Fareeha glanced back and forth between her two audience members, her enthusiasm finally slacking off a bit at the memory. She didn't hate it, or live in denial of it or any of the sort, but it wasn't something she enjoyed talking about, either. And yet, she also wasn't one for secrets or to refuse someone's curiosity in something that isn't really all that private. Anyone could look it up, anyways.

[color=rosybrown]"It started when I was young, very young. I was always a bit of a tomboy, and I'd always skip my tutoring classes and all my princess duties to go wander the desert around my home. I never really acknowledged the land to be dangerous- perhaps that's why I ventured out so far and so often. I knew the desert around my home like the back of my hand.

"My parents were understandably distressed, and always tried to stop me- but I knew the palace just as well as I knew the desert, and I could get around them every time. I'm very resourceful, you know."[/color] To accent her point, she winked conspirationally at Liv. She personally didn't know of anything that Liv might do against her parents' will for her own reasons, but she felt like the girl might understand a little more than Mai. 

[color=rosybrown]"Eventually, they tired of attempting to cage my wild little soul, so they decided to monitor it instead. A guide would always come with me, and I was perfectly fine with it- because he taught me everything he knew about the land. Knew my father a while back, and had some training in the self-defense, if you know what I mean.

"He died. We had stumbled onto a small cave, and with us being the little adventurers we were, we ventured in. When we came out, we found ourselves on top of a cobra.

"And it was angry."[/color]

She paused for a long moment, collecting her thoughts.

[color=rosybrown]"He died. If you've done any background searching on me, then one of the most notable things about my health is that I'm one of the healthiest and the most resilient in the world- because the Mamlakat Alssahra's royal family has had a tradition for some generations now to, weekly, inject ourselves with a small dose of some of the more potent serpent venom. It makes our immune system stronger, and our resistance to poison and venom even more. He died where I lived. We were both bitten by the cobra, and instead of hating them forever, I was intrigued. I didn't tame it, but I wanted to know more, and it seemed to accept me before it left me and my dead friend."

"After that, I just... pursued my interest. I researched the snakes, sought them out in the desert, learned how to handle them. I may not be able to go and pick up most cobras out in the wild without being bitten, but within a few minutes I can get them calmed down. It's just... being calm, I guess. And being immune. You'd have to be immune to permanently handle the venomous varieties. They're just too dangerous.

"I learned to handle them like you'd handle any dangerous animal. They're dangerous, they're to be taken seriously, but they're still animals. They're just as much an animal as a dog, or a cat. Or a sparrow."[/color]