-10-

Isolde

"Hi, Finn! Whew. A minute to spare. I didn't expect construction on the road into town or I'd have left home a little sooner." Isolde said, sliding into the booth across from Finn, heart racing. She took a deep breath and forced it out with a smile, meeting his eyes. Willing the nervous jitters to go away. "Sorry I was almost late."

"That's alright, I've only just made it myself." He responded with a light smile in return.

Isolde noticed tension in his body language and hoped to ease it. Finn shouldn't have to worry about his interactions with her, she wanted nothing more than to be friends with him, at the very least. "Oh, good. I'd hate to have kept you waiting."

The waitress noticed Isolde's arrival and had come to get their order and they both just settled for coffee, Finn reluctantly. Isolde noted that they were situated away from everyone else, like she had been with Elijah the day before. She wondered if Finn was also being strategic with placement or if it had been coincidence.

"I have to ask." Finn began, once the waitress was a suitable distance away. "I don't believe anyone has , knowing my family and their behaviors, but… are you alright with this? Being bound to four of us… and us being the Original family, I imagine it's a lot to consider."

She shrugged. "I'm actually fine with it. Polygamist bonds, though rare, aren't unheard of and I'm better equipped than most to understand and accept that due to my own origins and the cultures I've been a part of over the years. Despite that, because it is your family, I have had a few concerns. Namely your preservation, considering the vast amount of enemies the Mikaelson's have spent a millennia accumulating. But, once again; I'm better equipped to handle that than most. The real question is, are you alright with it? I had the impression that you did not like me the other night. Which is understandable. I had just spoiled your plans."

"I am… adjusting to the idea." He sighed, glancing down at his folded hands for a moment, seeming to gather his thoughts. "I didn't- don't dislike you for ruining our plans."

He looked up at her again and a cloud must have moved because the light in that moment stuck his eyes in a way that made Isolde's breath catch. Finn's eyes weren't just lighter than Kol's and Elijah's were. Finn's eyes were a stunning shade of jade rimmed amber. They brought her back to a simpler time, a flash of memory, honey drizzled on fresh bread and the laughter of raucous children playing in a field while she read on a blanket just yards away. Isolde was momentarily trapped in their depths.

"I was already angry, it had nothing to do with you." He confessed, turning as the waitress brought their drinks and laid a bunch of sugar packets and creamer on the table for them.

Isolde started dumping far too much sugar and cream into her mug as she continued the conversation. At least Finn had confirmed that he'd been angry already, she'd figured as much or he wouldn't have been trying to murder-suicide his family. But there had to be more than just anger for that to have been a solution. "I see. Do you want to talk about it?" She looked at him, careful to keep her face warm and judgement-free.

Finn shook his head. "Not at present, no." Okay, she could respect that. There were things she'd rather not talk about as well, after all. He took his first sip of the coffee and made a pinched face, looking back at her incredulously. "This tastes awful. Do you honestly like this?"

She laughed and grinned cheekily at him, sliding him some sugar packets. "Put a couple of these in, experiment a little. If you still don't like it we can try something else."

He began ripping little packets open and pouring one in at a time. He'd been silent almost a whole minute before he finally spoke, fiddling with the spoon in his mug. "The last couple of nights I've learned much about the Alexanders"

Isolde leaned back a bit and motioned for him to continue. "Let's hear it then," she said with a kind smile. "See if there's anything I can clear up. I'm sure Esther didn't paint a nice picture and whatever Theon revealed last night may not have left a good impression either."

Licking his lips, Finn glanced down at his coffee and continued to stir it. She began to wonder if he liked keeping his hands busy and made a mental note to ask if he liked working with them later on. She had a few projects she could use another person's help with, if he was bored and willing.

"After your family left the ball the other night Mother… reiterated her feelings about you. She explained how you met her people, and summed up the decade you'd spent with them. Mentioned what she'd observed of your abilities. I believe she got cut off when she started talking about your shared parentage with your elder brother and your younger siblings, then she'd gone on to explain your ancestry and accomplishments. I believe the exact terms were…'Greco-Roman conquerors, emperors, military leaders, strategists, engineers, politicians, murderers and genocidal maniacs.'"

Isolde huffed with an eye roll. "Sounds a bit like Esther was so busy trying to demonize us that she forgot to mention we're also agriculturists, builders, philanthropists, scholars, educators, and in the twins' case, doctors and surgeons. For someone who believes so strongly in maintaining a natural balance Esther seems to forgo it often."

Finn took another drink of his coffee, now sufficiently sweetened, and didn't wince so Isolde counted that as a plus.

"Coffee okay now?" She asked, nodding towards his mug.

"Much better, thank you." Finn stated with a soft smile.

Isolde took a deep breath. "In order, then? I'm sure your Mother's recollection of how we met and how things were when we lived among them is sufficient. Assuming, of course, that she mentioned how we'd brought their backwoods coven s anitation, more advanced knowledge of practical medicine, magical and non-magical education, public order in the form of peace treaties with the bordering Viking clan, irrigation, access roads for easier trade, a fresh water system, and public health.* All funded and constructed by us and their villagers barely had to lift a finger to help?" Isolde raised her eyebrows at Finn's abashed expression. "No? Odd, that."

She tilted her mug and stared down into it. "I'd like to wait on the conversation about our abilities. We're going to have to have it soon, though. Let's see, parentage? What Esther thinks she knows and the unabashed truth are likely very different stories. I'm sure she heard the 'mortal approved' version, especially if she'd been younger when she heard it. But it is true that Emeric and I share a father, and I share a mother with the twins."

"It seems that my mother may have been unfair, as Elijah warned." Finn acquiesced, sitting back, some of his tension finally beginning to ease away.

"I didn't expect her to be. Esther and I have never liked one another." Isolde's gaze darkened while that familiar rumbling of agreement from her monster reverberated through her. She knew her eyes had flashed golden for a second when Finn's more open expression dropped and he tensed again. "I dislike her more now that I've learned she bargained away every first born in her bloodline for so long as that bloodline continues for the privilege of having children."

"She wanted a family-" Finn began to defend.

"Esther knew Vera would help her, she needed only to ask. We weren't far… the trip could've been easily made in a few weeks, young and healthy as she was. Or a courier could've come to us. There would've been no sacrifice if Vera had cast the spell." He opened his mouth and she interrupted him once more with a scathing look. "And don't mistake me, I'm just as furious with Dahlia for suggesting it, let alone going through with it, when she also knew Vera would help. Clearly, they were both in the wrong and Dahlia used Esther's infertility as a way to get back at her sister for whatever reason. Those two fought a lot once they got older. And for it, an innocent child was caught between them." She met his eyes. "I'm mad as hell, Finn. I hope Vera finds Freya before I decide to make the time to find Dahlia . Had we known about this back then we would've had Freya back to your family in no time, curse removed and Esther and Dahlia wrangled."

Finn sat in stunned silence, brows snapped together and wide eyes held a glassy sheen over them. His Adam's apple bobbed a few times before he spoke, and when he did his voice was thick, a little raspy.

"Vera could've...?"

"Yes." Isolde said with a sharp nod. "Vera can do almost anything . Esther and Dahlia both knew that."

Finn looked bad off and Isolde realized what she'd just said to him had upset him deeply. It wasn't likely he was upset with her, but with the whole situation between his mother and aunt and how that went down with Freya. The fact that Finn had known the whole truth about it made Isolde suspect he'd seen Freya be taken.

She knew what it felt like to watch a sibling be taken for good right in front of you, never to be seen again.

That's what had happened to her second eldest brother, after all. The one her and Emeric couldn't bring themselves to talk about because the pain was so hard to bear, even five millennia later.

Isolde's heart squeezed painfully when a tear slid down Finn's cheek. He looked away from her, trying to hide it. She reached across the table and laid a hand over his and he startled, a soft gasp escaping him, his head whipping back around, eyes wide. For a second, she thought she'd need to take her hand back. She went to pull it away, thinking she'd overstepped, but he turned his hand around to grasp hers tightly before she could.

She laid her other hand over their joined ones.

"Vera's working on picking up Dahlia's trail. It shouldn't be much longer until we hear from her again. If you like, I can update you when Vera updates me. Or I can give you Vera's number and you can ask her?"

He started to calm a bit, discreetly wiping at his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket. When he looked back at her his expression was earnest. "I would like very much for you to update me when you hear from your sister."

"Of course." Isolde smiled, giving his hand another squeeze before reluctantly releasing him to sit back in her seat. Half-standing so she could lean over the table was a bit uncomfortable.

The waitress returned to give them a warm-up, breaking the tension of the moment and giving Finn an excuse to regain his bearings. Isolde added more sugar to her coffee, and Finn followed suit before he spoke again.

Finn

"I'm sorry to move on from one hard topic to another…"

"That's fine, I'm no stranger to it, and besides that I'm the type of person who likes to get the big things out of the way immediately. Leaves less room for problems later." She eased his worries with a smile, stirring her coffee.

Finn thought that getting the big issues out of the way immediately was a good idea, too.

This entire conversation thus far had been enlightening, to say the least. Hearing that Isolde's sister could've kept Freya from being taken while also giving his mother the opportunity have children had struck that angry, bitter part of him that he was trying to keep contained. He and his mother would be having a conversation when he returned to the house.

Besides that, Finn had known his mother was only giving her children her version of the truth about the Alexanders the other night. After having so loudly proclaimed Isolde a monster, Esther had already revealed her opinion to be biased. Finn, while cautious and historically too-trusting, had still wanted to give Isolde and her family the benefit of the doubt but opposing his mother had been hard on him.

Whatever Isolde was, he knew she wasn't a monster. No one who cared so much about a child being ripped from their family because of a feud between two sisters was a monster.

He was beginning to wonder if the true monster wasn't Esther herself.

"Theon told us of the Mayan temple."

Her spoon stopped and she looked down, tucking some hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear. "I figured as much."

"I…" Finn cleared his throat, shifting in his seat, "I wanted to tell you that I might be the only person alive who could understand even a fraction of what you went through, and even still my experience doesn't compare. But, should you want to talk to anyone about it, I would like to offer my ear."

Isolde looked back up at him, tilting her head with a small frown. "May I ask for a bit more context?"

Hesitating, he mirrored her expression. "I thought you knew already. You seemed to know everything about my family." It was his turn to look confused.

Isolde shook her head. "I can say with certainty I don't know everything about anything. What am I missing?"

He seemed to steel his resolve as he leant forward. His voice dropped so even if there were other vampires around they wouldn't be able to hear. "I am not certain I should bring this up right now."

"It's nothing I can't take, just lay it out." Isolde said, mirroring his posture.

He pursed his lips a moment before speaking. "What you're missing is that Kol, Rebekah, and I were only recently awakened. Niklaus kept us daggered in coffins for whatever imagined slights we'd made against him."

The effect this information had on Isolde was instant and she leaned back in her seat, slumping against the booth. Her jaw clenched, lips pursed, and nostrils flared. He listened to her heart rate slow, which was strange to him. Didn't the heart rate pick up when someone was angry?

She made eye contact with him over the table. "Please, continue."

"Rebekah was held in a casket for decades, Kol for a century, and myself for nine hundred years." He paused, unsure just how much he should reveal. Her eyes weren't golden and the room wasn't cooling rapidly, so he assumed she had the monster at bay. "Kol and I have been awake only a week. Rebekah as well but she was released earlier this year so that Niklaus could dagger Elijah. He only has three, so he has to pick and choose who best to leave daggered. They don't work on him, so they are his weapons to keep us in line."

"Nine hundred years?" She asked, and at his nod, the loud, sick noise of a bone breaking came from Isolde and Finn startled. She waved him off. "It's fine. Just broke my jaw, it's reset already. What reasons were you given?"

Finn collected himself, a bit shocked that Isolde had been so affected that she'd broken her own jaw. And she hadn't so much as flinched, continuing to speak a mere second later.

How bloody strong was Isolde?

"I'm unsure of Niklaus' reasoning for the others. The only reason I've been given for my daggering was simply because I was… dull."

" Dull? "

"Yes."

"And this is why you were angry when I met you?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

He nodded, watching her as her body had tensed to the point where she was now. Coiled like a viper. Finn wondered if he should stop talking. He was starting to brace for her to disappear and go after Niklaus. "Why I was angry then and why I remain so now. There are other reasons, of course, but that is the most prevalent."

"I see." Like Theon the night before, Finn was surprised when Isolde closed her eyes and took an exaggerated, deep breath, the tension releasing along with it. Again, like Theon, her eyes glittered dangerously when she opened them. She dropped her arms and he watched as her hand reached out towards his, every inch closer he felt his anxiety surge until the moment she laid it over his.

When she touched him, much of the pain inside him settled and he felt some of the ice he'd formed around his heart begin to thaw. A soft sigh escaped him when her thumb traced lightly over the back of his hand and Finn's chest ached for more. 'I shouldn't want more,' he tried telling himself, 'this should be enough for me. It's no use being a glutton for affection, I don't want to lean on Isolde for something as pathetic as mere physical contact.'

But by the gods did he want to. And how pitiful was that?

Isolde looked at him warmly, despite the danger glinting in her eyes. "Welcome back to the world, Finn Mikaelson. I'm so glad you're here."

Not once in a thousand years had anyone told him they were glad he was there. Not even his own Mother, who he knew loved him.

People didn't like him, they never had. Even in his younger years. The women in the village weren't interested, and to be frank he hadn't been either. He'd been much too worried about ensuring his family remained fed and warm through the harsh winters.

Even as humans his family distanced themselves from him almost entirely. When he spoke, they often groaned. When he joined them around a fire, they excluded him from the fun. It had been like that since late childhood. He was always too moral. Too prudish. Too boring. Too much of a sycophant, trailing after their mother. He was just too much of everything they couldn't stand.

Finn hadn't noticed the time that passed while he sat there, staring at Isolde. She didn't say anything, just held his hand encouragingly, stroking her thumb over the back of his hand and helping him settle and by the gods did it feel good to have someone touch him without malice or without ripping their hand away as if he'd scalded them.

"When I was released, my mind was fucked." She admitted quietly, pulling him back from his thoughts. "It was bad, it took me centuries to be whole again and even then…" she used her free hand to gesture at her temple, "something never clicked back the way it was supposed to. But, Finn," she shook his hand in hers and he looked up to make eye contact and nearly gasped at the self-loathing he saw in her eyes. It was like a reflection of his own and he understood her more in that moment than he thought he'd ever understood anyone else before. He gripped her hand a bit tighter in response. "I deserved that punishment. I did something that can never be forgiven. You did nothing . You didn't deserve it." She squeezed his hand tightly and he watched as her expression morphed into the hardest of steel. "You're never going back in that box, Finn. I swear that to you."

Could he trust that? Finn wanted to, more than anything. "I'm not certain you can make that promise. Though I appreciate the sentiment."

She squeezed his hand a bit tighter, shaking it just a bit to get his attention. His breath caught at the intensity in her eyes, the determination he could practically feel wafting off of her. "Even if I can't keep you from it. I'll get you out of it. I swear. I won't rest until I get you out of it. I won't let you get stuck like that for another day, another hour, another minute, another fucking second while there is breath in my body."

He didn't know if it was because of the way she said it, or because he had been waiting his whole life for someone to care about what happened to him but in that moment Finn allowed himself to believe that Isolde truly wouldn't let him get stuck in that box again.

*An edited rendition of a quote from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
** Forgot to mention, the Mayan temples date back to 300 BC. So let's just pretend they're older than that. I forgot to look that up before I put it in and then it became a major plot point so we're just gonna ignore the historical inaccuracy with fanfiction magic.

Isolde is about to become protective as fuuuuck over Finn and Kol, just fyi. Klaus better watch out, he's literally the least liked of her bonds right now. Up next: Isolde will do something besides drink coffee! lmao FFN is now all caught up with A03!