So Kore visited the zoo with Sedna, and did develop a deeper familiarity with natural snakes. She became aware of their serenity of spirit. She realized, she said, that this gave them the patience to endure their confinement in the zoo's display cases. She said that something like it had helped her endure her long years in the sewers.

And this deeper familiarity did help. The next morning when Sedna went into Kore's room, she was already up and dressed, in human form. "Surprise!" she said, with a big grin. Sedna hugged her and beamed back at her. Naga and Dema too were elated when they found out.

After that, Kore had more control. She was able to dream shift herself to snake form and back at will, much like Dema. But she remained Lamia-pale. Hopes were rekindled all around, but there was more work to be done.

Dema went to the zoo too, when she had some spare time, and did her own experimenting. Through her shaman dream she contacted the awareness of various animals, becoming able to feel whatever they were feeling. She practiced Kore's trick of learning to see through their eyes, and thought that this alone could prove to be a useful ability.

Dema spent some time sharing awareness with the tiger and other big cats. She found herself attracted to one green-eyed black panther in particular, and went further into the shaman dream than usual with it, becoming deeply familiar with its special nature. She found it easy then to take on some of its feline characteristics, such as cat-eyed night vision and tuck-away claws. She demonstrated these new abilities one night at home.

Naga was especially interested, and encouraging. At her urging, Dema took the plunge, and dreamed herself fully into the shape of a big cat. She paced around the room for a while, enjoying the limber musculature, the natural grace. She was beautiful in this form, and she knew it.

As Dema was putting her clothes back on after returning to human form, Naga asked her, "Dema, have you ever tried including your clothing in the transformation? It would be much more practical. But I have to wonder if such a thing is even possible."

"The possibility never occurred to me," said Dema, "Guess I just assumed that it wouldn't work that way."

Sedna said, "If the stories can be believed, there have been any number of shaman shape-shifters who returned to human form fully dressed."

"Well then I'll try it," Dema said. "I suppose I could think of my clothing as part of my human form, like a second skin, when I dream the change, so it will become part of my animal body."

They watched her go into the shaman dream. She was wearing denim jeans and a blouse with a paisley pattern. When she shifted into snake-form, the jeans ended up in a heap on the floor as usual. But the blouse did not. Instead, her scaly skin bore the blouse's pattern. Dema looked down at herself, then smiled at the others. "Pretty, huh?" she said.

She returned to her natural form, and was again wearing the blouse. She pulled her jeans back on the normal way. "I could start wearing something simple under my street clothes, like that black jersey dress I wore as the Lamia before, so I can change back and forth without abandoning my modesty. Thanks, Mom."

"Well, this is quite a development!" said Naga. "This means the possibilities included in our theory are broader than what I've been thinking of as shamanism. It might start to explain other kinds of magic."

"Hmmm," said Dema, "Let me try something else." She picked up one of Sedna's books and held it in her hand. After a moment, she was holding a tumbler instead.

"Let me see it!" said Naga, holding out her hand. Dema passed it around. Everyone agreed that it felt like a tumbler too, it wasn't a book that looked like a tumbler.

"That was a good book!" Sedna said as she turned it over in her hands.

Kore looked at it too. "What else can you do, Dema?" she asked.

In reply Dema started looking around, trying to come up with another idea.

"Look at the book!" said Kore. In her hands, the tumbler was indeed a book again. Kore gave it to Sedna, who opened it to check the pages, then put it on her table.

"So it isn't permanent," said Naga.

"No, when I stopped thinking about it, it went back to normal," Dema said. "It was not much more than a glamouring, I guess." She did the same with another book, handed it to Naga, then let it revert while Naga held it.

Naga thought about this for a moment. "Maybe what this means is that there is some fundamental quantum-level consistency to the way the world is that can't be permanently violated. She turned the book over in her hands, then gave it back to Dema. "Do it again," she said.

So Dema did, and gave it back to Naga. Naga examined the tumbler in some detail, looking at it from every angle. "Now stop thinking about it," she said.

Naga held onto the tumbler, focusing her attention on it. It remained a tumbler for a long moment, then suddenly it was a book again.

"You did that, didn't you, Mom."

"I tried, and I guess it worked for a while. But I couldn't keep it from changing back. I was trying to concentrate on believing it was a glass, but some part of my mind knew it was really a book, and kept expecting it to change back. I couldn't overcome that.

"You know, it may be that many things in the world hold their shapes because of the unconscious expectations of people."

"I'm sure you're right, Mom," said Dema, "But as you said before, there are more than just human expectations involved."