That's pretty much how I've always seen it, actually--lives as currency to get a person across a Series, and inter-Series transfers require switching alternates out, like Gwendolen does. Since Gabriel and Christopher's lives are still existing in Series Ten and Eleven in place of Millie and Mordecai, the balance is even (but, that being said, "La Familia" squee! It is without a doubt one of my favorite Charmed Life-era fics in the fandom.)
My biggest "huh?" moment with the series is (and it is absolutely possible this is explained at some point, and I've just missed it): So, if you have no alternates in a Series, you're automatically a nine-lived enchanter--but what if you only have two, or three alternates? Is that correlated with the amount of magic one has? I ask because I've always found Millie and Conrad's alternates fascinating, since their adventures are pretty singular, and I've always wondered how their alternates turned out. Particularly Millie--is she taken to be the Goddess in every world? Is there a world where she isn't, or where Mother Proudfoot is not as generous with the incarnations of Asheth? (And of course, this is all assuming Series Ten and Seven even have separate worlds--Eleven explicitly does not, IIRC.)
And of course, Millie only existing in Christopher's world in Series Twelve begs the question of how Julia and Roger are not nine-lived enchanters* by default. I can fudge nine-lived enchantership not being hereditary because the non-nine-lived spouse might balance things out; but how can you have two parents who only exist in one world, and have their children have alternates in every other world?
*Unless they are and this is something else I am forgetting outright.
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That's pretty much how I've always seen it, actually--lives as currency to get a person across a Series, and inter-Series transfers require switching alternates out, like Gwendolen does. Since Gabriel and Christopher's lives are still existing in Series Ten and Eleven in place of Millie and Mordecai, the balance is even (but, that being said, "La Familia" squee! It is without a doubt one of my favorite Charmed Life-era fics in the fandom.)
My biggest "huh?" moment with the series is (and it is absolutely possible this is explained at some point, and I've just missed it): So, if you have no alternates in a Series, you're automatically a nine-lived enchanter--but what if you only have two, or three alternates? Is that correlated with the amount of magic one has? I ask because I've always found Millie and Conrad's alternates fascinating, since their adventures are pretty singular, and I've always wondered how their alternates turned out. Particularly Millie--is she taken to be the Goddess in every world? Is there a world where she isn't, or where Mother Proudfoot is not as generous with the incarnations of Asheth? (And of course, this is all assuming Series Ten and Seven even have separate worlds--Eleven explicitly does not, IIRC.)
And of course, Millie only existing in Christopher's world in Series Twelve begs the question of how Julia and Roger are not nine-lived enchanters* by default. I can fudge nine-lived enchantership not being hereditary because the non-nine-lived spouse might balance things out; but how can you have two parents who only exist in one world, and have their children have alternates in every other world?
*Unless they are and this is something else I am forgetting outright.