Kratos can still remember her touch and the warmth of her breath. Despite the rough way she had pushed him aside after noticing he was a colt, the memories are present and not forcefully forgotten. She had looked at him like he was less than dirt and he had looked at her with nothing but love. In that moment all he had was his mother. Or, he thought he did. All he really had was a name. She'd been kind enough to give him that at least before leaving him cold and alone. She'd not even left him somewhere secluded where he might be safe from predators, instead she'd left him in the middle of the meadow. She had briefly considered leaving him to the lagoon, but dead was better.
He didn't love her anymore.
He'd somehow managed to survive despite Winterfell stacking the deck against him. He, surprisingly, didn't feel much about her. Even if she came to him hazy and in dreams, he did not wish to see her nor did he spurn her. It had forced him to grow up quicker than other six month olds. She existed somewhere on the island and so did he.
Despite it all, he was still a child. And with that, he had quite a growing curiosity. He had, up until this point, mostly remained in the meadow where Winterfell had left him. He'd found there was tall enough grass to obscure him and he'd made a makeshift sleeping den in the hollow of an old tree; though he was growing too large for it now. Sometimes, just for fun, he howled like the distant wolves he'd seen to keep the others at bay. He doubted it tricked the wolves, but it had tricked enough horses.
Kratos had heard whispers of a place known as the falls. He didn't know what a waterfall was but he figured it was just as the name said. Water - falling. That alone was enough to fascinate him. He'd picked his way through brush after brush, galloped across the open lands, and slipped in his fair share of mud on his way north. And east. And west. And south. It's easy to get lost, Kratos learned. And when he'd finally found the falling water, Kratos had to admit he was happy he'd made the trek. He laid down at the very edge of the water, watching the fish swim along the bottom of the crystal waters.