Ritual Phrases

Ritual Phrases have been used by the fae for millennia, with such significance that it is unclear how much of their power lies in tradition versus true magic. Compare to Spells, which have immediate and obvious influence on the world around the caster, and Blessings and Swears, which are epithets with no real power behind them.

Thank You

"Thank You" is a taboo phrase in the social circles of Faerie, as it carries a connotation unlike the one used in human culture. Thanking someone implies that they have given fealty to you, or that they did something for nothing, which is insulting to imply. As such, the Fae tend to use praise in place of thanks, and skirt around the forbidden phrase as often as possible, using it only in dire circumstances, or possibly when dealing with humans. It is, however, perfectly acceptable to thank Oberon or his Queens.^{[citation needed]}

Changelings, younger fae, and fae who live among humans may struggle with avoiding thanks.

In the Series

• Manuel and Dare struggle with avoiding "thank you."^{[citation needed]}
• April O'Leary struggles with the rules of thanks. ^{[citation needed]}
• The Luidaeg thanks Toby directly, who figures it's because she is old enough that the rules don't apply.
• Toby mentions that thanking the Luidaeg's mother is as close to as she can come to thanking the Luidaeg herself
• Arden Windermere grew up among humans and is accustomed to giving and receiving thanks. As such, it is all the more significant when she invokes it: “Thank you,” said Arden, with ritual formality. Thanks are always serious in Faerie, not least because they imply fealty—in this case, my fealty to her.
• Toby is a little awed when Tybalt casually thanks her after they become romantically involved.^{[citation needed]}

Death Announcement

Faeries rarely die, and only in the mortal world. The traditional Faerie Death Announcement is as follows:

“When the Root and Branch were young, when the Rose grew unplucked upon the tree; when all our lands were new and green and we danced without care, then, we were immortal. Then, we lived forever. We left those lands for the world where time dwells, dancing, that we might see the passage of the sun and the growing of the world. Here we may die, and here we can fall, and here [name, title] has stopped [their] dancing."

Variations include:

• "[Name] had gone to the rose and the thorn, and would come dancing no longer."
• "May the root and the tree wrap tight around his bones, and grant him peaceful slumbers."
• Used by Undersea: "The sea will rock their bones in the cradle of the currents."

In the Series

• Toby uses the formal form of the announcement to share Evening's death with the Queen of the Mists and, later, Sylvester.
• Sylvester recites the formal words to tell January about her father's death. She says, "I knew the words. Everyone knew the words. They were recited in children’s stories, whispered in litanies of ancestors never to be known, in tales of the Firstborn and the Three. They were meant to be a panacea for the wounded heart, and every one of them was a knife piercing me."
• Toby uses the ritual words to declare Blind Michael's death by her own hands.
• Toby announces the death of Antonio Robinson. Arden, having spent most of her life among humans, does not recognize the phrasing so Toby has to tell her of his death directly.
• Toby announces the death of Isla Chase to her brother and his husband.

Formal Promise

A formal promise is magically binding.

“By root and branch, by leaf and vine, on rowan and oak and ash and thorn I swear that what is given to my keeping shall remain in my keeping and shall be given over only to the one who holds my bond. My blood to the defense of the task I am set, my heart to the keeping of the promise to which I am bound.” The air grew thick with the taste of pennyroyal and musk as his magic crackled around us, drowning out the taste of roses.

“Broken promises are the road to our damnation,” I said, the copper and cut grass smell of my own magic undercutting his. “Promises kept are the meeting of all our myriad roads.”

“And such a meeting will my promise be.”

Variations include:

• "I'll swear. I swear by oak and ash and rowan and thorn that we did not come here intending harm. I swear by root and branch and rose and tree that none will raise a hand against you, unless hands are raised against us."

In the Series

• Tybalt swears to keep the Hope Chest safe for Toby.
• Toby swears to the pixies and bogeys of Goldengreen that she and her friends have no intent to harm them.j

Geas

A geas is a form of binding or cursing. Depending on the strength of the one who casts it, a geas can limit or control another's actions.

"By my blood and my bones, I bind you. By the oak and the ash, the rowan and the thorn, I bind you. By the word of your fealty, by my mother's will, by your name, I bind you. For the favors I have done you in the past, you promised I could ask anything of you; this is my anything. Find the answers, find the reasons, and find the one who caused me this harm, October Daye, daughter of Amandine, or find only your own death. By all that I am and all that I was and all the mercies of our missing Lord and Ladies, I bind you..."

Spoiler warning!
Ahead are significant details from Be the Serpent (2022). Read at your own risk!

Spoiler warning!
Ahead are significant details from Sleep No More (September 2023). Read at your own risk!

In the Series

• Evening Winterrose's binding on October Daye is an old form, one that anyone with any faerie blood can use. It is strong and deadly. Toby reflects that no one uses bindings like this anymore, not "unless things are so bleak that even our missing King and his Hunt couldn't mend them." This form is so secure that even a Firstborn cannot break it.
• Eira Rosynhwyr bound the Luidaeg with a powerful geas that does not allow her to refuse any bargain, so long as the price she names is accepted. The binding also prohibits the Luidaeg from harming any of Titania's descendants. The geas prohibits the Luidaeg from naming Eira directly, although she can and has repeatedly referred to her obliquely as 'my sister' among other things.^{[citation needed]}
  • Toby finds a loophile: While the Luidaeg can't harm a descendant of Titania, she can help a descendant of Oberon. This can temporarily nullify the rules of the geas as long as that descendant of Oberon is under the Luidaeg's protection.^{[citation needed]}
• Titania also bound the Luidaeg with a geas that forbade her to lie, except to her own descendant races. She cannot speak anything but the truth, even when she's being sarcastic.
• Evening Winterrose herself is bound by a geas from Oberon that prevents her from harming any descendant of Oberon himself. This geas was the reason that Evening had to work around it by orchestrating Luna and Rayseline's kidnapping to get to Toby without actually harming her.
• Evening Winterrose bound Simon Torquill with a geas to prevent him from revealing her identity as his employer.
• Sylvester Torquill puts a geas on Simon Torquill to prevent him from harming October Daye while they search for Simon's daughter. Toby does not allow Sylvester to compel Simon to assist her in the quest, believing Simon would be more helpful if he worked with her by choice.
• After Maeve's disappearance and prior to banishing her, Oberon placed a geas on Titania as punishment in her role in Maeve's disappearance and to protect Amandine and Janet. Not only is she unable to harm any of Oberon's descendants, but she was also cursed to live unknowingly as a strange form of changeling. The terms indicated that until she learned to be a better person, she would be unable to break free of the geas, and if her identity was compromised (e.g., any Firstborn children of hers awakening to their powers/seemingly close to procreating a new form of Fae), she has to erase all traces of her existence in that life. This geas was broken by Toby.
• Oberon placed a new geas on Titania at the Luidaeg's insistence as part of a deal Toby struck with him. While Titania won't have to live in a constant cycle of becoming a changeling over and over again, she however is unable to harm any of Oberon or Maeve's descendants, or any one that Toby recognises as family. The definition of "family" is malleable once Titania overwrites everyone's memories and tweaks their understanding of their own relationships to each other.

Hospitality

Though not associated with a specific phrase, hospitality is a binding cultural custom, and the consequences for either side breaking the trust is grounds for war. Hospitality is the assurance of a host that their guest will be treated appropriately and remain unharmed during their visit. The terms of hospitality depends on the situation.

The widow of a noble is permitted to claim hospitality in any neighboring demesne for a set period of time.

If one kingdom declares war on another, the attacked party may send an ambassador to attempt peace talks. That ambassador may claim hospitality for three days, and if they are attacked in that time their monarch may seek retribution. However, the ambassador may not bring a formal guard as protection as it would imply they did not trust their host's hospitality.

If a traveler is under the protections of hospitality on Moving Day, they may have grounds for remaining with that household permanently.

In the Series

• Li Qin Zhou claims the hospitality of Treasa Riordan in order to infiltrate her knowe.
• Toby and her allies are protected under hospitality laws when they visit the Kingdom of Silences for peace talks.
• A family of Hamadryads seek hospitality at Amandine's Tower in the week before Moving Day and are carefully rebuffed.

Weddings

See also: Family Structures in Faerie

Formal, state weddings in Faerie are filled with traditions and scripts passed down through generations.

Wedding Ceremony

• "By the power once granted to me by my father and never yet rescinded, I now declare you husbands and wife." -Informal ceremony of Dianda, Patrick, and Simon
• "By the rose and the root shelter you; may the thorn and the oak protect you; may the branch and the tree grant you peace. Your bloodlines are joined, now and always, even if you choose to part." -Formal state ceremony of Toby and Tybalt
• "The knot is tied, the anchor cast, and in the eyes of all the sea, I pronounce you married until your child stands beside you and allows you not to be." -Semi-formal ceremony of Elizabeth Ryan and Aldridge, specifically wed until they produce a child.

General Blessings

• “Congratulations on the occasion of your marriage, and may the blessings piled upon your house be so vast the roof is in danger of collapse before you can get the wedding party to safety.” -Spoken to the bride
• “I congratulate you on the occasion of your marriage, and for all that follows. May the Three who made us all bless your bridal bed with the rarest of rewards, and may your nights be fruitful and long.” -Spoken to the groom

Newlywed Blessings

During the wedding reception, a number of guests are preassigned blessings to give to the new couple. There are nearly one hundred traditional blessings, but the wedding party may pick and choose to suit their preferences. Traditionally, the bride and groom are not permitted to leave the reception until they have received all their blessings. This is intended to encourage the couple to mingle with their guests rather than sneak off to enjoy newlywed entertainments.

• "May your nights be long and your days be peaceful. May you and the heirs of your house always be as well-loved as you deserve."
• "May peace and plenty rain down upon you for every day and every night you spend together, and may the hours of your marriage be more than can be counted."
• "May your skies be clear and your roads be kind ones, ever leading you toward the destination you desire."
• "May you never regret the promises you made today, and may you never have cause, either now or in the future, to recant them."
• "May you and yours always have full bellies, solid roofs, and money enough to do whatever must be done, plus a little left over at the end, for tomorrow's bread."
• "May you always have open roads and kind fires, and all the winds to guide you. May the fires of the hearth only warm, never scorch, and the waters of the well soothe your thirst, but never steal your breath away. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May all of Faerie welcome you wherever you go."