Broken Souls

47

Walking into the office of Mystic Falls elementary, they were quickly led to the principal's office. There they were greeted with a mother and her child, Maya slouched in her seat, along with the principal himself. The other child, being comforted by her mother, was holding a red cheek. Maya was looking at her lap, a look of anger on her face.

Sol was the first to move to Maya, kneeling in front of her. Seeing the anger on her face, the woman grew a bit worried about what may have happened. If Maya had been the instigator, she'd had to find an appropriate punishment. However, she hoped that her child had only defended herself.

"Can you tell me what happened?" She asked Maya softly.

"Your child punched my daughter. What more do you need to know?" The woman chided her.

Sol's head spun quickly, narrowing her eyes at the woman. "Excuse me, was I talking to you? No, I was talking to my child." Kol snickered as the other mother's expression twisted into absolute rage. Her mouth dropped open to say less than pleasant words, but she was stopped by the principal clearing his throat.

"I don't believe we've met," he rose from his chair and extended his hand to the brothers. "I'm Mr. Henderson, the principal here."

"It's wonderful to meet you, Mr. Henderson, though I wish it had been under different circumstances." Elijah shook the man's hand. "I'm Elijah, and these are my brothers: Finn, Kol, and Nik. We're Solène's partners."

The principal nearly choked at his words. He'd heard rumors about the polyamorous couple, but didn't see them himself at the ball they threw. He'd not been able to attend the party most of the town had been invited to. He played off his surprise with a smile, shaking each of the men's hands.

"It's lovely to meet Maya's father's," he added, remembering Solène mentioning their situation when she came in to change Maya's information in the system. It never crossed his mind that they would all show up when something happened. Seeing one or two, that wouldn't have been so bad. However, having all of these intimidating men in his office made him feel smaller. Not in a bad way, it was simply the acknowledgment that the brothers were much stronger than him. "I'm pleased you could all make it for the meeting. I apologize for not having enough seats."

"See, mom? I told you that she was a..." The young girl was cut off by her mother's words.

"Don't speak over the principal, Tracy, it's rude."

That's rude? I'd like to know what she was about to say.

Sol glared at the pair, but followed the principals suggestion to let the girls sit in the seats in front of his desk, the rest circling behind them, as they discussed the incident.

"So, I would like to start with what the teacher witnessed before she interfered in the altercation." Settling back into his chair, he rested his forearms on his desk and linked his fingers together. "I was told that the two appeared to be conversing normally until Maya began to shout. Tracy said something the teacher couldn't hear, and she was then assaulted by Maya."

Sol, standing on one side of her child, placed a hand onto her head and began stroking the girls' hair. She knew Maya would never punch somebody unprovoked. It was clear the Maya had a bit of a temper, but it was never abrupt. There was always a cause.

"When I asked Maya why she had punched Ms. Claremont, she explained to me that Tracy had said some... less than kind words about you and your partners, Ms. Griffith."

The witch tensed at the words, relief beginning to flood her system. Maya was just defending her family. She only wanted to protect them.

"You only got in one punch?" Kol looked down at the girl who tipped her head back to meet his gaze.

"Mrs. Sanders stopped me before I could get another in." Irritation spiked in the girls eyes, furrowing her brows. Kol was smirking at her words; Nik trying to stifle his laughter at her admission.

Sol let out a resigned sigh, "Can we please not encourage her to punch someone just because they said rude things?"

"I agree," Finn nodded. "Violence is not the best answer when someone is speaking against those you care about." Sol noticed right away he didn't say that "violence was never the answer." She supposed that would be slight hypocrisy seeing as he pulled out Sage's heart for that and the woman's attempts on her life.

"What am I to do with you all?" She asked wistfully, seeing the amusement grow on their face. Her attention was pulled down to Maya who tugged on her shirt. Kneeling down next to her daughter, she offered a smile. "Something you want to say, kiddo?"

"The things Tracy said... they were really mean." Her gaze dropped to her lap.

"She wouldn't tell me everything that was said," Mr. Henderson clarified. "I assumed it was something she didn't want to repeat."

"Do you want to tell me what she said?" Sol's gaze moved to glare at the little girl in the other seat. "You won't get in trouble, baby. We just need to know so we can take care of it properly." If I need to bring in the other mom's, I'll do it. They love me after that parent fundraising banquet a few days ago... It helps the Finn went with me. He looked so good in that sweater.

Maya began to speak, pulling Sol out of her thoughts. "We were talking. I was telling her about everyone. How I had a new mom and four dads. That we lived in a big house with Aunt Rebekah and Uncle Kai... She said that... that you're a whore," Maya spat the bitter words from her lips, gripping Sol's hand for support. "That normal people only date on person at a time. I told her what you said, about polyamorous relationships, but she just laughed. Then, she said that they were stupid for falling in love with the same person... and that you were probably with them because they have lots of money."

At this point the Mikaelson's and Sol were seething with rage. A small child had said that much about their relationship? Especially when she knows nothing, but what their daughter was excitedly sharing about her new life?

"How the hell did you raise your daughter?" Kol spoke harshly, glaring down Tracy's mother. Sol was doing her best to soothe Maya who was getting worked up just speaking about the incident again, but she managed to reach out and grab the hem of Kol's shirt.

"Kol," her tone held a warning. "We need to handle this properly. Now that we know what's been said, the principal can dole out appropriate punishments."

"Punishments? My daughter did nothing but say a few things while they were joking around. Your child is the one who assaulted Tracy!" Mrs. Claremont asserted.

Maya clung tighter onto Sol's shirt, worrying the woman. Had something else happened that made her so upset? By the smug look on the little girls' face, she assumed so.

"Joking? Your little spawn was insulting my family straight to my daughter's face! Do you think I'll sit back and allow such disrespect to go unpunished?" Niklaus' voice rose, filling the small office. "I demand this child be removed from my daughter's class, immediately."