"I'm certainly not going to take her people away from her," the King said. "Team Azrael isn't subject to the conventional Strike Team dangers, so I can justify exempting them from the sterility rules. The dangers they--and you--will face are of an entirely different nature. One no mortal, I'm afraid, can do anything to protect you against. As for Pope Lucius acting against the marriage--" the King smiled, grimly. "I'm sure he'll try, but considering the celebrant, I doubt very much he'll get very far. 'Whom therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.' The marriage is valid under His--" He paused, with a bemused expression, then went on, "or Her--Law. Though I admit it would be helpful if it were also valid under some temporal laws as well, which I'm working on. I don't suppose she's part of this family she's just created?" "Not yet--but Captain Odeon is working on a way to correct that." "Very good. Let me know as soon as he does; if this is going to work, she'll have to have heirs." "Of course, Father. Uh . . . what about additional spouses for Ursula and myself?" "I'm working on that, too. God willing, arrangements will be complete for you a new husband and wife by the time I activate the Strike Force, and she'll perform the ceremony." 18. Revelation Wednesday, 4 Mar 2572 When Cortin got to the breakfast table after Mass, she was amused to find a heated discussion in progress, about what the family name should be. It seemed an odd subject, she thought as she helped herself from the hot-table rather than calling an order to the kitchen--but on second thought, it did make sense. Women were used to giving up maiden-family names on marriage, though a professional with an established reputation would often hyphenate it with her husband's, but the men didn't think too highly of the idea. She listened without interfering; it was their Family, using a new system, so it seemed reasonable to let them determine how it should be identified. If their method looked as if it would work out well, she'd recommend it to His Majesty for general implementation. It didn't take them long to decide hyphenating all the names together alphabetically was much too unwieldy to work. Hyphenation was fine, they agreed, but more than two names was excessive--the problem now was which two. Cortin favored Odeon's thinking, that everyone take the name of the senior spouse at the Family's founding, with the other spouses hyphenating their surnames, and that argument seemed to be winning, with the focus changing to whether seniority should be in age or rank. The debate was getting intense when Powell raised both hands. "Since I don't class as senior either way, and Joan's interest seems to be purely academic or she'd have said something before now, why not ask her opinion?" "Good idea," Odeon said, after looking around at the rest and getting their agreement. "What do you think, Joanie?"