Roots | ONC 2024

IX : Crash

When he comes to, Shanirin picks out some familiar features from his surroundings, bleary as he is finds it hard to immediately put the picture of where he is together.

He'd punched a councilor.

Heart, that hadn't been right. He hardly remembers it now though, the only thing clear in his mind is the helpless anger that had overcome him in the moment. They won't save Umi. They refuse to.

That memory rouses him and he goes to push himself up, because he can't waste another second here, who knows how long he'd been out for, who knows what's happening to his beloved, only to find his arms stuck to his sides and his legs immobilized.

What?

With a groan he heaves himself over onto his back and glances down, only to see thick ropes binding his arms to his torso. Further down, his ankles are bound too. Though he is at home, not in a cell, he finally realizes as it all slowly comes together. They must've placed him on home arrest for his transgression. There is most likely a guardsman standing by the front door to ensure he can't escape.

He squeezes his eyes shut at this realization, his chest feeling hollowed out by the sharp blade of panic. He starts to jerk and twist, trying to loosen the ropes, trying to free himself, because Umi needs him, it's Shanirin's job to protect him, and he cannot live with himself failing like this. The ropes don't give, it's all in vain.

Everything has gone so wrong.

Shanirin feels his eyes burn with tears coming on through the onslaught of all his horror. He just cannot handle these blows all alone now. He'd not been alone since he were 17 and he met Umirin. There he'd been, a shy hopeful orphan and this grumpy, angsty disowned boy before him. They couldn't have been more different and yet, Shanirin had been instantly smitten. Umi had always been there after that day. They'd stuck together through training and beyond, fell in love eventually.

There has never been Shani without Umi. There never will be.

And now, Shanirin weeps because half his soul has been ripped away and he's stuck here, helpless to go rescue him. It hurts fiercely, his throat aches with represed sobs but the tears overflow from his eyes anyway in the end. He wants to stay quiet so he isn't heard if there is a guard outside, but it's so hard to keep himself from wailing in despair and kicking and screaming.

He doesn't know how Umirin is so good at keeping himself composed no matter what. Shanirin can never overrule his emotions.

He cries as quietly as he can manage for a while, the guilt for wasting even more time gnawing at the back of his head. His mind is too clouded to think clearly though, and he just hopes once the tears run dry so will his turbulence, so he can then figure out how to get out of this predicament.

He will need to sneak his way outside, but he isn't sure what to do from there. He would head down into the Forest alone to look for Umirin, but depending what has become of Umirin, if he's injured, he might be unable to get him back on his own, could get them both killed even.

And the council will not help him.

Perhaps he can try to beg for help from their neighbors. They're not on bad terms, and he knows the family to the left of them, just one bridge away, has two hunters living there. Surely their fellow people will help. If the councilors only view this issue as a matter of numbers from being too distanced from it, then his last hope is that the regular people will have more empathy.

Right. Shanirin takes a deep breath to center himself, lets his tears dry, calms the shaking of his body. The first step is freeing himself. The ropes didn't budge when he struggled earlier, so he looks around for anything within reach he can use to cut them loose. He spots the handle of a knife near the edge of their kitchennette table, left there from breakfast this morning.