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"I don't really get dating," says Jala.

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"Merfolk don't?"

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She shakes her head. "That whole pairing-off thing you humans do is a complete mystery to me," she says.

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"Huh. Well, it's a pretty big deal to us," Bella shrugs.

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"Why?"

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"I don't know all the history behind the cultural reasons, or behind the native - drives - but today, humans have romantic impulses that are pretty strongly correlated with sexual impulses, and our culture reinforces it. I don't know if you've read a lot of human fiction, but it tends to revolve around the subject more often than not. We grow up with parents who are usually romantically involved with each other, though not always, mine are divorced now. And being 'successful' at that kind of thing is also a source of status, in many social circles."

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"Huh," says Jala. "It's different under the sea."

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"What's it like there?"

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"Well... I grew up with a pretty small pod, maybe it's different for other people," she says. "But I know my mother is one of three girls who was laying the year before I hatched, and a couple of other pods came by that year so I'm not sure which one my father was from or who he is."

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"Do you mind if I ask you questions about that? I don't know whether anything I might be curious about is going to be rude to ask."

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"Go for it," shrugs Jala.

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"So, in human cultures, we're almost invariably certain who our mothers are and usually have a very good guess about our fathers. We use this information for all kinds of things, but the practical one that springs to mind is avoiding inbreeding - we steer clear of reproducing with close relatives, and if we do anyway the kids often turn out badly. Is that not a problem with you? Is it a problem you solve a different way?"

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"Oh! No, you can kind of tell - if a pod's guys swam by our eggs and they smelled too familiar, we'd turn them away, and if our guys were swimming by another pod's eggs and they smelled like home, they wouldn't - you know - on them," Jala explains.

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"Sounds workable. Humans also get raised by our parents; what about you?"

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"The whole pod does that. Well, some more than others. You know how it is. Not everybody wants to do all the same things."

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"Do you just always stay in the pod you're born in?"

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"Mostly, yeah. Sometimes people shift around."

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"Under what circumstances?"

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"...If they feel like it, I guess? Maybe if they don't get along with their home pod," she shrugs.

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"Makes sense."

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Jala nods.

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