A Business Deal

Ancient One understood this perfectly well. This transfer of power might have seemed sudden, but it was by no means a spur-of-the-moment decision. It had been carefully considered.

First, the timing was right. Although this abdication appeared to be an internal matter of royal succession, it was actually the inheritance of the Earth Sovereignty Pact signed by Ancient One and Odin. Yet no matter how independent and sovereign Earth was, it remained nominally a vassal state of Asgard. Anyone who understood protocol knew that when the king of a vassal state changed, the suzerain state had to be informed.

Odin and Ancient One had been more flexible with each other, so when they signed the pact, they had not considered such details at all. Whether she would personally pay homage or send an envoy with congratulations had never been decided. But regardless of the method, she had to notify them, add Klayya's name to it, and in other words, renew the pact.

But renewing a pact involved far too many complications. Ancient One knew that when Odin had signed this agreement, she had forced him into it and made him grit his teeth to accept. They had remained peaceful for all these years, but Odin surely still harbored considerable resentment toward its terms.

Now that the matter was being brought up again, Odin would very likely use the renewal as an opportunity to renegotiate certain provisions. The excuse was readily available: royal succession had always followed the rule of son succeeding father, or younger brother succeeding elder brother. Naturally, a daughter succeeding a deceased queen was no different. Neither Asgard nor its vassal kingdoms had ever recognized abdication.

Thus, Odin would likely obstruct the process on the grounds that Klayya's succession violated law, custom, and tradition. Of course, he did