Consequences of a Kiss (8)
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: Kane
Date Posted: 17th February 2026
Characters: P'yanka
Description: P’yanka contemplates his new life after Impressing Pumoth
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 13, day 20 of Turn 12
Notes: Follows after Consequence of a Kiss (7)
Pumoth.
Her name was Pumoth.
The word still didn’t feel real in his mouth, as if it belonged to someone else. Someone braver, steadier, someone who hadn’t arrived at Barrier Lake with swollen eyes and an empty rucksack. The Hatching itself had been a blur, a fever-dream of sound and heat: a cavernous space packed tight with bodies and voices, humming and chanting that rolled like surf against stone, laughter and shouts and sharp cries of joy, triumph and bitter heartbreak.
And the Sands.
Faranth, the Sands.
He remembered the moment his boots were gone and the heat bit straight into his bare feet, scorching him into the present so hard he thought his bones might rattle. He remembered the press of other candidates around him, they were all strangers still, and the way joy and despair flickered across faces in the same heartbeat.
Most of it washed together into chaos.
But a few moments cut through and stayed.
The instant Pumoth’s whirling eyes found his across the shifting crowd: green, bright, alive. The world had narrowed until there was only her and the hammering of his own pulse. The first touch, his hand against her face, warm hide under his fingertips, solid. And then, so suddenly he startled, she leaned in and licked him, from chin to forehead, like an overgrown puppy with no concept of dignity.
Pumoth.
The name curled through his thoughts like a warm scarf pulled snug around his shoulders, not words exactly but feelings, soft and insistent.
Pumoth.
A nest made of pillows and cushions, sinking down into safety.
Pumoth.
The embrace he’d wanted from his mother, but different, less careful, less afraid, and impossibly complete.
Pumoth.
Sliding into a tub of perfectly warm water, the gentle pressure against bare skin, then deeper, deeper, until even his face went under and the world became muffled and calm.
He sat with her later, he couldn’t remember how long, his fingertips tracing little spirals across her hide, slow and reverent. The motion soothed him into a drifting calm, a place where his mind could finally stop running.
And then it happened.
That sudden drop, like tripping in a dream, his stomach lurching, the world tilting. Hot and cold flashed through him at once, snapping him upright with a gasp. His heart slammed against his ribs, and for one terrible moment he thought he was waking from the most beautiful dream he’d ever had.
He was back at Sunstone. Craftless. Homeless. Still outside a locked door, still hearing his father’s voice.
But she was there. He melted against her pudgy, freshly hatched bulk and she rumbled something incoherent in her sleep.
Pumoth.
Warm, solid, close enough that he could feel her breath. Her broad muzzle pressed into his shoulder with absolute certainty, as if she’d been waiting a lifetime to find him and was mildly offended he’d ever doubted it.
}: Mine, :{ she had said to him, with absolute finality.
Last updated on the February 28th 2026