At the sight of the boat, some of the people who were trying to pull the bodies from the water to the beach or deal with the debris stop what they're doing to help moor the boat. They send little wooden rafts to fetch the passengers on the boat—

—but Zei just vaults over the railing into the water and wades towards some of the people. "I'm a summoner," he says. "Let me help."

"Lord summoner," says the person closest to him, looking startled, "we still don't have all the bodies for a Sending—"

"I know. Let me help," he repeats. "I'll help find the bodies and clear debris and whatever else. Point me at where I can be useful."

Emil can help with that too. He's got a strong back and a stronger stomach.

...yeah. That's—that's good. A good idea. Azym follows Zei and Emil to do the same.

The Aurochs and Wakka and Kimahri and the Crusaders and the boat's crew all join them, so soon enough they are all coordinating to deal with—all of the everything.

Lulu stays on the beach relaying requests and serving mostly as communication liaison.

They seem to be prioritising recovering the bodies, even those that aren't... whole. Even if it's just pieces.

The only good thing about this is that Oni-Goroshi has the sense to stay silent. (Not out of respect, but because she knows he'd toss her into the surf for a few hours if she said something awful.)

They work well into the evening and by the time they've determined they won't be able to find any more bodies or relevant parts the sun is setting. People at the beach have been hard at work putting them in adorned coffins, each one individually carved just then and there with the name of the deceased. A few of the coffins stand empty, but that was only to be expected. All of them have good luck charms and flower garlands attached.

Very few people talked, beyond the strictly necessary. The mourners all worked, with whatever they could. The grief was palpable in the air, thick enough to cut with a sword, but no one cried all afternoon. Not even the children.

When most of the work seems to be done, the locals start pushing the coffins towards the sea, where they float lazily on the water.

Azym looks... somewhat confused. Though that is only to be expected, since like Emil he is effectively an outsider.

He stands next to Emil and Oni-Goroshi. Outsiders ought to band together or something, probably.

Right. Emil knows how to stand respectfully through a memorial ceremony, he's been doing it since he was four years old. Admittedly this one is unfamiliar, but standing and frowning is a cultural constant.

Everyone else congregates around their party, around Zei in particular, and then the start of the ceremony is marked by the sound of drums, coming from—the air itself? There are certainly no drums in evidence.

Zei is at the water's edge, feet bare, and then as he steps onto the water he does not sink. Walking on the surface, he makes his way towards the rough center of the coffins, and starts—dancing.

The drums aren't coming from anywhere. Or they're coming from everywhere. Or they're coming from the sea—from the dead. For a few seconds it is just the drums, and the waves, and Zei's dance, twirling his staff from one hand to the other and extending his arms out and up, slowly rotating in place and lowering the tip of his focus to touch the surface of the water.

And then there's a song. It starts at the same time as the lights begin, wisps of white and rainbow emerging from the sea, from the earth, from the coffins. The voices come from them, old and young, man and woman. Voices of the dead, singing in unison, in mourning of their own deaths. More and more of the wisps appear, spiralling up into the heavens, not all at the same time and not all in a rush, but all relentlessly upwards.

Some of them fan out towards the onlookers, well into the beach, and the song follows them. Some of them seem to almost stop in front of people before resuming their journey up. Not physical, not solid or even gaseous. Just light.