John says “I see now why you said it wouldn’t be easy.” John and Nasha are standing at the edge of the forest. Before them is Nasha’s village surrounded by tall grass. John can see from where he stands that everyone in the village has a snake like lower body.

Nasha says “Lucky my home is on the outskirts, but on the other side of the village.”

John says “Is everyone on this planet…land have snake like bodies?”

Nasha says “No, Just the Lamia people.”

John says “Oh, so there is more than one race here.”

Nasha says “Yes…is there only Humans where you came from?”

John says “Well…technically…yes. But we do like to divide ourselves into separate races among certain lines of thought.”

Nasha says “Well…as interesting as that sounds.  We must get you into my village before anyone sees you.”

John looks at her and says “I doubt you can come with a disguise for me.”

Nasha says “No and the guards are on more alert at night.  I suppose now is as good of a time as any.”

John and Nasha take a long route around the village though the tall grass that surrounds it with Nasha watching out of anyone coming. They make it to the other side without anyone seeing them. Nasha points out a hut on the edge of the village saying “That it.  We just need to move softly as we approach.”

John says “okay” and they start moving together.

John steps as softly as he can trying not to make any noise. John can see the people of village better as they get closer and notices that he doesn’t see any of them that look like they would be male. They make it to the back of the hut near a closed window. Nasha opens the window softly and says in a hushed tone to John “climb in”. John peeks in then starts to slip in. Nasha keeps a lookout until John gets in then goes around to the front and enters like she normally would.

John finds himself in a sleeping area. He notices that the beds are large mats that could hold several people. But then he realizes that with their long tail-like bodies, Lamia’s would need larger beds to sleep on. John slowly moves towards the side of the entryway. Nasha comes in and finds him near the side of the entryway and says “What are you doing?”

John says “Just didn’t want to be seen by your mother if she passed by?”

Nasha says “Good point. But she isn’t here right now. I think she may be at the temple right now.”

John says “By the way, didn’t see any men out there while we were approaching your home.”

Nasha says “That’s because all Lamias are female.”

John says “Oh…by the way just to let you know, I am a male.”

Nasha says “I could tell that.  It’s another reason I didn’t want anyone to see you. Human or not, Lamias need a male to reproduce.” John gets a worried look on face thinking he may have just be trapped by Nasha. Nasha sensing this says “Don’t worry. You’re safe here. I’m not going to try anything. I’m not ready to have any children right now and I’m not going to tell anyone about you just yet.” John relaxes a little. Nasha says “Here give me your amulet.  I’ll show to my mother and see what she makes of it.” John takes off the amulet hands her it to her. Nasha leaves saying “don’t move much and don’t let anyone see you” as she puts the amulet in her bag.

Nasha makes her way to the center of the village and heads into the temple. She finds her mother among some of the priestesses. Nasha calls to her mother “Mother can you come for a moment.”

Nasha’s mother moves over to her “How did your hunt go today?”

Nasha says “Not well” she then says in a hushed tone “but I found something of interest while hunting.” Nasha reaches in her bag to get the amulet and finds it is not there. She opens her bag to look for it.

Nasha’s mother says “well, child?”

Nasha looks at her mother and says “I…must have…dropped it somewhere.”

John had started to get antsy and decide to move to another window with curtains to take a peek at the village to see if what Nasha had said was true. Sure enough, not a single male Lamia in sight. John thinks to himself “if I wasn’t in this situation right now. I might be liking my predicament.” He quickly hides himself when someone looks his way. He hope that they think it was just a breeze blowing by. As he settles down he feels something on his chest. He reaches in his shirt and pulls out the amulet that is now back around his neck. John says to it “How did you get back here?”

Nasha hurries back to her home looking for the amulet along the way. She doesn’t find it. She looks both ways before entering her home. She finds John in the main living quarters and says to him “What are you doing here?”

John says “Couldn’t sit still. My curiosity was getting the better of me. Don’t worry no one saw me.”

Nasha says “That’s not the problem.  Get back to my room. I may have lost the amulet.”

John gets up and says “No you didn’t.” He pulls the amulet out of his shirt as they head back to Nasha’s room.

Nasha says “How did it get back here?” as they enter her room.

They both hear Nasha’s mother call to Nasha “Nasha are you okay.”

Nasha’s eyes go wide as she says in a hushed tone “Hide.”

John says “Where?”

Nasha’s mother comes into Nasha’s room. Nasha is sitting on her bedding with her tail laying over it to hide the fact that John is under the mat. Nasha says to her “Mother you’re back?”

Nasha’s mother says “You left in such a hurry and I was wondering why. Could you at least tell me what you found maybe we can look for it together?”

Nasha says “I…”

Suddenly someone calls out from outside “Residents’ of the house!  May we speak with you?”

Nasha mother says “I will go see what that is about” and turns and leaves.

John pokes his head out and says “didn’t you want to tell her about me?”

Nasha says “It’s not that easy you know.”

Nasha’s mother finds some guards at the entrance and says to them “May I help you?”

One of them says “Several citizens have felt disturbances coming from your home.”

Nasha’s mother says “Disturbances? One moment please.” She turns and heads back to find Nasha, calling out to her “Nasha what’s going on here?” as the guards follow her in.

John ducks back under the bedding as Nasha’s mother enters the room. Nasha’s mother says “guards are here talking about disturbances being felt here!” with the guards right behind her. John suddenly realizes why Nasha didn’t want him to move too much. He realizes that like snakes, Lamias may be able to feel vibrations in the ground.

Nasha sits there for a second then pulls the bedding away, revealing John to everyone. John looks up at the lead Lamia and says “Hello, you must Nasha’s mother.”