Kol's POV

Kol waited anxiously, it was late in the afternoon and darkness was settling in the sky, it would be a cold night; it always was in this season.

He thought about his first lesson; Learning control. Strange. That was never something his mother had said. Mikael had still not returned which to be gods honest was a blessing. They'd been just fine without him, though Elijah had to take on the role as father, which was not so terrible. Elijah would never hurt any of them, Elijah was kind as well, and he was selfless. He was the best of all the Mikaelson's. Kol sometimes longed to be like Elijah. They all did. He was so moral- Though Kol always wondered if one day it would be his downfall. Perhaps, he would pull out of the competition for Tatia with Niklaus. Thus losing the woman he is so deeply infatuated with, all so Niklaus could love her instead. While the two had said it was friendly competition, he could see that Tatia was the woman of both of their affections. So tedious and unlucky- two brothers fighting for the same woman. Part of Kol sometimes wondered what would happen to his brothers once Tatia made her choice.

The door opened breaking his trail of thought. It was Rebekah, her long blonde hair was plaited to the side, and she grasped a wooden woven basket, which contained berries, herbs, roots and flowers. She shook the snow from her cloak and turned to him. "Afternoon, Kol." She acknowledged with a grin.

"Afternoon Bekah." He said. "You've been into the woods; Father does not like it when you go out there by yourself. If he were here now he'd be giving us hell about letting you do such things." Kol told her.

"But Father is not here, besides I've had enough of all his bloody restrictions. It's not like any of you listen to him." Rebekah snapped.

'I'm older." Kol protested.

"I'm more responsible". She shot back, and Kol promptly shut his mouth. Not like I've heard that one before. He though sarcastically.

"Besides, your one to speak, just a fortnight passed when you went running off into the woods with that Ella what's her name."

"Finally, someone who actually notices that I'm gone." Kol muttered, but Rebekah acted like she didn't hear him- well that or she didn't actually hear him

"Well, I'm going back out. And before you pretend to act all big brotherly I'm going to find Elijah, he and Henrik went out hunting hours ago and haven't returned, so you can either sit here and bother yourself with the inner turmoil you clearly don't want to talk about, or you can accompany your darling little sister to find our brothers." Rebekah finished as she wrapped a scarf around her neck. It made Kol smile- he often forgot how much he loved Rebekah, she saw more into him than his parents ever could, age didn't make you more instinctive, no matter what his parents said. Just as Rebekah opened the door Kol jumped to his feet and grabbed his cloak and followed her out of the door. And that was when they heard the screaming.

Rebekah's POV

Something was bothering Kol, but he had far too much pride to ever come to her for advice. So much like Mikael - though when she thought about it all of them in their own way were all a bit like him- though that was bound to happen considering that they (unfortunately) had been raised by both their Mother and their Father.

Then she heard the screams, she felt Kol freeze by the side of her, putting a (if she didn't know better) protective arm in front of her, ensuring she could go no further toward the potential threatening screams which were now coming closer. Kol's arm lowered, and he burst out laughing like a madman, it wasn't until she saw the sight of a bedraggled Nik and Tatia running for what seemed like their lives towards her mother who was tending to the livestock. She couldn't help herself, despite their traumatized appearance Rebekah burst out laughing alongside her brother. As they came closer she could see that Tatia's face was streaming with tears and that they both were out of breath, drenched in sweat, their clothes torn. Rebekah and her brother jogged towards their mother, adamant not to miss the hysterical scene that waited while choking on their own laughter.

When they arrived at the scene Niklaus was sputtering words out and Tatia had wrapped her arms around Kol, while he whispered things in her ear to calm her. "Niklaus calm down." their Mother told him. "What on the god's green earth has happened ?" She asked him again easing him towards her.

"W…we…we…wer…were" Klaus stuttered.

"Niklaus, clam down. Nothing can hurt you here." His mother said lovingly placing both of her hands on his shoulders to ease his shaking.

"We were nearly attacked." At first Rebekah hadn't realised it was Tatia who had spoken, she spoke so softly that it was a strain to hear her- and it was TATIA. .SPOKEN. Rebekah didn't think she has ever seen her voluntarily spoken in front of her Mother before. "We were in the woods. Klaus was teaching me how to shoot an arrow, we shot a doe, and then an enormous creature approached us. Klaus attempted to slay it, but it would not fall, so we ran." Just then Elijah and Henrik came into view and Rebekah watched Tatia without another word barrel herself into Elijah, while he wrapped his arms protectively around her.

Nik's eyes flickered in the direction of Tatia and Elijah, a look of pure jealousy came across his face, but it was over in a flash and Rebekah wondered if she was the only one who saw it. But then she saw Kol glancing his way and realised she wasn't. "Bekah!" Henrik called as he bounced his away over to her, causing her to genuinely smile. "What happened to Niklaus and Tatiana?" Quickly she filled him in on all that had transpired since they had been gone.

Kol's POV

"Niklaus." their mother said, the calming tone replaced with suspicion. "Which part of the woods were you hunting in?"

"We were in the woods that led from behind the Jacobson's family's home." Nik said, and only then did the colour drain from Kol's face. Of course they were terrified, the beautiful yet frightening Natasya tended to leave a long lasting impression. Glad she hasn't left any long lasting damage. Nik was lying, he could tell, but as usual none of his other siblings were around to help confirm his suspicions; He could see Elijah in the corner of his eye walking Tatia home and Bekah and Henrik had set off in the direction of their own home. The only person that had been missing from the scene, surprisingly, was Finn. I wonder where he's got to.

"What was the beast like?" Esther inquired.

"It was dark; the beast was everywhere and nowhere all at once. I tried to slay it, but all my arrows disappeared, I am clueless as to what darkness it might've truly been. But Mother, it was indestructible and the only way we managed to escape from it was by leaving the woods." Niklaus described while panicking in distress.

"I have always warned you of the magic that haunts those woods." Esther said. "I have always warned you of whohaunts those woods."

"I am sorry Mother." Niklaus said while hanging his head in shame.

"There is nothing to be done about it now. Just be grateful neither you or Tatiana was severely injured." Esther sighed. "Come boys." Their mother went on. "It is time to return home, your dear older brother has been busy most of the day preparing the evening meal, it would be rude to keep him waiting." Of course it would. As they started to walk, Kol could see his older brother glare in the direction that Elijah and Tatia had taken. The jealousy that he saw earlier resurfacing.

Dinner was terrible. Not the food. Kol hated to admit it, but Finn was a good cook. But no it was the atmosphere. Rebekah and Henrik had spent the best part of the meal attempting to whisper into each other's ears whilst glancing in Nik's direction, and their mother constantly scolding them for being rude. Yet more than anything it was Nik who had made it the most uncomfortable. He kept his eyes glued to the door, the reason being that Elijah had not returned from home after they had last seen him with Tatia, and everyone at the table could sense Nik's anger and humiliation. There will surely be a fight in the morning.

After Kol had washed all the dishes, he excused himself from the house, deciding to take a walk outside in order to think about how he was going to listen in on his mother's coven meeting tomorrow. He was nearing the woods when a young boy- Kol thought his name was Henry- ran towards him. "Kol." The boy called as he sprinted towards him, and just as Kol was going to tell the little one to run off home something the boy said stopped him in his tracks. "I have a message for you. From your Mentor."

"And what pray tell, does the message say?" Kol said trying to hide the concern in his voice.

"Your second lesson is ready to be taught, and that you must meet her at her cottage 2 hours before dawn, after your mother's coven meeting tomorrow, assuming you have completed your first task." Henry said matter of factly.

"Henry, you know you mustn't tell anyone one of this, don't you?" Kol tried to tell him.

"Tell anyone what?" Henry asked confused, as relief coursed through Kol's entire body. Of course she would not have entrusted this information to someone without ensuring they could never tell a living soul.

"Tell anyone that you are out this late on your own" Kol told him and smiled. "Now off you go home before anyone notices." They boy smiled at him then ran off in the direction of his home.

Then a figure loomed before him and a voice said "Now now now, what do we have hear." And even though it was dark Kol could hear the smug smile spread across Finn's face, and immediately he felt foolish that he hadn't noticed that he had been followed.

"What were you and young Henry discussing Kol?" Finn challenged. And though Kol knew he shouldn't, he knew exactly what to say to throw Finn straight of his tracks.

"Young Henry was just telling me that he saw a dear brother Elijah in a very compromising situation with the beautiful Tatiana." Kol replied- and equal amount of smugness in his own voice.

"I see…" was Finns only reply. Phew, that was close. Kol could sense that this was not the reason the Finn had followed him, so Kol decided to bait it out of him- knowing it could only be about one topic.

"So Finn, Mother has told me that she is willing to teach me magic, and may even consider mentoring me in the next Witch Trials." He said as naively as he could. Finn just scoffed.

"I assure you brother, Mother only tells you that as to not injure your feelings".

"How would you know that?" Kol asked, feigning ignorance. Finn was far too easy to trap.

"It is I who mother is mentoring as I am the most responsible, thus the most deserving. Furthermore, I am even aloud to accompany mother tomorrow to her fortnightly Coven meeting." Finn finished rather (too) proudly.

"But I…." Kol choked. Finn you are an idiot.

"Enough of this, come little brother let's get you home before you cause trouble." Home is exactly where I need to be to cause trouble Kol thought to himself smirking as Finn led the way home. Well I cannot listen in on Mother's coven, then I suppose I shall have to get Finn to do it for me.

Elijah POV

Once they reached Tatia's house and were in the safety of its walls Elijah felt her relax so he settled her onto a bed of throws and pillows and went into the kitchen to make them some tea. As he waited for the water to boil Elijah's mind drifted to his younger brother Niklaus. He often felt guilty about spending such intimate alone time with Tatia, though whenever he voiced he thoughts she would grow tiresome and snap at him. But this time it was different, he didn't feel guilty as such, no he felt more jealous if anything. All three of them had mostly been quite honest about when who saw whom, yet Elijah couldn't shake the feeling that Niklaus had not told him about their rendezvous earlier today. After preparing the tea, Elijah carried both mugs into the small living area where he had left Tatia. She sat up when he entered the room and looked at him like he was all she would ever need- it was that look that had made him fall in love her. Her dark brown eyes always seemed to twinkle and her brown hair fell I waves around her mid rift. Gods she was beautiful, the perfect image of a Goddess. As he handed her a mug of calming camomile tea, but when he pulled his hand away she set her mug down and caught his hand in her own.

"You are simply the most endearing man that I have ever had the pleasure of laying eyes upon Elijah Mikaelson." Tatia murmured placing a trial of kisses up his arm, sending shivers down his spine. She kissed all the way up to his mouth, were she gently tugged on his lip, with her own. Tatia was kind, soft hearted and she only so desired to be loved. Elijah could not bear the thought of Tatia's family rejecting her, only for committing an act of love and then denying her the right to see her child. But a part of Elijah could not help but be grateful that they had packed her things and sent her on a voyage until she found a new settlement. It was the reason they'd found each other. Tatia believed in free love- loving others for simply the pleasure of loving. Elijah kissed her back softly, drawing away and smiling at her. She was the most lovely and beautiful lady he'd ever met, Elijah could not believe how blessed he was to simply be around her. It was something that never failed to make his heart fill with warmth. It was something that could make any bleak winter radiant and uplifting.

"I love you, Tatiana, I always will. I know that my brother Niklaus has disappointed you but I will try to never disappoint you. I know you have had already enough disappointment in your short life."

"I love you too Elijah Mikaelson, very much. Never forget that. But before you go I wish for you to tell your brother not to come and see me. Not until I am ready to forgive his foolish actions today."

"As you wish my love, I shall come and check on you in the morning." They shared one last kiss then Elijah walked out into the cold winter air, feeling both satisfied and conflicted.

The day of the meeting- 1 hour before- Kol's POV

"Finn, Elijah wishes to see you, he's outside fetching water." Kol said, as Finn glared at him, clearly annoyed that he had interrupted him before we was about to get changed for his 'oh so important' coven meeting with Mother. As he heard Finn head outside Kol stepped into his room and grabbed the tunic that he was going to wear to the meeting. He had to hurry; he figured he'd have no more than 10 minutes before Finn came back. So he needed it done in five. He quickly ripped off one of the top button on the tunic and rapidly began to replace it with a button exactly the same as one of the buttons on his own tunic. Lucky his Mother had thought it important for all of them to learn how to mend clothes- much to Mikael's dismay.

The spell he was preforming he had seen years ago (but had always been too afraid to use magic without his Mothers permission) , when Ester and the rest of the witches used enchanted objects in order to spy on the Elders council to monitor the decisions they made. Though it had taken most of the night for him to execute properly. However if done correctly, this would allow Kol to hear the whole meeting through the button on Finns tunic, through to the button on his own, assuming he was not too far from the actual meeting place. Thus allowing him to eavesdrop without being caught -Oh Finn if only you knew how gullible you really are. And as if on cue, Kol heard Finn coming in so hurried out of the room leaving no trace of what he had done. Now all I have to do is find a quiet place that no one shall disturb me in for a few hours after I follow Finn to the coven meeting. He needed this to work, he didn't know if Natasya would mentor him if he did not succeed.

HI GUYS! We are really sorry that we didn't post a chapter on Friday. We have both had so much to do that we didn't have enough time to post it. Hope you liked this chapter- and you will find out what happened in the meeting in the next Chapter which we will be posting on Saturday. But don't worry we are going to make it extra-long to make up for not posting last Friday.

Hope you all had a good weekend- PLEASE REVIEW! And thanks for reading