If I Had Words

Chapter 13    Chapter 15

Ouranos took more interest in the children after our creation of Kronos. 

It was wonderful. 

At least, at first it was wonderful. 

When I had been Mother alone, it had been tiring. I had to provide everything the children needed. I had to answer their questions. I had to spend my energy on their requests. But, I had been able to make my own decisions. I had been able to decide whether something was worth my energy or not. I hadn’t had to consult and make decisions with anyone else. 

Now that we were working together as mother and father it was a little more complicated. 

Ouranos was definitely more relaxed than he had been. He stopped complaining that there were too many children. He was a different kind of father compared to Pontos. Well, I didn’t really know about Pontos and his way of being a father. He never involved me in his things and I wasn’t interested. 

But Ouranos had opinions about everything and he would share them openly. I didn’t always agree with what he thought and what he wanted. As we adjusted to working together as mother and father we found ourselves constantly arguing. 

Fortunately, we both agreed that we wanted our children to find their purpose. However, it was soon clear that beyond that one point, there was little else we agreed on. Ouranos had been happy to let Kronos explore, but he wasn’t the only one still exploring powers and purpose. Kronos roamed free without complaint, but as the others also began to branch out their explorations and experiments, Ouranos was not as happy.

I couldn’t see the problem. It was what the children had been doing with my earth. However, I did not like Kronos’s exploration. It felt different. It felt too much like Khaos. It felt too much like Ouranos before he promised to protect me. It was too self-focused and self-serving.   

“Mother!!!” 

I could feel the cry had a sense of urgency. I tried to manage my instant alarm as I searched for the source. It didn’t take long and I soon found myself on the far side of the earth. 

“What is it?” I asked, approaching Theia. She was standing in front of Kronos with a look of horror on her face. 

“He took it! He took my light!! Give it back!!!” 

“Kronos, what have you done?” 

“It was easy and it has so much energy.”

“What does?”

“Her light.”

 I looked from Theia to Kronos. 

“How were you able to take her light?”

“It came to me. It wanted to be with me.” 

“How do you know that?” 

“I can feel it. It knows that it has more potential with me. She just plays with it. I will use it.”

“What will you use it for?”

“Something important.”

“What?” 

“I will know when it is time,” he said. 

“Make him give it back to me, Mother!” 

I looked at Theia. It felt right to make him give it back to her. No matter what exploring Ouranos felt was important, taking things did not feel right.

“Give it back to Theia,” I told Kronos. 

“Her light is mine now.” 

I felt so confused. How could they be his when they had been hers?

“They are mine!” Theia cried. “You’re not a creator of light. You can’t just take them.”

“They are her elements. You must return them to her,” I said again. 

“I may not be a creator of light, but I can use them. I’ll store them for now. We’ll see what they will become later,” he said. 

He moved to leave.

“No,” I said, blocking him. “You must give them back to Theia. You have taken them from her. If you want something, you must request it. You cannot take it.”

“I won’t give them to her and you can’t make me. You have no power over me, Mother.”

I was stunned. 

“But I created you,” I said. “You must give them back to her.”

“I will not.” 

Without another word, Kronos left. 

I couldn’t believe that Kronos had directly defied me, that he had refused to give Theia her elements. 

“This is very troubling,” I said to Theia. “I will speak with your father and see what can be done.” 

I circled the earth, doing a quick search of the heavens, hoping it wouldn’t be hard to find Ouranos. I eventually found him rearranging something. 

“Ouranos, something is wrong,” I said as he moved some of the clouds a different way.

“I am busy at the moment. Iapetos has completely destroyed the patterns here. Just look what he did!” 

I could not see any real difference in the clouds. 

“But Kronos,” I said. 

“Oh, yes, Kronos,” Ouranos said, suddenly abandoning his task. 

“He took Theia’s light and will not give it back.” 

“Maybe he needs it.”

“He does not need it at the moment. He said he would save it until he knew what he needed it for.”

“He is still discovering his purpose. How can he find  his purpose if he is not allowed to try some things?”

“But he took it.”

Ouranos shrugged. “It must be part of his nature.”

“Then his nature is not good. It feels wrong.”

“Would you want to unmake him? Should I let Khaos through and see if he can be undone?”

Ouranos knew I did not want that. He said it so casually, but I knew very well he would not want it either. It was all so frustrating, this working together as father and mother. 

“No,” I said, trying to stay calm. “I do not think he should be unmade. But maybe you should talk to him. Help him discover his purpose in a different way. One that is less disruptive to the others.”

“Only if you talk to Iapetos and tell him to stop messing with my heavens. I do not like any of them messing with my elements.”

“Maybe Iapetos is discovering his purpose,” I said. 

I couldn’t help feeling somewhat satisfied in pointing out his contradiction. 

Ouranos frowned at me before leaving to search for Kronos. 

As he left, my satisfaction was dulled as I wondered. Had there been disruptions all along? All of the attention I had to give to each of the children made it hard for me to notice in what ways things were changing. I surveyed the heavens and the earth. Some things did not feel right. There were things even with the earth that felt out of place. Had I only just noticed? 

Or was this something new?

Chapter 13    Chapter 15