Ryuutenshi Courtship and Marriage

Courting
starts becoming a serious thought in their seventeenth year. It’s the males
that do the courting, but the women generally have the final say. Arranged
marriages aren’t common. In the rare case of an arranged marriage, if the
couple can’t get along, it isn’t followed through.

## Courting rituals

Common things for young men to do to
impress the young women are feats of strength, poetry, fancy flying, gifts,
dress in fancy clothes, and dueling. It’s not only one sided, either. Some
girls do engage in courting of their own. There aren’t many differences in what
they do to impress, but they don’t engage in duels or feats of strength.
They’ll sing or play instruments in lieu of those activities. As in any
society, it’s very common for the courted to lead the courter on, playing hard
to get.

Once a partner has accepted the
court, the courter must have permission from her parents if it hadn’t been
previously obtained in order to continue with the courting. Once obtained, that
partner is courted exclusively. This stage is similar to the engagement stage
in human society. This period lasts a minimum of four months and can go as long
as ten months. If they feel they are ready for marriage after four months, than
they are able to do so; however, if they still don’t feel ready after ten
months, then it gets called off.

A courting goes according to very
strict guidelines. One tends to target a group of the opposite sex which
includes at least three or four that the courter has an interest in. Others
outside of that group are free to express interest. After the courter has
gathered as many prospects as can be handled, the group closes off. The courter
has to keep them interested, especially considering that others will also be
engaged in similar activities at the same time. As time passes, the courter’s
attention will focus on fewer and fewer of his prospects, singling out the one
most desirable to him. Permission to court that individual exclusively is
sought from the family once the court has been accepted.

## Marriage

Marriages are usually very simple
affairs. The service is performed either in private with a  few witnesses or in public with lots of
people in attendance. The head of the family will offer the couple advice and
well-wishes. The palms of their left hands are then slashed open by a knife and
their hands are bound, palms together, by a cloth in the colors of both their
families. There is then an exchange of tokens, often rings or necklaces, and
the marriage is complete.

## The Knife

The knife used to slash the palms of
the couple is an important item and is kept in a glass case in their home. The
blade is either silver or gold, depending on the region of the valley they come
from and the hilt is twined with the colors of the region of the Valley their
families come from. Behind the knife in the case if the cloth that bound their
hands together. Neither item is cleaned of the blood as this is seen as a sign
of bad luck.

## Bonding

See article on Ryuutenshi Bonding

Bonding is one of the rarest, most
bizarre parts of Ryuutenshi society. A bond is an unbreakable relationship
between two people. In this bond, you can feel what your partner feels
depending on the strength of the bond. In a strong bond, you would feel
everything, physically and emotionally, that your partner feels.