Elijah was headed for the dining room for dinner with his young niece trailing behind him. She had been following him from room to room for the last ten minutes, ever since he refused her request to attend an unsupervised high school party on Friday night.

"Please, Uncle Elijah," Elena begged.

"The answer is no, Elena. Continuing to ask will not change my mind," Elijah said in a calm tone. She was trying to wear him down, but it wouldn't work. He'd essentially raised four younger siblings. He had infinite patience.

"But why?" Elena asked.

Elijah sighed as they made it into the dining room. He stopped and turned to face his niece. "You know very well why, but if you want to hear it, fine. You're too young."

"What does she want to do?" Finn asked curiously. He was capable of hearing any conversation his family members had in the house, but he often chose to tune them out if it didn't affect him.

"She wants to attend a high school party with no adult supervision, an activity that is certain to have alcohol and illegal drugs present," Elijah said.

"But I'm not going to do those things, I promise. Nothing will happen," Elena promised.

"I know nothing will happen because you will be spending the evening here," Elijah said matter-of-factly.

"I told you he was going to say no," Rebekah said to her niece. She'd been there when Elena found out about the party. She told her immediately that the answer would be no. In this case, she actually agreed with her brother. Her niece was too young for that kind of party.

"But all my friends will be there. It isn't fair," Elena whined.

"Yes, your friends who are all eighteen. You are fifteen," Elijah reminded her. He actually agreed that it wasn't fair. The entire situation that Elena was in wasn't fair. She should have friends her own age, children who were doing the same things she was allowed to do. It was another point in favor of starting over somewhere new, so that Elena could be around peers her own age.

"I'll be sixteen in a month," Elena pointed out.

"That's nice. The answer will still be no then. Now, it's dinner time. Sit down," Elijah instructed.

Elena huffed in annoyance, but she did as her uncle instructed.

The others all took their seats as well. Elijah was seated across from his niece. "Listen, I know it doesn't seem fair, but you need to understand that you're not always going to be allowed to do the same things your older friends are."

"I've gone to parties before," Elena said.

"Then you should consider yourself lucky that I wasn't around then. Unfortunately for you, you now have a guardian who isn't going to allow you to do things you're not ready for," Elijah said.

"My mom would let me go," Elena said. She knew almost instantly that she shouldn't have said that. It was a lie, and she was sure her uncle would figure that out easily enough.

Elijah narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that blatant lie you just told, because I was clear with you the very first week of you living here how I felt about lies, wasn't I?

Elena bit her lip in response.

"Wasn't I?" Elijah asked in a slightly raised tone.

'Yes," Elena finally spoke.

"Hmm. I told you that there were to be no more lies between us," Elijah reminded her. He had understood why she had to lie to them about who she was, but he also made it clear that he wouldn't accept deceptions in the future. "This is your only warning on the matter. Lie to me again, and there will be consequences. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Uncle Elijah," she said.

"Good. Now, this entire subject is closed. We're going to have dinner and then we're going to have a talk," Elijah said. There were things he'd already put off too long, like the responsible use of magic.

"Why?" Elena asked with a groan. Having a talk usually meant she was in trouble. At least it did when her mother said it.

"It's nothing bad. There are just some things we want to discuss with you. For now, let's eat," Elijah said just in time for the staff to come in with the food.

They ate mostly in silence. Elena was still sour about not being allowed to go to the party at the Lockwood's. It wasn't fair. A month ago, she would've been able to go without anyone having a word to say about it. She hated her uncle's rules sometimes.

Elijah waited until they were all finished eating to begin the conversation. "First of all, I will be going out of town this weekend. While I'm gone, Elena, I expect you to be on your best behavior. Finn and Niklaus are in charge, and they will adhere to my rules. I expect to hear that you've followed them to the letter. Do you understand?"

Elena nodded. "When will you be back?"

"No later than Sunday night," Elijah told her. He was going with Alaric Saltzman to Denver. He'd found out that the man was going that weekend. Alaric had agreed to allow him to go with him. Well, 'allow' was probably the wrong word. It was more like he'd reluctantly accepted it when Elijah told him he would speak to Jeremy with or without him.

"Okay," she said.

"Now, there are a couple of matters we need to discuss. It has been brought to my attention that you may be thinking about trying to take Dahlia on to save your mother yourself. Is that true?" Elijah asked.

Elena gave her Uncle Kol a betrayed look. Her Uncle Elijah had to have gotten that from him. He was the only one she'd talked to about it. Did he tell him about her mother's grimoire too?

"Do not look at your uncle that way. He was concerned for you, and rightfully so if you're thinking of doing that. Listen, you're not in trouble, but you understand that I can't let that happen, right?" Elijah asked gently. He didn't want this conversation to be about him simply forbidding her to act on her own or threatening her with punishment. He knew that wouldn't be effective or the right way to go about it. He needed her to understand why it couldn't happen.

"But I want to help her," Elena said.

"I know you do, sweetheart, but your mother wouldn't want you risking your life to help her. She did what she did to make sure you were safe," he said.

"But I can help. I'm strong. I can fight Dahlia," Elena said. Well, she couldn't totally now, but she could learn to, maybe with the help of her mom's spells. She knew she promised her Uncle Kol that she wouldn't use those spells, but if she thought there was a way to save her mom, she might end up breaking that promise.

"No, Elena, you can't. Yes, you are a very powerful witch, but putting aside how powerful
Dahlia is for a moment, magic is very dangerous, and you are very young. It would be a grave mistake for you to believe you can do whatever you want with it. That is what gets witches killed," Finn told her.

Elena groaned and rolled her eyes at her uncle. She practically knew this lecture by heart. Her mom had been talking to her about the dangers of magic since she was old enough to process it. "I've heard this lecture like a thousand times."

"Yes, well, you're going to listen to it again now, and probably several more times. And do not roll your eyes at me. That is disrespectful," Finn said a bit sternly.

"Sorry," Elena mumbled.

"Listen, darling, I know that the whole 'magic is dangerous' lecture isn't fun. I got that lecture a lot of times too," Kol said.

"That's because you never listened to it," Finn said with a glare. There were a few times when they were younger that he'd had to pull Kol back from powerful display of magic that he wasn't ready for.

Kol ignored his oldest brother and kept the focus on his niece. "But it's necessary. I've seen witches end up dead because they used too much at once."

"So have I," Elena admitted as she thought about Bonnie's grandmother and the magic she'd used take down the barrier spell for the tomb. "But I don't care. I'll risk it to help my mom."

Elijah sighed. He didn't like hearing that, but at the same time, he understood it. Elena was desperate to help her mother. Any young girl in her position would be. However, Elijah couldn't allow it. "And that is why we are having this conversation. We can't let you do that. We won't. You are a fifteen-year-old girl. It isn't your job to risk your life to save adults. You need to let us handle it."

"But you're not doing anything!" Elena practically yelled.

"Watch how you speak," Klaus warned.

Elijah nodded. "Elena, I know you're frustrated, but you will not speak to us that way. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah," she said. She didn't mean to yell, but she was getting mad. Why wouldn't they just let her help her mother? That's all she wanted.

"It may appear that we're not doing anything, but that is because to be affective, we can't rush things. And our first priority has to be keeping you safe," Elijah said. He had already decided that they did to have to act, if for no other reason than that he couldn't stand to see his niece in so much pain. He also despised the idea of leaving his sister to suffer at the hands of their aunt. However, he had taken over the task of raising Freya's daughter in her absence. That meant he had to think about what would want for her child, and that meant protecting Elena first and foremost. That was why they had to take this slowly.

"But it's been years. I just want her back," Elena cried.

Finn moved closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders. "We do too, sweetheart. We're going to do our best. You just need to have some patience. I know that is asking a lot, but this isn't something that can happen overnight. Just trust us to know what we're going, alright?"

"Okay," Elena said after a minute.

"Okay? You're going to let us handle it? Do I have your word on that?" Elijah asked.

Elena nodded. She would let them handle it for now. However, if they couldn't help her mom, she didn't know what she'd do. "Yes, Uncle Elijah."

Elijah smiled at his niece. "That's a girl. There's one more thing we wanted to discuss. I know you consider yourself proficient in your magic, but there is always more to learn. Your uncles are going to teach you safe ways to harness your magic, as well as how not to."

Elena perked up a little. She was always up for learning more spells and things related to magic. "Cool."

"Now, don't get ahead of yourself. It won't all be fun. You're going to be learning how to be responsible with your magic. I'm sure your mother has taught you some as well, but we want to make sure you understand how you should and shouldn't use it," Finn said.

"Okay. Are we done now?" Elena asked.

"Yes. I believe you have some homework you need to get started on," Elijah said.

Elena stood up. "I…I'm sorry for lying to you before, Uncle Elijah. It kind of slipped out."

Elijah gave her a small smile to let her know she was forgiven. "Thank you. The matter is behind us, but I do hope you take my warning on it to heart.

Elena nodded. "I'm still kind of mad at you about the party though."

"That's fine, sweetheart. You're allowed to be angry, as long as you remain respectful. It won't be the last time you're upset with me. Now, go on and do your homework. I'll be up to see how you're doing in a little bit," Elijah said.

Without another word, Elena headed out of the room.