A thought about what the Princess Kay thing could mean -- May queens are part of a European fertility rite, in Europe, a long time ago, maybe doing it in Minnesota is part of the bargain the newcomers made with the country/land-spirits/whatever when they settled there -- maybe all of this circle of the year stuff is, it's not European shreds imposed (as in War For the Oaks) it's the fusion of the European customs and the local. And maybe the land would look at the settlers and wonder if they're worth making part of everything, or if they'll just go away again, and maybe the May Queen thing as Princess Kay is a combination of the European fertility and a promise to stay, it means that her part of the bargain is to stay in the state/area (she's never left, maybe she thought about it but she never quite did, and the magic has kept her there whether or not she knows it) and marry and have children there (which she did) though I don't know how this would fit with killing Solveig's father and almost killing Solveig?