The air smells cold. Caneo walks slowly, blood sluggish in his veins. If he hoped to find reprieve under the shaded boughs, he was mistaken; he feels only cold, and more cold. Winter gnaws on his narrow limbs without mercy. He thinks of Tandavi, surrounded by her entourage of golden sparks, and wonders if they keep her warm as well as bright. He will ask, when he finds the chance. His body keeps insisting this cold thing is all a fluke, an accident. The warm will come again. It must.

        Something on the air distracts him from his wonderings. It creeps up on him: a strange smell, muted by the cold, but one he knows. Caneo’s ears come up; the long strings underneath his skin pull taut. Blood on the path – dark, congealing over the strange white cover of frost. His nerves light up and begin a nervous dance beneath his skin. He follows the trail anyway, recalling the other dead mare, and her crumpled wings.

        There is a second, here.

        This one is naked: no horn, no wings. She lies quietly under the trees, her body torn, the wounds jagged, violent memories of whatever occurred. But she has been dead a while now, Caneo thinks. Her body looks cold, stiff in the grip of that long sleep. Slowly, his skinny neck stretches out. He blinks down at the corpse, though little remorse flickers in the wide mirrors of his eyes. Will anyone remember her? They are all forgotten, in time.

        His tail flicks as his thoughts move on to something else. Could it be the same killer, a rampant murderer toiling across Helovia? Should the silver boy be concerned? He blinks and peers into the shadows and the snow all around him. This winter seems a much more certain killer, but he returns his attention to the corpse all the same. Tandavi will be unhappy with this, and the other boy – they will have things to say. Caneo nods.

        Before he leaves, he fixes every trace of this scene in his memory. They were both girls – maybe that’s important. Different species, though. Black hair in the mouth of the first, and now, embedded in the wounds of this second... sand? Caneo shivers, and for perhaps the first time in his life, misses the blazing eye of the sun. It feels distant now. He sighs, and without a word of remorse – with little more than bare acknowledgement – he turns away.

        There is nothing more to be done for her. Maybe there are things to be done elsewhere.

_______________________________________________________

Teenage Awkward Ninja Turtles:
- Caneo
- Hototo
- Tandavi

And all we could do to prepare for the crash was give up.