I raised a large python. When she started crawling into my bed every night and coiling around me, I thought it was love. But I took her to the vet. What the doctor told me next horrified me—Safran wasn't hungry; she was preparing. The vet’s office smelled of iodine and antiseptic. Dr. Al-Hadi, a man with kind eyes, examined Safran. “She’s not sick,” he said, his voice quiet and measured. “She’s fasting.” “Fasting? But why?” He nodded slowly, his serious, direct eyes meeting mine. “She is prepari