Agatha was braiding Adam's hair. She was making an intricate braid this time, made up from many other ones.  As she worked, she listened to what had transpired during the days that she had been gone.

The pile of reanimated snakes that were rotting away had unnerved the healer. Adam had told her that they had been alive, then, they had mated with little Onyx, who was not so little anymore and was nesting next to Aurora the dragon, and they had died.

Also, there was something that concerned Agatha even more. This strange rivalry between Constantine and the warrior, Nathaniel, for Adam was something she hadn't needed the Naga to tell her about. She had seen in the way that both men were trying to appear better than the other, that they were attempting to butter her up.

"And then Samuel told me I should get a harem, and he told me he wants to be with someone smart and asked me what my interests were," Agatha sighed.

Constantine had raised Adam like a human, but Agatha knew that Naga were like snakes. They mated with more than one person, in a mating ball, and the males died soon after.

"Adam, you know how all your male snakes died after they mated?" Agatha was sure that, had the snakes restrained themselves, they wouldn't have. But snakes and Naga fucked their way to an early grave.

"That won't happen to me. Tine won't let it," Agatha shook her head.

"You will have instincts and, once you start, you wouldn't want to stop," Adam opened his mouth to protest, but, now his only living snake was Onyx and the rest were risen with necromancy.

"Are you saying that I can never be intimate with someone?" Adam blushed as he said that. Sure, there was a period when he had been too forward to Constantine, but he had done it with the full knowledge that the necromancer wouldn't let him pull through.

"I am saying that you need to do preparation. Your self-control must be impeccable. For that, you will need to start meditating," Agatha knew of Naga that could pull themselves away from the mating frenzy and the mating ball while they were still full of energy. And she, as someone who treated them later of all the damage a mating resulted in, knew that it was possible.

"How do I do that?" Adam tilted his head to the side, and Agatha righted it for him.

"Close your mind and think of nothing. If you ever get your Tine, and maybe those other two as well, then you will need to do the same until the haze that is on your brain lifts," Adam closed his eyes and his thoughts drifted off.

He imagined a mating ball of just him and Constantine. In the pool cavern, on blankets. Then, he shook his head. He had to clear his mind. But, it was hard.

His thoughts turned to whatever or not it would be painful. He was a Naga, so, unlike a snake, he had two cloacas. One up front, for his two members, and one in the back, from which he defecated.

He knew, from that one romance novel and from seeing Constantine naked in the pool, that men would use the back cloaca to have sex with each other. He wondered if Constantine would let him get inside him, or would the blonde expect to always be the one inside of Adam? Would Constantine have anything against Adam using his tail tip or...

"Oh, my," said Agatha as she looked at the bulge up in front of Adam's lower half. "I told you to clear your mind, not to have kinky thoughts."

"I am sorry, Agatha," Adam looked around and was relieved when he saw that they were still alone in the cavern. He began thinking of death after mating, and his members became flaccid again.

"Clear your mind, Adam," demanded Agatha again, and Adam closed his eyes once more. He figured that he could go into a dream-like state. Furthermore, he certainly didn't think about anything then.

He stood there, not thinking of anything, for hours. He felt a hand shake him, and he opened his eyes.

"Please tell me you didn't fall asleep?" Asked Agatha. Adam shook his head.

"I was wide awake. I could hear everything. I just focused on your breathing and heartbeat," Agatha was once again reminded that Naga had an acute sense of hearing.

"Good. Just remember to do that if you feel like you are feeling close to fainting during the act," Agatha winked and Adam blushed. He coughed and looked around. The clock on the wall showed nine am.

"I missed breakfast," commented Adam, and he raised himself on his tail and began slithering to the kitchen, Agatha behind him.

"I am sure they haven't emptied the pantry," said Agatha with a smile. Come to think of it, she was feeling hungry too. Adam made them some scrambled eggs with mushrooms from his own fungal pods, and they ate in silence.

"I think I am going to tell Tine that if he doesn't act soon, I will find someone else. I am tired of waiting," Adam looked at his empty plate and Agatha sighed.

"Men are bad with ultimatums, dear. All people are, come to think of it. Why don't you try to steal a kiss instead? I think that your Tine is training with Nathaniel today," Adam stood and picked up the dishes. He washed them and placed them on the drier.

“You know what? I will slither to him and kiss him, and to hell with the consequences,” Adam remembered his painting, the one where he had looked all coy and self-confident. He could be like that in reality too, right?

"Go for it," Agatha stood and stretched. Maybe she shouldn't encourage the Naga to go after men that were older than him, but Adam had been an adult for ten years, in the eyes of his species. And, if he wanted the necromancer so badly and the necromancer wanted him back, what was the harm?