"I mean in Cheliax we also talk about stuff! Just - later. After, like, going on dates and figuring out whether we like each other. And - I'm sort of new at this whole trying to have preferences thing, okay, I don't - want to give you false information because I'm kind of confused myself. Uh. If that makes sense."

" - I think so. I guess I figure we already figured out that we like each other? What with the whole last year and stuff?"

"...yeah.

"I'm not - I don't know what it's supposed to feel like when you definitely like someone."

"- I think it's just, like, you trust them and you feel safe around them and you want nice things for them and you want them to keep being in your life?"

"I mean, I guess? I guess more correctly I don't - know how you're supposed to tell if you like someone the way people are supposed to like people they'd consider marrying."

"Ah. I - guess I assume that part usually works. I don't really know. I think men and women are really different, there."

"I - really don't think it automatically works itself out without people knowing how they feel about each other."

"I think usually if you like each other in all the other ways then the rest sort of grows in."

"I really don't think this is true for everyone. Maybe it's true for you."

"I don't think that's what happened to me exactly, I'm just going off how most Osirian people describe their marriages. But I've mostly only heard from men."

"It's weird. I guess part of me would expect that in a society that doesn't have divorce you guys would be way more careful not to end up with someone you didn't really like or would get bored of or who might make terrible decisions in ten years, you know? - I guess maybe men wouldn't be incentivized to be as careful, if they can have more than one wife."

"I - Fazil has a better feel for how it all works than me, because I had an unusual upbringing. But I think - everyone in Osirion is on the same page. There's not that many things you're going to have friction about. Doing something like what Fazil and Mahdi are doing, marrying someone from a different culture, requires lots more - time to make sure you know what to expect. In an Osirian marriage I think everyone knows what to expect."

"I dunno. I'd think the people would be different, even if the culture was the same. Some of them have gotta be kind and some of them have gotta not be, some of them have got to be drunks and some of them aren't, some of them - talk about the world in ways that click with how you do, and some of them don't, and even if people are way less likely to click if they're from different cultures, it doesn't mean that everyone from the same one automatically does - "

"I dunno. Guess I'll never find out."

"I mean, maybe."

"I don't wanna stop looking but I don't really see any reason to expect we'll find a way out."

"I dunno. Maybe Verita'll turn out to have some kind of built-in - gate sense, or something. Probably that's dumb.

"I just - I don't want to assume that things'll be fine without checking out the potential dangers when the thing riding on it is, like - the shape of the rest of your life."

- nod. "I don't mind. I think I'm - just as obsessive about it but from a different direction. Wanting to do the thing Osirians do because I know it works and it'd be terrifying to do something that might not."

"I don't know that the thing Osirians do works. - actually, what do you mean when you say you know it works, are there things you know it definitely accomplishes, pitfalls it definitely avoids - "

"I know - how to be a good husband in it, and what things will make someone a good wife, and I know we'll stay together for the rest of our lives and support our family and do our best for each other."

"What makes someone a good husband?"

"Being - strong and hardworking and rich and good at solving problems and comfortable in lots of different situations and careful when caution is needed and dangerous when that's necessary and gentle towards the weak and innocent. Setting a good example. Protecting people. Making sure they're never hungry or alone or scared or not sure of you. Treasuring what's yours, and taking good care of it."

Nod.

She pokes the ground with a stick. 

"What makes someone a good wife?"

"Good with kids. Especially when it's hard, when there's a lot to juggle or the kids are scared or she's scared or there are important competing things in terms of truth and safety and good values and stuff. Charitably-minded, tries to - be grateful when people are doing their best and believe them that they are, when it comes to the kinds of things it's easy to hold against someone for no good reason. Capable of solving her own problems, but also capable of telling you when you need to step up and do more. Being - nurtureable, someone who does well when loved. Uh, chaste, but I don't think - I know Cheliax isn't like Osirion -"

"Yeah.

" - husbands aren't chaste? - or - I guess I probably actually have no idea what Osirians even mean when they talk about chastity."