The day that Ariel lost her voice she did not gain legs. She gained wings.

"In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again." - From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

While people did not disdain her the way that they did previously, they accepted her a lot more than before.

Following the night when she banished the draugr, people brought her things. They considered her words when she spoke. They were still wary of Caroline, this girl who came from nowhere and who was protected by the Mikaelson clan, but they started to look at her less as an outsider and more as someone who could protect them?

Caroline did not know how long this tentative peace would last, but she was happy that they were coming to an understanding with one another. Caroline woke up that morning and she knew what was happening today. The vikings would be off.

She was up early that morning. Preparing everything she could to make sure that Klaus was prepared for anything that he was going to face while he was raiding with the men. Caroline felt her heart rise in her throat. The men and women of this time were… comfortable with the thought of death and dying. It was something that they had to confront everyday. It was something that they walked alongside with.

But Caroline… She came from a time when death was something that lingered in the distant future. Here it was present. It was hard and aching and grabbed you with both hands and refused to let you go. Caroline was more familiar with death now, but it was still something that unsettled her.

Caroline righted the last of the provisions that she had prepared for Klaus. She went to Ayana's room where Klaus was staying. Something in her chest flipped when she opened the door. He lay sprawled on the bed, his chest out. Caroline was young but she was not blind to the beauty that was Niklaus Mikaelson. He was lean with a tapered waist and a flush of blond curls that haloed around his head.

Niklaus Mikaelson was a catch. He was king and caring and now he was going out there to be a warrior. He was going to the talk of the town if he returned.

If…

The world soured any emotions that she had lingering in her chest. If Klaus made it back to them in one piece. Caroline was not a particularly religious person, but she knew that it was something of an honor to die in battle.

"To be slain in battle means the gods desire you in Valhalla," Ayana had told her once. Caroline shook her head. Dying is not something that should be glorified. Dying was something that should be avoided at all costs, but there was something about the thoughts that the gods wanted you that could be intoxicating.

Caroline shook her head and walked into the room. She leaned over Klaus for a moment taking in his sleeping face. There was something so innocent about him in that moment. He was free of pain and stress. He was free from the pressure that his father was consistently putting on him. For a moment he looked as though he could breathe.

And she was about to wake him up.

She shook the man and called his name. Klaus groaned and rolled over on the bed. This was the first time that Caroline had ever thought to let the man sleep in. They were usually awake around the same time, but Caroline had told Klaus that she would wake him when it was time for the raid.

"Niklaus… if you don't wake then you will not make it to the raid," Caroline said. That seemed to do the trick because the next thing she knew he was rising from the bed and wiping at his eyes.

Caroline smiled and went back out of the room to allow him a chance to ready himself for the day. She went back to the fire and finished the final preparations for the breakfast meal. She smiled when Klaus came out with his clothing on the chainmail and helmet telling Caroline everything that she needed to know.

"Bjørn is saying that the place that we will be raiding is rich in gold. I hope to bring some back. Maybe a necklace for Bekah and a bracelet for you, huh?" Klaus said as he sat at the table.

Caroline shook her head and said with a laugh, "Nothing for me. Just come back in one piece."

Klaus opened his mouth, his arm arching up as though he wanted to touch her when something clattered to the floor. Both Caroline and Klaus's eyes were drawn to the object. On the table was nothing more than a runed necklace in the language that was spoken here at this time.

Caroline titled her head and bent down to pick it up. "It is a rune for protection," Caroline said as she looked down at the thing. She reached a hand out, grabbing the thing and then she felt the sudden silence. She could not hear anything around her. The snakes that always spoke to her, she could no longer hear.

"It is a suppression charm," Caroline muttered to herself. Klaus was quick to scoop the charmed necklace from the ground. He slipped it into the waistband of his pants and then shook his head.

"It is just a silly little thing that my mother tried to give me," Klaus said with a shake of his head. But Caroline's eyes were drawn to where it lay by his side. Klaus shook his head. "Nothing you need to worry yourself with darling."

Hearing that it was from Esther made Caroline relax. Esther would not give her children something spelled like this for no reason. She then looked at klaus. His face was shadowed as though something horrible had come over him. Caroline knew just what.

There was a barrier between them. The ongoings of the Mikaelson clan were not a secret. It couldn't be with how explosive Mikael was. And despite everything that she had seen or witnessed… Caroline was just as on the outside of the situation as everyone else.

She had witnessed the belittling. She had witnessed the abuse and it scared her and frightened her into silence lest the violence be turned to her. But how long could she bear to watch the children of this family, Elijah, Klaus, Rebekah, Kol and all the rest, how long would she be forced to watch them suffer.

Looking at the trinket, Caroline knew that she was no better than Esther. Esther was their mother. She was meant to protect them and she stood by and watched their suffering for the same reason why Caroiline did. She was scared. But how long could they afford to be scared? How long could they use their fear as reasoning for their timidity?

No longer.

"When you get back… maybe you should spend your treasures on building a house. One for you and your siblings," Caroline said. She said the word carefully, the words curling in her mouth. The moment that they escaped both Caroline and Klaus looked at one another with wide eyes.

The wall that had been so carefully raised around her was crumbling. She looked at Klaus and her next words felled the wall completely.

"You need to make a place where you and your siblings can be safe from… you father. You need to make a home where he cannot reach you. I think you should spend your treasure on that."

Klaus's mouth opened and closed and Caroline shook out her hair. Whatever confidence had filled her faded fast and Caroline grabbed a plate and started to stuff her face with the food.

"Eat," Caroline said in between chews of food. "It'll get cold."

Klaus peered at her a moment longer. And raised the food back to his mouth.

Everyone was by the shore waiting to wish the vikings well on their raiding, but Kol did not want to wish his brother goodbye.

He was going to die. Sure, Nik was better than most with the sword, but there was always going to be someone better. There was always going to be someone out there that could outmatch and outclass you. And while Kol was not sure when that person would come, he was sure that his brother was tempting fate by joining the raid.

So no, Kol was not going to go out and try and wish his brother well in getting himself killed. He shook his head and sighed for a moment before he continued to jump from stone to stone in the river.

Kol stayed out in the forest for a time just enjoying nature. There was something so magical about sitting in nature and just enjoying the way that the world was formed. Everything had its place and Kol and Caroline were part of it somehow.

They were all threads in the tapestry of the world. All woven together to make something magnificent and beautiful. As long as they all played their part. Caroline had her role to play and he had his. Now, did he know what it was that he was supposed to do? No, but that did not mean there was nothing for him in the grand scheme of things.

Kol made his way home when the sun was nearing the western horizon. He had to go and get Hen and finish the last of his chores and then it would be time for dinner. As he re-entered the town there was a clattering that could be heard somewhere in the town.

Kol ignored it. As he entered the town though there was a sound of men and women shouting. Kol turned and saw a horse drawn cart filled to the brim with things and people. The people were a family from their familiar coloring.

The family stopped in front of Yngvar's home. The man, a burly one with a braided bread, banged on the door once before it swung open and a drunk Yngvar toppled out. The man only looked down and sighed and lifted the man onto his shoulder and walked into the home. That left three women and a young boy. They wasted no time in getting their things and slowly making their way into Yngvar's home.

Kol watched as their things slowly dwindled from the cart and into the home. Somewhere inside of the house, Kol could hear voices talking, laughing. When was the last time that they had heard laughter from Yngvar's home?

Kol stepped forward then and knocked on the door to the home. Already a fire was lit in the home and the family was gathered all around it. The women and man all turned to look at him and Kol flashed a smile.

"I heard that we had new meighbors. I was just popping by to see if you were all settling in well. I'm Kol Mikaelson," he said.

"Ah!" the man said, popping up from his palace by the fire. "You of one of Mikael's son then. Yes, I remember you. I knew you when you were nothing more than a wee lad." The man rose from the ground and Kol had never once been more reminded of how young and small he was. He stalked over and pulled Klaus into am embrace before letting him go. "You may not remember me, but I am Geir Olafsson. And this is my family. Odindis Tryggdottir, my wife. And my children Brunhilde Geirdottir, Aldis Geirdottir, and Sigegar Geirdottir."

Each person rose and embraced Kol the moment that their name was called. Brunhild and Aldis looked exactly the same save for Aldis had freckles peppering her nose and cheeks. Kol smiled at them all and nodded his head.

"Ah, then," he said. Never had so many people embraced him before. It was something that he was not quite used to. "I shall leave you to your supper." He turned to leave but then Geir grabbed him by the shoulder.

"It is much too late for you to be wandering in the dark. Stay here with us for supper and then I shall escort you back to your home," Geir said. Kol did not know what to say and so he nodded his head and walked back into the house.

The door shutting behind him was a final nail in the coffin. He was in it with this family. He was stuck with them and he would have to play nice with them for as long as he was here. The smile on Kol's face was tense as he sat down around the fire and they passed food around to eat.

Their family spoke to one another in low tones, their voices high and light and Kol sat and waited for the proverbial dagger to be thrown.

Klaus kept low to the ground. They were here. It was at this moment that they were going to raid the village. Something inside of Klaus's stomach squirmed at the thought of killing people, villagers when they looked so much like the people that Klaus broke bread with day in and day out. But this is what he signed up for. This is what he wanted.

Even from the tree line, Klaus could make out the flecks of gold and silver jewelry that adorned the people here. His hand flipped over his axe. Once, twice, and then he shook his hair out. They were going to do this. Whether or not so he may as well join in right.

The necklace that his mother gifted him burned in his pocket. The heavy weight of him a stark reminder of everything that he had to fight for. Rebekah and Henrik and Kol and Elijah and Finn. He would returned to them. And Carolne and Tatia too. He lowered his axe for a moment and grabbed the necklace and donned it.

If he died then no one would make that place. No one would make that safe space where his siblings could lick their wounds after Mikael turned his anger against them. He knew that it was foolish but he needed something that reminded him of home. Something that bore the reminder of who he was before this.

He picked up his axe. And then with the rest of the men and women raiders, he charged. They launched forward with a cry and the people of the town ran in fear of them.

There was something electric, something good about being the one that carried the axe. Klaus cut into the back of one woman with eyes as blue as the sky. He grabbed the necklace of the woman before she fell to the ground.

Something churned in his chest. Klaus did not know what it was but it was the surge of power. Of rightness. It pulsed through his body and Klaus felt powerful and in control for the first time in his life.

Klaus did not know what happened in the next moment or the moment after that. But it was a flurry of blood. He felled men that were years older than him, years stronger than him. He burned through the town and when he finished the sun was high in the sky and their was blood in his hair.

His comrades came around him hailing him as a "berserker" something that Klaus never once considered being but, now that the words were in his mouth he could only smile. Mikael probably thought that he would fight and he would die in battle.

But he thrived. His fellow vikings lifted him on their shoulders and Klaus grinned. He jumped off the shoulders of a man and began to loot the corpses. This would be more than enough for a home away from Mikael. This would be more than enough to make a place for his family without Mikael.

This would be enough to pay back Caroline. Klaus laughed as he ripped the necklace off the corpse of a woman and shucked the earrings off her ears. This would be enough to bury Mikael.

Klaus turned to the setting sun, the tang of iron in the air. And he breathed for the first time.

Dancing was something that the girls did no matter what. It was something that the girls of the village loved to do. Caroline loved dancing with them as they all washed clothes on the river bank.

Caroline watched as Tatia danced by the water and looked from under her lashes at Elijah who was enraptured by her. Something unsettled in Caroline's stomach. This did not bode well.

Someone came and stood by her side and Caroline turned to look at the person and almost gasped. Standing there beside her was none other than Esther. The woman had a frown on her face, but then again when did she ever smile when she was speaking to Caroline.

"You let him go," Esther said as she looked at the dancing girl who was beguiling her son.

"He wanted to go," Caroline said. Never before had Caroline felt so small. Esther had that effect on her. The woman looked at her as though she was nothing more than a bug that she wanted to squash. Something that she needed to end. Caroline never found out why the woman hated her.

"Do you think that I allow my husband to do whatever he pleases? My children? There are times when you need to put your foot down and say no," Esther said, her voice cold. That same tone brought out a fire in Caroline. Who was she to tell Caroline what she should and should not do.

"You let your husband run shod on you and your children. I will not be taking any advice from you," Caroline said. She turned to leave, but then Esther's hand shot out and grabbed Caroline's arm.

Caroline turned and saw the cornflower blue of her eyes, the pupils so small they were nothing more than pinpricks of light.

"You know nothing," Esther hissed.

"I know enough."

She pulled her arm free and walked home with the sheets she had just washed. Esther turned her sights back to Elijah and Tatia who were conversing about everything and nothing. Her heart hammering in her chest.