Roots | ONC 2024

I : Fear

The wind sways their high den.

Umirin startles awake, heart alight with fear. He waits, fisting the blankets he's laying on tightly.

One moment. Another. Nothing.

He lets loose an unsettled breath, relaxes his grip. They won't fall, he tells himself. None of the houses ever have, even though they sit atop beams high into the air, which is fairly dangerous in his opinion.

Their ancestors had hardly had a choice though, escaping into the skies had been their one salvation.

He slowly turns on his side, his beloved's sleeping face next to him coming into his view. His unease melts away like snow under sunlight at just this sight of Shanirin's soft features. A familiar deep ache of love rings out in his chest, and Umirin can't help but shift closer to him. He curls his body so that he can tuck his head beneath Shani's chin, his nose burrowed against his husband's chest.

It makes breathing a little cumbersome, but he could not care less.

Shani shifts then, as if the poor thing has been trained, and slides a heavy arm around Umirin's middle, mewling in his sleep, his embrace warm and grounding.

Umirin could happily die in Shani's hug.

He hopes today's trip to the ground will go well, it always makes him nervous when it's their turn. He would rather stay here with Shani, in the safety of their home. Umirin's never been very brave, after all.

Ah, but it must be done, he knows that. They must travel down to gather ceremonial soil for the council's vault. They run low on it so often with how many people need some handed out every day for their burial rituals.

Burial. That word has become incredibly relative since the Wezrin Sah have migrated upward into open air from the ground. They technically cannot bury anything anymore, not properly.

So their culture adapted to their new ways.

It annoys Umirin slightly. Perhaps the traditions could do with some changing too. He sighs against Shani's chest when the thought flits through his head though. He speaks from cowardice. Of course his culture matters.

It's just difficult to be brave when he has precious little in life, and stands to lose even what he has got every time they venture to the ground. To lose so horribly he is certain he would never recover. Umirin sniffles in a shallow breath.

He feels his eyes stinging at just the thought of Shani-

"You're sniffling," a quiet, gentle voice coaxes Umirin's attention away from his dour thoughts, and he tips his chin upward to get a look at his now awake husband.

"I...am alright, my love," Umirin mumbles, smiling a little. He doesn't like upsetting his darling.

"Lying is mean," Shani tilts his head to Umirin's face and presses a loving kiss against his forehead.

Umirin's eyes flutter shut, the sense of belonging and warmth that lights up within him setting him at ease. He can't contain his little giggle at the other's innocent wording, "I could never be mean to you," he hums quietly, too mellowed to speak up further.

"Our trip will go just fine, little one," Shani reassures instead of pressing more, like he always does, he always knows, "it does every year," he smiles so brightly, and Umirin just admires him for a moment, stunned.

"I...yeah, I suppose you are right," he nods a little when he replies, pursing his lips into a pout, "I just cannot ever lose you to those beasts below us." It would be too horrifying a reality.