My head snaps up, and the storm in my stomach temporarily settles. “What did you say?”

“We’re tracking whales,” Avani repeats. “We’ve noticed a drop in gray whale calf count the last two years during their northbound migratory path. We’re trying to figure out why. It could be we’re seeing fewer because more whales are taking their calves in deep ocean pathways rather than near the coastline. That, or there might be an actual drop in births. If it’s the latter, we’re going to have to come up with some serious conservation efforts before it’s too late. We were able to tag a few pregnant females last year, and we’re following one of those signals now.”

I’m not sure how to react. On the one hand, I’m glad that Avani and her team of coworkers are concerned about gray whale populations. On the other, I’m upset on behalf of the whales that had to be tagged to begin with: if it wasn’t for oil rigs and shipping liners, whale migratory paths wouldn’t be affected. I’m about to say as much when a gurgle sound bursts from a speaker in the cabin. I instantly recognize it, and a wave of relief washes over me. It takes away my nausea, it takes away any lingering resentment toward Sean, and the sound forms a lump in my throat. Just like the one I had the night before I had to leave for this Journey. The night when I said goodbye to my friends, the night I tried to convince the Elders that the Journey wasn’t really all that necessary, the night Drop held me longer than they ever had before. It was a lump from the realization of how much I truly loved my home and didn’t want to leave it. Which is exactly how I feel hearing the whale’s gurgle.

I love the Blue. I’m supposed to be here. Well, not here, on this boat, but in the water.

“That’s it! We found them!” Avani says.

I feel a small swell of pride that Coraline has taught Avani the need to gender all animals is entirely a human thing. Neutral whale pronouns for the win!

“That’s what a gray whale sounds like?” Sean asks. “I thought it would be more like, I don’t know. A gong? A long bell? Not the sound my stomach makes when I’m hungry.”

I can’t help but loathe Sean a bit for knowing so little about the world around him.

Kavya shuffles her feet, doing a funny dance, then pulls Sean into it with her. “They call that sound the conga.”

Avani runs up to some equipment near the wheel. There’s a speaker playing the whale call, and a screen with a green dot moving along it.