You don’t say another word to Bagheera. You’re still angry with him; you might just leave him before the night is over. You sit and sulk over your options when the lamia slides up to you again.
It occurs to you that perhaps the lamia could give you advice. Maybe you shouldn’t have been rude earlier. You could apologize and ask if she thinks you should stay or leave. Perhaps you could get her assessment of if you could survive alone in the jungle.
-31a Apologize for your earlier rudeness and ask the lamia for advice.
-31b Just look away and keep ignori . . . Wait, what’s that in her . . . Her eyes look so pretty now. You want to stare into her eyes, not look away.
“Yes, human,” the lamia says, her eyes wide and flowing with colors, vivid rings pulsating in her eyes and filling your sight. You open your eyes wide to stare as the jungle goes blurry, but the rings slow down and your normal vision returns. You try to process what you’re looking at, but the colors speed up in her eyes again and you find it harder to ponder the colors and easier to let them guide your thoughts.
“Please, go to sleep,” she sings. The colors in her eyes ripple out through your vision. They’re so beautiful, you’re fascinated by them, like an incorporeal hand is holding your head to keep your vision locked to her eyes. The colors slow down again, but they stick to your mind like paint, saturating your thoughts as the rings surge back through the lamia’s eyes steadily.
“Please, go to sleep,” she sings, swaying back and forth. You follow her sway and her words, considering her polite request. You do feel sleepier than before, like you could drop to sleep right then and there. It would feel so wonderful to honor her request and drift away into her eyes.
But might something not be quite right about this? You weren’t so sleepy before. What is this pretty lady doing? She is beautiful, but should you slip away into her enchanting gaze?
-31a No! There’s something wrong. You need to resist . . . hard as it is to think . . .
-31b There’s nothing wrong here, nothing dangerous, she’s just singing you into a nice slumber, go ahead and relax to sleep . . .
Duth Olec's Cuckoo Cosmos 