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Nari felt terrible, and not just because of the cold. She was sneaking around, an activity she hadn’t partaken in for centuries. But she had no other choice. She’d had to be there. If she wasn’t, they would have done it wrong, and everything would’ve been thrown out of balance.
That was why, for the first time since Merlin went to sleep, she left the safety of Camelot.
The bundle in her arms shifted and sighed ever so softly. Nari tucked it closer to her chest and continued through the maze of buildings that made up Arcadia-Oaks.
The bundle Nari held was made of earth and twigs, held together with silk and crafted in her image. This one would be light and free-spirited but still solid and connected to the stuff from which she was made. She would be the least powerful of the three but have the most personality and the strongest will.
She would be named for the Earth and the forests.
The bundle Skrael held was similar but crafted for him. It was made of tightly packed snow, sheets of ice and slate. Skrael would be taking his North, somewhere cold. His would be down-to-Earth, but differently than Nari’s. He would be sturdy and sure of himself. His power would be in the middle of the three.
He would be named for the wind and sky.
Bellroc’s bundle was being taken South to a place filled with warmth. Theirs was made of molten rock and lava, forged in the depths of the Earth. It was crafted to be destructive, the one to balance out the scales. They would be fluid, ever-changing and bright, like a flame. They would be the most powerful of the three, the leader and the guiding light.
They would be named for the fire and the flame.
If the three of them were brought together, the result would be catastrophic. It would be the beginning of the end. But they had to exist; they had been planned for millennia, crafted over centuries. They were the balance, the scales, the judges.
They were the Titans.
Nari gently set the fussing babe down on the hard ground. She weaved a simple basket on the spot and gently placed her in it. Nari carefully pushed the baby’s hair out of her face, singing softly in a long-forgotten tongue. It pained Nari to leave, to forget about the child she had crafted for years. Who had been clay and twigs before she had given some of her essence, breathed life into her. Distantly, Nari wondered if her brother and sibling felt the same. If they didn’t want to leave the small pieces, reflections of themselves behind in unknown lands. But there was no way for her to know. Not only had she cut off contact with them centuries ago, but they had also agreed that none of them would know the location of any of the children, except for the ones who delivered them to their new homes.
With one last lingering look, Nari turned and fled to the shadows. The siblings had agreed that they would all wait to see that the Titans were taken to good homes in the chosen locations. Not too long after hiding, a large Troll, a Kubera, came to the entrance of Heartstone Trollmarket. He saw the baby Titan, swaddled in a white cloth and basket, seemingly without parents. He regarded the baby curiously, then looked left and right. He obviously found whatever he was looking for, or lack thereof, as he scooped up the baby and put her in his cart.
He entered Trollmarket, and Nari breathed a sigh of relief. She felt for the soul of the Titan, then of the Troll who had taken her, and felt love. This Kubera would take care of the baby, and so would the other Troll tied to his soul.
Yes, Nari thought as she walked away from her child, back to Camelot’s safe walls. Tears streamed down her face, and she let them as a reminder. Yes, she will be safe with them; they will know her power and what to do with it. And they will love her.
Deep down, she prayed Skrael and Bellroc had had the foresight to do the same.