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Everyone knows that mysterious old ladies are kind of a big deal.
Yes, anyone who is female (or wraps up in sufficiently mysterious shawls) and old enough could pretend to be a mysterious old lady, but the actual category of the creatures is a different matter, and one can often tell (though it's better to be on the safe side, when identifying them).
Mysterious old ladies can, in a certain sense, do magic - or help you do magic. Sure, if you decide to take the first milking of your new cow and leave it out in a bowl in the backyard with a garland of roses floating on the surface and then drink it all first thing in the morning without stopping to put on your shoes or comb your hair, nothing will happen. But if you do it because a mysterious old lady told you to, and it was a real mysterious old lady, and you followed all of her instructions? Then you will find that you will get whatever result she advertised.
But if you step into your slippers first or tug a knot out of your ponytail or drink the milk early or late or use daisies for the garland, you will get something else.
It's very important to be exact and careful about these things.
Compared to what happens if you disobey a real mysterious old lady, being occasionally made a fool of by some pretender to the title because your eyesight is going or you were too sleepy to note her lack of a proper mysterious aura is nothing.
spell_eternity
spell_eternity
"Probably. It'll depend on whether he wants to be king if you ask him. If he doesn't then there's less point."
spell_eternity
"Unless you're planning to run off to live in a swamp and leave him without a choice in the matter, of course."
mydarkness
He has finally enticed someone to clean the throne room, and is sitting next to the throne, busily telling people to do things. But not too busy to smile at Carrabella and Erian when he sees them.
mydarkness
"Of course. Just a moment."
And he finishes what he was saying to this particular servant and then leads the two of them to his study.
And he finishes what he was saying to this particular servant and then leads the two of them to his study.
spell_eternity
"It has occurred to Erian that you are possibly better suited to being king than he would be."
mydarkness
"I don't think that's the question," he says. "I think the question is, should I be king? What's better for the kingdom? And it seems like what's better for the kingdom is probably me."
spell_eternity
"That is the question, but what you want is still relevant. If you're going to burn out in five years because you hate the job - for that matter if your father has completely obliterated this royal family's ability to convince anyone to marry into it absent force - those are important considerations."
mydarkness
"I will be okay," he says. "And I think that might be the kind of problem I could talk to a mysterious old woman about. Probably somewhere in the world there is someone who would not mind marrying me, and magic could help me find her. Even without magic I think someone might be okay with it if we explain about the magic problem, but it might take a long time in that case. I'm young, though, I have time."
spell_eternity
"All right. So I guess Erian's going to abdicate in your favor, probably simple enough. This leaves the question of what about me."
spell_eternity
"I mean, as it stands now I'm the queen. I kind of like the idea of being the queen, but not enough to attempt to demand that Erian be the king to enable it. There remains the question of whether we should stay married or have you pronounce us annulled, and whether you're interested in my advice in any capacity or would rather I just go home."
mydarkness
"I'm not sure if doing things to your marriage might cause magic-related problems," says Taphinieu. "I think if you want to stop being married you might want to ask a mysterious old woman about it, just in case. But if you want me to annul it anyway I will. As for your advice, I don't know what sort of advice you give so I don't know if it will be useful, but if you want to stay and give it, you can, and we'll see."