Where once time had seemed nonexistent, now everything seems to be happening so fast. In rapid succession he is aware of first a gentle braying that he instinctively knows belongs to The Warmth, then he can feel her touching his forehead as he stands swaying, and finally there is another sound, quieter but different somehow to the first. There is more purpose to this noise, it seems to him, and when he hears it again, he desperately wants to obey it but he doesn't understand what it means.

He watches the black blur that is his mother moving further away, and panic begins to rise in his throat. Instincts screaming at him, he does the only thing that comes naturally: he bleats again in answer and stumbles after her clumsily, his tiny hooves desperately scrabbling in the shifting sand to keep him upright. The baking heat of the desert spring is possibly no more than what he had experienced in the womb, but given his lack of memory regarding anything in-utero, and given the dryness of the air, it somehow seems that much more oppressive. He can already feel his sticky, wet fur crackling at it dries under the arid rays of the sun.

His entire body, trembling all over with the effort of keeping upright to follow The Warmth, begins to experience a soft wave of relief as he reaches her. He takes advantage of their proximity to lean briefly against her strong hind leg, his nostrils flaring rapidly to draw in heavy, exhausted breaths. But then she's moving again, and he has no choice but to follow. Several times he almost collapses or trips over his own legs. He's vaguely aware of his world darkening as they reach the shade of the trees, and of the light trickling sound of something he would later know to be water.

Here at least the heat is not so oppressive. Emiting a haggard sound somewhere between a sigh and a cough, the colt barrels half-blind into The Warmth's side and instinctively thrusts his head beneath her. There he stands, gangly legs locked, and closes his eyes to the world for a time to regain what energy reserves he has burned up. At some point he discovers that his mouth has locked around a soft protruding triangle of flesh. Sweet, heavy milk fills his mouth and calms the hunger in his belly for the first time.

His mind goes blank with bliss.