Elijah Mikaelson & The Dragon's Quest

Chapter 24

"Fire?" asked Angelica, clearly now ready to immediately retrieve Henrik Finn from the Salvatore School and shooting a glance at Charlie that sent him scrambling to the other room while dialing up Rafe and Albee. "Mom, I'm fine!" came Henrik Finn's voice over the monitor, out of view, surprising Alaric who turned his head sharply to the left toward the sound of the boy's voice. Elijah stood up, "Son, step into the webcam's view, immediately." Henrik Finn obeyed and soon the boy was in view. Charlie had already left the room and Elijah asked for forgiveness from his brother and sister as he requested a private moment with his son. Freya left the room and Niklaus nodded as his connection was paused. "Alaric, remain please."

Elijah and Angelica discussed with their son what had happened with the fire. He had been quite the heroic young man. Last night, a young witch had been playing with spells in her dorm room against the rules, set the curtains on fire and soon the entire room was ablaze. She had disconnected the smoke alarm so no alarm sounded. She would have died had Henrik Finn not snuck out of his room to explore the grounds on his own. Rafe and Albee caught up with Henrik Finn just as he was dragging the unconscious witch out of her room and away from the fire. Alaric had seen Henrik Finn's burnt clothing and noticed he was unharmed, the smoke had no effect on him either. Rafe and Albee had already extinguished the fire, the witch was taken for medical treatment and the incident was over. Rafe and Albee whisked Henrik Finn away before Caroline or anyone else arrived and the cover story was created that the witch made it out of the room on her own before she collapsed from the smoke. Alaric had thought initially it was his vampire lineage that protected Henrik Finn from harm until he made the connection to the pictograms, Henrik Finn's miraculous birth, and the Dragon King.

"Son, your mother and I are relieved you were not injured and we are very proud of you that you saved that young girl's life. You know how much your mother and I love you. However, we cannot overlook the fact that you snuck away from Rafe and Albee's protection, in the middle of the night, in a strange place. You disobeyed me when you and I agreed that you could help Alaric but you were also to keep to a bedtime. Do you remember that agreement, Son?" Henrik Finn knew he was in deep trouble, and nodded, replying respectfully, "Yes, Sir." Elijah continued, "Also, judging by the look of surprise on Headmaster Saltzman's face, you were hiding in his study eavesdropping on the video conference, yes?" Henrik Finn dropped his head, "Yes, Dad." Elijah looked at Angelica then back to the webcam, "Let's not forget your lie of omission since you should have told us what happened this morning when we video-chatted with you. You are grounded, young man, for the next 36 hours, starting now. No computer except to speak with your mother and I, no smart phone, no video games, no tablet, no library, no reading, no research, no playing outside. When you are not in bed adhering to your bedtime hours tonight and tomorrow night, you will be sitting in your room, thinking about how important it is that you obey me and your mother and that you violated our trust that you would follow our rules, especially while you are a guest in someone else's home. We also want you to think about the terrible position that you placed Rafe and Albee in when you snuck away from their protection, about how you made them feel, and about how you made us feel to learn that you placed yourself in grave danger. And finally, you will write separate letters of apology to Rafe, Albee and Headmaster Saltzman for what you did, I will review them tomorrow before you give them the letters. Do I make myself clear, Son?" Henrik Finn nodded, then added, "Yes, Dad." Elijah finished, saying, "We love you, Son," and Henrik Finn replied saying, "I love you, Dad, love you, Mom." Henrik Finn left the view and Albee's voice could be heard off screen, saying, "Come on, buddy, solitary confinement for you," and the door to the study could be heard closing shut.

Charlie came back into the living room and handed his phone to Angelica. She had a brief discussion with Rafe about Henrik Finn's behavior, his punishment guidelines, and told Rafe quite clearly that if one of them had to sit in a chair in his room to keep him in sight, then they were to do so. Rafe understood and apologized for letting him get away but Angelica told him not to worry that this would probably worsen the older Henrik Finn became as Angelica was quite good at the same thing when she was a child. Rafe asked her whether the punishment should be longer but Angelica explained to him that for a child such as Henrik Finn, tomorrow would be excruciating because of the constant need to either read or move about, and they had just confined him from doing both. Boredom is the worst punishment imaginable for someone like Henrik Finn and Angelica which is why they only grounded him for one day. She ended the call by thanking Rafe and Albee for always watching out for Henrik Finn.