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English
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favorite on TFOTA, The Cruel Folk
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Published:
2020-09-27
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1,546
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1/1
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The King and Queen of Elfhame

Summary:

It might have been easier for the courts had Cardan Greenbriar loved Jude Duarte in more obvious ways; it might have been easier if the Queen blushed when he smiled at her. It would have been easier still if the King had threatened the courts with the promise that his love was strong and mistreatment of his wife would only garner anger – at least then, they would have known to scoff privately and use the information to their advantage. Lovers were careless with affection, and it would have been easy – too easy – to take advantage of it.

Notes:

AN: Man it was so interesting writing this - I sort of wanted to explore a story where we see what happens to Elfhame with Jude and Cardan in love, since the monarchs have a connection to the land and all that. When I first wrote this - in it’s first draft, I was telling the story from Baphen’s perspective, but I really didn’t like how it was coming out. I thought I might try the more omniscient style of a fairytale (repeated patterns of sentences and all), and I really liked how it came out.

The other theme I really wanted to explore here was faeries not knowing what to make of Jude and Cardan’s relationship. I know a lot of us write stories where Cardan is expressive of his love (and don’t get me wrong, I LOVE those stories), but I thought about what it would be like if they were King and Queen - and how Jude might not like her vulnerabilities exposed. So I wrote it that way, and thought about how formidable it would be if they were together with love being less of a liability and more something faeries wouldn’t be able to quantify. Can you imagine faeries being like......... wtf.......... they trust each other?? wtf.

Anyway hope you liked it!!!! I am here I like TFOTA and this was my first time writing for this fandom!! Hope it was fun for you :D

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

They said summer brought fruit to Elfhame.

Elfhame was never to experience weather in the same way that humans did, hiding in the underside of the world – in the folds where slips of sunlight arrived. Wherever it did, trees grew and blossomed: only at twilight, never before, their roots glittering as their flowers ripened. Summer was when humans were primed with longing, so that by Autumn they could be stolen from their worlds to fall in love with faeries. Summer was when the smell of fruit promised humans more.

But the wind had changed in Elfhame. Even without the stars to guide them, Baphen warned the court that something was different this summer, and he was ignored. Monarchs and courts had never been bothered to disturb a royal seer, not even during battles. They consulted generals more than they did the stars, rarely paying attention to the way the weather changed.

If they had paid any attention they might even have noticed: not that the sunlight was brighter, but that the twilight was a little pinker. There was a sense of briskness in the air, even as the King and Queen of Elfhame consolidated their power, negotiated treaties, and met with tired soldiers. Faeries said the smell of fruit was a little stronger, but the human consorts could swear that the smell was less over powering. Less sweet. There was a tang in the air which was almost pleasant.

None wondered if it was because of the King and the Queen. At times a thought had crossed the minds of some of the generals from the more ruthless courts: was something different about the summer? Was something different about vows made by loyalty instead of blood oaths? The erstwhile Court of Teeth gnashed their teeth as their assassination attempts were thwarted again and again by the Court of Shadows, and complained wholeheartedly about the existence of a Queen of Elfhame occurring alongside the existence of a King of Elfhame.

Never had there been a King and a Queen before – and for good reason. Fairies weren’t trustworthy, never kind, and certainly never loyal. They lived too long for marriages to last, too long for their marriage customs to not be slippery and dangerous.

They said Autumn brought trinkets to Elfhame.

The buying and sale of goods was a complicated ritual of gifts and giving, of demands and promises. Faeries exchanged trinkets in Autumn because August was the month of courtship, the luring of humans, and the promise of love was in the air. Everything felt like it was a little colder, somewhat more glittery – fireflies lasted all night and even longer. Dances were organised, spectacles held, more feasts and more fables, stories buried deep inside storytellers emerged again. And what story was older than that of love? What could be more fulfilling?

But the orange had changed in Elfhame. Even without the hum of her spinning wheel and what the weaving of cloth told her, Mother Marrow knew that this was a stranger season than the last. Her daughter had never understood her mother and put the warning aside in favour of the intoxication that the end of summer brought. For she was as in love as any of the other faerie were when August came.

The courts and kings of Elfhame had settled into uncomfortable peace, even as Grima Mog redcap yearned for more blood. They watched the King and Queen expectantly, trying to understand, failing to negotiate, unable to grasp the nature of the relationship between them. The King and Queen of Elfhame were powerful and cunning, each with special skills – clearly committed to each other in a way that had never been seen before. This was what confused faeries – it was a union with no head or tail, a marriage that should naturally be more of a liability to the throne than it was a strength.

Fairy love wasn’t the same as human love – it seemed when love happened to humans, they became giddy and strange and bright eyed. Fairy love was difficult to pin down, it ran as eternal as a river, and changed either slowly or dramatically. It was hard to know when fairies fell in love, and when they understood each other, when they loved each other out of necessity, when they loved in loyalty. It was harder, even, to trust Faerie love. Faerie love was slippery and dangerous – in a game where pleases and thank yous upset the delicate balance of promises, love was sometimes more of an intoxicating liability, other times sharply clever negotiation of like minds.

The faeries said that the love of humans was shallow, even as their eyes following cunning Jude Duarte, the Queen of Elfhame. They watched her change from commanding armies to ruling the land, hoping for the tell-tale signs of a waning loyalty, yet they never came. They watched the reckless Cardan Greenbriar, King of Elfhame to see if his immortal life would comprehend the reality of sharing his life with a human girl, yet that never seemed to come either.

The King of Elfhame had never said he loved Jude Duarte. The Queen of Elfhame had never said that she loved Cardan Greenbriar. Least loved as Jude Duarte was amongst the gentry, and least loved as Prince Cardan had been amongst his family, they never attempted to make much of the fact that they had each other. They danced at times, but he had never seen the King kiss her. They never really held hands – a human gesture of affection – and hardly ever seemed to express anything that sounded like a lover’s vow. At least, not to others.  

And yet as Autumn progressed it became obvious that the kingdom had changed – there was a feeling in the air that wasn’t love or goodwill, but a sharpness of colours. Those that had loved humans and had been loved by humans understood it more.

It might have been easier for the courts had Cardan Greenbriar loved Jude Duarte in more obvious ways; it might have been easier if the Queen blushed when he smiled at her. It would have been easier still if the King had threatened the courts with the promise that his love was strong and mistreatment of his wife would only garner anger – at least then, they would have known to scoff privately and use the information to their advantage. Lovers were careless with affection, and it would have been easy – too easy – to take advantage of it.

But rarely, if ever, had the King and Queen succumbed to the exchange of trinkets that came with the smell of Autumn love. It was rumoured that they had once been caught laughing together. It had been rumoured that the Court of Shadows understood. It was rumoured that they were in love.

They said that Winter brought ice to Elfhame.

The kingdom froze, and all of the undersea had a film of winter on top. The trees chilled and skin of remaining fruit glassed over. Faeries harvested ghost apples, maintained snow drops and white roses. Hearts froze with the kingdom: winter was a time for peace before spring battles, but it was also a gathering of forces. The winds huddled together and rustled the tops of trees – some even woke before the sunset to gather warmth.

But the smell had changed in Elfhame. Even without having spoken to the courts with treacherous hearts, the Alderking’s exiled son knew very well that something had changed in the demands between king and court. The land had shifted – the ice had frozen over, but as the King ensured that fires burned in their private chambers for his human Queen – there was a sense of relief and heat in the subjects of Elfhame.

What was love to a Faerie? What was love to a human? And what was love to King and a Queen with all the Folk as their subjects? Wild Folk and Shy Folk, Wicked Folk and Clever Folk – for all and every – the relationship between Cardan Greenbriar and Jude Duarte had become formidable, marked by a lack of understanding for those who were not privy to it. Loveless amongst others, but loyal to a fault – they wielded companionship like a matched pair of swords – ceaseless and precise.

They ruled, well matched and clever – each watching the other’s backs until it became terrifyingly obvious to those watching them that the delicate balance of promises and gifts had become more fearsome than any expected from a King and Queen. What was King if he could not be lured from his Queen? What was a Queen if she was not swayed from watching her King? He held power effortlessly while she was cautious, and together it was beginning to look impossible to overthrow them. As long as Jude Duarte and Cardan Greenbriar ruled together, Elfhame would prosper – and no one gnashing their teeth would ever be rid of either.

And if some knew that behind the cunning and clever, behind the caution and care, were half touches of gently held affection – it was a secret buried deep into the heart of winter. The subjects wondered and the courtiers feared; there was a sneaking suspicion that the King and Queen had forced the land to be in love.

Notes:

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