Questions and answers, #9: More about babies.

I was just thinking this is a lot of baby questions. There's probably good money to be had in writing The Sex Lives of the Rich and Fae (Mouse), but I don't envy the writer assigned the task ("you do what with the what now? Okay, we're done here!" *flee*).

I wish I could think up a really interesting question to ask, but I'm stuck in a weird spot where I know just enough fae-based mythology and folklore that I can make reasonable assumptions, but not enough to ask anything terribly specific that noticeably differs from those assumptions.

This has got my wheels turning so I have to get this question out, because the squeaking in my head is driving me nuts.

It's the last bit, the fertility boost, that prompts this burst of mental gear grinding. Is it a couple thing, meaning are they more likely to have more kids as a pair, but individually, with other fae, the odds are normal? Or are they each more fertile individually, regardless of who they're, ah, hooking up with?

And while I'm dancing on the coals, might as well throw this one out there, what about the fertility cycle of a female fae? Is it like that of a human, ovulation and menstruation roughly once a month, or do they have a longer cycle? This is potentially huge, if they go by a lunar cycle like humans. A human female is born with all the eggs she is ever going to have, about one million at birth, which drops to around 300,000 by the time of puberty. That's no problem for a mortal, who is only going to ovulate 300-400 in her lifetime, but an immortal fae? Now granted, if she ovulates 12 times a year, she still has enough eggs for about 25,000 years, but what if only 10% of those eggs are viable?

Maybe only a small percentage of a fae woman's eggs are receptive to breeding. We all know how it works in humans, right? When the first sperm finds the egg and penetrates it, the outer surface of the egg hardens so no other sperm get through. Maybe with the fae it works different, maybe most of the eggs are always toughened up so sperm can't get in, but when one of the rare, soft eggs gets fertilized it triggers a temporary change in the woman's body chemistry that causes all, or at least more, of the other eggs, um, soften up?

Sorry if I'm rambling. I've just been doing a lot of reading up on female fertility for a project of my own, and I just love brainstorming stuff like this!

I figured as much on the first part. I mean if it extended outside that couple, I shudder to think of the ways the purebloods would come up with to take advantage of that little loophole! On the rather benign side of the scale would be the contractual arrangements to acquire the .... services ... of such individuals, and on the other? Well, we've seen that some fae certainly aren't above kidnapping and torture, and I could even see it going so far as a modified form of jus prima noctis.

As for the rest, I was just speculating out loud, so to speak. Based on what we've learned of the fae so far, I seriously doubt anyone has ever tried to figure this stuff out. Asking why things work the way they do doesn't seem to be encouraged in their society, but that's okay, because it lets our imaginations run amok!

You've got me totally fascinated by your questions. I do hope the answers come out in the books.

Well thank you, I do love to fascinate! My questions mostly stem from my own efforts at writing; I try to think of how I might approach a particular issue, and base my questions on what I might ask myself. That is in no way intended to imply I am anywhere close to Seanan's mastery of the craft; I only wish I had her talent!

Sounds like a deficiency here. A fae pregnancy uses up a resource, and it doesn't get replenished after the first one unless the fae in question takes action to replenish it.

Or, it could be a curse.

Thank you so much for answering these questions in general, and my question in particular!

Now all I need is a time machine to take me ahead to the time in which A Red-Rose Chain is in general release...

for the instant divorce thing - presumably, the couple *could* go "hey, we're pregnant, cool, let's get married"? And the instant divorce status is for ones who don't want to? Just looking to clarify.

Thanks Seanan and the questioners - this is absolutely fascinating. I love that Toby's world is so complete and real to us as readers that these questions arise.

"Seneschal can now claim that their other child, as the sibling of the heir, has a legit claim to the title. Depending on how the local monarch rules, this might actually work."

I'm imagining somebody being told, "You're the heir now, because I said so." Never mind that the claim is based on a century-younger sibling who died of acute stupidity, this person is now stuck with it. (Chaos ensues.)