The weak sun is not doing its part in helping to dry his multicolored pelt in a timely manner. He hadn’t realized how cold it was when he’d first pulled himself out of the water, but now with his breath fogging the air around him, he finally notices the chill in the air.

Of course, he thinks to himself, it’s winter now. His coat isn’t as full as it could be, so he still shivers as the frigid breeze brushes against his wet back and legs. Everything seems to be against him today, he thinks sourly. He doesn’t have any clue where to start looking for Esperanza. What’s he supposed to do, head for the lagoon and find his father, only to tell the older stallion that he’d lost the man’s daughter, who he’d never gotten to meet?

Santiago snorts at his own stupidity. He’d be lucky for Ernesto to welcome him home once his father finds out that Esperanza is lost on the islands somewhere. He shakes his head and stomps a hind hoof, the powerless feeling that’s slowly engulfing him stoking his aggravation.

Logically he knows he needs to calm down and keep a clear head if he has any hope of finding his sister, but his temper is the one part of his mother’s personality that he has inherited. She’d once told him that it had been common in her bloodline. Luckily (not so much in his current predicament), Esperanza has been blessed with a much more level head.

He’s distracted from his wallowing by a distant squeal, a sound that his brain automatically attributes to a foal. His nostrils flare, hoping not to pick up on a territorial leader out for his blood. Judging by the strength of the female scents around here, a mare leads the forest. That doesn’t mean that Santiago’s off the hook, but the crashing of the undergrowth getting steadily louder doesn’t seem to be aggressive.

Once the figure finally breaks through the brush, Santiago relaxes. It’s an adolescent colt at that awkward stage between foalhood and adulthood. He remembers that age all too well, being before Esperanza’s birth and wanting nothing more than to make friends and act as grown up as possible. From this colt’s bearing, he appears to want the same thing.

Santiago smiles warmly, wanting to make sure the colt knows he’s not here to make trouble. ”Good afternoon, I am Santiago,” he says. ”My sister and I were on our way to the lagoon and got separated. I don’t know where she ended up, but I figured I’d rest before I went looking for her.” He eyes the boy curiously, wondering how he fits into the herd dynamic if there is indeed a female leader.