This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of severe drowning

He watches with his jaw clenched as @Myrkvi makes his way towards their father. Rasmus is quick to give his brother a firm nod of his head, you will be fine brother he wishes to speak but instead only watches with attentive lilac orbs. It seems like hours pass after Myrkvi is struck and sent out to sea. Rasmus ignores their mother even as she cries out for Myrkvi, ignores everything as he watches his brother's seemingly lifeless body be tossed in the waves. There is a flicker of hope however when Myrkvi begins to return to shore. Rasmus lets out the breath that he didn't know he was holding, thank Vellen Myrkvi was okay. It was the realization though that his turn was next that made his stomach drop. Upon his father's gesture he would step forward though with no hesitation, his gaze focused on his father's face before he would join him in the water. The water sloshed at his chest and sides and the yearling would nod firmly to his father before casting his gaze out to sea. It was only then that a sickening thud would resound in his ears, his vision pulsating before going black entirely. Rasmus is thrust downward, sucked beneath the water and then forced out further into the sea. He feels nothing, not initially. He does not feel anything even as his body is slammed against rocks and flung, it is only when his lungs begin to burn that he fights to regain consciousness.

His body has every intention of rising to the surface, his lungs are on fire and god the water is everywhere. Vaguely his mind flashes images of his loved ones, his mother and father, brother and sisters and the future siblings that would be joining them. Rasmus can feel everything but yet nothing at all. The yearling struggles to get his legs to move but he is sluggish and the water begins to feel so cold. He is so cold. He cannot feel his legs and even as his eyes flash open he cannot move up to the surface. His body feels too heavy and he begins to suddenly sink downward. His lungs burn, air, please air. Again his body is pulled into a current and this time flung towards the shore. The water floods his body, leaving him cold and empty. He is deposited back onto the shore like a limp noodle as if Vellen were to say I'm finished with you.

He is cold, so cold. He cannot open his eyes, he cannot feel. Slowly the life begins to leave him, slowly. Rasmus tries to breathe but he cannot move, his lungs refuse to work. He tries to cough out the water in his lungs but his body begins to seize leaving him in a crumbled heap on the beach, motionless.

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Again, he would be forced to wait. Rasmus would re-emerge from the depths; spat out viciously like an unwanted meal. Magnus would initially take that as a positive sign - too many times had his kin disappeared under the waves, to never be seen again. The pale boy would be released from the icy depths, which would lull the titan into thinking that his son had been given back to him.

Yet he was motionless; unlike Myrkvi, the younger son would not stand of his own accord. Instead he remained slumped on the sand, sides eerily still. His body was not his own as he jumped into action. In his mind, it was not defying Vellen. If Vellen wanted him dead, he would've taken him. No, this was a test to see if the Jarl was strong enough to bring his boy back. Meet me halfway, if you can, the deity hissed in the ear of the panicked father. With a rough grab to the scruff Magnus would haul Rasmus' body upward into a seated position, scooping one of his limbs underneath his abdomen and tugging him back toward him; a desperate Heimlich, once, and then again, and then again.

A broken rib or two was better than death. "Wake up," Magnus rasped, pleading. "Vaknaðu," he urged, this time in the mother tongue - as if that might make some difference. "Vaknaðu, Rasmus!"

irish

He can feel the cold gripping him like a vice and he tries so desperately but cannot seem to find his way out of this intense fog. Eerily enough he can see his body, can see it lying on the shore completely motionless. "Vaknaðu, Rasmus!" The voice is so far away and strangely Rasmus can see his father, can see himself as the gargantuan frame of the Jarl fights to force the water from his lungs. It cannot end this way can it? Suddenly he is flung back into his body, the water hacking from his lungs violently as his body crumples against @Magnus. His lilac gaze is glassy from lack of oxygen, his limbs still numb. His head falls backward before his voice croaks, "Afsakið.. Bilun.." He says to his father. He had failed, he had faced Vellen and been rejected. But why had his father saved him? Shouldn't he have been left to die there on the shore?

He still cannot feel his body, the numbness consuming him. It is an odd feeling as the pinpricks consume him and he coughs again, sputtering out more sea water, his body shuddering all the while. "I.." He says before he turns, noticing that slowly some feeling is returning to his left side but the right is still slow to have it's strength resumed. "I cannot feel." He says in hushed tones then, his sides heaving as he tries to suck in as much oxygen as possible. He did not know what this meant for him only that his life would never be the same again.

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The scene that unfolds around them starts off innocuous enough, but Echo cannot help but notice how somber everyone looked. "Maybe it's a burial." She guesses to @Beelzebub in a whisper, shifting her weight as she watches to see what will happen.

What unfolds is not at all what was expected. Was Magnus drowning his own children!? Her body lurches forward as the first boy goes under the water, knowing through wretched experience and with every fiber of her being what ordeal they went through. She knew the agony, knew the burning sensation and helplessness - the panic. Yet, she can just barely hold herself back as the first boy manages to be okay - yet not unscathed - clearly confused.

Why would they do this?

Then the next boy, a white one in spite of the inky blackness of his parents, goes so much worse. He is brought ashore lifeless and dying and Echo lurches again, but this time she must act. She could not sit by and just watch as Magnus kills his own son, and without thinking of the wrath she may incur Echo barges onto the beach in a somewhat frenzied sprint. As she does, @Magnus attempts some sort of odd frontward maneuver. Echo knew what to do here. Emery had done the same to her when she had nearly drowned. "Stop! I can help him!" Her voice cracks in both youth and panic.

But then @Rasmus awakens, his father's awkward maneuver having worked to expel the water from his lungs. She can tell from the way his breath crackles and gasps that it is likely not all of it. His words bring with them a feeling of despair within the Bezra that was so far out of place here in this grisly event. "I cannot feel".

What could she possibly do to help with that? Anything is better than nothing.

ooc Echo is attempting to reach Rasmus to administer first aid. I did not go any further than this in case she is intervened on here.

He would be met on the shore by @Nadia who was quick to reach out with motherly care. He felt her tongue rasp against the wound on his head and winced in response but made no pained noise otherwise. "Mom." The inky yearling murmured in acknowledgment as his eyes rolled up to look at her. He grunted as she encouraged him close to her chest. It took a moment to register what she had informed him of. "Drowning?" It rolled the word around as he struggled to sit up and not sway with the water in his ears. Ah yes, water in his ears. Myrkvi would shake his head in an effort to expell some. "Right. Drowning." He spoke as if he knew exactly what was going on.. ish.

It was at this particular time that @Rasmus had made his way towards their father. He watched as his pale brother sunk beneath the waves. How violent Vellen had decided to be with the way Ras had seemingly just been spit from the sea and back onto the shore. "Ras." Myrkvi would attempt to say his brother's name but struggled with volume. Something was wrong. Myrkvi pushed himself onto his paws even though his reaction time was much slower. @Magnus would be the first to reach his unusually still sibling and do what he could. Any attempt to cross the distance between them was met with wobbly steps as if he were heavily under the influence of fermented fruits (or something). "Ras!" A little more effort but it was painful. He was 3/4 of the way there before ultimately collapsing in the sands, his legs simply crumbling beneath him with the dizziness that plagued his skull. The world spun a time or two before he was able to focus on the scene in front of him.

Ras sputtered back to life and all Kvi could do was sigh in relief. He really could only lay here and watch as a lioness not related to them rush the scene to attempt to give aid. Would things continue so grimly for these Sigrun? Would each of them look Vellen's icy door of death in the face today before walking away from it?

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sjórbjörn sigrún

---

The titan is late, but he arrives in time to see @Echo attempting to reach his nephew, crying that she can help him. Massive paws carry him close to the yearling, and he aims to block her path to @Rasmus. You are not one of us, the titan rumbles down at her, yellow eyes glaring. You should not even be here. Looking at @Magnus, the bear-priest lifts an eyebrow - silently asking what his Jarl would like him to do with this trespasser. He's not one for hurting women or children ( and Echo is both a girl and a child ) but he can at minimum send her away.

In the meantime, he simply seeks to stand in her way, a guard dog of the family rituals refusing to allow this stranger to trespass any further into them. These rites are sacred, and her interruption is blasphemy; Bear will not allow her to further derail the drownings. At his side is his daughter, @Zélie, trying her best to also look fierce and intimidating towards Echo. It's more cute than scary, but he appreciates that she wants to back him up. He nudges her gently a little away from him just in case Echo tries to get around him, not wanting his baby to get stepped on.

She follows her father to her uncle's pride, his earlier words ringing in her ears. We are to watch a sacred rite of our family, Azélie. One that you yourself must undergo when you turn a year old in order to be recognized as a full member of our family. They're late ( mostly because she'd kept getting distracted and wandering off ) but when they do arrive, an older girl is shouting about helping someone. Her father is swift to get in the older girl's way, and Zélie runs after him as fast as her little legs can carry her. Trying to help, she mean-mugs @Echo and bares little teeth in a... well, frankly adorable little snarl. She's not remotely frightening, but she's doing her best.

A burial, her sister predicts, but Bee cannot help but notice that they do not look to be mourning, but bracing for something. She doesn't say a word, just hunkers down next to @Echo and watches on curiously, her claws kneading the earth. It seems as though the whole family is going to gather here today, and they all bypass the onlooking Bezra sisters, whose presence go unnoticed entirely. It is children around their age -- a bit younger, however, who seem to be attracting the most attention, the gears working in her head to make sense of what will come next. The events that follow are...a surprise, to say the least. The first of the king's children (she assumes, anyway) joins Magnus in the swelling waves, and though she cannot understand the words, she recognizes the intonation of a prayer. Only a moment passes before the Scillan sovereign slams his paw into the back of the boy's skull, and he goes tumbling into the waters without reflexes. Bee's eyes widen and her breath hitches in her chest -- what the fuck? She knows little of this Vellen that they follow, only that he belongs to the sea, that he is angry and demanding like her Odin. That they may be in one in the same. Is this -- why they were not favored? Is this the price of what it truly takes to please him? She finds that her heart is racing, thudding uncomfortably in her breast as she watches on with a worry for the ebon teenager. It seems like minutes pass, everyone holding their breath -- even her. Eventually, however, he breaks free on the surface, spluttering and coughing and falling into the embrace of his mother's arms. And then there is the next to join his father in the waves -- and they all go willingly, they all watch on grimly. Even their mother does not interfere, though her anxiety about the situation is impossible to miss. Things do not go as smoothly for the white yearling, who remains unmoving when the ocean dumps him onto the shoreline. Before she can quite process what's happening, Echo is lunging free of the brush. "Echo," she hisses, her muscles quivering. She knows they should not be here -- they shouldn't be here. If this is what @Magnus is capable of doing to his own offspring, she has to admit that she fears the potential things that could happen to herself or her sister if they are discovered. But it's too late now, Echo has announced her presence and ran panicked and yelling towards the fray. Fuck. A shiver ripples down her spine before Bee, too, slinks out of the brush. Her posture is low and furtive -- almost submissive, as if that will make her intrusion on their ceremony better. She's only doing it for Echo. Whatever happens to you happens to me, too. A beast of a man, matching Magnus in size but stark opposite in appearance blocks her sibling's path, towering over her with an imposing glare. Her ears slick back against her skull, her posture low and creeping as she sidles up alongside Echo, her heart thundering in her chest. "Sorry," she whispers to @Sjórbjörn, her whiskers quivering as her gaze darts between him and Magnus. She is sorry, for intruding on their sacrifice to their god; she both does and doesn't understand it, what's happening here, but she knows that they most certainly should not have been watching.

Ragna stared with a blank expression, serene as she observed a ceremony she herself went through not long ago. It was certainly terrifying as one couldnt know if they would be spared by Vellen or simply left there to die. Luckily she wasnt taken by the god's wrath. But still it left a awful remain in her memory. But now being her the one to witness, she felt nothing. It sounded mean but at his point she just accepted it. And of course she would do that should she have her own children.

Then as she looked back, she saw her cousin @Sjórbjörn . Scolding @Echo with @Beelzebub there too. She approached but without an hostile demeanor. "It's okay cousin. I don't think they meant it." She aimed to defend the two girls. Besides, she didn't saw any ill with them to watch. "I can stay with them if anything happens." which she doubted.

Code by Cloudy

Down they go. From the oldest all the way to the youngest as tradition dictates. Úlla has seen the drowning of her youngest siblings and those of her cousins who have yet to reach Amaryllis land. She has seen, too, the failures and the catastrophes, of bodies lost to the sea and of stricken illnesses that lasts for a lifetime. But this is Vellen's call and never theirs. The Sigrún merely listens and ritualizes what others may see as a violent practice. This is the way. When Myrkvi opens his eyes he doesn't seem to remember the drowning at all. But the blood is there and the boy is shivering from the cold temperature of the sea. She can only shake her head when @Nadia turns her attention to her and @Saga. That's not important right now; what's important is your son lived. Úlla, ever the stern-faced woman, keeps her disposition and stands where she is. This is not her own to meddle in and certainly not Saga's. Soon, @Magnus speaks, congratulating his eldest on his drowning. Next, is @Rasmus's turn. But as Úlla watches, she feels something in her chest. This drowning will be different, she realizes. Perhaps it's because she watched one too many drownings before and she has almost seen them all. When Rasmus returns to dry land, he's not conscious like his older brother. Vellen is still testing him. And yet Magnus is able to rouse his boy with his words, something Úlla also saw during her years within the homeland. She, too, called to her children after their drowning, though to her, theirs felt more easy and quick. When one of the yearlings that were watching tries to move in, @Sjórbjörn stops her. With a flick of her tail, Úlla draws near, acting as yet another pillar between @Echo and the Sigrun. Listen to him Úlla says There's a time for you to act and do as you please, but it's not right now. You are not one of us, you are not chosen by Vellen.

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