Winter in the jungle is oppressive compared to even the hottest of summers on Tinuvel. Though the air cools, especially at night, it never quite dries. The soft, shifting soil and tangle of roots and vines have created new challenges for the colt, used to more solid ground and little undergrowth. Ayzirek hasn't taken the change to heart as hate, but instead finds a thrill in the opportunity to explore a new place. Though he feels for his mother, transplanted against her will, Ayzirek finds the light in a dark situation.

It's a clear, brisk afternoon, and the colt plays near the banks of a stream. Waters once ran clear but are now clouded with disturbed sand and swirls of mud. Ayzirek himself is thick with mud up to his knees and hocks and smeared with it in patches above. His mane and tail hang in dirty, wet clumps. His nostrils flare, and eyes are wide, as he stares hard into the face of a frog. There is a moment of stillness where the two animals evaluate each other, one playfully, and the other cautiously. The frog hunkers down in the mud. All it takes is a twitch of the colt's ear and the frog takes a turn and leaps back into the water.

Ayzirek gives a surprised toss of the head and jumps in after the frog. The frog is lost in the murky water, but Ayzirek isn't so easily disappointed. He splashes about, making even more of a mess and surely scaring his amphibian friend even further away.