Red and White
Dinner at Eblan's royal table was silent. Rydia was fuming, Edge was oblivious, and Izayoi was trying desperately not to laugh.
Over the final course, an elegant Troian chocolate silk pie, Rydia slammed her hands on the table and stood to glare across the table at Edge. "You have some nerve, ninja," she snapped.
Startled, Edge raised his eyebrows and glanced back and forth from Rydia to Izayoi. "What did I do?" he asked.
"What did you do? What didn't you do is the better question!" Rydia was close to shouting now. "I have been waiting all day! I expected better of someone who proclaims himself the king of romance!"
Edge just looked more confused. "But Rydia, it's Valentine's Day."
Rydia threw up her hands. "Of course it's Valentine's Day! And I have been waiting all day for my damn valentine! Is it so much to ask for a card and some chocolate? Is it? I'd even settle for a handwritten note, but no! That's too much for the revered king of Eblan! What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Um..." Edge looked over to Izayoi for help. "Rydia, I think you're thinking of Baronian valentine tradition. Eblan is a little different."
Rydia, scowl still on her face, looked at Izayoi as well. "I'm afraid it's true," she said, keeping her voice controlled and neutral and completely free of any amusement. "In Eblan, it's tradition for the women to give the men chocolate and gifts. The following month, on White Day, is when the men reciprocate."
Rydia stood there for a moment, mouth slightly open, and then without a word, swirled around a flurry of green silk and stormed out of the hall.
Izayoi watched her go and turned to look at her king. Edge had buried his head in his hands. "How long is it going to take to get back in her good graces?"
"Got any flowers sitting around?" Izayoi quipped back. "Chocolates? Valentines? Might want to break them out a little early this year."
"Oh, shut up."
About an hour later, while Izayoi enjoyed a box of chocolates in her room (having a Baronian lover did have its perks after all) Rydia burst into the chamber. "I need homemade chocolates. Now."
Holding back a snicker, Izayoi tucked away her box of sweets and stood. "I'm sure the kitchen has plenty left over. What's the occasion?"
Rydia scoffed. "Don't be stupid. If this it what it takes to get my valentines in a month, then so be it. He's not getting any excuses."
Without hesitating, Izayoi led her down to the kitchens, where they assembled a box of chocolate fit for a king. "Tradition does hold that the girls are supposed to make the chocolate, you know."
"To hell with that. If he wanted me to make them, he should have told me about the tradition. The moron."
They dropped them off outside Edge's chamber, the box accompanied by a quick note scrawled on some of Tsukinowa's origami paper. It was hardly the most romantic gesture, Izayoi thought, but it worked, more or less.
Of course, a month later, when Rydia woke to every surface in her room covered with roses and chocolates and lace and ribbons, the smile on her face at breakfast and the gift of her kiss to the king more than made up for the lack.
Notes
Wrote this little drabble for the "A Home for EdgexRydia Shippers" February fic-a-thon. Info on the event can be found on Freida Right's profile page.
Prompt was Gifts: Misunderstanding the Holiday, and Chocolate/Chocolate Making.
More substantial updates are on the way. I have been working on stuff. Promise. Thanks everyone!
SJ