the Elders quickly figured out how to co-opt her actions to maintain stability and their own power
But of course. The good thing about having the power is you get to decide who gets to have the power. :)
Heh, now I'm super curious how the Council or Powers That Be or whoever it was arranged for the Slayer succession when the Queen didn't die.
Yeah, that. :) Writing this story came creepily easy - I woke up with it more or less complete in my head and just wrote it down. And then it struck me: If she doesn't die, no more Slayers would be called. So... I just figured it's a fairytale, the details are always going to be vague. I guess there are a couple of different possibilities: 1. There is some mechanism to pick a new Slayer if the current one hasn't been heard from in X years, or when she reaches a certain age that no Slayer would be expected to reach. Especially back in antiquity, there had to be cases where they really couldn't find the Slayer at all. 2. That line about her heart breaking is literal; she actually had a bona fide heart attack, severe enough to call the next Slayer. 3. The giant's blessing keeps her looking young, but she's technically undead. etc.
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the Elders quickly figured out how to co-opt her actions to maintain stability and their own power
But of course. The good thing about having the power is you get to decide who gets to have the power. :)
Heh, now I'm super curious how the Council or Powers That Be or whoever it was arranged for the Slayer succession when the Queen didn't die.
Yeah, that. :) Writing this story came creepily easy - I woke up with it more or less complete in my head and just wrote it down. And then it struck me: If she doesn't die, no more Slayers would be called. So... I just figured it's a fairytale, the details are always going to be vague. I guess there are a couple of different possibilities:
1. There is some mechanism to pick a new Slayer if the current one hasn't been heard from in X years, or when she reaches a certain age that no Slayer would be expected to reach. Especially back in antiquity, there had to be cases where they really couldn't find the Slayer at all.
2. That line about her heart breaking is literal; she actually had a bona fide heart attack, severe enough to call the next Slayer.
3. The giant's blessing keeps her looking young, but she's technically undead.
etc.
So glad you liked the story!