Mating Rituals of the Viera
Affection and sexuality among Viera
For the Viera who is in a vulnerable state after her first Coupling the other members of her village will offer her comfort and support. Viera seek and give comfort in the form of touch and it is common to for a Viera to be caressed by her close friends. Though this is very intimate, it is not necessarily sexual, especially if it is after the Viera's first coupling. She has only just come into her sexuality and has yet to associate intimate touch with intercourse, so when she seeks the gentle touch of her friends she is seeking only comfort and security. As we see Viera out in our world, they may seem, distant and stand offish, however, should you ever have the privilege of befriending one closely you can expect to have her seek a comforting touch from you every so often in private moments. But one should remember that the initiation of touch is not meant to be a sexual invitation. One could see it in the context of a young child wanting to sleep with her parents after she has had a scary dream.
Though that isn't to say that, as the Viera experiences more Couplings as her Mating Rite continues through the years, she won't eventual associate intimate touch with sexuality. However the Viera view of sexuality is quite different than that of the Hume view of sexuality, especially in regard to mating. Though it was explained to me and I feel I have a relatively good grasp on the subject, I am finding it hard to recant the explanation in a simple way.
When a Viera Female comes of age, her sexuality awakens; this I have said before. However this awakened sexuality is more like a whole other part of her subconscious that has awakened, very much like a separate person or personality. It is a wild primal entity that acts on the instinctive will to mate, thus the urge to seek out a male. After engaging in the Coupling Hunt this sexual entity goes back to sleep until it is again charged with the energy evoked from the Viera's element during its next cycle peek. However though this entity has gone into hibernation, the Viera is still left with the feelings and sensations of the actions she felt while under the influence of that other part of herself. She seeks out the comfort of her friends which they give in the form of intimate touch. Over time she will learn to draw parallels to the intimate touch of her friends with what she experiences during the Coupling Hunt. But even still, though they acknowledge the similarities between the intimacy between friends and the intimate nature of coupling, Viera distinctly separate the two. B.B.'s Viera companion, try as she may to explain the distinct difference, I could not fully grasp the concept. However B.B. was able to put it clearly in terms a Hume can understand.
Men are for Mating, Women are for Intimacy.
A Wooded Viera will only seek out a male when the sexual entity is awakened, but should a female want comfort at other times she can seek the aid of her friends. It would be too much of a hassle for her to try and hunt down a male each time she wants a bit of comfort.
When it's all said and done, it seems as though mating among the Viera is more similar to that of most wild animals. That is to say, it is done out of instinct and mostly for the purpose of continuing the species. Hardly romantic at all. However it is not completely uncommon for a male and female to develop an intimate bond over time. Every so often a Coupling results in a Bestowment, where a male and female, well, basically they fall in love. Though BB's Viera companion had me make sure that I noted, this bestowing is not love in the Hume sense, for Viera do not have a concept of love the way Humes do. But to make things simpler we shall say the couple is in love, for that is the closest explanation we could find for this bestowment phenomenon. In any case, it is common for the bestowed couple to leave their home villages and migrate to the village known as the Coupling Village. It is the only Viera Village in all the Wood where Males and Females live together. It is common for the Bestowed couple to live out the rest of their lives together in the Coupling Village. The only exception being during the females Koing Period, which is from the time she is with child until the time her child is grown enough to walk. After this Koing Period the bestowed mother then leaves her precious child in the intimate care of her sisters and clan mates to be brought up in the ways of the Wood. In the Hume perspective, this may seem very uncaring on the part of the mother, however I am told, it is for this reason Viera are so very close with each other. It's true that siblings and other family members carry the most responsibility in raising the child, but not just one or two people are in charge of this task, but the whole community. The children of Bestowed Couples are of course welcome to travel to the Coupling Village to see their parents, though the children usually never actually get all the way to the village. The Wood usually whispers the comings of their children to the parents and they are meet half way. This is the same for daughters and sisters who wish to see their fathers and brothers who live in a male village and for sons and bothers who wish to see their mothers and sisters who live in a female village. A female need only walk in the general direction of her father and brother's village and these men will meet her having gotten word of her coming from the Wood's Whispers.
So even though Viera are separated by their respective villages, they all are connected by the voice of the Wood. And though they seem unemotional to us Humes it is only because, while in the Wood the Viera are accustom to their feeling being conveyed by the Wood as well and thus need not show their feelings outwardly.
Viera who leave the Wood and are cut off from her voice have much to adapt to and can feel very isolated and very much alone in this vast new world they have chosen to live in.
So basically Viera are all bisexual by nature …as you can imagine, Balthier was quite keen on the idea X3 what straight warm blooded guy wouldn't be XD… though keep in mind I did said all Viera, yes that means the males too. All the yaoi fan girls say hey! XD
the Bal x Fran chapter that demonstrats this particular point won't come up until later, though I can say, in Viera eyes, Balthier and Fran would be concidered a Bestowed Couple.