ayana said instead, not realizing what power four little words can do when strung together.
"I was there with Elena when Jade kidnapped her. Initially I stayed with her at first then I started to panic. I'd grown so used to us talking I'd gotten into my head that I could talk to anyone. The only reason I didn't think that with my daughter was that I convinced myself that she was just ignoring me," Isobel stopped when Ayana appeared confused.
"Don't tell me that daughters during this time don't blatantly ignore their parents when they are upset with them?" Isobel explained.
"Your time period sounds awful." Ayana stated.
"A lot of people in my time think that, but regardless, thinking that was my only way of coping with her not being able to see and hear me. It took me a while longer than it should have to realize my mistake. I tried to find Elena again but she must have been unconscious so I couldn't appear next to her as I normally do. So that is when I went looking for the one person who I could talk to," Isobel explained.
"I know it's hard to be so close yet you can't even touch your daughter, but you did finally calm down enough to think and when you did tell me what happened, we acted. It still took time and us going off alone to get her back would've raised too many questions."
Isobel sighed and looked over at the witch's cup of tea. She missed a lot of things and one of them was coffee, of all things, but her tea was the closest she could come. Not that it mattered anyway, she was still a ghost.
"But Esther now knows of Tatia's and most likely Elena's Petrova Doppelgänger blood's magical potential." Isobel worried aloud.
"It couldn't be helped, and it would come out eventually. I can keep Esther at bay for a while, but at some point she is going to learn more about what Elena and Tatia's blood can do," Ayana apologized. She knew it was going to happen and the repercussions of that were evident enough in Elena's memories she explored the very first night she arrived.
"I just don't enjoy seeing my only daughter have to suffer."
"I know and it's good that you worry about her. She is going to need you."
"It's not like I really can do anything." Isobel complained.
"Isobel, you'll get a chance, trust me, there is a reason you are here. Why else would the Spirits of Nature allow your passage back in time? I don't want to press you but there was something else you wanted to tell me earlier but didn't."
Isobel was hesitant to bring it up, but she knew that she needed to, the possibilities of it being true were just too great to ignore. With a small sigh of resignation, she looked pointedly at the only friend she had in this place.
"Alright, Alright Ayana, you're right I was putting off something. I'm really not sure, but I need to say something."
"Go on."
"It is about Elena's birth father, John Gilbert. I've had time to think, being an incorporeal entity and all that. There might be a slim chance that John Gilbert is not Elena's biological father."
"Please explain."
And Isobel started to when they were both interrupted.
"Ayana, who are you talking to?" Elena asked. When Isobel and Ayana turned as one and they found Elena standing in the entry point with an unlit torch in hand, watching her would be guardian with a worried expression. Behind her stood a curious looking Rebekah Mikaelson.
"Well, this is awkward." Isobel uttered aloud.
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January 5, 999
Mystic Falls Cave Network
After all these months of navigating through the caves passageways, Elena almost didn't need a torch light to help see where she was heading. Although there was still that small rock outcropping near Ayana's Spellchamber that gets her almost every time.
Elijah had offered to walk her back to Ayana's Spellchamber, but Klaus found them and informed his brother that their father was looking for them both. I've never seen Elijah so conflicted. He wanted to stay with me, that was obvious by how he was standing next to me, but his noble sense of duty would say otherwise.
Fortunately, their sister was still there acting as chaperon. Elena had quickly learned that her future sister-in-law was a very resourceful woman but lacked a sense of self worth. Which Elena felt had been enforced with her mother trying to pressure her to develop her magical potential. More than once she'd to comfort the younger Mikaelson after a disastrous attempt by her mother to bring out her magic. It never worked, from what Elena could tell. She wasn't family yet but she needed to find a way of supporting her best friend, but she didn't know how to do that right at the moment.
Rebekah and she had returned to Ayana's home, only to find it empty. Still feeling hungry, she started to portion out two bowls of porridge that was left warming on the hearth. Her friend looked tempted by her offer of food, but to Elena's annoyance looked reluctant to accept her offer. Elena had insisted and thankfully Rebekah had given in.
Now they were walking through the cave tunnels on their way to Ayana's Spellchamber. They didn't talk much, but even in the near dark, with only a single torch between them. Elena could tell that Rebekah was upset about something. Slowing her pace, she gathered up her own nerve and asked.
"Bekah, are you alright? You seem not to be acting like yourself."
"How should I be acting?" Rebekah asked defensively.
Elena sighed inwardly her future sister always put up a wall when she was feeling insecure about something normally it was herself. She had to sometimes remind herself that Rebekah was only a fourteen-year-old teenage girl and while her mother loved all her children as best as she could tell, Esther was also distant at times.
"Bekah, you know I'm here for you, right? And I'm going to be your sister. You can tell me anything. So Bekah, please tell me what's bothering you."
Rebekah hesitated before finally relenting and, as Elena suspected, it was family related. Family drama must be universal no matter what time period you're in, Elena noted privately.
"Mother just keeps pressuring me to try harder, Ella, and I do, but I don't feel the tingling sensation under my skin as she's described I'd feel whenever I've successfully tapped into my magic. It's just not there!"
Elena stayed silent, considering what she knew about magic. Bonnie had been so scared when her powers had first manifested with her visions of the future and when she touched people, she'd picked up things about them. It wasn't until she'd really talked openly with her grandmother about Miss Shelia that she started to blossom. Elena still felt guilt about the role she had played in demanding more than the old witch could handle. But she had been so selfish that she wanted Stefan out of the tomb. She'd always liked Bonnie's grandmother, she'd always been kind to her and in retrospect she now understood that she'd been watching over her as well.
"Bekah, do you see things when you touch people? I mean like visions concerning them?"
"No. I thought I did, but mother says that I have a strong preternatural sense about people that gives me an edge when it comes to judging people's intentions about me." Elena couldn't help to wince at hearing that about her friend. Had she known that Elena was going to stab her in the back before the prom? Elena still didn't know why she'd done it, just that it had to be done.
"I see. Well that is something special in of itself Bekah. Don't discount it, okay?"
"But-"
"Bekah… There is more, right?"
"Yes… Mother told me that it wasn't uncommon in her village growing up that sometimes a young witch or warlock would have to be put in a life or death situation for them to come into their magic."
Elena froze mid step and choked out a gasp. "Do you mean-" she didn't want to finish her question, but Rebekah answered her with a vigorous shake of her head.
"No! I asked her pointedly about that. My question seemed to have alarmed mother that I would believe that she could do such a thing," Rebekah answered. It helped ease Elena's worry, but only so much. Then a worrying thought occurred to her and it scared her for her friend and future sister-in-law.
"You're not considering putting yourself in a life or death situation, are you?"
Rebekah shifted on her feet before looking up at her friend. "I don't know I-"
Elena dropped the torch and took Rebekah into her arms. "Bekah, you know I love you as a friend and as a sister. I don't care if you have magic or not. Please don't do anything that would put you at risk. I… I don't know what I'd do if I lost you," Elena stated, letting her emotions show.
Finally, they broke apart and although their torch had gone out, she could tell that her friend had been crying. Fumbling a little, she reached up and wiped away her tears.
"Bekah. You don't need magic to be special," Elena placed her hand stained with tears over Rebekah's heart. "As long as you care and love others as you do, that's all that matters in the end."
"I'm so happy you're going to be my sister." Rebekah blurted, and that started another round of sisterly embraces. They remained silent after that and focused on navigating through the tunnels. As they got closer, they heard Ayana's distinct voice.
At least to Elena it almost sounded like she was having a conversation with someone but things still weren't completely adding up. Very few people were even allowed into her Spellchamber without an invitation to enter a person couldn't enter. Or so that was how Ayana had explained it to her once. To her it almost sounded like Ayana was talking to herself. They crept closer to the antechamber, the same one she had been dreaming about, but she put that troubling vivid dream out of her mind for now as they edged closer to the entrance to Ayana's Spellchamber.
The old witch was talking with someone, Elena realized, but why she was only hearing one side of it, which she thought was odd.
Go on."
But as Elena strained to hear the reply, she heard nothing. They were just feet short of the entrance when Ayana spoke again.
"Please explain."
Elena decided to surprise her guardian and stepped into the chamber, with Rebekah falling in behind her. Her question was already out of her lips when she finally could see that her guardian was alone.
"Ayana, who are you talking to?" Elena asked.
