Murmuration | Home

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"I miss the comfort of this house.
Where we are where we are.
The floor under our feet whispers out
Come on in come on in, where it all begins."

- Lakehouse | Of Monsters and Men

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Starlings flocks twirling in the sun-setting sky. That was the most memorable thing that Siselle remembered distinctly of Regalia. Those types of birds didn't live in Drixagh, where the ground was nearly always frozen even in Summer and the children required coats against the breeze despite the summer season.

Now, though, those coats were shoved into bags in her chambers aboard their ship. Løvid had since woken up and he was currently pressing his face against Siselle's throat while continuously mumbling, "Mamma, mamma, mamma." Easily vocalizing the boredom of them both. Solveig, Siselle's daughter and Løvid's half sister, on the other hand, was asleep at the foot of her mother's cot.

There was a call from above on the deck of the ship and Siselle finally raised her hand to run her hand over her stepson's hair with a sigh. "Please, child, it's only a few longer. Didn't you hear that man? I bet he was saying he saw land."

Løvid gave a soft sigh and then the little boy sat himself up. "Land?" He asked, tilting his head some. He shifted after only a minute, of course, too hyper to stay in one position. Instead, he positioned himself sitting atop his mother's chest with folded legs. While it wasn't incredibly comfortable, Siselle went against complaining.

"Yes, land. That's where pappa is." Her words only seemed to excite the boy more and he bounced in place, bringing a wheeze from poor squashed Siselle. Solveig shifted in her sleep as if the mention of her father reached even into slumber.

"He's coming home with me?" Løvid asked his question while his attention shifted to the girl at the end of the bed. After a moment, he slid down towards her and shoved a finger against the toddler's ribs to wake her, which she did with a startle and brief wail.

Siselle only took the chance to answer about ten minutes later, taking the time to comfort the newly awake Solveig and then scold Løvid. And then comfort the scolded Løvid as he had begun crying from his mother's sharp tone. Once all were happy, both children settled against Siselle as she sat against the wall, did she reply to the boy's question.

"No, he's not coming home. He's already home- we're going home."

"But farfar?" Solveig said softly, her voice mumbling and probably impossible to understand if Siselle hadn't been her mother. Farfar, Siselle's father whom they had been visiting, was no one other than Valbrand- Though the man has declined and visit Regalia again yet when Siselle had offered to pay for another ticket for him.

"Farfar lives in Drixagh. We live in Regalia with pappa." Solveig didn't look pleased with the answer given, the girl already missing the frosty weather up north. Siselle couldn't disagree either, dreading the summer humidity that awaited them.

Above them, another call came. Land soon.

Siselle patted her children's backs and then set them off her so she could stand. After stretching a moment, she went about gathering some of their things that had been laid out to put them away for when they returned to land- blankets, pillows, stuffed animals from either child, and a book Siselle had read throughout the voyage. Then she took each child aside and undressed and redressed both so they were looking less like barbarians in the eyes of southern nobility and more like civilized people.

By the time Siselle had finished brushing her daughter's fine hair, still too short to braid, someone above called that those leaving ship should be ready to go. With a sigh, the mother shushed her children's chattering and lifted Solveig into her arms. The woman pulled a man in to help with her bags. One was thrown over her arm and then she grabbed Løvid's hand with her free one.

The trio slowly moved up levels to the deck of the ship, Solveig giving a sneeze from the sunlight while the other two blinked and squinted. The murmur of people was loud around them, and as they crossed onto the docks - entering the city finally - Siselle's eyes finally grew used to the sunlight, only vaguely still blinded.

And then Løvid darted free from her grasp with a shout that Siselle couldn't understand over the rest around her. Her gaze drew low after him and she yelled towards the lone running boy in Skodje with panic. Her bag dropped as she rushed after him, scrambling to grab hold of him and succeeding in doing so only as she crashed into a man on the docks, who gave a small wheeze and wrapped his arms around her.

"Who- What are-" Siselle wormed a moment, looking up with confusion as Solveig gave a shrill scream of excitement and patted her hands against the man's face.

"Hej?" Frejnir stated with a grin, eyebrows knitted together with concern at his wife's panic. Nevertheless, Siselle's fear faded the moment she realized who it was.

"You scared me," she said with a breath of relief as Løvid continued his shouting, which she now realized was 'Pappa!', and Sol soon joined her brother's babbling.

"You nearly killed me," Frejnir responded before lowering briefly to lift his son. Then he wrapped his free arm around Siselle and Solveig.

"I missed you." Siselle mumbled as she leaned her head against his shoulder, much like her toddler had done to her. No Viduggla noticed the kind dockworker that returned Siselle's panic dropped bag against her leg, all too thrilled with being reconnected.

"Of course, you did, who wouldn't?"

"...Shut up, Frej."

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