Also still reading, and also enjoying very much.
Ann, you wonder how they make babies on Krypton. I wondered the same thing myself. I'm guessing the 'no touching, no looking' thing is something unique to the nobles. The fact that Kal is willing to revise his judgment on the case of the two brothers certainly seems to suggest that it's not unheard of on New Krypton to marry for love, because if it were, I don't guess it would even occur to Kal that the younger brother might be lonely once he'd gone back to the older brother's farm. So I think the arranged marriages are a question of 'obligating nobleness' (and that's a direct translation from French, so if it doesn't make sense in English, I apologize).
The question, then, is how there will ever be an heir to the House of El. Maybe there's a ceremony for that, too. A ceremony at an arranged time in the husband and wife's lives, when they are obligated by law to have intercourse unless and until conception has occurred?
That's a bit of an unsettling thought from a human perspective, but then, the whole of New Kryptonian society is a bit unsettling from a human perspective.
Interesting tidbit: not only does Kal not have sex with his wife, he doesn't have it with his concubines, either. So the reason that he has them is what? Just because he wants to protect them? If so, then how does he determine who to pick and thereby grant a somewhat better life, and who not to? Is that the way all the nobles treat their concubines? Somehow, I don't think so. And if not, what made this man decide to go against the customs of his people? Not that there would be anything wrong with that, mind you -- on the contrary. I'm just making an observation here. People are herd animals. If we go against the herd, there must have been something to trigger the opposition. But then that brings us right back to the question of how 'human' the Kryptonians are. Fascinating story, this...
Oh, also... I think I figured out who the mother is. So did everyone else, probably, but I think this raises interesting questions for the future of the NK colony. A whole society of Kryptonians settling on a planet with a yellow sun would be a disaster waiting to happen, but on the other hand, I can't see this story end with Lois and Kal living happily ever after on a rock.
Oh, well. Wait and see, wait and see...
Corinna, will you *please* hurry up getting the next part posted? :p
