Through memory lane
The memories have changed to one in the Viking village, the two young witches more or less prisoners. At least this one appears more peaceful than the last. A young Esther walks through the forest picking herbs while conversing with one of the men Caroline assumes belongs to the village.
A part of her does wonder how it must feel for Esther to see all of this again. "I loved him once." The older witch says, exposing the man as Mikael. "The loss of Freya ruined him and while there was a small amount of happiness after Niklaus's birth, it never lasted long."
"From what I've heard he always hated Klaus." It's how she at least has understood the very little information she has about Mikael.
"Mikael as most Vikings valued strength above all else. Niklaus always found pleasure in gentle things, creating his colours to paint with was never accepted, and I didn't make it better by finding ways to keep his werewolf temperament and strength down. At some point everything Niklaus did was wrong, and all my attempts at keeping us safe made Mikael look down on him more."
"Did you ever try to protect him from Mikael?" as powerful of a witch as she is, Caroline can't see how Mikael managed to scare her so much.
"There were ways to calm Mikael, I could put him to sleep when he was at his worst. At the time I thought that it was better not to draw attention, to make sure that he never found out about my affair. It might have meant that Niklaus had to endure Mikael's torment, but he was alive, I could at least keep him alive. If Mikael ever found out, we would all have been dead." Esther looks at her with an expression of sadness. "But do not think it was easy, I love my children, I was just left with little choice."
Sure, she gets that it can't have been easy, but to watch it happen and do nothing, that she can't understand. "But you're a witch, you should have been stronger than Mikael."
She is being pointed towards a cabin the young Esther is getting close to. "Dahlia protected me, I took care of gathering the herbs that were needed, she did all of the magic, especially the dark one they demanded of us."
They step inside to see a young Dahlia working on what appears to be a snake. "You've been spending time with Mikael." Dahlia points out when she sees Esther's smile.
A light laugh leaves Esther. "We're only talking."
The look on Dahlia's face makes it obvious that she doesn't like what her sister is doing, even if she tries to hide it with a smile. But the anger does change to excitement as she holds out herbs that have been drenched in blood. Esther on the other hand doesn't share in Dahlia's joy.
"This is salvia drenched in snake blood," Dahlia says in a low voice, ensuring they aren't overheard. "It can give us strength. We can leave this place. Esther, together, we can live forever!"
"Have she always dreamed of eternity?" Caroline asks.
"Longer than I ever understood." Is the answer she gets.
At the same time, the young Esther sighs. "Dahlia, stop." The smile the older sister had disappears. "I do not wish to practise magic any longer." Caroline feels as surprised as Dahlia looks to be, both of them having a hard time taking it in.
"Magic is what has kept us alive!" Dahlia tries to convince her sister.
But Esther refuses to listen. "Mikael will protect me now, sister!" Dahlia backs away from Esther, obviously hurt. "We plan to marry… to have a family." How innocent Esther appears, completely unaware of the hardship she is about to face.
"I am your family," Dahlia exclaims. "I am your sister. We promised each other…"
"You will always be my sister, Dahlia!" Esther interrupts. "But I wish for children of my own. And…" a sigh. "I love him." Dahlia attempts to keep her sister there, but the argument only grows and when Esther does leave nothing has been resolved.
The cabin disappears and soon they are once more standing in the dark. "You know, magic while it comes naturally to us, if not practised will be harder to call on." Esther starts to explain. "I decided to stop using my magic partly because of Mikael, but that meant that when I might have needed it to defend my children, I could only use it for the smallest of things."
"But you turned them into vampires, and created a new race, that sounds like something that would require a lot of magic."
"And it did, I had to dig deep for it, it wasn't done in only a day and maybe with what we know now, nature gave me a hand." It all comes back to the prophecy.
Caroline takes a deep breath. "So, what does this have to do with the deal you made, with what is happening now?" she asks.
"It is how everything started, why I had to ask for Dahlia's help and why she asked for the thing she did," Esther answers. "I have always loved my sister, but I found a life without her believing that we could be there for each other but not need to stay tied to one another. Dahlia wanted something else."
Bonnie had returned with some good news. The witches have agreed to help, which means that they need to come up with a plan. There might be doubt, whether this is going to work. Knowing how little was required when Klaus convinced them to reveal the coffins they helped to hide, there is always the risk of Dahlia doing the same.
The three witches, or now two though Liv wants to see this through to be there for her brother, and his siblings have all gathered to hear what Freya thinks they should do with the ingredients they have, only getting one chance at this.
The first thing that needs to be decided is how to use the earth, ash and blood. Freya wants to create a room where they can kill Dahlia by any means instead of one weapon that will work anywhere on the witch.
Right now, they are all in agreement. "Wouldn't it be easiest to lure Dahlia to the nursery?" Rebekah suggests.
"Easiest, but also the most obvious," Klaus says. "As soon as she realises that Kaiden isn't there, she will know something is wrong." And they need to keep her in the room they spell.
"If we only focus on getting her to the house, the foyer would be best." Elijah points out, that might be better even if it leaves Dahlia with an easier way to leave the house.
"How exactly are you planning on getting her to come here?" Bonnie changes the subject to the question they haven't wanted to touch yet.
"We could try to create a representation of Kaiden's magic," Kol says. "It shouldn't be too hard, and we only need a few drops of Kaiden's blood. He can remain safe in the witch-house." It might be the best thing they will get.
None of the ideas are making Klaus feel optimistic. Maybe it's because he can still feel the cold from trying to wake Caroline but failing. He hopes that she has reached Esther, that she didn't do all of this for nothing, and instead could have been here helping them against Dahlia.
She had been shown how the sisters drifted further and further apart. Dahlia's hate for the people around her had only grown as Esther married Mikael. When the older witch had been giving something resembling freedom the sisters barely saw each other at all.
Once more standing outside a cabin, this time in a snowstorm instead of the summer warmth she can feel cold shilling her to her bones. It's not a weather she would want to be in now, much less when she was human, yet a young woman, most likely Esther is walking towards them and the cabin.
Bundle up in pelts she makes her way through the snow not stopping until she is inside the warmth of her sister's home. Dahlia, in the middle of a spell with a necklace in hand, stops as she sees her younger sister. Caroline focuses instead on the interior of the cabin, the human bones, some antlers and several lit candles.
While Esther appears relieved to see her sister, Dahlia does not. However, if it is because of the hate that has grown in the older one's heart or for the interruption Caroline cannot say. Esther doesn't seem to notice Dahlia's mood.
"Sister, I have come to ask for your help." She says removing her gloves.
"For whatever reason?" is asked sceptically.
"You know that I have always wished for children of my own…"
"So go. Have your Viking children." Dahlia interrupts angrily.
Whatever love there once was between the sisters is gone on Dahlia's side, no Caroline can't find anything but hate and despair in the older one. And then it hits her, what has been so wrong in everything Freya has said, what they all have missed.
She looks at Esther who is standing beside her, but the witch is fully focused on the memory. "It has been almost a year, and I am still not with child. I'm afraid I'm cursed."
An irate sigh comes from Dahlia while Esther asks for magical help in having the family she has always dreamt of and can't achieve herself since she no longer uses magic. There is something strange about seeing Esther, the mother of vampires, so unable to use her connection to nature.
"You are my sister, whatever our arguments, we are bonded by blood," Esther says as Dahlia turns her back to her.
It's not with a joyful expression Dahlia looks once more at her sister. "What you ask of me, demands a great sacrifice." A slightly desperate Esther promises to do whatever is necessary and with the promise made the memory disappears.
"The firstborn," Caroline comments. "She wanted your firstborn."
"And everyone to come after," Esther adds and looks at her. "The oldest child has always been the strongest in our line." She explains.
Once more they are standing in the darkness, all alone. It's so empty, slightly uncomfortable even if Caroline does feel safe. She wishes the spirits could have acted as before, that they would have been helpful and given her this information before Dahlia got close.
"I never thought that it would be hard to give away a child, that it wouldn't matter as I could have as many as I wanted after." There is sadness in the witch's voice. "But it was one of the worst days of my life, to lose a child and the lies I had to tell, I don't think I ever stopped.
"We left our home, Mikael was destroyed, Freya was his world. And in his grief, he pushed me away, that is how I came to meet Niklaus's father."
"But you couldn't leave Mikael or tell the truth." Caroline can't imagine what it must have been like a thousand years ago.
"He would have killed us." The witch makes this clear once more. "And when Niklaus was born, I hoped that it would bring Mikael some joy, and for a while it did, we had Kol, Rebekah and Henrik, we were a family again. But my secrets kept looming over us." Esther looks at her with a sad smile. "Let me help correct one of my many mistakes."
It brings her to the question; does she trust the witch? "You aren't planning on killing your children any longer?" if the risk remains, nature will probably never allow her to bring Esther back.
She shakes her head. "I viewed them as a pest on this world, but with the prophecy, it has become clear that if I hadn't turned them into vampires, it would have happened somewhere else." An immortal race was always meant to exist. "Now, maybe they can regain some sort of peace."
Harmony is what the prophecy is supposed to create, so maybe it wouldn't be weird if Kaiden spreads it among his family first. The Mikaelson siblings have had an easier time agreeing since Kaiden came to exist.
She sighs. "The blood of the one Dahlia loves most, it's yours and not Freyas." She moves the conversation to what is of importance.
Esther nods. "When Dahlia came for Freya, I now believe all love had already left her. I broke my promise, I broke her heart and I do not believe she has been capable of feeling any love ever since."
"It's sick to think one's sister should be linked to you, never allow them to step away." She thinks out loud, fully aware that it is the way Klaus has treated his siblings through their many years, just placing them in coffins instead of demanding their firstborn.
"It is an endless curse tormenting this family," Esther says. "What do you intend to do now?" she asks, which is a good question.
Well, what is she going to do now? "I guess that I have to convince the spirits to help me so that I can explain what needs to be done." How that is going to happen, is a completely different question.