The warmer, drier grounds of the south come to an end before him... a much more visible end than they would in any other season.  Stretched out as far as the eye can see is a blanket of glistening white broken only by the marring of traveling hooves.  It is snow of course, a common place thing for the season but not so to Patrick.  Child of the south and sun and summer as he is, with only six full moons under his belt, he has never had the opportunity to see such things.  Naturally finding it like this, all by himself with no one more experienced to explain it to him, would make it all the more wonderful.

A gleeful sequel leaves his mouth as he sort of nose-dives forward dipping his muzzle in the stuff as he might with water.

Wow! Why hasn't anyone told me there is such a pretty, shiny land up here?  I bet Ko would have a blast magicking this place up.  Not that it isn't beautiful already but Sis always manages to make things prettier.  I will have to tell her about it when I get back.  If she is not still hiding.  Time for exploring first though, anyone I tell about this will want to know more than that it is pretty and white even if I think these facts should be more than enough.  Smelling and tasting first I think...

A snort of surprise follows the ill-advised nose-dive and the colt jerks his head up nose wrinkling in distaste as he goes on to sneeze vigorously.

"Cold!"

This declaration is made in an accusing tone as he stares warily at the snow in front of his hooves.  When the offending snow does nothing more other than sit there and be cold he appears to relax again.  His icy blue gaze follows a puff of glittering flakes blown across the the clean surface of the open field by an errant breeze.  Almost absently he begins to wander out into the white muttering quietly to himself.  If any others of close enough to over hear they will catch the mutterings as numbers, almost as if the boy is counting snow flakes.

In time his wandering brings him to a small hillock and he wanders, or rather plows for the snow is deeper here and he is not overly tall, right to the top of it.  Once at the crest he pauses glancing down the other side thoughtfully.  Whatever obstacle he was considering is apparently not enough to stop him for long.  With a decisive nod he starts walking down and the walking quickly turns to sliding.

"Wheeeeeee! Fun, fun!"

At first he is very obviously every bit as pleased by this experience as he was by his first sight of snow.  Then the sliding turns to tripping and stumbling which turns to over-balancing, then to falling and at last to tumbling.  It is a gentle tumble and will not hurt him but it does leave him somewhat befuddled when his motion at last comes to an end.  With a loud "oooofff!" he fetches up against something that is possibly a hidden rock well padded with dead, dried moss and snow or just as possibly someone's legs.

Blinking he tips his head back to find his sights filled with a hairy, antlered beast and those antlers shimmer with strange mesmerizing markings.

"Ooooo..."

The colt breaths the appreciative sound in confused excitement.

"Who are you?"

That may just be the first complete sentence the boy has ever used, short though it is.  Apparently this sight of a never-before-seen creature has managed to shock it out of him.