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High King Cardan prided himself in a lot of things (it took him a long time to get there, but that's neither here nor there), but one of his most cherished attributes was how observant he was. Having played a fool for self-preservation for most of his life, Cardan was used to noticing little details, and to quietly pocketing them for later use. His knowledge was far and vast, extending to the customs and traditions of the mortal world.
One would think that he used that for political gains and alliances, but that would be a lie, and Cardan could not utter words that were untrue, to his chagrin. No, his knowledge of the mortal realm was used for one thing and one thing only: plucking a real smile from his dearest wife.
It all started with books he'd stolen as a child, well before he’d met Jude. It was truly ironic how he used to read mortal ‘fairy tales’ as a form of escapism. They had nothing to do with the real faes, but it allowed a young Cardan to forget the cruel reality of his kind.
It was through those human tales that he had learnt about the tradition of rings exchange. According to those customs, when a man asked for a woman’s hand in marriage, he would propose with a ring. Then, the couple would exchange wedding bands to symbolise their union. Cardan supposed, in retrospect, that it was bad form to have asked for Jude’s hand with her own pilfered ring, but he blamed the stories for not being specific enough.
Never one to leave his wife wanting for anything, Cardan presented Jude with another ring on their anniversary, one other mortal practice he’d come to adopt.
“But it’s not our anniversary.” Jude eyed the velvet box suspiciously. Having grown up in Faerie, the queen was very wary of gifts, fully expecting to have to give something in return.
“Well yes, it is. You said an anniversary is something to be celebrated a year after the event.”
“I did say that. But our wedding anniversary was almost half a year ago. I would remember. You exiled me the morning after.” Jude poked Cardan’s chest with a bit more force than usual. The king still did not dare jest when it came to that. He supposed she would be using the exile card for a very long time, and he couldn't blame her for that. His cunning Jude always knew when to turn things in her favor.
“Ah, my most magnificent queen, you did not specify that anniversaries were solely for the occasion of marriage. This is not what I’m celebrating today.”
He nudged at the box she was still holding, urging Jude to open it. She flipped the lid open, and stared at the golden object for a long while.
“The Battle of the Serpent.” Jude barely whispered, her voice unusually quiet.
“Do you like it?” Cardan was pretty proud of his gift, if he may say so himself. He’d commissioned a delicate gold ring shaped like a snake, its tail and head joined together by a ruby. Despite Jude’s preference for comfortable clothing that would allow the maximum amount of weapons, his wife did love pretty things: intricately carved dagger with hilts embellished by emeralds, pearls and golden pins to adorn her braids, and even delicate embroidered silk under things for his eyes only.
Jude looked away, blinking rapidly. Was she crying? He couldn’t believe his gift backfired that spectacularly.
“Jude?” Cardan reached out to her, extending an arm out. She sniffed once, and then started to laugh. Sometimes, he had to admit that he didn’t always understand his wife, although he couldn’t say if it was because she was human or just because she was Jude.
“Enlighten me, my sweetest enigma, for I am not sure if I have offended or amused you.”
“It’s just…” She chuckled again, and to Cardan’s surprise, she stepped toward him and wrapped her arms around his torso. Pressing her cheeks against his beating heart, she continued. “I’m still baffled at some of the Folks’ ways.”
Cardan was puzzled; didn’t he just have the same thought about humans? Jude knew the Folks more than they knew themselves. She was a strategist, she knew her friends and her foes. Truly, he wasn’t sure what confused her. He told her as much.
“Do you remember when they served snake meat at the banquet after the battle? It was from the snake, from you. And then they served it to us.”
Ah, yes. Cardan remembered all too well how he’d politely tried to keep his food down his stomach while looking at the Folks gorging themselves on the flesh of his old vessel. Still, he wasn’t sure where Jude was getting at, since his gift was simply a token to remind her of her exploits.
“Fret not, my dear, I will find something to your liking.” He was slightly disappointed, but Cardan figured the snake ring would probably fit on his pinky, just like Jude’s ruby ring used to be.
Cardan felt Jude’s head shaking against his chest. Then, she loosened the embrace and lifted the hand that was holding the box, putting it between them.
“It is a beautiful ring, and I know you are insanely proud of all the details you’ve definitely poured into its design, and that alone makes me love it. But I need you to understand that the Battle of the Serpent is still an event that pained me to reminisce. For a moment, a very long moment, I thought that you were gone forever, and that I only had myself to blame.”
Oh. He definitely hasn't thought it through. In Oak’s mortal slang, this gift was "too soon". Cardan quickly clapped the box closed.
“Oh, Jude. Once again, it seems that I have become the king of fools. I understand now how my gift may have been perceived as insensitive. I assure you, my love, that my intention was not to jest or to cause you pain. I won’t try to convince you that the Battle of the Serpent was a joyous event, but for me, it was a testament of your strength and resilience. You freed Elfhame, and you gave me my freedom. That was what I wanted to celebrate.”
“I can never win against your beautiful words.” Jude tried to glare at him, but the effect was diminished by her glistening eyes and the pull at the corner of her mouth.
Cardan pulled her in his arms, giving Jude the privacy she may need to shed her tears or to not have to school her expression to her feigned scold. She was still learning to let go of her armor, his prideful and stubborn wife.
“Not everything is a battle you need to win, Jude.”
She scoffed at that. Like he said, she was very prideful and stubborn.
“Will you help me put it on?”
“The ring? You don’t have to–”
“No, you are right. The Battle of the Serpent was a turning point, and I did have to face and conquer my demons. I came out victorious. I will wear the ring as a proud reminder.”
Cardan opened the velvet box, and slipped the ring on Jude’s finger. He didn’t miss the fact that she presented him with her left ring finger.
“My humble queen. Would it have killed you to admit that you could be a tad bit sentimental?”
She pulled her hand back, lifting it toward her eyes to examine the details.
“I’m not sentimental.” She was trying really hard to hide her smile. Jude absolutely loved that ring, Cardan just couldn’t prove it. “Besides, I do like the symbolism of it.”
“What symbolism?”
“The fact that I have the king of serpent wrapped around my fingers.” She wiggled her left hand in front of him. “And that,” she blew softly on his lips, ”would be you.” And then she rewarded him with a kiss.
Well, Cardan couldn’t even deny that if he could lie. Jude Duarte may have relinquished her control over him on the day they wed, but that only lifted his promise of obedience to her. Nowadays, she didn’t even need an unbreakable oath to have him bent to her every whims.
“Tell me more about traditions.” Cardan asked breathlessly, in between kisses. “Are there any for which you give me gifts? Or wear those skimpy little things to render me speechless?”
“I don’t need any special occasions to give you any of those.”
“Ah, but I think that you’re just trying to avoid looking sentimental. I know your tricks, my armored queen.”
“I swear if you don’t shut up and go back to kissing me right now, you can kiss those skimpy little things goodbye.”
Cardan laughed against Jude’s mouth, and very much obliged.
“As you wish.”
Like he said, he would bend to her every whims.
The High Queen of Elfhame was not sentimental.
It was not why she put on her snake ring every evening as the moon rose.
It was not why she decorated her and Cardan’s room with a lit up and lavishly decorated fir tree for Yuletide, nor why she put neatly wrapped gifts underneath.
It was not why she’d pocketed all the notes her husband had written her over the years, wondering about the letters she’d never received.
It was definitely not why she presented him with an onyx ring adorned by a line of tiny rubies to match hers for their actual wedding anniversary.
“I’m not sentimental.” Jude declared, as Cardan plucked out all his other rings from his left hand and admired his new wedding band.
“Liar,” he chided fondly, pulling her towards him to kiss the top of her head.
That too, after all, was tradition.