Ok, I really am struggling to contain my grin at that chapter, it really was wonderful (no surprise there!)
It was nice and long and, as Kathy said, it explained so much about how their marriage can work etc. L&K discussed a lot of what I've been dying for them too discuss for ages.
It is so clever how you have found a way around almost every obstacle with the bigamy/children with Za thing, meaning that Kal and Lois will to all intents and purposes be able to have a 'normal' marriage, and it all fits so well into the context of the story and what we know of New Krypton.
I am also pleaed Kal is going to see Za. I'm not at all surprised he felt he should as he does have a strong sense of morality and does not wish bad on Za. I am wondering if she does have feelings for Ching, as has been speculated, and whether Kal will find out about this. Has it been mentioned whether a noble woman can have a second marriage? It seems a very sexist society so I imagine not, but if Za could marry Ching it would be happy ever after for all!
I get the impression Ching is meant to be good, or at least good in comparison to Nor. Perhaps he has complied in the sample-sabotage because of his feelings for Za!
He’d forgotten she could read his face. “Because there are things I don’t think you will like.”
I love the detail in your writing, how you continue to make reference to the little Kryptonian/human differences.
Lois capped her hands over his. “It’s OK, Kal,” she said. “I don’t expect you to do anything that would hurt Za.”
Lois can respect Kal for not wanting to make Za an outcast and ruin her merely for his own gains. She would expect nothing less from him and it is part if the reason she loves him. Kal is not used to such unselfishness from others.
Lois nodded. “I don’t *like* it,” she said. “And I can’t imagine another situation where I would be willing to accept it ... but in this one, I am.”
This is the point about the second marriage thing. It is a unique circumstance, or unique to anything Lois has ever come across, so she has to view the situation with different standards. She and Kal love each other and no-one it seems can be hurt by their marriage, if anything there are likely to be benefits for the planet as a whole.
Her eyes sparkled. “What if I decided I wanted my *own* household?” she said. “Instead of moving in with you?”
This time, Kal was sure she wasn’t serious. “That would be fine,” he said blithely.
“It would?”
“Sure.” Kal grinned. “So long as I could move in with you.”
Awwww! This whole part made me melt. I love how Kal is playing with her here. Lovely mutual banter.
“But if I, as your wife, were to have a child, he or she could not be accepted as your child unless we went the sample route.” Lois stared at him, face set. “Which we are *not* going to do.”
“No,” Kal breathed. “No, we are not.”
Nooo way!! I imagine this as being similar to when HG Wells suggested abistinence to L&C. L&K haven't waited quite as long, but the patience is wavering all the same. Hence the nearly next-day marriage!
The words ‘our child’ sent a thrill through him, but it was quickly extinguished. “Lois,” Kal said sadly. “I don’t think that will happen. I don’t think I will ever father a child.”
“Because you have bad seed?” Lois asked.
He could feel the focus of her displeasure as it centred on him. “Yes.”
I'd almost forgotten he'd been led to believe that. Poor Kal, there is no end to the deceit and he is so dejected, not daring to believe it may be sabotage instead.
“Kal, for Za to get pregnant, your seed has to actually get inside her.”
He did know that. “Yes.”
Her intensity was disconcerting, but it occurred to Kal that it may not be directed at him. “Because it is not only Nor,” Kal said. “Ching oversees the delivery to Za as well.”
This is a very bizaare image. The idea of Kal's 'seed' being delivered to Za by the two noblemen!
Kal was still trying to process her first sentence. “You think it’s possible we could have a child?” he said in wonder.
Lois smiled. “I’d be willing to bet we have more chance than you and Za ever had.”
“You think so?”
“Yes,” she insisted. “At least for us, the *sample* will get to where it’s supposed to be.”
I love the blend between lightness and seriousness in this whole conversation.
“I can’t guarantee our *seed* will be compatible,” Lois said. “But our bodies will be.”
“How do you know?” A sudden possibility snagged his breath in his throat. “Have you looked?”
Kal grinned. “If *I* could see through clothes, I would really want to look through yours.”
Lois answered his smile. “Would you do it?”
“I hope not.” He grinned again. “But the temptation would be considerable.”
LOL! Kal, like Clark, is so innately good and respectful that he probably wouldn't look if he could. I love how you write Kal's speach BTW, in that he always speaks very 'properly' as would be expected from somebody essentially using a translation. Just as people who speak English as a second language often speak it better than the actual English-speakers. That combined with the fact that he is very serious-natured and a noble of course. I think of it as being like Superman speaks in the show.
“If you haven’t looked,” he asked. “How do you know we will be physically compatible?”
“I’ve seen you in the black suit.”
The black suit. “Oh.”
There it is!! No-one is looking at his face!
He did. But knowing it didn’t translate easily to saying it. “Initially ... many, many years ago ... it was to show the people the physical strength of their leader to give them comfort and security in his protection.”
“So it is *meant* to be revealing?”
Love the explanation, it helps if the Supreme Ruler looks like Kal though! It's ok for men in their prime.
“Really?” Lois said. “I thought it was because you knew that one day a woman would drop in from a faraway planet – a woman who is particularly partial to a superbly defined chest and tautly muscular shoulders.”
Kal coughed in a clumsy attempt to cover his embarrassment. “You ... ah ... like my chest?”
Hee hee - love it, love it all!!
He didn’t understand much beyond her approval, but he concluded now was not the time for full understanding. He tried to clear the constriction from his throat. “Maybe we should work on the details of our marriage ... so we can ... ah ... get to ... that ... as quickly as possible,” he suggested.
This is funny, it's a shotgun wedding so they can get started conceiving a child, rather than because one has already been conceived!
“With Za, I wanted an heir,” Kal said. “I wanted to honour my forefathers with a new generation. I wanted to fortify the future of my planet.” He took her hand. “And with you, Lois, it is all that ... but it is so much more. To have a child who is the mixing of you and me ... a child that is the result of our love ... a child that we can love together. *That* would be more than ... so much more than ... anything I have ever hoped for.”
This was just lovely!!
“After we are married, will you continue to give Za the sample every month?”
Kal shifted uncomfortably under her direct gaze. “You don’t want me to, do you?” he guessed.
I like how they got around to discussing everything, even the slightly awkward points and I like even more the answers you found for them.
“*We* would not allow that,” Kal said. “We would be a family. You, me and our child. Our child could have all the things I didn’t have – the love of a mother and the love of a father ... guidance and training and stability and knowing how to laugh and to have tears and to love.”
Aww again!!! What a lovely picture!
“That’s going to be an awful lot of pressure on us to conceive,” Lois said disconsolately.
They are going to have to be busy.
It's a lot of pressure on Lois though, still getting used to a new planet etc to be trying to get pregnant straight away. She's still only been there for a few weeks! I know she feels completely comfortable and ready with Kal, but it's still a big deal. She's running out of patience where the 'physical contact' is concerned though!
He grinned with her, relieved. “*Not* officially, you will get many things – the whole of my heart, my everlasting love, my profound gratitude, everything I am.”
Lois cradled his face in her hands and looked deep into his eyes. “Then that will be enough,” she told Kal. “I will share you officially, but unofficially, you will be all mine.”
“Yours,” he agreed. “Only yours.”
Lovely vow-like words again.
Lois was about a second away from losing herself in the lure of Kal’s kiss when she remembered the aquifer. She pulled away rather abruptly. “Can you show me a map of New Krypton?” she asked.
Nothing like thoughts of aquifers to kill the moment!! I guess it is pretty important though, especially now they are planning a future and children toegether to secure the future of the planet.
“And you know I am not disconcerted that you can see through things ... but ... maybe it would be best if others don’t know.”
I think this makes a lot of sense, especially at the moment with Nor etc. Lois' powers are a better advantage when they're not known about. Wonder how Kal will explain his hunch about the water though. I guess as Supreme Ruler he doesn't have to.
He kissed her quickly. “I need to order the two working drills be moved,” he said. “Then I want to do some of the things from my schedule for the days following our marriage.” He flashed her a wide, bursting-with-anticipation grin and left the room.
Yes, they definitely need some days of not leaving his room!! Unless there's a New Krypton equivalent of Hawaii!!
“So she deserves to lose him?” Lois said, impossibly conflicted by the weird feeling of indignation on behalf of her fiancé’s wife.”
Sounds funny, fiancee's wife!! Typical Lois to feel indignation on her behalf though!
“It isn’t that she deserves to lose him,” Riz said. “But that I doubt she will care what he does. She has never shown any inclination to be close to him.”
“Is she blind?” Lois asked.
LOL!!! Clearly she must be! I still think she must love Ching.
“The Rule does not apply to a wife.”
“It doesn’t?”
“She usually has no contact with her husband, so there is nothing to tell.”
Not this wife!! She will have plenty worth telling!!
Riz turned and gathered a pile of about fifteen books from a shelf. She offered them to Lois.
“What are all these?” Lois asked.
“I made copies of your books,” Riz explained. “I did the writing in both Kryptonian languages and as soon as I had checked if it were all right with you, I planned to get Tek to take them to Ard to draw the pictures.”
Riz really does think like Lois, she has similar vision of how the planet could be a better place, a vision no doubt also shared by Tek.
That chapter was such a treat, as always, and a fantastic antidote to a stressful day at the office.
Great to have you back Corrina, though you did an amazing job while you were away.
Em
Maybe one half of 24 tomorrow and the other one (as part 25) a day later? 
