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o it -- complete communion. But with the ultimate risk: a Yherajk's defenses are down -- the other Yherajk, if it has been insincere in the joining, can attack the other's personality and destroy it, replacing it totally with its own. This is a "soul death," and causing it to happen is the worst crime a Yherajk can commit against another Yherajk. A large part of the reluctance of the Yherajk to speak about their reproduction comes from its potential to change in an instant from an act of perfect union to one of the ultimate rape.
But it's rare -- far more rare than murder is with us. Most of the time, it is a joyous experience -- and apparently better for them than sex is for us.
The interesting thing is that while nearly all reproductions occur between two Yherajk, there is no theoretical barrier on having the melding occur between three, four or even more. It's vastly more complicated, and it takes longer for the personality traits to suss out, but it can be done. Gwedif told me that one of the great memory epics of the Yherajk involved a exploring colony, under siege from attackers, who all melded together in the desperate hope of birthing a hero who could save them from destruction. The colony numbered 400. It worked -- of course. Otherwise it wouldn't be an epic. For millennia, partially out of respect for the epic, that had been the record.
The ientcio of the Ionar was planning to break that record. He proposed 2000 -- the entire crew of the Ionar. And one human as well.
*****
"I'm not following you," I said to Gwedif, after he translated the ientcio's proposal.
"The ientcio implores you to meld with us," Gwedif said. "Pool your knowledge with ours and help us birth a new Yherajk -- one that has an intimate understanding of humanity, who can help us learn, quickly, easily, whether our two people can be joined in friendship. It would be a great gift -- and you would be remembered not only as our first human friend, but also a parent, the most important parent, of the
