Sitting on the plush red throne of the Senate chamber, with all the eyes of both houses of parliament and numerous dignitaries upon her, Svetlana Fujikawa did her best to maintain a smile through the ongoing coronation ceremony. The crown had been placed on her head some time ago, but pomp and ceremony meant there were still a few more speeches to go. The words were all very moving and optimistic, running through a common theme of looking towards space and the connections the new royal house brought. Really, it was quite a nice ceremony. Except for one little issue.

She had been busy with the ceremony for about two hours already, there were forty five minutes left, and... she kind of had to pee.

Thankfully she didn’t have to stand up again until the end of the current round of speeches, so all she had to focus on was maintaining a smile so that no one knew she was distracted. It would be unpleasant, but doable. Pulling on her experience in retail, she plastered on her customer service mode, knowing there was little chance of her face betraying her increasing discomfort. 

Trying to distract herself by actually listening to the content of the speeches failed to help distract her. She’d already heard pretty well everything during rehearsals, even if there’d been some minor last minute changes.

Plus, a lot of the speakers were rather boring. 

They were Canadian politicians after all. Not a group of people known for being exciting.

Shifting to a slightly different sitting position, she instead decided to let her mind drift off entirely. There weren’t any cues that were easy to miss and, well, she still had a lot on her mind from the recent chaos of her life.

The first thing, that still made her all giddy from time to time, was thoughts about how nice being able to be a woman was. Alien technology really was wonderful when it came to transitions.

Still, the five months that had passed since then was starting to make it feel so natural she barely remembered the vague haze she’d teetered on the edge of before.

Instead her mind mostly went to more recent matters. Like the fact she was married. To four different wonderful women, half of whom were aliens... plus them all being in a relationship but technically not being married to two others due to issues of succession surrounding immortals. Which didn’t really strike her as fair to O’tmyil or Thisbe. Even if androids and vampires apparently made certain legal matters complicated.

There was also a secondary matter that was sort of less recent than Svetlana’s transition, but also something she’d only found out later: Vivian, the first of her wives that she’d met, was pregnant. From just before Svetlana’s transition. Nearly six months in now, though the tall and handsome woman showed rather less than one might expect. Being nearly two metres tall had advantages.

Which meant Svetlana was going to be a mother soon. That was exciting. Even if she had no idea how to raise a kid, and also suspected a small army of royal nannies were going to get involved. 

Plus, all the travel ahead of her. She was going to have to go to the UK to sign some paperwork over the transfer of a certain properties between herself and the old royal family. After that the politicians had decided to have her go on a grand diplomatic tour. Brushing elbows with proper royalty and whanot.

Then, of course, there was the space stuff. With Plynx, Bokarza, and O’tmyil all being aliens, Svetlana was going to have to head into space at some point. That was exciting. So far all she’d done was a quick orbit or two in Plynx’s personal spaceship back when they’d been dating. Seeing the rest of the galaxy was--

Oh! 

People were clapping more than they’d been doing. Right. That was the Governor General giving her final speech, formally handing over all vestiges of her office to the ‘House of Fujikawa’ (a term that Svetlana still thought sounded a bit overly snobby... especially considering her parent’s place was a one floor 1960s bungalow in Hammer City). 

All the same, she stood, smiled, waved, signed the one document marking accepting the lease for Rideau Hall, and then she made a beeline out the door to the nearest washroom as soon as was acceptable. 

One of the perks of being the new Queen of Canada was that she had access to a private washroom, though even that only did so much to counter how awkward dresses were in the washroom. Either you had to fold up the skirt and be left awkwardly drowning in it, or you had to pull almost the whole thing off to pull it down... or maybe there was some trick to it that mothers normally taught their daughters that she’d missed with the whole being trans thing.

Whatever the case, she was done perhaps a minute later, hands washed and now being swarmed by various wardrobe and makeup people who were all doing their best to erase any sign she was a being of flesh and blood that sometimes wrinkled her dress.

Popping out from being tucked in Svetlana’s bra, a clearly alien disc floated through the air for a few moments before flashing into the solid yet holographic form of O’tmyil.

“Reports on media show that everyone who could have a positive view of you has had a positive opinion on the ceremony so far,” the blue-skinned alien android relayed, having apparently been tapped into communication networks. “The queens consort and Thisbe are waiting for you at the cars towards your new residence.”

“Right. New residence... I still can’t believe they’re making me move to Ottawa,” Svetlana mumbled as someone adjusted the tiara serving as her new primary crown.

It was very pretty, made by a Dené artist with diamonds from the North-West Territories. Of course it was also worth several times more than her parent’s home, let alone anything Svetlana had ever owned. Or, well, ever owned until recently. How was she supposed to feel comfortable with something like that on her head?

“It seems a nice enough city to me,” O’tmyil replied as they began making their way through the secured hallway towards the garage where others were waiting.

“If you like bureaucracy,” Sveltana mumbled as they walked, before remembering she was in the very heart of the nation’s bureaucrats. Parliament itself.

As such, she decided to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the walk. A walk that felt rather long, considering it was all in one building. Parliament had just been built to a slightly obnoxious scale, thanks to Victorian era egos. Or was it Edwardian by that point?  

Passing through hallways that were an odd mix of ornate and utilitarian, they at long last reached the entrance to the garage, where they found the others waiting.

“You’re behind schedule,” Augusta Fujikawa-Hozenberg-Lemonov-Bourange said, sounding mildly annoyed.

Her Franco-Austrian accent always sounded at least a little annoyed, however.

“There’s a whole army of moving parts, you have to expect delays,” the tall and ever dashing Vivian Fujikawa-Wong muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Well, it was more that I don’t have infinite bladder capacity,” Svetlana admitted, offering a slightly awkward little chuckle.

It didn’t seem to quite be enough for Augusta’s liking, but, thankfully, everyone else was rather more easily pleased.

“The crown looks very nice,” Bokarza said, leaning down to take a better look. She was also clearly happy to see Svetlana again, based on the way her clubbed tail was swinging (causing everyone near her to quickly step to safety). “Very delicate, but pretty.”

“It suits you-love very well,” Plynx added with a smile that showed just a little of her feline-like fangs while purring lightly. 

“The lack of any crucifixes or other religious symbols is very appreciated,” Thisbe added. 

Before they could manage any further conversation, however, various aids ushered them onto the convertibles set to drive them to Rideau Hall. As expected, O’tmyil returned to her disc form and was tucked back into Svetlana’s dress for security reasons while Vivian joined Svetlana in the front car. It seemed everyone saw her as Svetlana’s ‘primary wife’ due to both being the only other Canadian in the new royal family and her being pregnant. A baby on the way did wonders to improve the public’s feelings towards both Svetlana and her dashingly handsome wife. Even with the polycule, aliens, and trans factors. People just loved babies.

Meanwhile Plynx, Augusta, and Bokarza rode in a second convertible. Svetlana did not envy the driver or other aid who were stuck sharing a car with those three. All had been born princesses, Plynx and Bokarza’s people having been in a low level war until recently while Augusta was... Augusta. Raised in a family with a number of claims but no actual throne, she'd been taught to put on airs before she could walk to make up for it. So the only way to prevent an argument between the trio would be if none of them spoke.

And then Thisbe would ride behind in one of the security SUVs with tinted windows, both to protect her from the sun and view. While Svetlana thought it was unfair to Thisbe she couldn’t really deny that there was a reason vampires had a bad rap and it was fair to try to keep the petitie woman tucked away on coronation day. 

Pulling out of the garage, they had a few moments to adjust to the light before reaching the crowds lining the street. Under normal conditions it would be maybe a ten minute drive, but they were instead going to be going only a little faster than walking speed so that Svetlana could smile and wave at the crowds along Wellington and then Sussex. 

“My arm is going to get tired,” she whispered through a smile as they finally passed the Hotel Laurier.

“You’re using your wrist too much,” Vivian replied through an equally well maintained smile.

Svetlana nodded slightly, double checking her technique against Vivian’s. 

That managed to save her, letting her handle the rest of the almost thirty minute crawl to her new official residence. All the same, when they finally reached the garage and were once more tucked away from news cameras she let out a sigh of relief. It had still felt like a bit of a work out to keep her arms up that much.

At least the rest of the day was going to be a party. Well, there was one last photo op session, then the concert would start, held on the grounds of what was set to be labeled her new ‘palace’ soon enough. It really did baffle her just how much land the governor general had had... but it made for a good amount of space to host a party.

“I still have to ask what you ate. Your breath smells horrid,” Augusta said as the second car tucked into the garage a short distance from Svetlana.

“It was merely the tuna-fish,” Plynx replied.

“Oh, hey, good work you three, managing to keep from fighting on camera,” Svetlana said with a grin.

“It’s your day. We didn’t want to ruin that, chérie,” Augusta replied.

“Indeed, indeed,” Plynx added with a happy nod.

For her part, Bokarza shrugged. “I know I can scare humans, since you’re so little as a species, and a panicked crowd is very bad. So I tried not to move.”

The group exchanged a little more light conversation while they waited for Thisbe’s ride to pull in. Once everyone was assembled it was time to pull out O’tmyil and then go meet up with the various artists who would be performing that evening. As they made their way through the large home both Svetlana and Bokarza found themselves helping Vivian out, the long day apparently starting to tire her out when combined with the pregnancy. And, well, those two were the only ones who were tall enough to really offer her much support.

It only took a few minutes to reach the main hall where the various artists were waiting, however. Even better, there were chairs and couches available, Vivian finding a seat. After some reassurance from Vivian that she was fine, Svetlana reluctantly drifted over towards the large crowd of artists, managers, and other hangers on. Once again she plastered on her customer service smile.

The performers were quite the eclectic mix. Most were Canadian, and a few were firmly not Svetlana’s style (three different country music groups), but there were also two alien bands present. One was mostly made up of the lynx-like Ossid’rians like Plynx, while the other had a couple of Kobaroians like Bokarza (who were perhaps best described as a mix between fantasy orcs and those sabre-toothed deer from China, though there was the matter of the horns and the clubbed tails to make that not quite accurate), but there were also a couple of blue Lanthoneans (the species O’tmyil’s default appearance was based upon) and one other artist who’s species Svetlana couldn’t identify off the top of her head. 

The human artists mostly seemed more excited to talk to fellow musicians from elsewhere in the galaxy than they were to meet the new queen, but Svetlana could understand that. Learning what music was like in the rest of the galaxy had to be even more exciting for musicians. The alien musicians, however, were rather more excited to meet Svetlana at the moment. Perhaps because her technically being empress of a good chunk of the galaxy was more impressive than being queen of Canada... that part of her newfound royal status still felt so abstract, however.

All the same, she took photos or holographic captures with each group (it likely not being hard to guess which type of artists did which) and it was all going quite nicely if a bit stiffly. Until she reached the one artist she was genuinely somewhat excited to meet, due to their status as a Canadian queer icon. 

“Ro Valenti! It’s very cool to get to meet you,” she said, smiling and offering the currently masculine singer a handshake.

“The excitement is all mine, getting to play at a coronation, and for the first trans monarch of Canada? Very cool... also, though... have we met before?” they asked, looking Svetlana over. “Because you’re oddly familiar.”

“I don’t think so,” Svetlana muttered, even if she had recently learned that her former roommate’s girlfriend had apparently sort of known Ro for years. “If we did I probably would have looked rather different anyhow. Only got zapped recently, after all.”

That caused Ro’s eyes to light up, followed by excited waving of a pointer finger. “Right! Right! That one... I think it was a Mongolian place in TO? You and a friend were in the washroom and I changed... and then I maybe flirted with you.”

Blinking, the memory hit Svetlana in a moment. She’d definitely remembered someone changing sex before her eyes with just a splash of water, but she’d told herself afterwards she’d had to have imagined it. That was just too anime to be real. Very specifically anime, too... but, no. She had learned later that apparently cursed springs that caused sex changes were real, they were just in Türkiye instead of China like the anime said.

“Right, you did...” Svetlana replied, finding herself giving Ro Valenti a quick once over.

One that the highly attractive and gender-bending pop star was matching.

“Alright, yeah, no. That’s enough of that,” a brunette with a sharp bob said, sliding between the two of them.

“Hey! Rachel!” Ro protested.

“Indeed,” Augusta added, slipping in to add extra space between the Svetlana and Ro. “It is time for the photos and then the artists must prepare for their performances, mon amour.”

“R-right,” Svetlana mumbled, posing for a couple of pictures with Valenti and the rest of the Fire Hearts before being pulled away by both Augusta and Plynx.

As she was led away from the room, she noticed Ro and their one amazon-like bandmate talking to Vivian. What about she had no time to find out, however. Her two wives seemed to decide that moving Svetlana away from that hall was of vital importance.

“Wait, is this because Valenti is engaged to four people?” Svetlana asked as the pair of... well, they were no longer merely princesses, but that was still how Svetlana’s brain sorted them... as her two wives stopped pulling her along at last as they arrived at... well, another plush room that probably had some kind of fancy name.

“Yes,” Augusta explained. “It is precisely because of that.”

“We love Svetlana-dearest very much, but everyone agreed it would be a dangerous idea to let you and Valenti-singer spend too much time together. You both have... what was it called again?” Plynx asked, turning to Augusta.

“Harem anime protagonist energy,” Thisbe said, causing everyone to jump as they hadn’t realised she’d followed them. “The romantic chaos that could potentially ensue was deemed concerning. Even Agent Lee agreed to that. You cause enough trouble on your own.”

“I’m not that bad,” Svetlana protested.

“Do we need to remind you-dearest of what happened with Bokarza-wife?” Plynx asked. “It is unclear if your heart or what you do to the hearts of others is more powerful, but the effect is undoubtedly most significant.”

She couldn’t exactly argue, but Svetlana still felt like everyone was overreacting a little.