Chiara: When I ask to connect with J-Pod via the ethers, the orcas ask me to lower myself into the water from which they come. I do not have to endure the water’s coldness, as my body is suspended in a different type of liquid that allows me to be submerged for long periods.

The whales are frantic beyond what I can express. A deep sadness permeates who they are. It is not individualized; it is a collective sadness and grief that permeates every cell in their bodies.

There is a sound to this grief. The sound is one they sing to each other, and it cannot be heard by the normal human ear or captured by human technology. It feels as though it comes in waves transmitted through the water. There are two sound waves with different purposes. The first transmits a communion with a deceased calf. It celebrates the life of this being and its swift exit from the physical world. The second sound wave is the deep grief that the mother feels and the pod shares. All members of the pod feel this grief, this loss, this sadness.