Bramblepoint diortosire

I had too much fun writing this!

Silence; the night pressed in around her, thick and suffocating. Then, a hiss. A sharp, serpentine sound slithered through the air, curling in her ears like an omen.
Hemera’s dark ears flicked back, plum eyes widening. What was the meaning of this? Not only had the stranger refused to answer, but they dared to hiss at her? Her gaze swept the dense canopy, adjusting to the dark, searching for a form, a presence, anything. Perhaps it was the remnants of her nightmare, the weight of fatigue clinging to her bones, that made her mind so bitter, her vision so clouded.
Still, the audacity of it! Her brow furrowed, her tail arched high, claws pressing into the earth. „How dare you!” she snapped, her voice laced with both outrage and command.
A woman; The sound belonged to a woman, she was sure of it. But who? Not some jealous mate come to claim vengeance; Hemera had taken no such lovers of late.
The sandwoman took a slow step back, her instincts whispering caution. Was the stranger already upon her? Was this an attack? She did not flee, not yet, but the thought coiled in the back of her mind, a snake waiting to strike.