Serix listened to Cassie describe human courting traditions and marriage. The concept of ‘dating’ was foreign to him. It sounded a little similar to the rituals of pre-mated couples in his society, but to last as long as an entire year in an unofficial relationship like that?  He couldn’t imagine how humans the willpower to wait. He would never want to stay casual with the female he loved for so long. But then again, he had been raised in a society where the ceremony came only ten days after a Lunairan first learned who his mate was to be. Serix had been immersed in that fast paced type of environment that it had become ingrained in him.

It was interesting to hear about human weddings as well. Never having to worry about a dying population, they had the freedom to choose whom they wished to marry. Some humans even chose to remain single throughout their entire lives. It was very different from the mandatory nature of Lunairan ceremonies, where everyone was assigned a mate based upon his or her genetics, and only the leftover females were never mated. With their species on the brink of extinction, his people couldn’t afford to let more people remain unmated.

In general, Serix found that human traditions were much more relaxed and less businesslike than the Lunairan traditions he was used to. The humans seemed to try to make their wedding celebrations into entertaining events rather than just ritualistic protocol for procreation. Their traditions were much more elegant, and he was eager to see how they could be combined with the ones he was familiar with. Perhaps they could even come up with entirely new ideas. There was no one there to tell them not to, so why not?

[b]“Some things were the same in our two people’s ways,”[/b] Cassie said. [b]“But a lot of things were different. What should we keep for our wedding you think?”[/b]

“We can rule out a few things right away,” Serix said thoughtfully. “Since we don’t have a third party, we can’t include traditions that involve more than just us. I don’t think we’re excluding anything particularly important by doing that, do you?” He leaned his head against Cassie’s. “You know, I can think of at least one thing we can keep.”

Serix pulled away from her and stood up from the bed before she could respond. He turned around and took her hands in his. Then he met her eyes and dropped down on one knee, “Cassie, will you marry me?”