章 16: 16 Dimatri

"Because they want the child not the female. A human female who is not well cared for during pregnancy will often die in the birth process." hearing Kylian's words made anger twist in my gut.

"The males only want the child so they may raise it to obey. The Princess is the last of her line. Her people decide rulers based on Bloodline so with her dead..." I trailed off letting them finish the thought.

"They would control without any of the knowledge or power necessary to do so," the Nephit Prince said. The small feathers on his face tightened.

"Why?" The Vuldroi asked. "Why would they want to claim a Kingdom they are not prepared to rule?"

"Human males are prone to violence. From my understanding many would like to fight other human Kingdoms for resources. Where the current Rulers trade resources the commen male seem to think they could simply take them," I said.

"That would start wars," Conta said.

"Exactly. They want to fight. Not understanding that a war would kill many. They have only known peace because the Princess fights to keep it that way."

"That is why she is seeking Royal mates," The Darka male said. He was a dark red male. His scales appeared thicker than the average and his eyes were soft. His wings flexed behind him making him seem even bigger. Those two black horns in front of his head crest hid his fur.

They all sat in contemplative silence. Finally the Vuldroi asked, "Why else does she need mating that often?" The question proof enough he was still willing to accept her.

"The second stage of breeding can be repetitive," Kylian said. "Although the human body produces eggs, they do not stay eggs for very long, and they do not lay eggs. This second stage is a process that allows the egg to mature within her body. It can take up to sixteen sun cycles for it to mature but there is a chance of other eggs reaching maturity before the sixteen cycles has been reached. There is a very small time frame for the egg to receive a male's genetic material and it can take sun cycles to reach the egg's location.

Once an egg has matured there is only two sun cycles of time before it dies along with any chance of it being a cub. The more a female mates during the second stage the higher the chances of a successful pregnancy occurring. As well as a higher chance of multiple cubs," Kylian said.

"So mating her less is basically losing chances for younglings," The Theivva said. I really hoped the Princess would not choose him. If she did she would find him trying to fight every other male she tried to take for a mate.

"I assume there are other reasons as well? For her wanting multiple mates?" The Vuldroi asked. His kind were used to having a female surrounded by males. The Vuldroi females lived in the lap of luxury.

"Dimatri can better explain this than I can," Kylian said.

"During the sun cycles leading up to a bleeding phase she requires four meals a day at least. She told us that this is to prepare for when she physically can not eat during her bleeding. The bleeding process takes a toll that can cause lack of appetite, which is a problem seeing as her metabolism speeds up while she is bleeding. Metabolism referrs to how fast her body processes what she eats. She needs to be fed regularly and some foods have better results to storeing what her body needs so the bleeding takes less of a toll.

Also if she does succeed in breeding it should be noted she may not know for several moon cycles. Or if she does she may not inform anyone until she begins to need aid."

"Why would she not inform us of a successful breeding?" The Darka asked.

Kylian took back over, "There are a number of reasons. The main one being the first few moon cycles after a successful breeding she may still be fertile. It is a trait only royals of her people have. Males will often stop mating a female if they know the breeding was successful previously."

"How many?" The Nephit asked.

"How many what?" Kylian asked.

"How many children has a human successfully carried without dieing?"

We all looked between ourselves. None of us had asked. "I will go ask," I said. I ran from the room and tracked the Princess down to the training room. There I found her with her elbows on the floor and her legs in the air. One of which was touching the back of her head. 'Princess?'

Her head turned to me and I heard her yelp as she fell back. I rushed over to her. 'Are you okay?'

'I am fine Dimatri. I may be sore from that landing later but nothing some sleep will not fix. Were you looking for me?'

'Yes. Right. I had a question for you.'

'What is it?'

'What is the largest number of cubs born to a female human where the female was okay afterwards?'

She seemed to think on that. 'Eight I believe. No Nine! There is a female in the Sunkit Kingdom who is currently pregnant with ten. She should be giving birth in the next moon cycle or two. Why?'

The number nearly made my heart stop. Nine. Her little body could hold nine growing cubs? 'We were curious since you said a female can carry more cubs if she is provided for well.'

'I mean sure. Not too many want to carry that many at once though. I think if I was pregnant with five at a time I would call a stop to mating until I was no longer fertile.'

'Alright then Princess thank you. I will leave you to your...'

'Streching,' she told me. 'I will be fine. Go do whatever it is that had you all in the control room.'

'Thank you, Princess,' I said going to the door. I caught her smiling at me as I left and ran back to the control deck.

No one had moved since I left. In fact it seemed as if they had waited for me. As if to confirm that thought Misha waved me closer and asked, "What was the answer?"

"The largest littler successfully carried and delivered with the female surviving is nine cubs." The males on the screens showed their shock as much as we did. "There is a female in another Kingdom reported to be carrying ten cubs. She is due to deliver in one to two moon cycles."

"Nine successful delivered. Possibly ten in the near future?" The Nephit asked.

"Yes," I said. "She did say that she would stop mating if she became pregnant with five cubs. I belive it is due to the way it would prevent her from moving."

"What do you mean by that?" The Vuldroi Prince asked.

"I can answer this one," Kylian said, taking over. "A single cub pregnancy will make a female put on an extra twenty to thirty percent of their body mass during pregnancy. That number increases with each additional cub they are carrying. A single cub can also prove larger than average being ten percent of the female's body mass at birth. As the cubs grow within her she will need more help. The more cubs she is carrying the more help she will need day to day. She will also need more food."

They all accepted Kylian's explanation. All females ate more while pregnant. They were eating for themselves and supplying food to the unborn cubs. "So she could have... Young?" Conta asked. Clearly trying to get the wording right, "From more than one Prince at a time?"

"Yes. In fact the older she is the, more likely such an event would occur," Kylian stated.

"Why would it be more likely as she gets older?" The Nexlut Prince asked. Nexlut was a race very similar to the Nephit. They both had feathers and were predatory flyers. The Nexlut were bigger though. This one had a head crest of white feathers with a black tip. Those feathers moved up and down depending on his feelings.

"Right now she is still considered young. That paired with the fact she has not bred makes it harder for her to successfully carry a large number of cubs. As she gets older into her prime breeding years she will mature more eggs. With each successful pregnancy it will get easier for her to carry larger numbers.

That being said once she is past her prime she will carry less per pregnancy again. Once she is past her prime it will be dangerous for her to continue pushing her body to carry large numbers," Kylian told them. The males looked between themselves.

The Vuldroi Prince went first, "I would like to meet this Human Princess and see if she would find me and my war brothers acceptable."

"I would like to see this female who is so brave as to offer to offer a mating with races she does not know," The Darka Prince said. The others followed.

"I would like to extend my home on Udariri for the diplomatic talks to take place. As well for us all to meet a potential mate. I for one would be happy to be mate brothers with many of you," The Nephit Prince stated.

"A great idea," Conta said. "It will mean less travel time and she will have time to settle before we arrive. Shall we agree to meet at Rithô's home?"

"We can be there within the next sun cycle," Misha said when no one disagreed.

"My war brothers are already packing," the Vuldroi Prince said with a smile. His screen closed off as did several others.

"Do you have communicators at your home?" Misha asked.

"It does," Rithô said.