"So you're really a royal?" Flake asked as shi, Alexis, and Jess walked along the streets of Paris through evening hours.
"I am of royal decent, though it is not like it really matters much politically," Alexis replied slowly, "Surely even your American school system has taught you that France is Europe's oldest modern Republic..."
"Yes, the guillotine and "of with their heads" stuff," Flake nodded.
"Yes," Alexis nodded and quietly brushed a patch of white fur above her breasts and around her collarbone that was rather fluffy and looked sort of like an inverted crown, "Well, the revolutionaries didn't kill ALL of the Bourbons or other noble houses. Someone, after all had to be King after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. But then they didn't do so well and we had another revolution and a "people's king" and then a new republic, the the Bonapartes restored under Napoleon III, then the Third Republic, then we experimented with being Fascist Nazi Lovers... except for those that followed De Gaulle, and then the Republic was restored. We're presently on our Fifth Republican constitution. It's confusing and politically tense, but c'est la vie."
"So what do you do with no power?" Flake wondered curiously.
"Oh... even without political power, we're still powerful," Alexis chuckled, "we after all still sit on a mountain of wealth that goes back to France's founding... many of us have our old lands and chateaus and palaces... though some tend to be real jerks with it. It's why I moved out to live with an American exchange student in her flat. My folks have paid our rent to let us find our own way..."
"Oh," was all Flake could manage and looked back see Alexis looking at her with very soft looking eyes.
Like Danna, Alexis had become a Skunkat, and was based along the lines of a striped skunk. Shi had a single white stripe running on the top of hir head and then ran into two stripes that ran down the back of hir humanoid torso and taur back and tail, which she held erect. The rest of hir fur was black with the exception of the inverted "crown" above hir breasts, and all of hir fur, particularly on hir tail was rather fluffy. Hir eyes were very dark and practically blended into hir fur, but Flake could see them and they looked soft and loving.
"I love you," Flake found hirself blurting.
Alexis came forward and hugged Flake to her, "and strangely I've come to love you too... although that might have to do more with becoming a hermaphroditic skunk-taur."
"It's good that you love each other," Jess commented, "but we need to keep going. General Heroud may be quarantining Paris and setting up the check points to get those that haven't become kats yet out... but he has still kept checkpoints in the city, and while they know that I as a Foxkat am a natural vaccine for the Virus and that I've told them that you two have been vaccinated and shouldn't be able to spread it any further... we don't want to attract needless attention."
"Of course," Flake nodded and they fell back in line to follow Jess, though shi stayed by Alexis's side, and as they walked, the two held hands.
They had passed a couple of checkpoints, maned by police or soldiers and nearly all of them had some sort of vehicle with them, possibly as a command center, though one looked like a battle tank and about two hundred yards in front of it there were four dead Chakats and what looked like a Rabbit-taur, a Rabkat, laying dead with obvious gunshot wounds. That made Jess shudder at what might have happened in Fee City if she and Nikole hadn't sabotaged Maurice and Snowy's ill-conceived plan to end war and disease. What shocked her more was that the dead Chakats also looked like they had been carrying weapons. One had a sword and the other some sort of rifle that she couldn't identify, but that seemed to confirm what the French Scientist and General Heroud had told them when they arrived. This all served as a reminder that this wasn't likely the result of a couple of lovers with odd tastes wanting to create a new era of peace. Whoever was behind the Virus here, had not only either spied on Maurice and Snowy while Chakat Industries still existed or had gotten the formula from the US government when the government confiscated Chakat Industries after the Fee City outbreak, but he/she or more likely shi had some plan that was most certainly NOT peaceful.
"All this scares me," Alexis said nervously as they continued toward an area that was more west of Paris than north of it.
"Which part?" Flake wondered, "That so many of us are turning into extremely horny hermaphroditic taurs or that some are forcing fights with the army?"
"Both," Alexis said nervously, "I mean... Mikkie and Danna got through the checkpoints because they hadn't changed yet... Mikkie mated with you and I breathed in too much of Danna's perfume..."
"I wonder if yours has the same arousing effect that Danna's did," Flake commented, "Mikkie and I could smell it while Danna was looking for you... and it make us all the more... you know."
Alexis nodded, "It might... but I don't know, and wouldn't that also be odd?"
"Yes," Jess answered, "A skunk's natural "perfume" is supposed to smell BAD. It's how they keep predators away."
"Maybe Skunkats are different," Alexis sighed.
"Maybe," Jess answered.
At that point they arrived an area outside the city and found a high brick wall with an ornate iron gate with gold ornamentation. On a gold plated emblem near the gate was the letters BdM with two fleurs de lis on it. The BdM stood for Bourbon de Moltitier and represented a small portion of the old Bourbon royal line that had survived the various revolutions and foreign invasions of France. The fleurs de lis was the traditional emblem of the French monarchy, officially dropped for good by the French government when the Third Republic won the support of the French people, but that didn't mean that the old noble families didn't drop their personal coats of arms. Jess knew that and that was sort of where hir father, then an American civil servant in the US Embassy in Paris had come into play. His assignment to Paris had come after Jess and Sally were able to live on their own, but they had stayed in relatively close touch. It was through letters and phone calls that their father had informed them of his meeting a French noblewoman, apparently Alexis's mother, and when he retired from the US State Department, that noblewoman had hired him as a personal servant. From the way Jess and heard it, it reminded her of the stories of Queen Victoria and her manservant John Brown after Prince Albert's death with the rumors of a secret romantic affair, but Jess never got enough to know for sure.
"Well, here we are," Alexis said slowly and came forward with Flake following and not letting go of Alexis's hand.
Alexis then pressed a small button near the gate.
" Bonjour. C'est Alexis Bourbon de Moltitier avec vos amis. Je suis ici pour voir ma mère. N'ayez pas peur, car je suis maintenant un peu ... différente ... mais je ne vais pas vous blesser ou infecter n'importe qui. Pas plus que mes amis," Alexis then spoke into the intercom.
"Differente?" a voice responded.
Alexis sighed, "J'ai été infecté par le virus dans la partie nord de Paris. Il a fait de moi un ... dans un Skunkat. Un de mes amis est un Chakat et l'autre est un Foxkat."
Jess wondered if that was a good idea. Given some to the fears and responses to the Virus, especially if the family had seen the news, they might not even be allowed in.
"Nous ne serons pas infecter n'importe qui et n'ont aucun désir de. Nous avons même été vaccinés pour s'assurer de cela," Alexis continued.
There was a silence after a moment, but then the gate clicked and began to open.
"Vous pouvez entrer. Vos amis parlent français?" the voice asked back.
Flake slowly nodded. Her French wasn't perfect, but she knew enough to get by and Alexis had been a remarkably tolerant teacher of the language. Jess sighed heavily. She knew a little, but it was about enough to ask for food and water and where the bathroom was.
"My French is poor, but if Justin Cain is there, he can act as an interpreter," Jess told Alexis, "tell them that Jessica Cain is here and requests her father be present for the meeting."
Alexis nodded, "Un ami parle français relativement bien, l'autre pas, mais elle est la fille de Justin Caïn et demande qu'il soit présent."
Jess didn't correct Alexis on the fact that since they were hermaphrodites the terms for son or daughter didn't apply anymore since they were actually BOTH genders, as that would only throw an added mix into things.
The answer came only in one word, "Entrez."
The three then slowly made their way in. They noticed a handful of armed guards, each wearing gas masks, on the grounds, all completely human. It gave Jess some relief that the infected Kats had not come this way, yet, but it also created some nervousness. They were greeted at the door by a well dressed servant. He looked Alexis and gave a short sigh and then to Flake and Jess gave a short snort and turned.
"Votre mère est en attente dans la salle à manger principale avec son valet de chambre. Vous pouvez vous-mêmes et votre visite à les expliquer ... après avoir correctement vous habillé," he spoke as he began to lead them into the chateau.
Alexis then turned to Jess, "He wants us to get dressed first."
"Most cloth irritates our fur," Jess answered, "And none has been made for our taur bodies. If we have to wear anything... it must fit loosely."
Jess had actually become quite comfortable with being naked, as all the Chakats and Foxkats commonly were, with Juan and any Chakat that was based off of a hairless domestic breed of cat as an obvious exception as they didn't have the fur that would rub and be irritated by cloth. But Jess had fur, and had found that cloth did irritate her fur. She remembered that from when she transformed into a Foxkat.
Alexis essentially translated the request along with the suggestion that they use something from her wardrobe that was still in the chateau. The servant nodded and then lead them upstairs. About ten minutes later, dressed in what amounted to a very fancy version of the "little black dress" the three then followed the servant back down the stairs. It still itched their fur tremendously, but was loose enough that it wasn't too bad. The greatest problem was in the length. The dresses had been cut to hang practically down to the floor, which their taur-like bodies couldn't allow for. The back of the dress hit their first waist where their torsos med the bodies and essentially held the dresses there. The front of the dresses hung down a little and nearly did make it to the floor, and forced the three of them to be very careful as they walked.
They were lead to a long room with a long table in it with several chairs and several exquisite glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. At the far end of the table sat an older but middle aged woman who was dressed rather well, though it looked more like an expensive woman's business suit than the sort of ball gown expected of royalty, but then, France WAS a republic. Perhaps the woman had decided to run a business since political rule was not an option for her. She sat quietly with a well dressed manservant standing beside her. Her face did not appear judgmental or even disapproving, though there was a bit of a detachment, like she was reserving her judgement for the moment.
Alexis walked up to the woman and got down onto her forelegs' "elbows" and then bowed her torso so that she could nuzzle her black nose into the back of the woman's hand.
"Bonjour, ma mère. Je m'excuse d'être si différent," Alexis said slowly.
With that Alexis backed away. The woman slowly nodded and said, "Votre nez est froid et humide, Alexis.Comment est-ce arrivé à vous?"
Jess and Flake stood quietly as they listened to Alexis essentially tell her mother that it was a long story and would be best told after the introductions. Jess was particularly focused on the manservant, and he was indeed Justin Cain. He looked between Jess and Flake fairly intently and Jess wondered her father recognized her. The outbreak had been so fast and sudden that she had not told him about what had happened to her and Sally or that they had both taken mates, Sally with Charlie, her long time boyfriend, and Jess, herself, with Nikole, Charlie's mother, who she had fallen in love with during the outbreak in Fee City. She also hadn't told him that he was now a grandfather. When Alexis's mother introduced Justin Cain, he finally moved and came around to stand near Alexis but looking to Flake and Jess.
"Jessica... Sally... what happened to you?" he asked after a moment.
"My name is Kelsey, but please, call me Flake," Flake commented.
Alexis's mother said something that Flake believed sounded like she looked dainty like a snowflake, which actually made her smile.
Jess meanwhile came forward and then hugged her father.
"A lot has happened to us, Daddy," Jess told him, feeling somewhat like a little girl again, "Sally's still in Paris as we only just got here a few hours ago to help fight the spread of the Virus... and what has happened is a long story..."