Utsuho's mind was swimming with primal, angry thoughts; an animal defending her territory, however arbitrarily that had been decided. Those scales reminded her of her own feathers, her own wings. He was like her, almost just so, and her animalistic mind answered the challenge the only way she knew how.

Her wings fanned out again, the downstrokes scattering snow beneath and in front of her as the air around her almost hummed, growling like a diesel engine warming up. The red glow in her wings persisted this time, rather than flashing away.

She didn't expect the display to deter him from attacking, not anymore; it felt like the right thing to do. The right sort of challenge. She wasn't afraid of him, not at all.

At the moment, she feared nothing.