< Y-you can follow back the path... > Hawk trailed off at Suyan's questioning look. She craned her neck to peer into the space inside Hawk's ever-shifting many wings, where a particularly clear silhouette had come into view, but she seemed to disregard it as Hawk tried again. < It is possible they take your keys? >

< Ah, maybe, > Suyan mused, perking up somewhat. < Hmn...I reached my door. > The recollection didn't stop her, though, from going to look at the ground again. < I took out my...keys. >

She had done that--the movement was clearer now, of her head and the lanyard laden with objects in her mouth.

< There was some movement, or maybe it was a light-- > 

Whatever it was had been bright or hot or threatening enough for her to let the lanyard drop from her mouth, and the whole affair fell onto the stones, etched clearly now--the lanyard, attached at one end to a couple of cards, a key-shaped object, and a little charm shaped like a hedgehog. She'd left it there as she turned, bunched up, and sprang away--

< --and I ran. >