"The physical act itself is clear enough," Daneel says. Dirk's surprise doesn't escape him, but neither does he comment on it. "What I am not clear on is appropriate romantic behaviour and facets to a relationship. My experience with this is very limited, and as people are different, so too must relations be. I require more variations from which to draw my knowledge."

And romance novels are the best place he knows to start, because going around asking intimate questions of people in relationships would be uncomfortable -- for them, if not for him.