"I didn't expect to find you here when you didn't arrive on your Salvatores' arms." Elena tried not to jump at the suddenness of Elijah's voice.
The Salvatore brothers had been rather adamant in their dislike of her going to meet Esther, alone and she had managed to make it through the evening so far unseen. Damon had raged and Stefan had mocked and she had felt like a used doormat for their condescension. It felt like every conversation had gone down a similar vein since the sacrifice. The last real choice she could think of either of them respecting was Stefan letting Klaus whisk her way and even that was only in part.
She was rather tired of it.
"Yes well, we had creative differences," she responded, plucking a delicate flute from a tray of a passing waiter.
After the Salvatores' outburst she hadn't dared bring the idea to Caroline or Bonnie because they might make actual good points on how this was a bad idea. Elena wasn't stupid, she knew it was, but everyone wanted Klaus gone and Esther invited her, alone. She was doing this for everyone.
Elena took a sip of the champagne to wet her drying mouth. She had tried to be discrete in her arrival, moving with the people that were arriving in droves. There wasn't a point in coming if she was just going to get caught and now Elijah was surveying her and she felt rather bare before him.
"And what differences might those be?" he intoned, his head tilts just so to give away his scrutinising curiosity.
"Your mother," Elena downed the glass inelegantly and wished she had grabbed two. She was doing this alone and some liquid courage might be her only saving grace from backing out. "She invited me for a private chat. They weren't too thrilled with the idea."
"And what does my mother want?" Elijah shifted just so to be almost crowding her in a none too comforting way. They had their shared understanding of each other and Elena would never be foolish enough again to think that he wouldn't do anything for his siblings. Even if it meant intimidating her to ensure their safety.
"She hasn't said," Elena answered in her own defence. It was what she had been debating since receiving her invitation.
Bonnie had claimed the visions were confirmation that they needed to open the coffin. Stefan had been hellbent that it was the key to destroying Klaus. And Elena, well, she had to trust that they didn't just unleash an all-powerful, caring mother.
Elijah takes a flute of his own from the next waiter as if to appear conversational.
"My siblings wish to believe her words in her forgiveness of us to be true, Elena, but I find myself…hesitant to accept her with open arms. My parents were always strong in their convictions and this seems almost fantastical." Elijah's words did little to make her feel better about her friends being on the right track. "Would you promise to tell me if her intentions are pure?" He takes a slow sip on champagne while his gaze bore down upon her.
She should have expected this was what he wanted, the truth of the situation once all facts were at hand. It was their pattern, with a trust born of respect and time and again trampled despite original intentions.
Her aunt.
His brother.
"Elena?" Elijah asked, prompting.
"Yes," and she meant it. She always meant it with Elijah. "I promise."
Elena felt as if her heart might escape from her chest as she continued into the bowels of the mansion with Esther as her guide. Her encounter with Elijah had done little to boost her fragile confidence and determination.
They paused before a door with one of the Mikaelson siblings standing before it.
"Elena, this is my eldest, Finn," Esther introduced.
Elena had first seen him atop the stairs at the opening speech and hadn't seen him leave Esther's side since. Finn had been easy to identify as one of the siblings from first sight with the same strong jaw and chestnut hair that seemed present in the Mikaelson men. He had disappeared shortly before Elena managed to make her escape to Esther.
"Elena," he greeted politely as he pulled a door open for them.
The room held a rather large, deep wood table with various items atop it at its centre and Esther crossed the space with confident ease.
Without instruction, Finn pulled the door closed behind them and the world fell away.
"Please, sit." Esther gestured to the chair at the table. Polite, but firm, Elena didn't argue.
Finn remained at the entrance of the room with his back to the door. Her heart gained speed at the implication: there was no way out.
But she had been in similar situations before. At the very least, Esther wanted to speak to her before any threats to her life were made.
"What did you want to speak with me about?" she dared to ask when her heart finally settled as Esther lit what looked like a small binding of herbs.
"It's only sage," Esther assured and Elena thought she must have given something away in her expression to receive the reassurance. "So we can speak candidly without prying ears." Elena didn't point out Finn watching them as the sage was placed neatly back on the table after a light wave through the air. "As for why I wanted to speak with you, well, I wished to speak with you about my children." Esther remained standing at the head of the table. "They've hurt you, repeatedly, and I must apologise for their behaviour. They were sweet once, caring. I had sought to protect my family after the loss of my youngest and in that I have damned my children and with time they have transformed into something I no longer recognize."
Elena remembered Rebekah's story about why they were made. The youngest Mikaelson, Henrik had ventured out with Klaus to see the men change to wolves during the full moon and during that night the wolves attacked. By the time Klaus returned Henrik to their family, there was nothing to be done to save the youngest. Dead stayed dead, so Esther thought to keep her children from its clutches.
Grief, Elena knew, could be a monstrous thing.
A small part of her felt sad for the Mikaelson children and it was a part she wished would stay buried. A father who's life mission had been to hunt his children to the point of becoming a nightmare of legend. A mother who came back from the dead seemingly to do the same and was somehow all the more nefarious in her actions.
Esther moved what looked to be a small decanter and two crystal goblets before her.
"You tried to have Klaus kill me," Elena pointed out instead of voicing her sympathies. "Twice." She needed to keep her nerve.
Elena's comment made Esther pause for a moment as she began to pour the meagre contents of the decanter into one of the goblets.
"It was an unfortunate circumstance that resulted in your sacrifice, and when Niklaus was searching for a solution, if I had told him the truth he wouldn't have believed me as he so proved. I apologise for my part in your torment."
Elena didn't know if Esther was trying to sound convincing or genuinely believed what she was saying. You don't make a spell requiring human sacrifice accidently.
"I wish to correct my failures with them and for that, I need your help, Elena," the witch continued.
"I don't know how I could possibly help," Elena said. That was something else that had been nagging her: Bonnie would be a better option if Esther was looking to kill Klaus through magical means.
Elena was just, well…
Esther lifted a long looking needle from the table next and held her empty hand out expectantly to Elena.
"Just a few drops of your blood is more than help enough, Elena," Esther explained.
Elena didn't budge from her seat, eyes wide from the turn.
Of course. She felt stupid to not have realised. She had even reiterated the idea not five seconds prior.
"Why?" It came out more demanding than she intended.
His teeth, by comparison to the few other times she had been bitten, were gentle.
"I will be placing its essence in the champagne toast this evening for all of my children to drink." Elena wanted to scoff at the literalness.
"To do what?" Elena asked, pressing.
"To correct the order of things."
Everything came crumbling down at Esther's reiterated point and Elena felt ill. Elijah had always been particular with his words and it seemed to be a trait he acquired from his mother. Not that he would like to be told as such.
"It's not just Klaus, then?" She glanced at Finn standing at the door who appeared ever relaxed at his mother's words. He knew, then, of her plans and whatever she was going to do he was probably there to help.
"All my children, Elena."
Esther's proffered hand was stretched before her. Often, Elena had thought the deals she had made with the various Mikaelson siblings were like making corruptive deals with the devil. Now, it felt as if this was for her very soul.
Elijah, as ever, was right to be wary.
Elena felt sorry he had such cruel parents.
"I can't," she whispered, finally. Not to Elijah, and despite their differences, not to Rebekah either. Those two, at least, would haunt her conscious.
Esther pursed her lips into a fine line and she held herself a bit taller, a bit straighter, as if trying to build herself up to something.
"It is not a choice, Elena. I am not asking." Esther's hand didn't move. The pin was before her like a cursed spinning wheel's spindle threatening to curse a kingdom.
The tension in the room was taught.
It's for the best, she tried to tell herself as she slowly pulled the long black glove off with a shaking hand and rose from the chair. The Mikaelsons would never leave her or her loved ones alone if it was only Klaus that died, his siblings love him too much to let his death go unpunished even if the hybrid was too paranoid to believe so.
She didn't even know what Esther was specifically planning to cause their death with her blood.
Elijah had let Jenna die.
Esther's hand was warm with life as she pricked Elena's finger. Large blood drops fell into both goblets and the filled one plumbed with red swirls in the amber hued liquid.
Elena draws her hand back as soon as it is released. Her finger throbs from the small wound and her heartbeat pounding in her hand.
"Now," Esther held the filled goblet before her. "Drink, Elena."
Elena wished she hadn't done such a great job at avoiding her friends. She could have used a bit of castle storming as Finn came to stand beside her and Esther forced the drink into her hand without choice. In the few seconds since her blood had been added the colour had slowly shifted to an almost pearlescent crystal. Even by her knowledge of magic, Elena knew that whatever Esther had made worked.
"I thought you said一" Elena stammered, stalling.
"For my children, yes. This part is for you." Esther's blue eyes bore into her. Elena had witnessed the result of such a look in her middle son.
Finn felt like an indomitable presence at her side and the faraway door showed no sign of being opened.
With shaking hands and short breaths, Elena downed the meagre drink like she had the champagne. The taste was bitter and left her mouth tingling.
"If that's all?" Elena asked when she felt like the contents of her stomach would follow her words.
"Of course, my dear, you're free to leave," Esther answered easily. For the first time since meeting, the witch was smiling as she gestured to the door as if it were that easy.
It started with the first step as Elena moved towards the door.
She was aware of her body the way one was when they finally noticed just how many drinks they had. Her eyes lagged as she looked at the exit and her cheeks flushed with a foreign warmth.
The second step felt as if she was walking through tar and it took all her focus to ensure she didn't twist her ankle on the long skirt of her dress.
By the third she…
…iana! The voice sent a jolt through her.
The fourth she felt a hand on her back in an attempt to steady her swaying movements. She swung her head to look up at the owner of the hand: Finn. Finn who was looking down at her as if she was something delicate.
…re you?!
She attempted a weak shove but it only severed to knock her off balance and she fell into something warm and solid.
"What," her mouth felt cramped with cotton and her tongue awkward, "did you…" She was barely able to make out the sight of Esther suddenly before her.
"For my children, Elena. All of my children."
She knew she shouldn't have snuck out. Mother and Father had warned of the dangers to be had on full moons and Finn and Elijah would be beside themselves when they realised her absences. But she had to see the wolfmen.
It hadn't been easy sneaking out, either. Mother and Ayana had set up the protection barrier for the cave entrances and Rebekah had wished to braid her hair as distraction. She had to wait till her siblings were asleep and her parents were too busy with their tasks to slip away. There was a secret entrance that she found some weeks prior, though the label entrance was stretching the meaning of the word. It was a large enough crack that she could barely manage to squeeze through it. If any of her family had discovered her escape they wouldn't be able to follow.
She had planned the perfect spot, too. There was a tree with dried out roots on the edge of the forest the men ventured into to turn that she could hide under with tall reeds of grass that made her practically invisible if one wasn't looking for something specific.
She just had to get there.