"I suspected some sort of translation effect might be in place, but it seemed strange that you could tell what language I was speaking if that was the case. What's a dragon?"

"Big shiny flying reptile. ...With shapeshifting powers. If that was not implied."

"If you're usually a big shiny flying reptile that certainly implies that some kind of shapeshifting was going on, although it needn't have been under your own power. If you're not really human is that why I can't tell what gender you are?"

"...I'm the same gender all the time," he says. "Aaaand I don't think anybody's ever had trouble telling."

"Well, if you're usually a dragon there's no reason the shapeshifting has to include your gender's scent," she points out reasonably. She sniffs. "I mean, I can't really smell you at all, but maybe whatever you smell like is more apparent to dragon noses."

"No. I mean, obviously there's physical differences, no one would mistake a picture of me for a desi, but you could be a desret or a desan or maybe even a desmi but that's less likely and I couldn't tell. How do you tell the difference between desan and desret and haran and harmi without smelling?"

"Oh. That's very strange. So you're just modeling me as some sort of...composite haran and harmi? I think that bothers me and I'm not sure why. I'm harmi. If you say you're both and neither I'll believe you, anyway."

"Sure," says Aurin. "What is... uh... the point of having so many? Like... uh... examples... sprites, sprites sort of have three sexes, I haven't personally met any sprites but it's a thing, but they have them like that because of how sprites work elsewise, what's the way you all work that needs six genders?"

"I'm not sure I understand the question."

"Uh, I don't know if you're enough of a prude to object if I rephrase."

"I'm not a prude. Go ahead."

"So, do you actually need all six to reproduce, that sounds like a lot of hard-to-arrange orgies. And if you don't, why would it... happen?"

"Oh, no, of course not. You only need two people to reproduce. I'm still not sure I understand the rest of the question, though. Why wouldn't it happen?"

"What about other species in your world? Like... squirrels. Are there six sexes of squirrel?"

"I think most non-primate mammals only have four sexes."

"...Which four?"

"Well, not the same four as humans, obviously. I think there's one that's like desret and desan and one that's like if you crossed desan and desmi and one that's like if you crossed harret and haran and one that's like haran and harmi."

"That's weird."

"It's simpler!"

"Well, yeah, and not having any spices in your food would be simpler, but it wouldn't be as much fun."

"What's so fun about having six genders?"

"It's--it's who I am. I'm a harmi, not some kind of harmi/haran hybrid. And you don't get as much to choose from--I'm not terribly attracted to desret, so if desret was all there was I'd have to pick between marrying someone I didn't like like that and not being able to have children. And I didn't mean to say that having two genders was worse, just that simpler doesn't necessarily mean better."