healing-with-serpents

In Chapter 1 of Dreamsnake, Snake, a healer with three serpents, tends to a gravely ill boy named Stavin in a desert tent. Despite the fear and suspicion of Stavin's parents and their community, Snake uses her serpents, especially the albino cobra Mist and the dreamsnake Grass, to diagnose and prepare to treat the boy's illness. The chapter explores the tension between trust and fear, the healer's skill and compassion, and the harshness of the desert environment.