Currently re-reading the code I'm testing tomorrow.
Also reading Grandma's Pączki recipe - well, trying to. Polish diacritical marks and her cursive never went well together, I'm afraid.
There's nothing wrong with just saying that she's 9. The reader will just assume that there's a period of time roughly analogous to a year that they use to measure time the same way we measure years. They could even call this period of time a "year" and it wouldn't necessarily be a reference...
I just reread Games Wizards Play for the twelfth time and I'm not even mad at myself. This series has just always been able to make me laugh.
Diane Duane's Young Wizards series begins with So You Want to Be a Wizard.
This is certainly an interesting concept. I think you can bypass the problem of people faking social status by having the people who paint henna being essentially tattoo artists: you have to go to them specifically, and you'll have to pay them more if you want an intricate design or multiple...
"Your Majesty" seems entirely gender agnostic, though I would venture to guess that everyone would know the sex and gender of their Sovereign.
Alternatively, you can just refuse to give a care and go the route of the Dragons in The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, and just call the monarch "King"...
Hiya!
I'm Zid, an engineering student/writer from Detroit.
Looking forward to being inspired by you guys. Hopefully I give the same inspiration in return..