Ocean's Breath Plateau cousinness

chakliux laughed at that, his mind spinning the images until they heated the veins. "you know i have had many," he answered. "it is important that your first has skill. a woman who never knows pleasure but bears many children becomes bitter. a man who can please no woman is often hateful in other ways."
chakliux paused, his mind alight with many sensations, not least of which was ariadne and her eyes upon him. "seal hunter women do not become wives until they have known lovers. he will not be the first, and he will not be the only. and seal hunter men know this for themselves. that is why we become good lovers, so we will also be chosen as husbands!"
the moment commanded a brief laugh. he looked at her contemplatively. "seal hunter women choose who they wish. a single man. a trader. the husband of another. seal hunter men are chosen. a marriage is made when two come together and desire to share a lodge. he will hunt for her and all children born beneath that lodge-roof. she will give her children his name. but marriages cannot be made unless you live together easily, and living together easily must mean pleasure."
yes, he thought of her in a lodge he had built. but he was married twice now, and perhaps another time before the spring came. it was not the matter of hunting, nor a bride price, as the sunshine mothers asked; it was the pedestal in her mind upon which she stood.
seal hunter men were chosen. both kannoyak and kilgitsuk had no wives. chakliux would not presume to know what came after; he was glowingly proud enough to be chosen as first.