"Gentle, Kara. Gentle." Alex cooed. Kara tried to retreat from Alex, but the older girl reached out and held her in place. "No, you got this. Try."
Kara looked at the older girl hesitantly, then circled her arms around Alex once again. She tightened her grip around Alex, increasing pressure until Alex tapped her shoulder once. Alex had let Kara come back into her room in the middle of the night after Alex's arm had healed. The two would talk and talk about everything. They had whole worlds to share. Sometimes, they took these quiet times to help Kara realize her own strength.
"There. How much strength are you using? Can you tell?" Alex stroked Kara's hair, hearing the Kryptonian sigh in pleasure. Alex had found out certain things about Kara, and one of those was that she quite liked hugs but had been afraid to ask for one or give one.
"It feels like I'm holding pretty tight, but I know I can hold tighter." Kara buried her nose into Alex's hair and took a deep breath.
"We need to talk about you not sniffing me when I'm on, by the way." Alex huffed, cheeks flushing. They had talked at length about birthing pods and how Kara would get to see them sometime when her father would take her on one of his regular rounds in the fertility halls, the smell of the birthing pods was a subtle scent in the background, until one was at the end of the incubation cycle and it would burst open.
"It reminds me of home." Kara said sadly.
Alex rolled her eyes. "I understand. But… okay. Try to keep it to a minimum. Geez. I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that Superman was a pod-baby."
"I was the first one to see Kal-El, besides the fertility technicians, of course." Kara had said proudly. "He was strong, even then. The technicians were surprised that he was moving so early on and had to put him in the hatching baskets early."
"Hatching basket?"
"I am," Kara tilted her head to one side. "Translating everything almost directly from Kryptonian to English. It's not exactly what it is but it is as close as I can explain. I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Alex pushed away and smiled at Kara encouragingly. "That hug wasn't so bad, right? You just have to be more aware."
"I'm just nervous. I don't want to hurt anyone." Kara fiddled with her hands awkwardly. "It's also quite a 'big deal' to be embracing."
Alex was having that feeling she gets when Kara is about to tell her something strange.
"How big of a deal?"
"Well," Kara bit her lip. "It is not socially acceptable for people who are not family to embrace me."
"Oh my god." Alex felt her stomach drop. "Is this like, sexual harassment?"
"Kal-El explained to me." Kara's cheeks were red. "When we first met and he hugged me, I punched him into the air. I… panicked."
"You punched Superman?" Alex looked aghast.
"I didn't know who he was!" Kara said indignantly. "He had pulled off my ship's shield and after I announced who I was, he hugged me. What was I supposed to do? He did not even announce himself like a respectable member of a proud house!"
"So it's like sexual harassment."
"For a primitive race, Kal-El said it was the way humans conveyed emotions." Kara danced around the subject.
"Kara. Is it sexual harassment or not?"
"It's more… unwanted touching." Kara cringed. "But it's fine now. The Danvers are my foster parents and may take such liberties. I have grown accustomed to it. But I have told Kal-El that he should not touch me unless he announces himself."
"Why?" Alex looked down as Kara took her hand in her own, rubbing and massaging Alex's hand gently.
"I do not want to be bound to him if he already has a beloved. I think it is a soul-bond."
"What."
The deluge of information was a bit alarming. Were they all manhandling Kara and was she just… accepting something uncomfortable?
"Did your parents ever hug you?" Alex asked tentatively.
"Of course." Kara nodded, her face changing to that soft, damaged mien that Alex hated seeing. "Of course. They are my parents and held me and embraced me."
"Okay. So mom and dad… Jeremiah and Eliza are okay?" Alex asked carefully.
"Of course." Kara smiled. "I was only most uncomfortable with Kal-El since he had not announced himself. But I will get used to it since this seems to be a way of greeting for humans."
Alex nodded distractedly, filing away that bit of information. "And what do you mean, 'bound to him'? Like… marriage?"
"Yes." Kara nodded. "This is the Earth meaning."
"Like, husband and wife?"
"Affirmative."
"Woah. So is," Alex cleared her throat, trying to compose herself. She was the daughter of scientists! She could ask the hard questions! "Was incest legal in Krypton?"
"Oh, no." Kara looked horrified. "There was no sexual interaction whatsoever."
"But if you could marry your cousin-"
"That is just to bind houses together!" Kara's cheeks were flaming. "Sexual relations were not necessary and we're not primitives. If we were to have a child, we would most likely adopt one into our combined house and we would apply for a child."
"How does that even work?"
"It's a lottery system. The House of El would of course have the pick from the strongest pool for us."
"So… what about love?"
"What does love have to do with the combination of our houses?" Kara was truly puzzled.
"Well, what if you fall in love?"
"Well, if we desire the companionship of another, that is permissible." Kara shrugged. "I forgot that Earth's society primarily values 'monogamy'. You may think of the Kryptonians as polyamorous in nature, but not sexually."
"So you would have-"
"I would have companions. I… had friends who had broached the subject but I had not yet given them my answer. Relationships are made for political reasons sometimes so any proposals to be closely tied to my house as a companion, would have to go to my mother and father."
"So 'companion' would be an official designation?"
"Yes. It is a way to make bonds between great houses, if marriage was not on the table. The lesser houses may want to cleave themselves to a greater house just to have that association."
"But marriage would be-"
"Bringing of two houses together. Marriage is the coming together of great houses. Companions are closely associated with you, personally and in some way, your house. But your house and theirs owes each other no favours. Though some houses are made from what humans would think of as romantic bonds, unless it is a soul-bond, we normally cleave to the arrangements made by our houses for marriage. Soul-bonds are deep and lasting and blessed by Rao." Kara smiled. "My parents were not soul-bound, but my father had a very important relationship with one of the fertility technicians. My mother, also, had several companions and they enjoyed each other's company immensely."
Alex's face was completely red at the thought of these kinds of relationships while Kara kept looking at Alex expectantly, waiting for the next question. She frowned when she noticed that Alex was still completely mute.
"Again, the act of sex is not something we practice. Those soul-bound may perhaps engage in physical affection in private, I am unsure as I do not know of anyone who is soul-bound but that is what I have heard. It's very primitive, really. Those soul-bound do not have much of a choice in the matter."
"Wow." Alex blinked. "So, no sex at all?"
"Alex," Kara chuckled. "Why is this so important?"
"Kara, Earth isn't Krypton." Alex said carefully. Even though Kara tried to hide it, Alex could see that the young Kryptonian winced at the reminder of Krypton's destruction. "Humans… well, sex is a huge thing. We'll have an entire subject in PE class about our bodies and their functions and diseases-"
"What?" Kara cringed. "Diseases?"
"Like-like sexually transmitted ones." Alex stumbled over her words, suddenly realizing in horror that she was having a talk about the birds and the bees with Kara.
"Alex, that is ew. That is very ew." Kara wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"It's just a biological need!" Alex was flustered. "Don't ew it! Guys are going to want it from you!"
Kara shuddered. "No. I refuse. I don't even know why men would want it. I heard that traditional birthing is terribly painful for the men."
Alex frowned. She was… missing something here.
"Kara." Alex said carefully. "What do you mean?"
"When the men incubate the eggs." Kara said patiently. "Apparently it's a pleasurable experience, back before Rao turned red. When Kryptonians still engaged in intercourse to produce children. However, it was a bit of an ordeal when the birthing took place. It was all very primitive."
"Kara." Alex could feel a scientist's excitement. "Are you telling me that the men carried the babies? Like… like seahorses?"
"There are horses in the sea?!" Kara's face went slack in wonder, then a huge grin took over. "I want to see!"
"They're not like real horses-Kara, just answer my question."
"Well, I don't know about these seahorses, but yes, the men carried the eggs." Kara rubbed her hand over her belly, held it out maybe a foot away. "They would be like, this big. Whenever there was a 'marriage', the men would wear clothing that ballooned their stomach to show traditionally, that they were a fertile and proud house. The women would dance with them to show acceptance and the pairing would be recorded."
"Okay. Hold on." Alex got out of bed and dashed to her parent's room, flinging open the door. She jumped into their bed, waking up the Danvers.
"Dad, dad, dad, dad!" Alex shook him excitedly.
"Alex," Jeremiah groaned and looked over at the clock on his nightstand. "It's 4 o'clock on a Sunday."
"But DAD." Alex shook him impatiently. "Back on Krypton, the MEN traditionally gave birth."
There was a beat of silence before Eliza broke out into sleepy laughter.
"What." Jeremiah sounded both intrigued, yet horrified at the same time.
"The men would be like SEAHORSES back on Krypton. But they didn't have SEX." Alex whispered, almost like it was a secret. "Superman was a pod-baby!"
"Oh my god," Eliza snuggled into her husband. "That's why Clark never came to us about puberty! Remember he would just blush if we brought it up and said that 'his kind didn't need sex'. He was so adorable. And the Kents told us he would hide in his space pod for a while after his grade started sex education."
"That poor kid." Jeremiah snorted. Alex, having delivered her news, had shot back out of their room back to hers, leaving the older Danvers alone.
"So…" Eliza smiled slyly at her husband. "If men traditionally carried the babies… would the Kryptonian women be impregnating the men?"
"Eliza, no." Jeremiah tried to look firm in the face of his wife's salacious smile. "DO NOT make this a new kink. We do not need to experiment with that."