Midnight Thoughts
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 30th July 2026
Characters: R'hil
Description: R'hil reflects on his meeting with Katora
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 5 of Turn 13
Notes: Mentioned: Katora
It was well past midnight. R'hil stared at the ceiling of his tiny weyr as the wind whistled past the cliff face and Dath snored softly on his ledge. His conversation with Katora turned over in his mind again and again like a leaf caught in a river. The weight of her voice. The soft brush of her brown flit's snout against his fingertips. The _questions_. Just one question, really.
When were you last home?
He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. The truth was, he hadn't been home for almost a turn. Home was... different, now that he was a dragonman. His cothold seemed smaller, his family strange. They looked at him with wary, untrusting eyes as he talked about the places he'd visited and the things he'd seen. Inevitably his Aunt Perspine would ask, "have you been searching for Pernin?"
He'd lie and say "yes".
Pernin had disappeared into the woods when R'hil was ten turns old. He was probably dead, maybe fallen down an abandoned mine shaft or eaten by a wild feline, or stolen away by someone with bad intentions. R'hil had grieved his cousin long ago.
Pernin wouldn't have run away, and if he had, why hadn't he ever come back?
His Ma and Auntie hadn't said it aloud, but his younger brother Zashuil had: "The Weyr is getting you. You've changed. Ruhil wouldn't give up."
**Pernin is dead. Let him rest.** He'd asked Katora if she'd ever met someone named Pernin purely on reflex and because she'd actually been to his home territory, but his brother was right. He wasn't Ruhil anymore.
He rolled over, his cousin's laugh and the sound of his voice echoing through the rain. Just memories. He squeezed his eyes shut. **He's dead.**
For a while after Pernin had disappeared, he and his brother Zashul had been convinced that Pernin had been snatched by greedy dragonriders. He'd grown up hearing about viper-tongues Harpers and the 'Healers' who spread poison, so it hadn't seemed outlandish that a dragonman would be evil too. Then he'd grown up, and everything he once believed seemed upside down and his family were the ones who were wrong.
Flame them, but his family _was_ strange. He faked it as best he could, but R'hil knew that he didn't fit in at the Weyr. The people here thought he was stupid and backwards, but he _wasn't_. He was... cautious. Things weren't _true_ just because someone said so. Healers and Harpers should be viewed with suspicion. They supposedly knew so many things and when they told people what to do, everyone just went along with it without questioning it.
But it wasn't as if all his questioning actually helped... Rhil groaned and wrapped his pillow over his head remembering the tincture he'd bought as a weyrling that had supposed to make him smart. It had instead turned him yellow and made him the butt of jokes for months. The man who'd sold it to him had been a Trader.
Katora was also a Trader. She seemed... nice, though. Maybe even trustworthy. He'd liked her flit and the feline talon around her neck. Perhaps she might be able to help him find Pernin, after his own searching had failed. And she'd asked her to find opals. Whatever an opal was.
It was all so... confusing. He rolled over and drew his blanket close around his shoulders. He wouldn't trade Dath for all the opals on Pern, but sometimes he missed the simplicity of his life when he was just Ruhil.
Last updated on the August 7th 2026