Elan Straibala, from Eihlari;
Tiderider tradition 7000 years old
Eihlarian clans, descended from Tideriders, allow only family members to witness the birth of a baby. Although landbound for thousands of years, the Wardens still observe the custom of dipping the baby's feet in a bowl of ocean water.
Our belief is that if you are there to see your relatives touch salt water for the first time, you're invested in their well-being from then on. The more witnesses, the better their lives will be. That's worrisome for a clan as small as mine, but we have the benefits of a sept alliance. Even though we're not the same bloodline, we invite the Rruends to each Straibala birth, and Davili always comes with as many as she can bring.
How important is it to be there? My sister Pakker's baby arrived about five days earlier than expected. I had shut myself in a temper room to work on a really difficult analysis piece. A hard rule here is that you don't interrupt someone in a temper room. But an even harder one is that you don't miss a birth, so as soon as Wandei showed the top of his head, my parents came and got me.
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