-Zehera Kiyanpoor-Zehera had been expecting many things: a large predator attacking her from behind, an octopus-like creature emerging from the depths of the waters, perhaps a pack of tiny beasts with razor-sharp teeth. Her instincts were picking up signs of danger, warning her of some other predator within the area, and she was assuming it to be some form of beast. The forest was full of them. Her nose was also picking up a faint stink of magicks, yet, unlike most cases where there was a specific source, here, there was none. The stench seemed to linger on everything, like a greasy layer that could not be washed.
Which was why, when honey-coloured eyes lowered back down to gaze at the water cupped in her hands, she blinked, shocked.
Her reflection.
Or rather, the lack of it, for the thing that smiled back at her was clearly something else.
"DJINN!" she growled, eyes wide, "Kesafateh avazi! Boroo GOM sho!"
Her hands instinctively parted, the crystalline water falling back down and becoming one with the lake again, making a loud dripping noise that shattered the silence encompassing the serene waters. Her head tilted upwards, but she saw nothing that could have created the reflection, nor was she expecting to see anything there; the angle had been incorrect for such an occurance. Zehera quickly stood up, drying her hands upon her trousers, and peered down into the lake once again, chest rising and falling as she tried to control herself, attempting to decipher something of the apparition through the rippling surface.
‘What was that?’ she thought in her head, brows furrowed in concentration, thinking back and attempting to search and sort out all the possibilities. Was it... what she thought it had been? No, no, it couldn't have. Such a thing was, impossible. Especially here. Djinn wouldn't toy around with her, they'd already done that once, and it had cost them greatly. So then... why would one appear out of nowhere, and smile at her? Was this a trap? Had she already been stuck? The sphinx turned around, cloak flapping lightly in the breeze, and studied the dense foliage, eyes darting first in one direction, and the other, scrutinizing everything. But... she saw nothing, and the magicks did not have that all-too-familiar stench of the djinn. No matter what they did, they couldn't hide their disgusting smell, and Zehera would always find them out for what they were.
But... if it had not been djinn, then what had it been?
In the end, she decided upon some sort of sprite that lived in these woods… a nymph, perhaps? She had heard of such creatures, yet never actually seen one, for they tended to blend in with the forest, and had the same scent as the trees, making it near impossible for most predators to locate them. Zehera pursed lush lips together, ideas and possibilities running through her head, storing the ones that seemed to apply to the situation, discarding the ones that were folly. For though she’d made an assumption, she knew that there was a good chance that it could be incorrect, and the last one standing was always the one who kept all possibilities and all roads open.
So the sphinx, her body on high alert, waited by the water’s edge (making sure to keep clear of the gently lapping waves), to see if what had occurred had been a product of her empty stomach and imagination, or something greater. Either way, it meant something, and the sphinx, by nature, would attempt to decipher that meaning, and use it to her full advantage.