"That doesn't sound like getting married responsibly at all."

"Interesting. What are the operative features of a marriage, to you — what work is it doing, what problems does the arrangement seek to avoid or mitigate, such that it is more responsible than alternatives?" 

"Well, it's permanent so that all the children will have a mother and a father providing for them and so the husband and wife can rely on each other even after that for security and faithfulness, and you're not supposed to do - things - outside that, so that there aren't children born when they won't have that."

He hums. "Yes, that would be a concern. The main reason egg-bonds exist at all is because so many dragons consider it unconscionable to leave our young unprotected until they decide they can fend for themselves. Even Chaotic and Evil dragons engage in egg-bonding to some extent. Faithfulness is negotiated separately, but security is mostly the point." It's also a useful safeguard against being stabbed to death while sleeping, he doesn't add. 

"It is possibly relevant that dragons are more or less universally self-sufficient, and are only fertile when we choose to be." 

"I guess only being fertile when you choose to be would make a big difference."

"Indeed. A longtime friend of mine in Juthmar-That-Was had been working on a method to deliver this option to mortals as well. I don't know if she succeeded before the fall of Kaoirth, but if she did, the method was tragically lost long ago."

"I mean, we're not supposed to do that but also the things that people have to do that with don't even really work unless they do it by killing the baby."

"Such methods did and do exist, yes, and ending an ensouled child's life is tragic indeed. I believe my friend's proposed method would have sidestepped the issue by reversibly preventing conception." It does not occur to him that might be taboo as well. 

"...which like I said we're also not supposed to do but it would be maybe a harder temptation to deal with if it would work."

What, why. 

"Is that a — cultural norm, a Christian teaching..." 

"I'm pretty sure it's a Christian teaching? I guess I don't know if... Jews or whoever... do it."

He's skimmed enough of the Bible to appreciate the difference between Jews and Christians, by now. But he doesn't recall seeing that in the holy book. Is Jesus Christ a god of fertility, maybe? 

"I'll add it to the list of things to discuss with a priest, I suppose." 

"Yeah, I'm not good at explaining. Uhhhhh Catholics aren't super popular in England right now, you'd probably more easily get a Church of England man, but I think it's mostly the same except they allow divorce and the king's the head of the church? Which are both really bad but don't seem related to your question."

Ah, schisms. Rasanelle's faith is barely a year old and it already has at least twelve. Granted, She's about as Chaotic as Good can be, but message coherence is still a problem that's plagued divinity since time immemorial. It's rare for a Lawful faith to get as bad as having multiple independent Churches that disavow each other, but if Your clerics can't cast commune and You and have to rely on the occasional headache-inducing vision to communicate with mortals...yeah, he could see it. 

"In light of all this, would you prefer I refrain from flirting with you?" If she's categorically forbidden by her chosen faith from both unmarried sex and sex that cannot result in babies, that rather constrains things. He's far from ready to egg-bond with anyone, and the local marriage customs sound considerably more loaded than that. He doubts it's a kindness to offer 'temptation' given the givens, but it's her call. 

"Ummmmmmm..."

Perhaps that wasn't a kindness either. Well, no way out but through. "I find you attractive, but I'm still too poorly oriented to this world to consider egg-bonding for quite some time, let alone adopting an unfamiliar culture's institution of marriage. I could continue to be shamelessly charming at you anyway without taking things further, or tone it down until one or the other of our circumstances change, or perhaps do some other thing more in keeping with your values. If you aren't sure, I'll default to the second thing for at least the voyage; I don't want to put you in a situation that's at odds with your chosen faith. None of these offers, to be clear, would deprive you of my company and friendship insofar as you seek either." 

"So the thing is - magical girls are -

- people say we don't make very good wives because -"

He'll wait patiently for Rebecca to find the right words, not interrupting, just attentive.

"I remember being stupid about that one boy but it wouldn't happen again. Magical girls aren't stupid about boys, only, um, other magical girls, but. You are... magical."

Huh. What a strange side effect for an entire magic paradigm. He supposes that rather thoroughly rules out the possibility it's a weird sorcerer bloodline, unless it also does spontaneous eggs children. 

"Same-sex relationships come with different norms? Or magical girl relationships do, or both?" There were some bits about the former in the holy book, but there were a lot of things in the holy book. 

"Well I'm not going to do that, I'm - or, uh, it would be wrong of me to, I know I can be really stupid -"

"It would be wrong to engage in a same-sex relationship?" 

If that's a real teaching in this faith, he's going to have to revisit the part of the book where a priest of God told an army to slaughter civilian prisoners. And quite a few other points he had previously assumed were mortal misrepresentation. 

On the other hand, it is a kind of sex that definitely does not result in babies. Fertility god hypothesis, +1 likelihood bonus. 

"People will... overlook it, some, because magical girls are so useful, but..."

"For what reason are such relationships condemned?"

"Well they're not natural, are they?"