"...uh, it's how we have kids?" says Uamok. "And it's fun. And it means somebody's your mate, of course." She looks meaningfully at Kiv, who makes an awkward shuffle.

She nods. "That's pretty universal. Not entirely, but close. For most species here there's more to it than that, though - it's a sign of trusting someone, or wanting to take care of them, or of enjoying their company - the details vary, but there's usually something personal to it, it implies some kind of relationship, at least a temporary one. Is that true for you?"

"Well, yeah, if I have sex with a boy he's my mate unless we break up."

"All right. So one difference between your species and most of us - I think it's going to be important in a minute - is that we're less - the word we use is monogamous, it means only having one mate and being faithful to them, it sounds like that's what you expect of your boys? And you have more than one, obviously, but you're faithful to them, I think, you wouldn't have sex with another boy if you weren't planning on adding him to your family."

"I mean, I guess I could pick one up and then break up with him right away but that would be weird and mean."

"Mmhmm. That's different for different species; most dwarves would pretty much agree with you but elves don't usually think having sex with someone means very much at all about how things are afterward, and then gnomes and halflings are between the two and humans vary a lot in how we feel about it - a lot of human societies say that people should be monogamous, but that's different from everyone feeling that way."

"...do elves have kids some other way?"

"Elves don't have children very often at all, and they usually get help with them from their friends and parents - they'll get help from their partners, too, but in the same way they'd get help from any other friend."

"Which of them is the one doing it and which is the one just helping?"

Kat grins. "It depends on which one is more interested. Or if one of their other friends is more interested in having a baby right then it might be that neither of the parents will be the main one to raise them."

"Oh, weird!" says Uamok.

"Mmhmm. We think about this pretty differently from how you do! It's less about who's family and who we're going to raise children with and more about how we feel about each other and how it's fun. And because of that sex shades into other ways we show that we like people, and other ways of having fun with them - there are plenty of things for humanoids that we'd call sex that can't get anyone pregnant at all, and plenty of things that we wouldn't call sex exactly but that are still a grey area."

"...how is it sex if it can't get anyone pregnant? Like if somebody's sterile I guess, or do you mean something else?"

"Mostly what we mean by that is doing things that feel like the kind of sex that can get someone pregnant, but use different body parts - that's how two boys or two girls can have sex. And then some people - they find something that they like to add to sex, and then maybe later they try just that thing without the sex at all and it still feels like sex to them, so they'll call that sex too - that's not the only way someone would start calling something unusual sex, but to give you an idea of the kind of thing that can happen."

"...I guess boys do something like that sometimes? I wouldn't call it the same thing though."

"Well, we do, because it works basically the same way as the kind of sex that can get someone pregnant, for us - all that stuff about feeling like someone's family afterward, and about only wanting to do it with people we like, and even the part about wanting to raise children with someone, that can happen just as much with other kinds of sex. I'm actually a little curious if it works that way for you, too," she directs at Uamok's mates.

"It's, like, a bonding activity but not more than going on a walk together or something," says Zoi. "Does this mean we can't do that in public either?"

"Going on walks is fine. The other thing - well, I'm not going to tell you you shouldn't. But I do think you should know what it'll do if you do."

"What exactly will happen if we forget?" Uamok asks.

"This one actually varies by species - halflings won't care at all, and gnomes will just be curious, you'll be fine around them as long as you don't mind questions from the gnomes. But for humans - we have all these things that can feel like sex without quite being sex, and seeing someone else have sex is one of them. And sometimes people are fine with that, but sometimes they aren't - monogamous people especially might feel like staying where they can see someone else having sex is cheating on their partner, but even without that, it can be confusing and upsetting - especially for strangers, you aren't family and you aren't someone they particularly like or trust, and it can be pretty uncomfortable to feel like someone's sort of having sex with you without those things."

"But it isn't going to get us like attacked or anything, they'll just want us to cut it out?"

"It could get you attacked, depending on who's around - different places have different rules about this sort of thing. I'm not sure what it's like here."

   "Uh, I'd say definitely not in front of children, and - do stop if you're told to? We do have laws against public fornication; His Majesty likes you but I doubt he'll allow willful, ah, public acts."

Kat nods. "That's about what I'd expect most places, or something a little stricter - people might forgive one mistake but not two, or they might want to punish the first mistake to make sure you don't make a second one. And humans are generally going to be especially touchy about this kind of thing around children - it feels a little bit like you're having sex with whoever's around, and having sex with children is very bad for them, and we're protective."

    "-when she says punishment she doesn't mean being maimed," the prince adds.

"What? No, definitely not."

"What kind of punishment do you do instead?" asks Uamok.

"We'd most likely just ask you to leave, here - if you were doing something dangerous we might insist that you leave the city immediately, which - it's a desert out there, we won't do that unless it's fairly dire. In less unusual diplomatic circumstances we'd use other punishments - being made to work, or being - injured in a way you'd be able to recover from, or being fined - sometimes being marked, for repeat offenders."

Uamok nods along. "But since it's not dangerous you'd just remind us so we're probably fine."