By the time Umirin brings the Divine Heart back to the Elders, it truly sinks in that he committed murder.

He snuffed out a life. Everything that priest had been, everything he would have been, wiped out with a single nasty blow.

It unnerves Umirin slightly how little he is unnerved about that.

He merely walks into the large chamber the Elders spend time in, and catches Shani into his embrace when his husband runs to him.

He limps slightly, his hips angled in a slant with how one of his legs bends differently now, making him unevenly postured. Umirin embraces him tightly, his only hopes left now being those for Shani's well-being. He prays the awkward stance won't cause his beloved any pain in the long term, in the case this state of him does not reverse after the ritual.

"Did it go well?" Shani asks as he cradles Umirin close, his voice laced with concern.

Umirin hesitates to answer. Would Shani hate him? They've both gone in far too radical extremes in their own ways, but...

Shani still never went so far as to kill an innocent person.

His silence betrays him however, as Shani draws back to look upon him closer, the human side of his face furrowing up with concern, the other side seemingly unable to shift much by means of expression, "What happened, little one?" he asks, somber and worried, eyes studying Umirin's face intensely.

Umirin swallows a heavy lump, shuddering as the searching gaze washes over him. His voice trembles when he confesses aloud what he'd done, "I killed someone," he admits.

Heart save him, he killed someone. It feels so impossible to say aloud, despite how little upset he feels about it overall.

Shani doesn't react for a moment when he takes in what Umirin had said, merely keeps gazing upon him. Usually, Shani's expressions are fairly easy to read, he feels fairly openly, but in this moment, Umirin finds it so hard to tell, not only from the puzzling play of his features, but also the fact half of his face is gone.

"I had to," Umirin starts talking, far too nervous from the fact he doesn't know what Shani is thinking to stop himself from rambling, "he caught me taking the heart and there were so many guards around that he would've yelled for and-" his voice grows more frantic as he explains and over-explains, but Shani places his taloned hand over his mouth, presses it shut and interrupts his rant.

Umirin breathes heavily as he stands there, still clutching the chest in his hands, and just stares back at Shani in silence. The Elders watch them from the back of the room, laying around the body of the fawn.

"It's okay, Umi," Shani says, and nods, his puzzling expression clearing up as he seems to settle on his final feelings, "you did what you had to do," he leans down and presses a kiss to Umirin's forehead.

Umirin shudders, his eyes falling shut as his body goes a little slack. Shani doesn't hate him. Good.

Shani is truly all he has left, there's no going back to the Wezrin Sah after this. Murder is the worst crime they know of, and he would never be forgiven.

He just sags forth a bit with relief, his face falling against Shani's chest. His husband holds him close, moving his hand from Umirin's face to wrap it around him instead.

"I'm so sorry about all of this," he mumbles, his heart heavy with woe about Shani getting implicated despite how hard Umirin tried to prevent it. About everything else that transpired, too.

"Me too," Shani mutters in response, his voice small.

Umirin lets out a long sigh, but before he can say anything else, one of the Elders plows toward them, those soft rumbling noises emanating from its maw as it comes up.

Shani lets go of Umirin to turn to it, "He got the heart," he tells it.

Umirin nods and presents the chest to the Elder. It's locked, and he fears what he will see when they get it open. What would the heart of a God even look like?

He can't help but momentarily wonder if this quest, even if successful, will be worth all that was lost to achieve it.

The Elder croaks out words, "T-Thankkk youuuu," it tips its head forward, extending its snout toward his face.

Umirin blinks, unsure what is going to happen for a moment, when the least expected thing of all does. The Elder licks his cheek, the touch damp. It presses its snout against his skin after, and nuzzles.

Umirin can hardly get a hold of himself in time to react, bringing one hand up to cradle its head in turn, stroking over the ridge of it with his fingers. They have shown him affection a few times before this, so he is not entirely unused to the concept, but they had never licked him before.

Shanirin is softly smiling at the exchange, very visibly endeared.

"You are welcome," he tells the Elder, "I promised you I would do it," he confirms while petting the beast, allowing it to press its cold snout to his face.

Heart save him, he himself feels a warm sense of fondness for these cursed creatures by now.

"How will the ritual work?" Shani asks after a few more moments elapse.

The Elder licks Umirin's cheek one more time, much to his surprise still, before drawing back to look at Shani. Its maw splits and it answers, "P-Put the heart a-and bodyyyy t-together. H-Healll w-what w-we h-hurttt," it rolls back toward the body of the fawn laid across a warm, flat edge of a large, blue crystal jutting out from the back wall. The glow of it tints the snow white fur with a soft, blue hue.

Umirin nods, takes Shanirin's hand, and walks over too, his husband in tow.

Here it is. The moment all of this work has been for.

They prepare for the ritual quietly and quickly. Shani slices the fawn's chest open, removes its own heart from within, and moves to the side to bury it within the cave, mumbling a prayer as he returns the life to the Forest, performing the burial properly for what must be the first time in generations since they migrated above ground. And what an occasion for it, too.

Umirin picks the lock of the chest with the tip Shani's dagger's blade, and tentatively pulls the lid open, unsure what to expect. The sight of the heart, once it's revealed, winds up somewhat underwhelming. It is ever so slightly bigger than a standard animal heart, and dimly aglow. It appears a little dry and shriveled, from being stored in the chest for generations.

He still shudders at the sight, the dim glow emanating from the purplish surface of the muscle unnerving him. Slightly underwhelming as it may be, it is still the heart of a god, and he feels like he isn't meant to touch it with his own, mortal hands.

He pushes the chest away from himself, allows the Elders to inspect it.

They seem fearful, as they gaze upon it, shuffling around the chest with hesitance held in the shifting of their bodies. He can understand why, certainly. They paid a steep price for their ignorance.

Shani comes to look too, after cleaning out the bloodied wound from the fawn's body, so it is not marred.

"Oh," he remarks as he tilts his head, staring into the chest, "I'm not sure what I expected, but...it seems so-ordinary, somehow," he hums, studying the heart closer. He reaches into the chest with his left hand, the transformed one, and scoops it up into his palm, lifting it out gently.

Umirin watches this with a sense of foreboding in his chest, the heart resting in Shani's hand. He doesn't know where his husband finds the bravery to just handle a relic like this with such ease.

"I hope this all works out," Shani says as he runs a clawed thumb across the surface of the heart, the flesh of it dipping under his press.

The Elders seem to rumble in agreement, the five of them shuffling in a circle around them. One collects the body of the fawn into it's maw, gripping gently not to pierce it, and joins the others, taking its spot in the circle and enclosing them within. Umirin swallows, his body aching with the nervous energy pounding on his bones from within.

The Elder lowers the fawn in front of Shani.

The time has finally come.

Shani's face ripples with his own anxiety, and Umirin cannot help but reach out and take his good hand, squeezing firmly. No matter what happens now, even if absolutely nothing, they still have each other. They always will. He hopes the Elders would allow them to stay here even if the ritual yields no results, since neither can really return home. If for no other reason, Umirin knows how Shani would be treated for his different appearance, which is to say unacceptably.

His husband smiles at him and squeezes his hand in turn, but his expression is faint, "Let's try, then," he nods, takes one more deep breath, then lets go of Umirin.

Umirin shuffles his position so he sits on his knees, feeling slightly superfluous here, given he has no more role to play in this scheme. He just recites prayers to the Forest in his head, no matter how his faith has weakened. It might count for something, still.

Shani turns the body of the fawn over to reveal the gaping hole in its chest, and nestles the Divine Heart within the cavity, aligning the angle of it properly so it sits well. Then he draws the two edges of the wound shut, and presses his taloned hand over it to hold it in place, his other going atop as well.

Umirin keeps reciting his prayer to himself as he watches Shani close his eyes and brace.

'From the Forest all life sprung, and to the Forest, it may return,' he repeats mentally, 'With might so great, we fed are kept,' he bows his head slightly when his husband begins to dimly glow, channeling his ability, 'And hope we do that to our home we are as true, as our home to us,' Shani's glow slowly grows much brighter. Umirin doesn't know if that is good or not, but still, he prays, 'Its glory revered, we bow in respect, in our hearts keep the honor of all the land and its denizens.'

They have certainly both done some dishonorable things, to say the least, but such are the verses of the prayer, and such Umirin recites them. If this works, would there be honor regained in that triumph? He doesn't know. Perhaps, the Forest might forgive them if they successfully revive its heart, though.

Perhaps Umirin is still, in some measure, unwilling to accept that he's too far gone.

Shani's left side glows brighter, a furrow lines up in his brow as he seems to do his utmost best. The light emanating off of his monstrous half hurts Umirin's eyes to look at, but he forces himself to keep looking anyhow. He feels this moment is too important to avert one's gaze from.

The Elders, too, stand still and silent above them, surrounding them in their circle, all of their gazes trained on Shanirin just the same.

A heartbeat passes, then more, Umirin can feel his blood coursing through his veins as he waits, for anything to happen at all.

Then Shani's face breaks with a small whimper, and he collapses astride, the glow fading out with his efforts spent. Umirin immediately reaches forward and catches him, drawing him closer to himself. Oh, his poor love. Shanirin's body sags in Umirin's arms, resting against him heavily.

"It s-spoke to me," he mumbles as he slowly blinks his eyes open, "the Forest," he whispers, voice meek and cowed.

Umirin swallows his lump of unease when he hearts that, he holds him closer, tightening his arms around him, "What...did it say?" he asks slowly, his tone slightly hesitant.

"It t-told me a grave w-wrong has been r-righted," he stammers a bit, grasping weakly at Umirin's clothing. He sounds so winded and worn, he must've truly exerted himself.

Umirin draws short at Shani's words though. A grave wrong—has been righted? Does that then mean that-

Next to them, with a quiet shuffle, the white fawn sits up, and turns its head to regard them.