The best thing to do with strangers is to let them give themselves away. The mask he wears now is the one he's worn most of his lonely life: still, vacant, and polite. Night softens the knife-edges of his face into something almost winsome, something that might be friendly, and Caneo takes in the stranger's words with genuine interest, even if his face reflects very little.

        She likes the ocean, she says. Maybe she grew up near it. For the desert creature, such a thing is half nightmare and half wonder: too big, too black, too ripe with the scent of salt and all those churning waves harbor. Caneo watches the sea now, and it sounds like too many voices speaking, smells like -

        no.

        He shakes his head once, as if doubt can be shaken off, and forces his thoughts back to the conversation at hand. Something he said has upset the younger girl - maybe about her mother. And Caneo isn't certain how he became the leader of this little.... band.... but he feels both mares looking at him and for just a moment, he wants to bolt.

        "I'ts okay," he says automatically. His features brighten with a smile soft as starlight. "I was afraid you might be lost," Caneo lies. That's an easy one, because it was always getting said to him when he was - well, not lost, but not found, either. He supposes it doesn't matter, if he isn't about to get run over by an angry pegasus mare. "You can stay here with us." It's been a long time since Caneo dealt with children. He still isn't sure what to make of them - still feels half child himself - but he supposes there's no inherent harm in just the girl. He recalls being a lonely youth himself, and something in him bares its teeth at the thought of inflicting that upon another.

        But now he's forgotten what they were talking about, and he's beginning to get itchy. "We might be sort of boring, though," he admits. The end of his tail twitches, as if that particular honesty chafes. "I" (he cannot speak for Eldala) "was just looking at the stars. They're different here than where I used to live. I'm still learning them." Eyes flicking back to the small girl, to the other unicorn, he asks, "do you know much about them?"

        He doesn't mention Roland. To do so would be dangerous, but he has mentioned stars before, so he deems it safe to talk about those. And anyway - maybe he'll find someone in Helovia who does know this foreign sky, who can map it properly.