Talia and Midnight were enjoying a quiet walk through the main park in Janace, which was actually fairly close to the school and their own home. There were others there going about their own business or playing with their children. Seeing them made Midnight smile, as shi would soon know the same feelings of parenthood as they did. Like hir parents, shi was in the second month of pregnancy, though it would be a week or so before the four of them completed their second month, and about another month further before the baby bulge in their taur halves would become apparent. But, being pregnant still made Midnight happy, and even with some anxieties, shi hoped to be as good a mother/father as Charlie and Sally had been for hir and Luna.
"It looks lovely," Midnight said to no one in particular.
Talia, however, noticed where Midnight was looking. Shi also caught sight of Janace and Anubis being pursued by Reca, Diamond, Fluffy, Mary, Heather, and Shasta in what looked like a game of tag. Having Midnight's grandkat in their home was nice and Anubis had proved to be friendly in terms of conversation, though Talia also noticed a bit of a pained expression on the Jackat's face when ever Talia's or Midnight's pregnancy came up in conversation. The relationship between the Jackat and the Hybrikat was sweet and on some levels was progressing slowly by Kat standards. The two clearly loved each other, but they were trying more to simply date for the moment and had not mated with each other yet. Some of it had been that despite hir joy at falling in love again, shi also still wanted to reconnect with the children that Jess and Sally had either sired or gave birth to or adopted in the years. Talia had no problem with that. Shi'd fallen for Midnight's personality quickly, but shi waited for years for Midnight to grow up before they became mates. Janace didn't need to rush to have sex as a Kat for the first time.
"And soon, we'll be mothers too," Talia smiled to Midnight, "and our children will grow up in a loving world."
Midnight nodded. The world certainly would be loving. Timothy's impatience to become a specific Kat had proved costly, but thankfully the worst possible outcome didn't happen. The Kat Serum wasn't outlawed and Maurice and Snowy were permitted to keep working on it to produce something that could cure disease, which included some elements of the serum that would give humans the ability to fight diseases without turning them into Kats, though Snowy said that was only just in the beginning stages. However, the sale of the serum to individuals would now be heavily regulated by the government, and people would have to prove they were mentally stable before they could order the system, but regulation wasn't a bad thing necessarily, and was probably an appropriate response given what happened. Charges had been pressed on Timothy for the actions shi had taken, and Timothy did plead guilty in court, but thanks to the plea bargain, Timothy only had to pay a fine and and agree that shi would never leave Janace, Colorado for the remainder of hir natural life. From what Midnight and Talia heard, Maurice and Snowy were actually paying the fine, and Timothy was actually saddled with a great deal of depression that hir family was not able to help with. All the same, the world would be loving.
"And hopefully they'll know all their family members," Midnight smiled and wrapped a wing around Talia, making Talia smile as well.
"Midnight..." came a new voice from behind them, making both turn to see Luna coming up.
"Luna!" Midnight smiled and turned to hug hir sither, "What are you up to?"
Midnight's smile faded when Luna didn't smile back but in fact looked rather nervous. Something was up.
"What's wrong, sith?" Midnight asked.
"Can we go somewhere private?" Luna asked.
"Sure," Midnight answered, though confusion totally evident in hir voice and clearly on hir face.
Their walk quickly turned back toward the pyramid home that had been built for Talia and Midnight which was attached to the school. It was farther away from the extensive complex of houses and areas that encompassed Charlie and Sally's home and Lia and Luna's, but then, Midnight had gotten into teaching and Luna had taken to helping run the orphanage. Once inside, Midnight lead hir sither into hir living room.
"I'll go make some tea," Talia spoke and headed for the kitchen.
Midnight nodded and lead Luna into the living room. As shi entered, Luna felt a tinge of sadness come over hir. There were photos of hir and Midnight together as kids. There were photos of them with Janice and Pinkie when they were young. There was even a photo of Fluffy trying to suckle on Midnight even though Midnight hadn't fully hit puberty yet at the time the photo was taken. There was also a full family picture with Lia and Talia also in the picture.
"So, what's wrong, Luna?" Midnight asked as shi sat down.
"Well... you know how grandma and grandpa came to visit for your wedding?" Luna asked.
"Yes, it was nice to see Justin and Francine again," Midnight smiled, "I'd thought about getting a picture of us with them and mom and dad too... all the pregnant Kats together."
"Well...you'll only have about two days to do that, as they'll need to return to France," Luna commented.
Midnight did nod. Justin and Francine were rulers of a country. Granted it was a constitutional monarchy and they didn't wield absolute power, but that didn't mean they could just "play" and not do something.
"It was nice having them here," Midnight nodded, "but what about this has you so upset?"
"Well... you know that Justin and Francine at some point will die of old age right...?"
"Janace thinks that could over a thousand years... and Talia's commented that we could be borderline immortal with regard to aging," Midnight commented.
"Talia is also a true sphinx and has some level of magic/mysticism about hir," Luna answered, "The rest of us may live for a very long time, but we'll still be mortal and that we will eventually pass on... and something got Justin and Francine thinking on who should succeed them when they finally do pass on..."
"Wouldn't that be Justin and Francine's eldest soughters? Antoinette and Marie?" Midnight asked.
"You're forgetting that Justin and Francine's marriage is a second marriage," Luna reminded hir sither, "Grandpa had Sally and Jess with our other Grandma and Francine had Alexis with hir previous husband."
Midnight remembered some stories that Alexis had told them while growing up, and remembering that Francine's husband and Alexis's father had been pilot in the French air force and had been killed during the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s. However, that wasn't the issue, the issue was with the previous marriages had produced children. By technicalities, Alexis, Sally, and Jess were all royalty by blood and marriage as they were related to at least one of France's Kieens by blood and related to the other by marriage. If they followed the typical rule of inheritance, Jess, being one year older than Sally, and few years older than Alexis would be first in line. But since France became a monarchy again AFTER the Paris outbreak and Francine and Justin were married, there was some question as to who would take over, in case something happened to Justin or Francine.
"And they were talking with Sally, Jess, and Alexis as to who would be in line for the throne," Luna said slowly, "but you know that Sally will never abandon the orphans shi's taken in..."
"And Alexis has said that shi never really wanted to be a royal," Midnight nodded, "It's why shi went to be with an art student... Kelsey before shi became Flake," Midnight nodded.
Luna nodded, "They all agreed to help for a little while if they had to, but wouldn't do anything permanent."
By this time Talia returned with a tray. Shi handed both Luna and Midnight cups of tea and then set the tray on an end table.
"So, who did they decide on...?" Talia asked curiously.
"Actually... I volunteered Lia and myself to take on the role," Luna said slowly, "Since Marie and Antoinette are presently too young to take over and their children from previous marriages won't take on the role on a permanent basis."
"The Roman way of heirs then," Talia commented.
"Huh?" Luna tilted hir head.
"Tiberius, the Roman Empire's second Emperor was not a child of Augustus the first Emperor... I believe Tiberius was actually the son of Livia by a previous marriage and was adopted by Augustus," Talia explained, "Many Roman Emperors became Emperors through adoption rather than by blood."
"I suppose that's one way to put it," Luna admitted and then looked back to Midnight. It was Midnight's reaction that Luna really wanted to see.
"So when will you and Lia be leaving? In two days or..." Midnight began.
"The schedule is for us to go in two days... we'll be taking our children too," Luna answered, "but we will try to visit as much as we can and we'll still call and talk as much as we can."
Midnight smiled, "So we continue to grow up..."
"What?" Luna wondered.
"It's like what you said to me before the wedding," Midnight answered, "we're all growing up, and you've tried to be there while we were growing up... being a good sither... but nothing can stay the same, can it?"
"No," Luna nodded, "but I'd figured there'd be some way I could keep looking after you."
Midnight sipped hir tea and smiled, "but I have Talia to look after me now... and in almost eight months we'll have children of our own to look after... and mom and dad will probably never leave Janace unless Nikole, Jess, Maurice, and Snowy come with them... so we'll have them to look after us."
"And in a few days we'll be recovering my sither," Talia added, "we'll all be looked after."
"I'd actually hoped to go on that mission," Luna commented, "Who knew Atlantis was part of Antarctica."
"It wasn't actually," Talia corrected, "While at one point Antarctica was further north than it is now, but the continental drift that took it to where it is now occurred well before humanity or sphinxes or manticores evolved. Atlantis was actually a floating island. We do not know how they got a great stone city to float on water, but it did and they could actually steer it like a ship."
"So, how did it get to Antarctica?" Midnight wondered.
"My sither said the city council decided to explore beyond what is now called the Mediterranean and sailed out and that was the last I heard from hir," Talia answered, "something happened and they were left adrift somewhere and they drifted into Antarctica where the raft that the city rested on broke up."
"I'd still wish I could come and help, it'd be neat to see," Luna commented.
"But you'll get to be in line for the throne and we'll still talk and see each other right?" Midnight asked.
"Yes," Luna answered.
"So that's a good thing," Midnight smiled, "and we can send each other pictures of us with all the regalia... I'll send you photos of when mom, dad, Talia, and I are all humongous with our babies... who knows, maybe we'll all come visit Paris again."
Both sithers smiled, finished their tea and set the cups down. They then hugged. The world always changed, and they had been growing up, but as they hugged, Luna and Midnight felt in their hearts that despite any distance, they would still be sithers and the love between siblings would never die for them. And both of them were in good hands.