"But how would you know to go looking in the first place if your education was so lacking?"

"Because your textbook on genders seventeen through ninety-five mentioned it was abridged, of course."

"For three hundred and eighty two in particular, I mean, and not the rest of ninety-five through four hundred. Four hundred and one through five hundred and twelve being the ones you've met outside of class, of...course...shit, I just realized we're being super racist against some species neither of us is ever going to meet."

"I think assuming they didn't have a sense of humor would be worse, frankly."

"Yeah, but we're making fun of a difference between their species and ours. I don't think they have to lack a sense of humor to have a right to be offended by that."

"Well, I wouldn't do it if they were here, I'd just ask them instead of speculating."

"Still feels rude."

"As you like."

"I've never really gotten the point of experimenting, myself," she says thoughtfully. "How do you not know in advance whether you want to kiss someone?"

"Not having thought about it enough?" shrugs Aurin. "I was so thoroughly distracted by girls that I didn't notice my much smaller inclination to kiss boys, at first."

"Huh. Okay."

"I dunno, maybe that sort of thing doesn't happen to you all? Love at first sniff."

"Heh. No, experimental phases are totally a thing in my world. Just not for me personally."

"Is there a set of genders it's usual for each one to be into, or... not?"

"Most people are attracted to most genders, but it varies wildy. Sometimes there's a stigma if you're not attracted to any genders you're interfertile with," she admits.

"What about if you are attracted to some of those but wind up settling down with somebody with whom you are not?"

"Well, it depends on whether it's Sealed or not."

"...Uh, if you promise not to add any more people to the marriage, and it's not currently possible for the marriage to produce children, there's some stigma for that, but if you leave open the possibility of adding someone who could make children happen people won't bother you over it even if you never actually do."

"Are marriages normally multi-person arrangements, then? That's not unheard of for humans at home but it's usually two people."

"Not always. I only have two parents. Anyway, the more people there are the rarer the arrangement is, since of course everyone in the marriage has to want to be married to everyone else."

"No sort of networky things? I have had as many as three girlfriends at once but they weren't all interested in each other and one of them had a boyfriend who the other two and I weren't seeing and so on."

"'Wants to be married to each other' can amount to, 'you and I get along really well and would be happy to live together in this house both having sex with this third person but not with each other and cooperatively raising any children that ensue.'"

"S'pose. Do married people sometimes have outside partners, then? Who aren't the childrearing type or whatever."

"If the marriage isn't Sealed, yeah."