The Piper clan had been doing a lot better since they've first came out of the sewers. Instead of being vermin skulking about in the shadows, they were accepted members of the Animalian community. However, there was still one significant problem: there was too many of them in one place. Rats are very prolific breeders and Mary had given birth to many, many children when she was in the sewers. And there had been more offspring when 'Subject Zero' mated with his daughters, her sons mated with Mary, or if they bred with each other. Fortunately, the proper uplifting they received had removed the defects of their inbreeding, but it was still very clear that they were in desperate need for fresh blood and cleaner genes.
So now with four Animalian colonies open, it was time for the Piper Brood to start moving out. Not all of them though. There were several too young to be living on their own. But the eldest of the Brood, who had completed their integration classes and had finished both their paroles and re-education were ready to move out into the world.
Mary found herself getting unexpected emotional. She assumed this was what most mothers felt when their babies were all grown up and ready to leave, but she wasn't sure if it would apply to herself. None of her grown children were chronologically older than 2 years old, not to mention the rather...off-putting relationship they had when they were young. And yet when she was seeing her children to the airport, she found herself choking up with tears.
"Don't cry, Mother," said Chewy, her son.
"We'll come back and visit," said Squeals, her daughter.
"I want you Skyping with me as often as you can," said Mary.
"Geeze, Mom, I thought you'd want us out from under your feet," said Nick-Ear, more commonly called Nick.
"Sorry, sorry," said Mary, wiping her eyes, "Guess I'm just getting a bit overwhelmed."
"Relax, we'll be home for the holidays and stuff," said Nips.
"I just hope we won't be bringing too much family back," said Moonneck (so named because she had a moon-shaped mark on her neck).
"Right," said Mary, a bit more soberly, "I don't need grandchildren that fast." She didn't mention she technically already had grandchildren, though they were more closely related to her than she would have like.
Bitsy gave her mother one last hug and said, "Don't worry about us. It's past time we left the nest."
Soon after that, the twelve eldest of the Piper Brood departed, three each going to a different colony.
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While Mary found the house a little emptier, it wasn't empty enough. She was pretty doubtful she'd be the type of woman to get 'empty nest syndrome'. She wasn't particularly eager to get pregnant again, even if Jack was a much better husband now. The fact her pregnancy term would be longer than what it had been when she was a sewer rat was even more of a deterrent.
It helped a little bit that she had frequent visitors. The Anaconda Triumvirate were also dealing with their own particularly large brood and came to Mary for advice. Mary herself couldn't understand why anyone would choose the hermaphrodite life, but who was she to judge? Anyways, the Anacondas were a nice bunch, even if they made Mary instinctively worry about being eaten. But thankfully, they were all civilized Animalians here.
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After a few weeks, Mary checked in with her emigrated children to see how they were settling into their new habitats. Rats are very adaptable creatures so they didn't really require special needs. Fitting into the community was another matter.
"There aren't that many humans who want to move to Mieni Atoll," said Nips with a shrug.
"And those that do would rather become one of the local species than a rat," said Rigger.
"But at least we've got good jobs here," said Ratlyne.
"Doing what?" asked Mary.
"We're the Jolly Pye-Rats!" said Ratlyne.
"The what?" asked Mary flatly.
"It's an entertainment group," said Rigger, "We dress up like pirates, tell pirate stories, sing shanties."
"It's a living," said Nips.
"I suppose you could do worse than working at an island resort," said Mary.
The news from Vilcabamba was more interesting. One of her sons had gotten himself a girlfriend. "Ana comes from a pretty big family herself," said Nick, "I mean, not as big as ours, but she's got plenty of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins. We've been bonding over how our family drives us crazy."
"Sounds good, but does she seem like she wants to commit?" asked Mary.
"We're only dating right now," said Nick, "I'm not going to push her into changing for me unless she actually wants to. I know a lot of people wouldn't want to be rats."
Mary smiled, proud her children had picked up the right morals. "Well, I hope I'll be able to chat with her eventually," she said.
In Maelewano, the Pipers they had found an interesting job. "You're miners?" asked Mary.
"No, we're looking for landmines," said Chewy.
"Please tell me you're joking," said Mary, not wanting her children to get blown up.
"It's safer than it sounds," said Squeals, "We can sniff them out and dig them out without setting them off. We're making dangerous land habitable again."
"They've already been doing it with other rats," said Chewy.
"Other rats?" asked Mary.
"Giant pouched rats," said Chewy, "That's pouched as in cheek pouches, not like kangaroo pouches."
"They're pretty friendly," said Squeals, "But I'm not certain if they're closely related to brown rats like us."
"Well, you just take your time with looking for mates," said Mary.
The Pipers that moved to New Zerzura had some interesting facts to tell about Egypt. "Did you know that it was once a capitol punishment to kill rats?" asked Bitsy.
"You mean cats, right?" asked Mary.
"No, really," said Moonneck, "Cats were well-revered as they were considered hunters of rats. The Ancient Egyptians thought that if they killed rats themselves, they would be depriving cats of their food source and that would anger Bast. And nobody wanted an angry goddess. She wouldn't just curse the person, but the whole community."
"I find that hard to believe," said Mary.
"It's really fascinating," said Moonneck, "I'm just learning so much about this place. One of the archeologists has been teaching me a lot."
"And she's got a big crush on him," said Bitsy, giving her sister a playful shove.
"Oh, like you haven't been eying the sergeant," retorted Moonneck as she shoved her sister back.
"Are you dating them yet?" asked Mary.
"Well, not yet," said Moonneck.
"Kinda hard to walk up to a man like that," said Bitsy.
"Don't worry, it's the 21st century," said Mary, "I don't think you need permission to ask for a date, at least not in Egypt."
"The customs are different here, Mom," said Bitsy.
"Well, find out what's appropriate and then try to get their attention," said Mary.
Mary actually felt a little exhausted from chatting with her distant children. She was glad they were doing well, but so much talking made her feel tired, even if it was online. Jack came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders. "They're doing fine," he said.
"Yes," said Mary, "And they're interested in people who aren't their own siblings. That's a good sign."
Jack rubbed lower down Mary's back. "You sound a little stressed," he said, "Want me to help you with that?"
Mary could smell her husband's arousal and she couldn't deny she was feeling horny herself. "You know, I'm actually in the mood for that," she said, "But wait until I've gotten ready first."
"Of course," said Jack, "I'll be in the bedroom." With that, he walked off.
Mary might have loosened her reluctance to sleep with Jack, but that did not mean she wanted to get pregnant again. She took as many precautions for birth control as she could. She had once suggested Jack get a vasectomy, but as soon as he found out what that was, he flatly and stubbornly refused. So Mary took her preventative measures instead.
As Mary headed for the bedroom, she wondered which of her kids will be leaving the nest next and to where. Most likely to the Asian colonies when they opened. Well, as long as they weren't mating with each other, she hoped they had success elsewhere.