Actually not so much a fic as an exercise in the difficulties of getting away from the knee-jerk expectations of English usage. Turns out there's a whole reflex style used by and about (fictional) royal females who aren't monarchs, which I had great trouble getting rid of. In the end it was necessary to adopt Leguin's Solution to convey to English readers the way in which continental dragons think about themselves.
And now I shall go back to wondering what the rule is for capitalizing prince, king, majesty and highness: or rather, wondering when these are common nouns and when proper.
