Ocean's Breath Plateau Buried alive inside my dreams, but it was all a fake-out

his face softened as she asked, and he shook his head. "i see now that there are many things i have not said." because she had not asked. because he had not offered. perhaps the delicacy between them was her children. 
it gave her far more power of choice among his people.
"there are no first children. they are all my children. each one born beneath the roof of my lodge is mine. and i am their father," he explained. this is why it did not matter if their blood was shared; kinship, lineage, and status traveled upon the name.
"first wife, second wife, third wife; this is between women. between wives. first wife asks third wife to handle things she does not want. second wife may be asked to watch children of first and second. disagreements between second and third must come to first."
he paused, waiting for her face to show her thoughts.