Man and Woman, Man and Wife?

[Cale_Knight]

As for marriage, I've only had one character get "married," and I thought it was awesomely Zalanthan. They were both grunts in a military unit, and the "ceremony" basically went like this.

Sergeant (to me): If she gets injured out there, you swear to leave her behind if it's for the good of the unit?
Me: Yeah.
Sergeant (to her): You too?
Her: Yeah.
Sergeant: Alright then.

[Medena]

Mate, as a noun,  doesn't conjure up any animal images for me. To me, it means spousal equivalent. Mate, as a verb, yeah. I guess it makes me think animal. Anyway, I got curious about the real meaning and went to dictionary.com.

mate n.

1. One of a matched pair: the mate to this glove.
2. A spouse.
3.     ( a)  Either of a pair of animals or birds that associate in order to propagate.
3. ( b)Either of a pair of animals brought together for breeding.