Trio -- still slightly dissonant, but definitely a trio

And it happened like this:
Following the sound principle that relaxed mothers are the better mothers, I did not cancel tennis yesterday. Came home around 6 p.m., very hungry. And since hungry mothers tend to be irritable, I just gave ze boyz a cuddle, went into Lola's room to give her a cuddle and open her window, and then thought, what the hell, I can see the balcony door from the kitchen, so I'll just... oops. My English isn't good enough for this -- how do you call it when you don't open a door or window in the usual way i.e. using the vertical hinges, but using horizontal ones so there is only a wedge-formed opening? OK, so that's what I did, considering that I'd be able to intervene if any of the three tried to get in/out and got stuck.
Then I almost dropped what I was holding, because Lola came sauntering along the balcony, sat in front of the door, and Cornelius -- on the other side in the living room -- was there, and both started singing cat serenades instead of the usual hissing and growling.
When this had gone on for about ten minutes, with Lucius occasionally joining in, I said to myself, well, it's not going to get any better while they're separated, so let's eat something now (hungry mothers are irritable), then wait until the stove has cooled down, remove any breakable stuff, and take the plunge.
Now I'm not going to describe the ensuing three hours in minute detail, or the three hours they spent together this morning. The overall situation, however, seems to be this: Lola has to work -- but fortunately not fight -- for access to every room. Cornelius is doing most of the work, which largely consists of sitting in a strategic location, looking big and impressive (not much trouble) and doing a bit of growling and hissing and the occasional swipe at Lola. Meanwhile, the young lady explores, a bit tense but most of all very determined, and whenever she comes too close to Cornelius, there must be hissing, growling and the occasional swipe. Lucius keeps back and watches, but sometimes Cornelius lets him do a bit of posturing. Then Cornelius gets bored and walks away, and the same ritual starts in the next room. So far we've done the guest bedroom, guest bathroom, kitchen and living room. Master bedroom, walk-in wardrobe and master bathroom still to come, and I suppose there'll have to be a few repetitions also for the already-conquered rooms.
The whole spiel started last night around 7, and by 10 all three were so tired that they fell asleep in the living room -- Lola on "her" armchair", Cornelius under the coffee table, and Lucius on my lap. When they woke up and seemed to be preparing for the next round, I picked Lola up and put her back in her room -- I was tired, after all, and wanted to sleep.
This morning I intended to feed them together but had not yet cottoned on to the fact that Lola still had to work her way into the kitchen. This happened later on, and tonight there will be even more time for conquering the premises, and if this goes well, I'm planning on leaving them only a minimum of food for the night so the trio will be really hungry tomorrow morning, and then I'll give the common breakfast another try.
Hilarious moment this morning: Lola discovered a toy mouse and immediately started playing like crazy in the living room, watched in consternation by ze boyz who were sitting on the armrest of the couch.
Before I went to work I did of course separate them again, and tonight there won't be sports or cooking or anything, just sandwiches and maybe a salad and more trio exercises.
Lemme tell you guys, not only am I very proud of my boyz for being so good and of Lola for being such a courageous girl, I'm also insanely proud of myself for 1) having done it and 2) having obviously done it right. Me iz a cat whisperer, obviously.
I still can't quite believe that this is all real.
I know it's probably not the right kind of attitude, but the fact that Bin Laden is dead seems far less important than the forming of the dissonant trio, on a personal level.