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~~((The National Jelly Bean Day Special -- page 5 of 10))~~
Of course, it was debatable whether servitude truly was a privilege. In many ways, the Rainlords regarded it more as a responsibility. A duty. It certainly had its perks, but did those outweigh the downsides?

There was a reason why there weren't very many truly old reapers left within the family. It was widely known that Rainlord reapers had a higher mortality rate than others who took servants. That was one of the great obstacles to recruiting new reapers to their side, in fact.

So perhaps it was understandable that those of lower status in the House's hierarchy weren't clamoring for that privilege. Loyalty to their kin was one thing, but it was quite another to allow their children to be "killed" and then subjected to the will of beings whom they couldn't even see or talk to directly.

And additionally, it was arguably better to further narrow down which parents would have to take on the difficult task of raising children who would eventually be granted superpowers. Their education, training, and moral conscientiousness were that much more important when so much strength might one day be at their fingertips.

So it was highly irregular for the Triplets to have been chosen. Normally, the reapers themselves would take their pick from the higher status children, of which there were many, but the identical nature of the Triplets had apparently sparked an immense curiosity among the reapers.

After all, the most famous Rainlords who had ever lived were the Redwater Twins. Identical brothers with identical abilities. Perhaps the reapers had been hoping for the three of them to manifest the divine Water Dragon ability as well.

Raul had actually been chosen first, as a kind of trial run. Sacrificing three reapers was an enormous commitment of the family's resources. Adan and Esal would only receive reapers of their own if Raul manifested a powerful enough ability.

And lo and behold, he did.