The symbol of it was part of Krem's struggle. Courting, marriage, were such weighty things in Tevinter. They were weighty things everywhere. And no matter that this was a symbol of devotion and not of possession, it was still a symbol.

Krem felt like he'd missed a step going up a flight of stairs. Of course this was something, a meaningful gesture, a promise. Hadn't he given Hild a ring to mark his care for her? Hadn't he put ink in his flesh for what Hild and Gannicus meant to him?

He set it down on his knees and reached for Gannicus's hand. "Tell me what it means," he murmured. "Is there any...any specific meaning to how it's made? The shape, the function, it... Symbols are made of symbols. Tell me what I'm looking at?"