It feels like it’s taken forever to get home. Santiago hadn’t realized how far away he had dragged Esperanza; he’d been so traumatized by the deaths of his mother and older sister that he hadn’t been thinking clearly. Esperanza had been so young that taking her away had been a mistake - he should have just brought her back to the lagoon to be with their father. He’d gambled his newborn sister’s life just because he’d needed to get away.

As soon as he comes ashore, Santiago knows something’s wrong. He cranes his gold head, blue eyes wide as he notices his sister’s dark form isn’t with him. It had been such a long swim that apparently they’d been separated and he hadn’t noticed. He curses softly, ignoring the seawater dripping down his sooty hide. He’s always been very protective of Esperanza, constantly worrying that her beauty will bring her untoward attention, and now he’s gone and lost track of her.

He shakes his head, knowing that plunging back into the water to look for her would be pointless. Snorting, he heads inland, already formulating a plan for a search once he’s gotten some rest. His thoughts are so consumed with his sister that it takes him a while to realize what else has gone wrong. It isn’t until he hits the trees that it dawns on him that on top of being separated from Esperanza, he’s landed on the wrong island.

Santiago has always thought Luthien the nicest of the territorial islands, though he’s never had any desire to live anywhere other than the lagoon with his father. Their reunion is one of the things he’d most been looking forward to, along with finally introducing Ernesto to Esperanza. Being here now is not what he’d planned, nor what he wants, but he doesn’t have enough energy to immediately turn back.

”Ah, Dios,” he mumbles, resigned to spending the night in the forest.

The problem is, the sun’s still high in the sky and he has no idea who lives here. His white nostrils flare out of habit, but it’s not like he’ll find a familiar scent - he’d only known his family so there’s no old friend out there waiting for him to run into them. He paints a pretty pathetic picture as he sighs, standing there with his multicolored pelt still wet and having nothing to do but wait.