The trail was long, and still wasn’t over.

Emiemi needed to rest, if only for a few short minutes. Her leg muscles and bare feet screamed for mercy, angry with her for putting them through this long walk after an exhausting jungle adventure.

As the daughter of the famed Jungle Couple Kyle "Kainak" Anderson and Julie "Huli" Shevchenko, and a first-generation native of the island, she had grown up among nature and with the indigenous populations, to the extent that she was already a capable "jungle girl" in her own right. She still had a lot to learn, but it would come by itself.

But her sister Nami, and brothers Keanu and Makoa trusted her enough to ask her to join them in stopping a potential war between two tribes. It had taken all of the jungle family’s efforts to stop the war, which was being manipulated by disgraced Australian Army colonel James McDonald and his businessman cousin Fred McDonald so they could dig for natural gasses. With the help of someone Emi trusted. The McDonald cousins were defeated, on their way back to Australia to be tried in a court of law, the crimes of which included sections 2 and 3 of the Pomaika’i Treaty; No one may set foot on Pomaika’i without a permit, and cannot use the island’s resources, also without a permit.

Makoa, Keanu, Nami and her boyfriend from Israel had done most of the heavy lifting—er, fighting. Emi, her girlfriend Iolana, and Makoa’s girlfriend Malia helped sabotage the McDonald cousins’ worksite, which had yet to start drilling. There was a big luau afterward, and then everyone went their separate ways.

Because Iolana wanted to go home to her village, Emi made the two-day solitary trek back to her tree-house.

Brown hair reached down to her shoulder, framing a round, slender and very pretty face. Her slightly-tanned skin glistened with sweat in the sporadic patches of sunlight. Brown eyes looked up at the sky and she sighed. Adjusting her brown-colored animal-skin "standard-issue" jungle girl outfit bikini top and loincloth, she found a tree a few meters away and sat against its base. Her chest heaved up and down. Her muscles felt like they were on fire. Opening her canteen, she chugged some more water, sighing loudly when she was done. This was a good place to rest and recover. And yet, she couldn't relax, for she still hadn’t processed what she’d just been through, despite helping the tribes save their land and the island by extension.

"Luckily", if you want to put it that way, she wasn't alone. Someone was nearby.

Kaa, the snake made famous by Rudyard Kipling’s novel The Jungle Book, and made infamous by the 1967 Walt Disney animated adaptation, stuck his head down to look at the jungle girl below him. He smelled her from a great distance away, catching his attention. He had been sleeping on one of the tree’s branches, her scent, or stench, to put it in another way, was strong enough. Not that he cared.

He was visibly pleased to see the young jungle woman sitting at the base of the tree he currently resided in. He was also dismayed to see that she was not in a good state, either physically or mentally. And so the great long-lived snake decided to use the talent he was most famous for. No, not the dance he used to lure the Bandar-Log to their dooms, but the one power that Walt Disney got half-right, the talent that Mowgli actually enjoyed himself. Smiling, he uncurled his great serpentine body and lowered his tail down to her.

Emi heard a sinuous flute playing--er, felt something sliding along her skin. At first, she vaulted forward, about to get up, but she couldn't get up. Then she looked down, saw a snake's tail curling around her waist and legs. Pomaika'i had a plethora of snakes, surprising for an island. But hey, this is a fantasy island. Some of them had interesting abilities. However, that didn't come to mind right now. She was confused, wondering what was going on, whipping her head from side to side, tightly holding onto the tail, chest pounding.

The snake's tail curled around her waist and legs, lifting her up. Her chest clenched, nervous. Which snake was lifting her up? While the snakes couldn't eat humans, that didn't mean some individuals were nice. The tail lifted her higher and higher above the ground and into the trees. Her questions about who was doing this were answered upon the sight of a very familiar snake. The hypnotic snake. “KAA!”

Descending from above, Kaa prepared to give his usual "nicccce to ssssssee you" screed, but she greeted him first. “Yessssss, that’ssssss my name,” he said. “Ssssssso nicccce to sssee you, jungle girl... Emi, isssssss it? It'sssss been ssssso long ssssssinccccce I've lasssssst sssseen you," he continued, wrapping his tail around her left wrist, coiling it up. "It'ssssss jusssssst a miracle I've gotten sssssome company."

“What do you want, Kaa?” she asked impatiently.

Patiently, kaa brought his head closer to hers. “That’sss not a way to great a friend,” he said. “Oh. I ssssssee you’re in dissstressssss.”

“And I have somewhere to be,” she said. She turned, tried to leave, but Kaa wrapped his tail around her midsection, bringing his head over her left shoulder. “Can we do this some other time!? I’m tirrrrrrred!”

“Tired!?” Kaa asked. “Even better! You could usssssse my sssssservicccesssss!” He decided she wasn’t going anywhere now. And it would only be a matter of “when”, not “if” she let him hypnotize her.

“Why don’t you go and play with Keanu?” Emi asked. “He likes you more!”

“Keanu? Is he here?” Kaa asked, but the way he said it, combined with his quick look-around was enough for Emi to know what he was really saying. “Well, he’sss not here!”

Kaa draped a friendly coil around her shoulders. “But you’re here, with me,” he continued. “You know I can help you unwind from sssssssuch a sssssstressssssful ssssssituationnnnnn.”

“How do you know?” she asked.

“You’re excreting sssssssome sssweat,” he replied, “You were breathing heavily, and you are carrying yourssself asss if your musssclesss hurt.” he moved forward and licked her arm. He broke out in a fit of gagging, ignoring her smug expression, until the gagging slowly subsided and stopped. “Yesssss, I tasssssste ssssssweat.”

“And you figured that out all by yourself?” she asked.

“You jusssst sssaid you were tired, too,” he deadpanned.

“... Shit.”

Kaa draped his tail around her shoulders like a friend again, pulling her closer. While Keanu was a lot of fun, Emi was fun in her own way. All his hypnosis subjects were fun in their own way. Mowgli was playful, Kainak was quick, Makoa is strong, Keanu is nimble and Emi, so far, might be a combination of all of them. He also thought about how she’d look under his spell and wrapped in his coils, under a deep spell with the usual wide eyes, pulsating with colored rings, a blissful smile on her lips. It never got old, but it got distracting. She was staring at him.

“Oh, I’m ssssorry. I got dissstracted,” he said. “Could you pleasssssse tell me about what happened?”

“Why?”

“Becausssse I’m a friend,” he said. “You can tell me anything.”

“It was jungle girl stuff,” she replied.

“I’ve performed thissss sssserviccce for Mowgli, you father—your mother on three occasions—and your brothersssss after they had adventuressss,” he assured her.

“A jungle girl’s supposed to be wild and free,” she replied.

“Yesssss, you’re a sssstrong, independent free ‘jungle girl’,” he said. And you will look ssso cute when you’re under my sssspell. 

She visibly hesitated. Kaa drew the obvious conclusion that she had changed her mind and was open to being hypnotized. And she was. She decided that if he did try it, she would let him hypnotize her, cooperate with the mighty python, just like she’d done a couple of times before. She even told him that she liked being hypnotized, coiled and played with. In that moment, she let herself be vulnerable in front of him, frowning and slouching.

“What’ssssss wrong?” he asked, draping his tail around her shoulders while she rubbed her arm. “You can tell me anything, you know that.”

“Like I said, it was jungle girl stuff,” she said.

“That’ssssss not all,” he replied. “I can sssssee it in your eyessssssss.”

She took a deep breath, sighed and took in another breath. So she told him in detail, what happened. He listened, nodding his head, not saying much except for things like ‘and then what’, commenting on events that took place, and getting angry at the McDonald cousins’ plan.

“… And to top it all off, a so-called ‘friend’ betrayed me!” she huffed. “She told me she was going to help me find their worksite and sabotage the equipment, but it was a trap! She literally brought me to them, they put me in a fuckin’ cage and she laughed at me!” She seethed, gritting her teeth and growling. “My girlfriend got me out of that wooden cage, though. Gods, that was humiliating.”

“You’ve been through a lot,” Kaa remarked. “You dessssserve a reward, and sssome… ressssssssst.” As he said that, colored rings pulsated in his eyes. He chuckled, his whole body shaking. Well, she was already here, and he’d already planned to do it to her.

“Yeah, I do,” she said. “I’m glad to have someone I can trust.”

Kaa was beside himself. “Well, you know I’m not like sssome ssso-called ‘fair-weather friendssss’. You can belieeeeve… in meeeeee.

“Jusssssst turn to me…”

Gently, he placed the tip of his tail under her chin and tugged so gently it was like a feather. As he hoped, she turned towards him, and he activated his hypnotic vision. She wore a ghost of a smile when she looked at him, the rings filling her eyes as soon as she made eye contact, and the smile growing to a real one. “That’sssssssss it,” he said gently, “Look into my eyessssssssss, and loooooooossssse yourssssssssself in themmmmmm.”

Emi's mind immediately emptied the moment she and Kaa made eye contact. The rings in his eyes reflected in hers, beginning the induction. Her jaw dropped and she slumped forward a little bit, like she was trying to get a closer look, even though she was the only audience. A pleasant feeling began to well up in her head, a warm tightness in her chest. Her body slackened just a little bit, arms dropping to the side, allowing Kaa to begin coiling around her. "Thank... you..." she sputtered. She turned her body so that she straddled the branch. While she was distracted, he took her weapons and supplies away and set them aside.

He swayed his head from side-to-side, then rolled it, making sure that she wasn't breaking eye contact. She didn't, and he was satisfied again. She followed his head as it bobbed, swung and stuff, totally enraptured. Emi eagerly drank in the beautiful colored spirals, savoring the comfortable sensation like drunkenness. He lowered his tail down to her, curling the tail around her waist, adjusting his grip so that it would be firm on her body. If it was too tight, she would struggle breathe, and if it was too loose, she could slip or something. But he’d done this many times before, so his grip was juuuuuuuuuust right.

“There’ssssssss no one around ussssssssssssssss,” he said. “It’sssssssssss jusssssssssst usssssssssssssssss, and we can have aaaaaaaaaaaallllllll the fun we want,” he said.

She felt more tired. Her body was getting heavier, her head felt light. She tried to look away, tried to resist, but couldn’t and would not. Kaa had a firm-ish grip on her body, and she also didn’t want to leave. For a moment, she almost let his hypnosis completely take over, but she began resisting, telling herself to fight, but just enough to prolong the hypnosis. She wanted to enjoy this.

“Whyyyy musssssst you resssssissssssst?” he asked. “We’re friendsssssssss. You can rely on my help.

“The adventure’ssssssss overrrrr. You can relaxsssssss. I can help youuuuu. Jusssssssssst relaxsssssssss. Watch my eyessssss...

Let them hypnotizsssssse..." he sang, continuing his work with his tail around the young woman's bare midsection, winding upwards towards her top. He gently squeezed, but only to re-adjust his grip. Once it loosened, he continued, satisfied that his improvised plan had worked. She would be a very enthusiastic and obedient subject, being as bored as he was. He could look forward to all the shenanigans coming their way, but he had to stay focused on his catch, first.

"Yeeeeessss," she groaned, grinning. She was enjoying this a lot. The hypnosis, combined with her resistance, was... well, the word that comes to mind is probably inappropriate, not just for a PG-13 story, but also for the situation. Either way, she felt amazing, and didn't want the hypnosis to end just yet. She leaned forward a little more. All she felt while staring into his eyes was the pleasant emptiness, warmth and comfort of the power that Mowgli had once enjoyed.

In that moment, as he mentioned, there was no one around them, only the snake and the jungle girl. While being confined to a cage was beyond humiliating, the snake’s coils were safe and warm with familiarity and respect. It was a two-way hug, both in her mind and around her body. Gradually, the stress of the previous days slipped away in a silver mist, her senses slowly ceasing to exist aside from her vision and... okay, they weren’t exactly slipping away. But she was edging closer to falling under his delightful spell.

Emi fought back a yawn and the fatigue beginning to set in. Kaa's hypnosis was getting to her, but she still wasn't ready. She rocked backwards and forwards, trying to keep herself awake. Meanwhile, his tail, his soft scales, climbed up her body, around her midsection, squeezing. It was warm and welcoming, reminding her that if she gave in, she would forget about her stress, allow herself to be a mindless toy for Kaa. But she resisted again, and the hypnosis suddenly felt better, especially when his tail carefully moved around a certain part of the human female anatomy, gently squeezing, causing her to gasp. It felt good.

“Follow meeeeee,” he sang. “Into a world of pleasssssssant emptinesssssssssssssssssss...”

His voice called to her. It was like she had noise-cancelling headphones on, and Kaa’s voice was the music. Simultaneously, his squeezing helped her relax, bringing her close to giving in. Still she resisted, and in return, mentally felt amazing, like she was flying on a silver mist, her senses slowly and surely ceasing to exist, except for the desire to obey Kaa’s suggestions. She was getting closer and closer to falling under Kaa’s spell.

She had a lot of fun every time he hypnotized her. The first time, she was understandably nervous, wondering how this talking snake knew her father Kainak and brothers Makoa and Keanu. After talking to him, she kind of trusted him, and he hypnotized her in surprise. He managed to get her all coiled up and under his spell when her protective sister, Nami, intervened. Yeah, Nami hated Kaa. After talking to her father and brothers about Kaa, the second time they met, she was hypnotized by surprised again, but didn’t resist as much, and with no one to intervene, he played with her for hours. Ever since then, she trusted him with her life.

"I hope you're ready," he said, "But no russssssssh."

His tail reached above her shoulders, ringing around her neck, but not squeezing... yet. He waited until he could tighten his entire body around her, and once he did, tightened around her neck, squeezing in a way that made her gulp and her eyes bulge, but didn't cut off her air. Now she was immobilized, cocooned by his body, about to fall under his spell any moment now...

The sudden tug of his tail around her neck surprised her. Her eyes bulged as she gulped, and she got one last burst of hypnosis. The final burst of hypnosis was enough, and she gave in, falling completely willingly under his spell. Now her mind was full of blissful emptiness. The rings emanated in her wide eyes, looking off into nowhere, and she wore a silly, blank smile on her lips.

“There, that was pleassssssant, wassssssss it not?” Kaa asked.

“It was very pleasant,” she replied with as much enthusiasm as she could with a dreamy monotone.

“Do you feel better?”

“I feel a little better,” she answered.

“After any adventure, you can come to me if you feel like it,” he said. “Or I can come to you. Or we can randomly crosssss pathssssssssss!”

“Okay,” she said.

“But for now, ssssslip into sssssilent sssssslumber, ssssail on a ssssssilver misssssst. Ssssssleep until you feel fully resssssssssssted.

“But, before you do, I have ssssssome inssstructionsssss. When you wake up, you will go and do what you musssst do, including bathing, and... you know... then, you will return to thissss tree. That’sssss when the fun beginssssss. Now sssssleep.”

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The next thing Emi knew, she was still in the tree, and suddenly felt the hot jungle air on her skin. She looked around, almost convinced that she’d dreamed the whole thing with Kaa yesterday, but no one was there. She did feel like she needed to take care of business, though. So she stood up, picked up her gear, fastened it to her waist and descended the tree, driven by an urge that she couldn’t place. Or maybe it was because she knew she had sweated like a gym rat in a sauna.

She needed a bath, a refill of her canteen and to empty something. Confident that she was escaping Kaa, she ran off to find a spring. As soon as she was out of sight though, Kaa lowered his head down, smiling. Everything was going according to plan.

Emi emerged from the pool, dried herself off and donned her outfit and gear. As soon as she was finished, she felt something tug in the back of her mind. She turned, her face expressionless and walked back the way she came, letting the invisible force pull her. From the outside, it looked like she was walking with a sense of purpose; posture straight, head held high and her arms swinging at the side. The only thing that suggested something was close to being “off” was the vacant stare in her eyes. In fact, she wasn’t even thinking at all.

She returned to the tree and climbed. Her face was still expressionless. The suggestion Kaa had planted in her subconscious had indeed been activated, and she was going to be hypnotized again today.

The spell was broken when she climbed into the same branch she had been in. Her mind cleared up, and she looked around. She sighed. And yet, she didn’t leave, because she didn’t want to. Her chest tightened with excitement, knowing what was coming, but she was still a little unhappy with him.

“Kaa, I know you’re here!” she called.

Kaa descended to face her. “EE-yyyyeeeeeeessssssssss?” he playfully asked.

“What the hell, Kaa?” she asked.

“Oh, did you not like our lasssssst sssssssesssssssion?” he asked playfully.

“No, it’s just—did we even play?”

“No, I thought it unfair to you to play with you while you were ssstill tired,” he answered.  “But now we can play!”

“Um, maybe I should—” She turned to leave. He gently grabbed her wrist and she acted like he had a harder grip, swinging her leg out and turning back towards him.

“Oh no, you’re not going anywhere,” he said playfully. “I only helped you ressst. Now, the real fun beginssss.” He activated the spirals in his eyes, shoving his face into hers, his tail holding the back of her head still. The rings reflected in her eyes, and she had no time to get her bearings.

“Okay,” she said of her own free will. “Let’s do this.”

“Sssssssit down, pleasssssssse,” he hissed. And she did as he asked.

Emi stared deep into his eyes, fascinated, never once having tired of them, nor the warm sensation they made her feel in her mind and chest. It was like eating your favorite dinner for the 40th time, the anticipation tickling as she began to slip under. She was fully away of what was coming, but she appreciated it more each time. Ehe started resisting again, that trick her dad had taught her, to get as much out of it as possible. Hands in her lap, she leaned forward to get a closer look at the colors. As she did that, Kaa began circling and weaving his head around, ensuring that she couldn’t look away. And, she couldn’t look away, either due to some magical or mundane stuff. She also didn’t want to look away, so maybe that had something to do with it.

For Kaa, it never got old. He knew the Manling was immune to the Dance of the Hunter at the Bandar-Log hideout, so he was curious to try the eyes on Mowgli. The experiment was a success, and he hypnotized Mowgli many more times until the Manling grew out of it, and left for the Manvillage. Kainak, Emi’s father, filled the role Mowgli had once played when Kaa was transported to Pomaika’i by dark magic. Seeing the subject in his thrall delighted him, knowing he was going to have a good time with them.

He sang his commands and suggestions to her. Her jaw hung open. Then his tail descended from above, curled around her midsection. Emi felt her spine tingle as soon as the tail touched her bare midriff. The scales were soft, inviting. They would keep her steady and from falling out of the tree. She took three deep breaths, not once breaking eye contact with Kaa. She was already too far gone to try, enjoying herself too much to care. Her mind was draining of the stresses of the previous adventure again. Wait, she had been stressed? Oh right, he’d hypnotized her before. Oh, well.

“They’re pretty, aren’t they?” Kaa cooed, swinging his head around from side to side. Just for fun, he nodded, making her nod and him chortle. Oh, he was such a cad!

But he had business and a jungle girl to attend to.

He gently squeezed around her midsection, wrapping around her arms to keep them to the side. Carefully, he wrapped them around her until his tail encased her midsection. Then he loosened his grip again as he curled around her chest, over an area he knew was sensitive to human females, until he was past them. Then he squeezed again, drawing a small gasp from her. It seemed to wake her up a little. Couldn’t have her falling asleep, could he?

“Keep your eyessss open,” he sang. “We can’t have you falling asssssleep now, can we?”

“N... no...” she groaned. His firm grip felt like a hug all over her torso. Even better, her heart had ceased pounding from excitement and anticipation, but her chest still felt warm. Her head was getting foggier. The jungle’s sights and sounds seemed to fade from her sight and hearing. She could only focus on Kaa and his eyes and voice. She could have given in now, but she was enjoying the moment too much. The hypnosis felt amazing.

Outside her nearly-hypnotized mind, his tail crept up to her collarbone, gently squeezing again. Kaa hummed like he was working. The tail finally reached her shoulders, curling around them until the collar was the last thing visible under his tail. But he didn’t want to pull the “trigger” yet. Perhaps he could hypnotize her a little more, deepen the spell. He brought his head towards her, completely filling her vision with his eyes and the colored rings. She gasped as the hypnosis seemed to overwhelm her, but she kept going. That’s what he’d hoped for. Then he squeezed on her neck. Her eyes popped open and she made a cute “gulp” sound. She’d had enough. Any thoughts she had disappeared in a blissful, comfortable silver mist of her mind. She was completely under Kaa’s spell.

As soon as she fell under his spell, he lifted her off the branch, wrapping her down to her knees, holding her aloft to admire his handiwork. Had he outdone himself? Probably, probably not, but he was satisfied with said handiwork. He had her completely under his spell, ready to follow his whims.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

“I feel amazing,” she said. “Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome,” he said.

He placed her on the branch, loosened his coils and tugged them off like a shirt. Then he lowered his head more to inspect the jungle girl. She stood ramrod straight, eyes unfocused and filled with colored rings staring off to nothing, and a silly smile of contented nothingness on her lips.

She was so cute!

“Your eyesssss are ssssso pretty,” he joked.

“No, your eyes are prettier,” she replied.

He laughed. “Are you ready to have sssssome fun?” he asked.

“Oh, yes, Kaa,” she replied.

“Raisssssse your armssssss forward.” She did as she was told. “Bend forward.” She did that, too. “Now, ssssstand on thosssssse handssssssss.”

Effortlessly, she kicked her feet off the branch, handstanding on it. Thanks to her upper-body strength from jungle living, it was effortless. He hummed and sighed as he inspected her. He was tempted to tickle her stomach, but that would probably be a bad idea. She might lose her grip and fall to her doom. Couldn’t have that!

Although he did lift her hair up. It was getting in her way.

“That’ssssss enough, now,” he said. She returned to her feet and ramrod straight position.

“What to do, what to do?” he asked himself. The problem with being so old and hypnotizing everyone so many times, was that he was running out of ideas.

Then he remembered he was doing this for her, and he would have to craft the program around her needs.

“How ssssshall we procccceed?” he asked. “What do you want to do?”

“I want to play,” she said.

He chuckled. Of course. He’d mentioned that before hypnotizing her. “Ah, forgive me, my dear,” he said. “Let’sss see here... I know what we can play!” He wrapped his tail around her midsection and lifted her off the branch.

He placed her somewhere on the thickest part of his body, straddling him. Once he removed his coils from her, he nudged her onto her back. Then he started moving his body up and down like water on a river. The young woman had had a rough week and needed both a mental and physical health break, and he couldn’t think of a good game to play, so for now, “You’re on a laazssssssy river,” he hissed. “Let yoursssssssssself be carried away. Loossssssssssen your musssssccccclesssssssss and float.”

The trees stayed in Emi’s vision, but they got further and further from her until she felt wet. As Kaa instructed, she visualized herself floating in a gently-flowing river in the middle of her jungle home, the flow carrying her to an unknown destination that didn’t matter.

“Let your mind at easssssssssssssse,” Kaa said. “The steresssssssssssssss of your adventure will ssssssssssslip away. Take a deeeeeeeeeeep breath. Hold it. And releasssssssssse it. There, you gooooooo.” His body gently sagged to replicate the deep breath she held. Then he led her through two more before making his body pretend to be gently rippling river waters again.

He guided her through the visuals for at least 30 more minutes to an hour, because he could no longer tell the passage of time, and she was, well, under a hypnotic spell. Finally, he sagged his body, lifting her with his body so she could sit up. With a gentle nudge, he made her fall forward on her stomach.

“Now you’re flying,” he said. “Just like before, you ride the air like you rode the river, but let your armssss stretch out.” She straightened herself out, holding her arms out like she was flying.

He helped her visualize the jungle from above, even though he couldn’t see it from the trees (ba-dum, tsh!). No actual wind blew in her face, but she could still feel the sensation in her mind. The green tree tops rolled beneath her as she pretended to glide. She dipped her arms, turning with them.

Seeing her so relaxed and at peace warmed Kaa’s literal cold-blooded heart. Just to shake things up, he ended the visualization, put her back on her back, and gently tossed her in the air. He caught her, his tail sagging along with her. Then he made her slide on his tail, stopping her near the tip. Wrapping his tail around her midsection twice, he brought her upright. Then he placed her feet on his body again, stiffening it so she could remain standing. Then, he moved his tail around her arms, manipulating them like she was an action figure. He made her pretend to fight one of his enemies... actually, he should have her actually do that in the future—then made her dance.

He chuckled. She made a great toy.

But he couldn’t get carried away. He was doing this for her, not for himself.

He stopped playing with her and placed her on his body again. Holding onto a branch, he let his body sag until she looked like she was in a hammock. In fact, she was in the famous coil hammock as he swung his body from side to side, singing a gentle lullaby.

Finally, feeling like he couldn’t think of anything else, he lifted her up, made a spiraling slide out of his body and let her slide in it until he caught her in his coils again. Then, he let her down so she could rest in the tree.

“You did well,” he said softly. “Let’sssssssss ressssssssssst again. Ssssssssssleeeeeeeeeeeeep.”

Her eyes closed and she fell back into a deep sleep. Kaa leaned back against one of the branches, soaking in the moment that he would enjoy more of later, when the real play would begin. But for now, let her enjoy the reward for an adventure.