”Santi, slow down!” she calls out, obviously a much-repeated phrase. She sighs in fond exasperation when the boy doesn’t heed her and nudges the yearling at her side. ”Come on, Sili-girl, let’s go before he gets himself in trouble,” she says before heading after her wayward son.

Selenium knows that Silicon will follow, even though the girl still doesn’t talk, make eye contact, or do anything that gives the impression that she pays attention to her surroundings. The mare has noticed, however, that the filly has stopped wandering off since the birth of her brother. Silicon’s mental state doesn’t appear to have changed, but Selenium has caught herself wondering, during this week of seclusion, whether her daughter is as unaffected as she appears.

The experience had been nearly the opposite of last time – instead of an easy birth and a damaged foal, she’d had an awful time delivering her son, who could only be described as perfect. She’s sure Ernesto will love him as much as she does, doesn’t doubt that the stallion’s reaction will be at least as positive as it had been with Silicon, perhaps even more so since Santiago acts like a foal should.

Her blue eyes just catch sight of the newborn’s sooty form darting into the brush that marks the border of the Lagoon; she doesn’t know how he’d known which direction to go when she’d said it was finally time for him to meet his father but at least she doesn’t have to go chasing after him to turn him around. She’d decided to use the first week of her son’s life to recover, not needing to try to get him to respond to her as she had with Silicon. With Santiago, it’s the opposite: trying to get him to calm down and give her an occasional moment of peace.

She doesn’t bother to look to see if her daughter is with her; Silicon moves at her own pace and Selenium has long since given up trying to treat her daughter as if she were normal. Instead, she focuses on her younger, much more energetic child. She again calls to the colt, ”Santiago, I said slow down!” Her voice is firmer this time, because although she may no longer be repulsed by the thought of the Lagoon, memories of her young daughter getting lost there still causes a brief moment of panic. Though she has a feeling that if he were ever to get lost in his father’s territory, Santiago would be the only one not bothered by it.

Her longer legs catch up to the boy quickly and she nips his rump in punishment. He squeals and pins his golden ears briefly, but the look he gives her is pitiful rather than angry. ”But we’re going to see Daddy!” he cries, as if that gives him permission to ignore her.

Her expression turns stern. ”I still expect you to listen to me.” She doesn’t waver until his eyes drop to the ground and his entire body seems to wilt. She sighs and looks around, surprised at how far into the Lagoon they’d traveled. She can’t bear to see her son upset, so she looks down at him again. ”Why don’t you send for your dad?” she suggests. ”I’m sure he’s been waiting to meet you too.”

Santiago’s dark eyes light up and he wastes no time in releasing a whinny so high-pitched that his mother flinches. Selenium’s pretty sure that Ernesto would have been keeping track of time, and figures that he’ll have been waiting for this summons. She takes a second to pray that the stallion is everything their son has imagined.