Disclaimer for the entire story: Sadly, I do not own Strange Magic, although I do have the DVD that I play once a week.
*Blush* They were supposed to behave this time! Eh, who am I kidding? A bit late for my Beltane deadline but *shrugs* life. Constructive advice is appreciated but please refrain from criticism. Enjoy!
Marianne pauses in her walk and stares at a painting on the wall. It's strange that despite her many times in the archives, she has never taken full notice of the paintings positioned on the stone walls. Then again, that might be because it was mostly during winter and no sunshine could break through the covered windows.
"Hey, Bog, who is this," she asks?
"Who's who," Bog questions, looking up from a parchment?
"This one," Marianne remarks, pointing to the painting in front of her.
"That is the Bay King, third from the Firth King," he answers.
Okay. So she knows that she still has difficulties telling the difference between male and female goblins but she's very sure that the goblin in this painting is a female. The dress is kind of obvious and the anatomy lesson Griselda gave her a few weeks after she married Bog cinches it.
"She is female though," Marianne states. "Shouldn't she be queen?"
"Why would she be queen? She is not a mate of a King of the Dark Forest. Bay is the firstborn of the Sound King and passed the trials, therefore, she became the next King of the Dark Forest when her father died," Bog explains.
"But she's female," she repeats.
"I don't see the problem, Marianne," he comments. "She passed the trials and fulfilled the royal law of only the strongest being fit to rule."
The mention of the royal law causes Marianne to pause and she thinks back to all she's learned. Her studies on the royal law didn't mention anything about the gender of either opponent, just phrased as the reigning royal and the challenger. Even the insert about a reigning royal's mate being permitted to aid their mate in the challenge said nothing about the gender. The details for the ascension doesn't mention the gender of the heir either, just that the first offspring of the reigning royal to complete the trails would become the next reigning royal. She's already learned several things that the two kingdoms differed on, so it shouldn't be too surprising that this is something different as well.