Page 20 of Triplets for the Dark Elf
“You are all unique in your own ways,” I say, realizing that the conversation is getting derailed. “You have some parts of me in each of you.”
“But why different?” Maeve asks, pointing at her arm. She’s too smart for her own good sometimes.
I sigh, blowing my bangs out of my eyes. How am I going to deal with this? I feel so unprepared. Am I totally stuck here? Do I have any recourse?
“Mama?” Hazel asks, poking lightly at my arm.
“Sorry,” I say, refocusing on them. “So once upon a time, Mamareallywanted babies. She wanted Hazey and Indie-Boy and Mae-Bae really, really badly so she prayed to the gods, you remember the stories about the thirteen gods that Auntie Lucy told you about right?”
They nod and I continue on. “So I prayed real hard to the gods, especially the Mother and the Hearthkeeper that they would give me you three. And then you came into my belly.”
“Where did we live before we were in your belly?” Indie interrupts.
“You were in the stars,” I say with a smile. “You played together in the stars until it was time to be in my belly. So you all have parts of Mama with you. But there is also someone else who helped me. A special dark elf. He has dark skin like you, Mae-Bae. And he’s got black hair just like you, Hazey. And Indie, he’s got the same pretty indigo eyes like you!”
“Where he?” Maeve asks.
“He’s...” I try to think about it. “He’s far away. But you can’t ever see him. He’s a special person who helped me get you and then had to go away again.”
The triplets seem to accept this answer, chattering among themselves about the dark elf who has their eyes and skin and hair and comparing their other features. We finish dinner and I start getting them ready for bed, heart aching after telling them the story of their heritage.
“Mama, I want my treat now!” Indie reminds me as I clean up the plates. Great. I almost forgot. Indie didn’t, though, and I almost chuckle.
“Here,” I hand him a nut bar from the batch I baked the night before, for their lunches.
“I want one, too!” Maeve insists.
“You can all have one,” I say, handing one over to Hazel as well. “Now, do you want to read or do you want to play with the blocks on the couch?”
“Blocks,” Indie insists.
“Read!” Hazel calls out. Maeve purses her lips, thinking it over.
“Blocks,” she says finally. I set them up on the sofa, Hazel with her favorite book about Cirsheco the Wild and the other two with their wooden blocks before heading back into the kitchen to clean up.
They behave for the most part and I’m able to get the dinner dishes washed before I come back out. “Okay, time for bed. Do you want a bedtime story or a song?” I ask.
“Story!”
“Song!”
“Both!”
I smile, holding back a sigh. Three kids means they almost never all want the same things. “How about one song and one story?” I offer. I’ll make the song short to appease them.
“Two songs!” Hazel insists.
“Okay but only if there’s no yelling or fighting while you brush your teeth,” I warn them. They all nod with great solemnity and I have to hold back my laughter.
True to their word, they are quiet as field rodans as we wash our faces and brush our teeth and climb into bed with nary a peep.
“And so the big bad orc was defeated, never to be seen or heard from again,” I say, finishing the last story.
“Thank you, Mama,” they say, the three of them yawning and rubbing their eyes. I know they’re about to fall asleep so I give them all kisses and tuck them in bed, a sad part of me wishing that Miothro was here with me. Especially as I retreat to my own room – which I’m sure was meant to be a closet.
Am I doing the right thing by keeping them apart? I grew up without a family but Miothro had his brother and father...would it be better if they knew him?
But then again, I don’t know how to protect them in this cruel world. Not if I bring them back around Miothro. Almu might have given up his grudge by now but that doesn’t mean there won’t be others.