Before meeting with the family Liliana was tasked with transporting, Kye and the others needed to attend an emergency council meeting. After a few hours of discussion, they managed to get what they wanted. Kye and Alethea were officially married. A ceremony would be held at a later date. With the marriage completed, they could adopt the child together. Much of the meeting was spent arguing about which of the girls would be officially moving to live with the other.

Historically, the heir to a throne was prioritized, but given the importance of each, it wasn’t that simple. Ultimately, their official citizenship status was changed, rather than have one or the other forfeit their native citizenship. Kye already held dual citizenship with Nippon Sekai and Alcanus due to her parents. Apparently, a similar argument had occurred regarding Layla’s citizenship, so she was granted dual citizenship, which was also granted to her children. With Alethea in the picture, both girls became citizens of Terra, Alcanus, and Nippon Sekai, but it was stressed that their birth planet would be the one included in their official introductions.

Not wanting to waste time during an emergency meeting, what to do about standardizing such cases was shelved for the following scheduled meeting. After the marriage and citizenship topic, they moved on to discuss Kaede’s sudden reincarnation. Alethea explained that she had pulled some strings with the goddess to force her way into the world to more quickly be with Alethea.

“You have gone ahead with the soul-bonding?” Atalante asked. “This Shiro Shikigami must be quite the threat for the two of you to make such an important decision on the spot.”

“As Shiori Sakaguchi, I fought the man. I wielded Jouten and my power was several orders of magnitude greater than it is right now as Kye Akari. He was a monster, and as far as I can tell he hasn’t changed. He spent an untold amount of time in Eden, and by all accounts should still be there. Why he is not is a mystery to me. I expect Azriel is the culprit. He has always been the troublemaker of the two.”

“Azriel?” Several echoed the name.

“Right, my apologies. Lady Eve has two sons. Azriel and Ezra. Many of my past missions were to clean up their messes. It’s always a terrible experience when Azriel is involved.”

“You speak of Goddess Eve’s children without titles?”

“They are not omnipotent like their mother, and they are not nearly as old as me or Alethea. They have the bodies and maturity of children. You could compare them to an eight-year-old boy that disregards the manners he’s been taught.”

“...is that so?”

Kye nodded. “Continuing with the main topic, Shiro has been released and he has been in this world long enough to amass enough power that Alethea and I would die if we fought him even with Overdrive. I was able to get a read on him and I would estimate his raw power somewhere between my mother and Allison. In terms of skill, I can’t even fathom a guess. He should be no more skilled now than he was when I killed him as Shiori, but that expectation depends on his tenure in Eden. I do not know if he has experienced life between then and now, so it is impossible to guess his true skill level. If I went off only his skill from our previous world together, he is no threat to Allison. I believe it is folly to assume that is the extent of his abilities now, so at best I would assume he could feasibly challenge Allison, and at worst expect he would win.”

“What of you?” Ginchiyo asked. “Do you truly have a greater capacity than Allison? Such a thing would ordinarily be unthinkable, but given who and what you are...”

“During the soul bonding, Alethea and I were tested by her immortal partner,” Astarte said. “The very same that has entered our world with a sudden reincarnation ordained by Goddess Eve. During that battle, I was in Alethea’s hands as she channeled more aether per second than my own maximum capacity. And looking into the depths of her power was akin to gazing into a bottomless pit.”

“I can attest to Kye’s capacity as well,” Astraia said. “Their true power is beyond imagination. And even knowing that one day I would no longer be able to keep up with her, I still went through with the bonding. In our world, they are still young and have not had time to cultivate their power. They need that time, and that need was the deciding factor for me. I will ensure she is safe so that she may reach the day when I can no longer help her.”

“Be that as it may,” Atalante said. “I want both of you - Kye and Alethea - to refrain from wielding Hikarimaru and Gaia outside of times they are necessary.”

“That goes without saying,” Kye said. “The more we rely on them, the slower our growth. We’ll need several years to match anyone in this council, however, so having their protection will be a welcome peace of mind. To match the more powerful members of this council, we’ll need decades or in the more extreme cases millennia.” She shot Allison a subtle glance. “Additionally, I believe it would be best if I take up a role as an instructor immediately. Obviously, not as a general education instructor. I would only need to be assigned as a mana instructor. If this cannot happen without the several requirements in place, that’s fine, I’ll simply wait until then. However, and I apologize father, I will become one as soon as possible. My ascension to the throne will have to wait, if you still intend for me to inherit it.”

“Very well,” he replied. “I do not intend to abdicate for another few centuries, so there’s plenty of time for you to be an instructor or find an alternate solution if one becomes necessary.”

“We will discuss your instructor status in the next scheduled meeting,” said Alexandra. “I personally am glad you want to be an instructor and will ensure it is fairly discussed.”

Kye nodded. “Now...” She took a deep breath. “I need to ask for something... difficult.” She turned to Alethea, who had an idea of what Kye was thinking but was dreading being right. “Now that I am soul bonded with Astraia, I have access to her knowledge. Thus, I know much better the standards for commoners, nobles, and royals. I already knew marriage is allowed once both parties are of chronological age, but I did not know...” she sighed, not wanting to continue the topic.

“Absolutely not,” Layla said. “You are too young. I do not care what the law states, I will not have it.”

Several of the council members had not pieced together what they meant.

“I am not against it,” Allison said.

“I think you should wait,” James added.

“It is necessary!” Kye argued. “Azalea is particular. Will you do it instead, then, mother? I don’t relish the idea of doing it myself this early, but-”

“No, I will not,” Layla snapped back. “If she is particular, then she can wait. You can neither miss school nor be there if-”

“If it’s planned, I can work around school. I can use illusory magic to hide it.”

“And if you suddenly get sick in class?”

By that point, all the women had picked up on what they were talking about, but the men were still clueless, aside James.

“I’ll be fine. If I do get sick, I’ll simply heal myself before anyone notices.”

“If that were a reliable solution, the rest of us wouldn’t need to take so many precautions! You will not be able to channel mana as well throughout. Ask me how I know! You were particularly difficult. Your siblings didn’t come even close! And your intention is to bring another of your level into this world?”

“Wait, are you talking about pregnancy?” Zen asked, his face betraying the proverbial light bulb.

““Stay out of it!””

Zen was dumbfounded but didn’t say another word.

“I managed my classes just fine while I was recovering from Overdrive. My grades didn’t suffer in the slightest! I can keep up appearances just fine.”

Most of the council members were well past exasperation. Some had even buried their heads in the table. One, in particular, was done with the argument. Allison stood up and yelled, “Enough!” Kye and Layla froze in their tracks. Allison turned to Astarte, “Alethea’s immortal partner is already in this world?”

“Yes.”

“Rate this partner’s importance on a scale from one to ten.”

“Ten.”

“Astraia, you have met Kye’s immortal partner and have felt both Kye’s power and her partner’s power in combat. Rate the importance of bringing her partner into this world.”

“Ten.”

“Kye, you said she is particular. Elaborate.”

“She is particular to the point that she will only accept being my blood-related sister or if I give birth to her myself. No other options.”

“Layla, suck it up. We can make it work. If we allow this and they conceive immediately, the timing couldn’t be better. It wouldn’t take much to hide it for the first term. The May-July term is not mandatory. With her grades she did not need the summer term this year, and I doubt she’ll slack off next year. That leaves August. If everything goes normally, birth would be at the end of August or the first of September. We can have her not attend classes for a few weeks so long as she completes her work. As for her mana, magic, and combat classes... she’s actually already completed the requirements for the first three years, so that shouldn’t be an issue. It’s not unheard of for royals or archnobles to miss a month of school every once in a while for the sake of duty, so we can use that in our favor.”

Allison turned to Kye and pondered what to do. Layla began to argue, but Allison quickly silenced her.

“You two are newlyweds, so go on a honeymoon. Take your adopted daughter, your attendants, and some guards.”

“I’ll volunteer for guard duty,” Ginchiyo said.

“As will I,” Alexandra said.

“And it goes without saying that Astarte and Astraia will accompany their soul-bonded partners, yes?” Allison said. The two nodded. “Good. Now, Zen, take your daughter and her wife and get the adoption taken care of.”

“But I’m not ready to be a grandmother!” Layla cried.

“How do you think I felt when Hannah was pregnant with you?” Edward replied snidely.

Layla, James, and Allison all froze upon hearing their mother’s name.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never met either of my grandmothers,” Kye said.

“I believe you would enjoy Akane’s company,” Ginchiyo said confidently. “She’s very kind and welcoming.”

“I miss my mother,” Zen said.

“THEN GO VISIT HER!” Ginchiyo yelled, taking the younger council members by surprise. “My poor daughter has complained to me many times about missing her dear son. Without Miko living with her, I’m afraid her heart would break.”

“I would like to meet her,” Kye said. “If Alethea and I are going on a honeymoon, let’s make that one of the destinations!”

“Yes! Let’s do just that.”

“But what about Hannah? The only thing I know about her is her name... wait, Astraia knows.” Kye immediately froze just as her mother, uncle, and aunt had.

“Heh,” Thomas snickered. “You should go. She’s a firecracker, but you’ll be fine. She’ll be overjoyed if you go visit her.”

Kye searched Astraia’s knowledge. “Oh, she’s the Queen of Atlas. Wow, that’s far. It’s not even in the same galaxy as Alcanus.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty far, but you have access to the Central Gateway in Atlantis, so you should be able to get there quick enough and there’s a great resort there.”

Kye turned to Alethea, “What do you think?” Alethea looked at her but couldn’t form words. Her face was red and there was fear in her eyes. Kye immediately knew what was wrong. “Oh goddess, I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

Allison sighed, “That is a rather difficult hurdle.”

“I... uh...” Alethea could only mumble.

“What’s the problem?” Kolodka said. “It’s Kye that’s talking about getting pregnant, not Alethea. Why is she so flustered?”

“Silence!” Atalante ordered in the most commanding tone any of them had ever heard. She took Alethea’s hand and led her out of the room. Kolodka was too scared to speak again even after they left.

“Well, that was about as insensitive as you can get,” Alexandra said. “Kolodka, why did you have to say that?”

“What? I don’t understand the problem.”

“You’re on this council and you don’t understand why there’s a problem with what you just said?”

“I’m sorry, but I have no idea. Could you explain it to me?”

Alexandra sighed, but it was Astarte who spoke up. “Look at her file, the one that’s only available to royals and archnobles.”

Kolodka was confused but pulled up the file on his phone. His eyes widened when he looked at her sex and gender. “WOW, she’s transgender? I am so sorry. I had no idea. She is so beautiful nobody would know just by looking at her.”

“Yes, she is very beautiful, and I’ll take that as a compliment in her stead,” Kye said. She narrowed her eyes. “I expect you to make up for this blunder.”

“Y-yes, absolutely. I will. You have my word.”

Kye stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a daughter to adopt and a wife to have a very difficult conversation with.”

“Yes, well, I wish you well, Kye,” Allison said. “With Atalante gone, I’ll go ahead and move to end the meeting here. We’ve covered the immediate concerns. We can work out the details of whatever is left in the next scheduled meeting. All for concluding?”

“““Yes.”””

With a distinct lack of no’s, the meeting was ended.