@inn0cencestrained ASKED: ❛ so you’re her. ❜ (IRULAN)
The way the words leave her mouth sound like the striking fangs of a snake. It was as if she hadn't just unseated the balance of Chani's life in the name of political advantage.
it wasn't as if non-monogamy was anything of a taboo in her society. The casting aside certainly was. Some women never entered into the marriage of youth and continued to flit from partner to partner. When a child came into the equation she would call together her partners and pick who would be best suited in the nature of rearing to benefit the tribe.
Some men had multiple wives, won or wooed, and the nature of the combined family manifested in many ways. He may go between Yali's or sietches to visit his wives. They might all live under the same roof.
Non-monogamy was perfectly normal. The amount of women alive far outnumbered the men. What was more rare was monogamy itself. Whey else would it be so labeled a marriage of youth. The young were fools. They had not the age nor the wisdom to understand the complete capacity of bettering the tribe. Very few stayed so isolated in themselves.
The common thread, which Chani felt thoroughly denied, was the respect of conversation. The acknowledgement of another entering the group. Wooed or won, the first wife held the power of acceptance.
Usul would have followed the social rules. She knew he would have. The Atreides did not. No, he took by force and shamed them both in more cultural faction than one.
In some other life, Chani would have accepted Irulan. To the ways of her culture, her pride. Irulan was as much a ghanima as she was a wife. So what did that say of Chani herself?
"And you are her." she responded calmly. What else was she to do?