"I would suggest the reason is because they're cannibalistic."
"What?"
"Look at the carpet. It is littered with carcasses."
He was right. It was. In fact, the remnants of little black bodies were so thick that the gray carpet looked like patchwork. "So she kills the victims to feed her young, but when the young get old enough, they feed on one another? How does that make sense?"
"It would ensure only the strongest of them survive. It is not unusual behavior."
"Maybe in your world, but not in mine," I muttered. I knew that there were some animal species where the young did eat one another, but only if there wasn't another food source, and it was generally rare.
"Children are not as common in my world as yours and therefore somewhat revered." His voice held a hint of censure. "We certainly would not allow them to harm one another in any way."
Which wasn't what I meant and he knew it. But I let it slide and glanced up at him. "I thought reapers lived in big family groups?"
"We do."
"Then why would children be rare? Do you suffer the same sort of problem that has killed off most of the Aedh?"
"No. Aedh breed only when their death is imminent, which kept their numbers stable for millennia. No one can say what changed, but we think the Raziq had a lot to do with it."
That raised my eyebrows. "They killed off their own kind?"
"They believe in their cause and would certainly be capable of wiping out all opposition. In this case, that would mean those who tended and believed in the current viability of the gates."
"All of which doesn't explain why reapers don't breed willy-nilly."
He hesitated. "It is a combination of our long life spans and the fact that our recharge partners aren't always our Caomhs."