Brigid had reclined back onto her haunches for the drowning ceremony, waiting expectantly for the eldest children to go through their ritual. It was a ritual she herself had been a part of and with Vellen having taken her sight she knew just how serious the situation was. It only took a few moments before chaos was ensuing around her. She couldn't see a thing but she could surely hear everything. Between Nadia's cries, Myrkvi and Rasmus suffering side effects, and then both girls failing their drownings things had gone downhill fast. @Magnus' wrath was to be expected and even when @Saga's glare was sent in her own direction it was swiftly ignored. Instead Brigid's attention would fall towards @Sjórbjörn as he spoke; the piebald woman could not help but scoff as she rose from the beach. "Re-drown them then. But allow Magnus to handle them in the meantime. Perhaps Vellen is not done testing those two, hm?" She inquires then without batting an eye. Brigid would send her blind stare in the direction of Magnus' brood before she would make her way from the beach; and if they failed again, well at least she would have more in her own corner.

exit.

Haven't I given enough?
Always the fool with the slowest heart

She continued shaking her sister's drowned form, only satisfied once her eyes snapped open and Volsupa began to choke violently. She warmed at the sight of her, grinned and pressed forward, only to be met with horror in the twist of her sister's expression. I was fine! Hrefna, why -- I was fine! Hrefna knit her brows together with confusion.

"I delivered you. I made a deal for your soul," she corrected with a nod, her own chest heaving to take in greedy gulps of air now that they had surfaced on the shore. She followed her sister's gaze to meet those on the shore, instantly met with the reproach of suspicious stares and furious whispers. Stupid, idiot girl! Magnus cursed her, sending her velvet ears flattening back against the curvature of her skull. We will die. One life, for all of us. Hrefna twisted her face in horror and shook her muzzle back and forth in denial, tearing her gaze away from her father only when Voluspa collapsed against her frame. "Voluspa," she called out again, shifting backward at the weight resting against her forelegs.

"Ég mun færa honum fórn!" He will get his sacrifice. The words were supposed to comfort them all somehow, and yet Hrefna found even she grew panicked at the implications of what she had just done. She turned her head back toward the sea, eyes straining to see through the waves and only seeing shadow on her left side no matter how she squinted. Tell them, she begged the only one they would listen to. Tell them I am Your witness and Your paws in our realm, Hrefna begged inwardly to a god who would not answer her. Not there, in front of the masses.

Was it worth it, Daughter? She snapped her attention back to her father's anguished gaze.
"He will spare us," Hrefna insisted lowly. "I will give whatever lives I must. Voluspa should not die today," she elaborated, attempting to shove roughly against her sister's shoulders once more. They were slumped and pathetic against the sands, and Hrefna silently cursed her show of weakness there when she had put her own reputation on the line.

This was all the defense she could muster for herself before Magnus insisted that the daughters be released from the hollows and given to lagoon custody. Hrefna pulled herself up to stand beside her sister, casting her gaze between the speaking Sigrun adults as they agreed that she should be released. Even if it would have been agreed on prior, she could not help how this felt like a punishment in its own right as her father stormed away from the scene.

You did the right thing. She glowered over at the patchwork lioness who spoke the words. Perhaps she thought she was being helpful, but Hrefna could only frown at her as she considered the concept of the right thing. "Sæll Vellen," she murmured the flat response, looking away from the healer then. Perhaps it stung more to be on the same side as a heretic who knew nothing of their god while her family remained the crowd muttering and spitting in the distance.

Hrefna gazed at Nadia as she held Voluspa to her chest, noting the parental care of the gesture with bitter detachment. "She would have died," Hrefna whispered to her mother, staring daggers at her shadowed frame. If any of them claimed to care about the princesses, she knew Nadia would be the one to mean it. She would understand the stakes as Hrefna did. "How many of your children will you let drown?" It was a cruel question, and she knew it in her heart. Would you let me die? Would you have saved her yourself if I had not? She could not bring herself to demand these answers aloud. She did not suspect she truly wanted these answers.

Numbly, Hrefna moved to follow after her siblings and her mother. She saw how they did not want to look at her. She saw their estrangement and disappointment, and she could only shuffle forward in disbelief as she remarked how they all ought to be thanking her.

[exit]

There was so much happening at once. He was starting to get his barings back, no where near perfect but something manageable. One sister came out alright but not the other. Kvi looked on from his place in the sand, jaws open because he could only watch. Watch and hear the curses among the whispering, the not so whispered, and in the looks on their faces. There would be an expression of shock across his dark features, but it wouldn’t keep him from heeding his mother. His gaze tore away from the scene towards his pale brother who struggled his way in his direction. Kvi rose to his feet for Rasmus, taking on the weight of his brother and leading him away from the scene.

-exit

table by ferus, art by munk, unsplash stock

there's so much noise.

her confusion and worry boil to a tipping point, so much so when the sisters are heaved back onto the shore. something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. where desdemona thinks hrefna will be praised for bringing her sister back from the depths, she is instead chided. the snarls on the faces of the watching clan speak volumes, their conversations muddled by the sound of her blood pumping in her own ears.

she takes a jaunted step backwards, her paws almost teetering out form beneath her. the girls are scolded, magnus' anger is palpable, and she can only watch from a distance as nadia gathers her sopping wet young to usher them off. desdemona swallows thickly, eyes brimming with heat as the gathered sigrun begin to disperse. she stands there for a moment, eyes lost in the ocean before she soon turns to leave, suddenly very afraid of the family traditions she too would be expected to honor.

/exit

manip by sanctuare