Don’t leave the island, don’t venture to the Peak, and be back by dusk – those had been his mother’s demands in exchange for letting Santiago go off on his own. He’s old enough now to have noticed his sister’s differences and had seen his mother’s eyes cut between him and Silicon. It hadn’t been hard to realize what she’d been thinking in that moment: if Silicon were normal, she would be able to watch over her baby brother and give Selenium some time to herself. He’d pretended to be oblivious, his youth letting him get away with it, and he’d slipped silently (for him) from the Lagoon.
He’d been born in the falls, halfway between his mother’s favorite spot – the waterfall that this part of the island had been named for – and the entrance to his father’s home. There’s a sense of old familiarity here, where he’d spent the first week of his life. At the time, he’d been much too excited at the prospect of meeting his sire to be able to appreciate the landscape, but now he has time to explore; it’s still early morning so he has all day to himself.
The environment looks nothing like Santiago remembers from his foggy earliest memories. He can remember bright green foliage most clearly, but now half of the trees are bare and the other half have exploded into various shades of red and yellow. He looks, wide-eyed, at everything he possibly can, neglecting to pay attention to where he’s going. The sun is bright in the cloudless sky, giving him an unobstructed view of the land. He can hear the rushing of the waterfall in the distance, remembers the sound from his early days.
He decides that’s as good a place as any to start gathering familiarity with his home and steers his thick white limbs in that direction. His dark blond tail flicks over his sooty rump in anticipation, hoping to discover whatever it is about the waterfall that his mother loves so much. His other secret hope is that he can learn his father’s native language, but he hasn’t yet worked up the courage to ask Ernesto about it.
He’s passed a few of his fellow citizens on his short journey, so he doesn’t know why he hesitates when he sees the pale figure emerge from the colorful trees that had just fascinated him. His mother’s blood makes him appear older than he is, but he’s still not even a year old. He can tell that the pale one isn’t fully grown either, but she’s clearly older than him, maybe his sister’s age.
Still, something nudges him in her direction and so Santiago goes, more curious than anything. It would be amazing for him to be able to return to his mother and tell her that he’d made a friend all by himself. But how to do something he’s never done before and do it successfully?
He supposes introducing himself would be a good place to start as he slowly approaches the girl. He’d caught her looking around, and he wonders if she’s waiting for someone. He’s not sure if that would help him or not.
He takes a chance and clears his throat. ”Hi. I’m Santiago.” He scrambles to say something else, something to make him not sound like the inexperienced colt that he is. He wants her to like him, after all. |