The reaction Théadan had to the announcement there were whales present for their viewing was not what Navia had expected, but it was far more entertaining. He had a temporary expression of puzzlement that she had dropped the heat between them in favor of watching wildlife with him and she could hear it in his voice too. Her only answer to his question of whether they needed to go right away was a grin and a nod as she removed her touch from him. And since he so wryly pointed out there was likely a god laughing at him, Navia had to do just that while she smoothed his shirt back into place so no one would know what they’d been doing. “You’ll survive,” she chuckled, stepping back to straighten her own clothing until she paused to see why Théadan needed that moment he requested. Navia pursed her lips together upon watching Théadan trying to resituate his pants, hands stalling at her waist.<br/><br/>Navia’s gaze flickered back up to Théadan’s face when he started to move away from the wall, her hands finishing smoothing the dress into place. Moving further south was causing the temperatures both in and outside the ship to raise, now only having a slight chill that Navia found pleasant. She no longer needed her cloak or extra clothing beneath, the thick dark blue gown was enough. Soon it would be too heavy. “We can continue later,” she pointed out while reaching for Théadan’s cheek and rising up onto her toes. She pressed a promising kiss to his cheek before turning to start toward the stairs leading up to the main deck, “This will be worth the interruption.” At least she hoped it would. He wasn’t the only one a bit disappointed they’d needed to stop, but she knew how much they both wanted to see whales in person.<br/><br/>She had expected they would step out into a flurry of shouts and activity. The yelling had been so excited, but as soon as Navia opened the door, they were met with a hush that rarely covered the topmost deck during daylight. The only sound that came besides the gentle flutter of sails above them was a large blow of air. She turned toward the sound and found the majority of the crew standing along the port side of the ship. Some stared, others were quietly speaking to each other and pointing. It charmed her instantly. How many times had so many of those men probably seen whales? Yet they were all happy to see them, all wanting to take a break from their duties to watch. “I wonder how many there are,” Navia gave Théadan’s hand a small tug to lead the way toward the crew, but changed course when Risho waved them over near the stairs leading up to the captain’s station.<br/><br/>“I find your whales, Théadan,” he called out proudly before waving a hand out over the water, “I find<i>groso timi</i>.” Some of the crew closest to him shuffled down to make room for Théadan and Navia, giving them a view of the whales a little more than fifty meters in the distance. Around ten in the pod, the nearest few were floating right on the surface, their large dark gray backs glistening in the bright sunlight, their long white pectoral fins visible just beneath the water. They appeared to either be resting and enjoying the sun or waiting for the others in their group to join them. A little further out, sea birds were flocking and calling out to each other above the other small group of whales. Only their mouths were visible, their gargantuan bodies hidden by the ocean depths and their baleens sloping out of the water to form triangles in the sun when their mouths closed and engulfed whatever food they had chased up to the water’s surface. A rush of water would come cascading from the whales' mouths as they closed them, leaving one to wonder just how much food they actually got from such a feeding technique.<br/><br/>“Oh, they’re so big,” Navia marveled, hands falling to rest on the wooden beam making up the side of the ship and protecting them all from tumbling into the water below, “These are the ones that are acrobats, right?”<br/><br/>“Yes,<i>Sitvati</i>,” Risho nodded, his own gaze returning to watch the whales, “They jump from water and sometimes come close to<i>Uttarana</i>. You must have patience to see.”