Elena sat with her siblings in the dining room as they waited for Freya to return. It was quiet for a while. They were all taking in what they'd just learned.

Klaus spoke after a few minutes of silence. "Are we really going to continue to entertain this ridiculousness. I say we get rid of her and get the bloody hell out of this town. It clearly isn't safe anymore."

"Nik, I know it's in your nature to be paranoid, but Freya is our sister," Elena said.

"All we have is her word for that. For all we know, our sister died of the plague a thousand years ago," Klaus said.

"Come on, Nik. Mother has lied about a dead child before. It's not as if she isn't capable of giving her own kid away and then lying about it," Kol said.

"You believe this as well?" Klaus asked in disbelief.

"I'm inclined to, given Mother's history. It's a hell of a story to make up. Besides, it fits with her coming to the Christmas party a hundred years ago," Kol said.

"Even if she is telling the truth, it doesn't mean we can trust her. For all we know, she plans to turn us over to Mother," Klaus said. Sure, the woman claimed she hated their mother, but it could be a ploy.

"Setting aside the fact that Freya has no reason to help Esther do anything, if that was her plan, she could've done it by now. I've been going to see her almost every day for weeks. She had plenty of opportunities to betray me. She didn't. She's been nothing but a friend to me. I trust her," Elena said.

Just then, Freya came back into the room. She'd caught the tail end of the conversation. "Sorry about that. I was just a little shocked by what you told me."

"It's okay. I think that would shock anyone," Elena told her sister.

Freya retook her seat next to Elena and took ahold of her baby sister's hand. "I appreciate you defending me, but you don't have to. I understand why our siblings are reluctant to trust me. I may be your sister, but I'm a stranger, and I imagine it's very costly to trust outsiders in your situation."

"We wouldn't put it past Mother to send someone after us pretending to be our sister. That's not to say that that's what I think happened, because it's equally believable that she would lie to us about your death," Rebekah said.

"I get it. Trust is difficult. I understand that that's something I'll have to earn. If our positions were reversed, I would probably have a hard time trusting you too," Freya said.

"You already earned my trust," Elena said.

Freya smiled at her. "Thank you. I do hope you know that this doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you in our lessons. If anything, it's the opposite."

Elena snorted. "Trust me, that thought never occurred to me. This one certainly never went easier when he was homeschooling me," she said as she pointed to Elijah.

Elijah grinned a little at his younger sister before turning to Freya. "Freya, will you tell us more about our aunt? Is she still a threat to you?"

Freya nodded. "We definitely need to talk more about that. Yes, Dahlia is definitely still a problem. To put it plainly, she's more of a threat than Esther ever could be. She's more powerful than any other witch I've ever met. That's why I decided to stay in New Orleans even after I realized you all were no longer here. It's partially why I chose to take control of the witches from Marcel."

"You needed an army," Rebekah realized.

"Yes. I wanted to help the witches too, as well as keep them in line, but I can't deny my own selfish motivations," Freya said.

"And is that what you want from Elena? For her to be a part of your army?" Elijah asked in a slightly accusatory tone.

"No. At first, I wanted to help her gain control of her magic and help her see that just because she has her mother's gift doesn't mean she'll be like her. Now, I want to make sure that neither Esther nor Dahlia ever gets their hands on her," Freya said protectively. She wouldn't let it happen. She'd do anything in her power to protect Elena, to protect all of them.

"Wait, why would Dahlia want me? I'm not a firstborn Mikaelson witch," Elena said.

"No, but you are the only one capable of creating one. It's like I said earlier, you were her only hope," Freya said.

Elena scoffed. "Like I'd ever bring a child into this hellish life. I'm literally on the run from my crazy, controlling mother, and now I find out that I have an even crazier aunt. I would never subject a kid to that."

"At this point, I doubt Dahlia would give you a choice. You're her only chance. If she finds out about you, she's going go come after you. She was going to come after you when you were a baby. She'd been planning it since she learned Esther was pregnant," Freya explained.

"What?" Rebekah asked in alarm.

Freya nodded. "Yeah. What would've happened to her at Dahlia's hands terrified me. I was trying to figure out a way to get away from Dahlia and take the baby before she had a chance."

"You what?! You were going to take my sister?!" Klaus asked angrily.

"Yes. I would've asked all of you to come as well if you wanted, but Elena was a defenseless baby. I couldn't let Dahlia ger her hands on her if it were in any way preventable," Freya said.

"You would've really done that?" Elena asked in awe. Her older had spent her entire life in Hell, but she was willing to risk Dahlia's wrath to save her and raise her as her own.

"In a second," Freya said.

"Hold on. You said that Dahlia only remains awake for a year. That time must be almost up, right?" Kol asked.

"It was up a few months ago, and yes, Dahlia should be asleep again, unless she stopped the spell, and if she found out about Elena, that's entirely possible. Is there anyway she could've found out?" Freya asked.

"Yes," Elena said. It was more than possible. It wasn't public knowledge that she was a Mikaelson, but enough people knew about, plus, she had lived in the Mikaelson mansion. "I lived with Esther for months. She barely let me out of her sight. It's more than possible someone could figure out the truth if they were looking for it. Wait, could Esther have known Dahlia was after me? Could that be why she treated me the way she did?"

Freya shook her head. "Don't even go down the road, little sister. Nothing justifies the way she treated you. You don't abuse your children to protect them."

"Freya's right, Elena. There's no justifying what Mother did to you, even if she did know,' Elijah said.

Elena nodded. "Sorry. Sometimes I just wish things were different."

"You have nothing to apologize for. I used to wish that too. Even though she's horrible, we still wish we could love her," Freya said. She remembered when she was young trying to come up with reasons why her mother would do the things she did. She wanted to find a reason why it wasn't her fault. Unfortunately, that was just a child's fantasy.

"I think we all need time to digest what has been said tonight," Elijah said.

"Yeah, me too. I'll let you all be, but please don't run again. You're all safer here right now than anywhere else," Freya assured them.

"You have my word that we won't go anywhere tonight," Elijah promised.

Freya nodded before standing up. She then looked at Elena. "I'll see you tomorrow for training, okay?"

"Perhaps it would be more convenient for you to come here instead of Elena going to you," Elijah said. He didn't fully trust Freya. He understood that Elena needed help in training her magic, but he would prefer it happen under their roof.

It wasn't hard for Freya to figure out that Elijah wanted to keep an eye on her, but the fact that he trusted her enough to accept her teaching Elena meant something. She was more than willing to meet him halfway. "That does sound more convenient. There's more room for us to work. I'll see you all tomorrow," she said before walking away.