Rational Fear

1. Singing cricket recoils from the arm extending out of the table. The mimic eyes look disappointed. "The table!" he shouts in terror. "It's going to get me!"

2. Kayra guides Singing Cricket over to a chair - or rather, a large hand that has grown out of the floor, which they have sat in many times before. "Poor baby," she says. "Here, sit down and take a breath." In the background, eyes have bubbled up from the floor and table.

"Thanks," says Singing Cricket, looking stressed. "I just need a moment to--"

3. He recoils, screaming, when he notices an eye opening up in the palm of the chair-hand. "WAUGH! Another mimic!"

4. Kayra covers her mouth in shock at his reaction. "Husband! It's all right--"

Singing Cricket draws his dagger and drops into a crouch, a serious expression on his face, ready for a fight. "Don't touch the furniture! ANYTHING in here could suddenly spout TEETH. Even --" The hand-chair looks at him, as does the floor, and a nearby ottoman.

5. Singing Cricket leaps into Kayra's arms. "Oh, no, the floor!!!"

"Nanny!" cries Kayra, as Nanny approaches picking eyestalks out of her teeth. "What is wrong with my husband?"

6. "Every adventurer has had run-ins with mimics, dearie," says Nanny Muk. "This is a typical response."

An eyeball-covered arm reaches down from the ceiling to stroke Singing Cricket's head. He is curled up in the foetal position, still held up by Kayra, whimpering: "Don't touch me... I might be a mimic..."