Anak looked at the human, rather caught off guard by the sudden inquiry.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #8080FF">"You go someplace private with the person you love and confess your feelings. If they are returned, you share blood. If they are not returned, you try to win their feelings through everyday kindness and acts of love. Once you succeed, then you share blood."</span></span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #BF80FF">"Anak, I doubt he knows what sharing blood means,"</span></span>Velnier called over his shoulder.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #BF80FF">"Blood is significant to us,"</span></span>the slightly more bold Vortian explained.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #BF80FF">"Even when it leaves our bodies, it still remembers where it came from. When the blood of two Vortians is mixed, they are essentially bound for life. Usually, it is exchanged in the moment of First Intimacy."</span></span><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #BF80FF">"You call it sex,"</span></span>Rhofel elaborated. He'd studied human culture a bit more thoroughly than the others before coming here. Not that their kind had a surplus of knowledge on the subject to begin with.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #8080FF">"Right,"</span></span>Anak said.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #8080FF">"Courting continues until First Intimacy. After that, you are lovers."</span></span><br/><br/>Rhofel tied it off.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: #BF80FF">"' 'Til death do you part'."</span></span>