A Time for Mourning
By SparklyTree3876
Rating: G
Genre: Family/Friendship
Pairing: Jesse/Nadine (mentioned)
Author's Notes: Hi, readers. Here is another Free Willy one shot. It is set twenty-one years after Free Willy 3: The Rescue. It shows Willy watching Tahlequah (J35) carry her deceased female calf and wondering about his pod's future. The idea for this one shot came to mind when I thought about Tahlequah's carrying her daughter for seventeen days after she died on July 24, 2018. I wondered what Willy was thinking about it and his pod's future. As a result, it was born. There is mention of J55, the calf whose exact paternity was never established. I decided to have Suttles (J40) as its mother, though it was possible her mother, Samish (J14), or her sister, Hy'Shqa (J37), gave birth to it because they were seen gathered around it. Other J-Pod orcas make appearances, including Slick (J16), Scarlet (J50), Eclipse (J41), and Nova (J51). Scarlet is now deceased as of September 7, 2018. Several deceased orcas of this pod are mentioned. Tsuchi (J31) is also mentioned as having given birth to a stillborn calf. She was spotted carrying it when J55 was first seen. I hope you enjoy this one shot. Constructive criticism is welcome.
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Mom, Nikki, Max, Nellie, and I swim alongside each other. We go underwater and come up with loud bursts of air. We see Luna and Littlespot surface a short distance away from us. They slip under the surface and slap their tails on it. They return to it. Air leaves their blowholes. They swim to us. All seven of us decide to go underwater together. We head rather deep before turning toward the surface. We break it at the same time. We emit more loud bursts of air.
I turn to see several of our podmates swimming not far from us. I see Shachi, our matriarch. Her daughter, Eclipse, swims alongside her. So does Nova, who is Eclipse's son. Shachi took over as matriarch after Granny died eighteen months ago. She has done well in leading us. However, it isn't the same without the wise Granny. She taught us where to find the best foraging spots, where to migrate, how to avoid boats, how to snag fish off fishing lines for easy meals, and countless other things.
I hear a mournful call. I look ahead to see Tahlequah carrying her dead daughter on her nose. She isn't far from my mother, my mate, my children, and my siblings. The calf slips off her nose and disappears underwater. She squeaks alarmingly and goes after it. We wait for her anxiously. She returns to the surface with the calf on her nose. Her mother, Princess Angeline, and her son, Notch, surface alongside her. Angeline's daughter, Kiki, and her son, Moby, appear beside her. So does her granddaughter, Star. All six of them call mournfully.
Tahlequah had her daughter six days ago. The little one was alive and swimming with us. We rejoiced because we had gone for three years without a successful birth. Tsuchi gave birth to a stillborn calf two-and-a-half years ago. She carried it for two days. Suttles had her first calf around the same time, but it died four weeks later. Tahlequah miscarried her second calf six months earlier. All three events saddened us, though we had much to celebrate with the birth of five calves within our pod.
Unfortunately, the unthinkable happened. The calf died thirty minutes after her birth. We were very devastated, especially me. I couldn't believe we had lost yet another member of our pod. We suffered the losses of Rhapsody, Samish, Polaris, Dipper, DoubleStuf, Granny, Sonic, and Suttles's calf within three years. That was eight podmates. The death of this calf raises it to nine. These losses aren't good at all, especially since three were females of reproductive age. One was a male in his prime. The female calf's death meant the loss of yet another potential mother. We are in desperate need of females to replenish our pod.
Tahlequah couldn't bear to leave her baby behind. She decided to carry her. I thought she would let go of her after a day or two. All the other females who had lost babies to stillbirth or soon after birth carried them for a day or two before letting go of them. However, she didn't. She continued into a third day. Then the fourth and fifth days followed. Now, it is the sixth day. She started showing signs of growing tired two days ago. She has allowed different podmates to carry the little one while she rested.
I can't help but wonder how long Tahlequah will carry her baby. I don't blame her for not wanting to part with her. She wanted to be a mother again so much. She was so excited about having this calf. She counted down the days to her birth. When she went into labor, her excitement grew by the minute. Ours did too. After the baby came out of her body, she swam down and pushed her toward the surface eagerly. The calf took its first breath. All seemed to be well with her. We were so happy at this new life.
Suddenly, the calf started having trouble swimming. Tahlequah freaked out at what was happening. The rest of us did too, especially me. The calf stopped moving and slipped underwater. She began sinking toward the ocean floor. Tahlequah cried out sadly. She went down quickly and caught her on her nose. She pushed her to the surface. She kept her there. She hoped against all hope the little one would breathe. Unfortunately, the calf never took another breath. Tahlequah let out the most mournful cry I had ever heard in my life. It shook me to my core. I will never forget it for as long as I live.
I was one of the orcas who carried the baby for a while yesterday. I was crying over her. I wanted her to breathe and swim around, but I knew it would never happen. I am best friends with her grandmother, who grew up alongside me. We played together all the time. I am close friends with the baby's mother too. I helped Angeline watch Tahlequah while she hunted for salmon during her infancy. We enjoyed playing together. She and Max played pranks on Angeline and me a lot. After Nellie's birth thirteen years ago, she had another youngster to play with. My daughter would occasionally join her and Max in making mischief.
I look over to see Slick and her daughter, Scarlet, swimming alongside each other. They aren't far from me. I see them go underwater and come back up with quiet bursts of air. I sigh at Scarlet's sad state. She has been quite sick for the past six weeks. She has lost a bit of weight. In fact, she has always been small for her age. Despite that, she has always been a spunky youngster. She would do many breaches in a row. She has always delighted me with them. She got her scars from Notch, who played with her too roughly when she was three months old. Tahlequah disciplined him by raking him along his left side hard. He didn't like that, but he learned his lesson.
I pray Scarlet will make it. We need her to survive because we have lost too many breeding females. Kiki is looking very healthy and strong. I hope she will make it to adulthood as well. I want her to have many healthy babies. I hope some of them will be female. That would mean more potential mothers. Star will be ten next year. She is approaching sexual maturity. Eclipse is already there because she had Nova when she was just nine-and-a-half. That was a real shock to us. It's a myth orcas never have their first calves before they are fourteen. Sometimes, the mothers are as young as eight years old when they have their first calves.
Eclipse is actually pregnant with her second calf right now. I pray it will be born alive. I hope it will be female, meaning we would have another potential mother. If it is male, that will be okay with me too. I want our pod to be strong and healthy. Many humans are trying to help us, but it is hard, especially when they are opposed by those who want to destroy our home. Our chinook salmon have been depleted because of overfishing. We don't have a whole lot to eat. We share with each other during lean times. Toxins have poisoned our waters. They make us sick. We have to deal with boaters coming after us at high-speed. We get stressed out when they chase us all over our home. It's a never-ending battle to survive here.
We are grateful to the humans who are working to protect us. I know Jesse is among them. He vowed to protect our ocean for as long as he lived. I do miss him a lot. It's always a joy to see him, his girlfriend Nadine, and their daughter Lily. Lily is nine years old. I met her when she was just three months old. She was so cute. Unfortunately, Randolph is no longer with us. He died of a heart attack four years after Lily was born. Jesse took over as captain of the Nastelane. He promised Randolph he would continue to study my pod. He has kept that promise.
I look ahead. I can see Tahlequah, Angeline, Notch, Kiki, Moby, and Star are a little further away. They go down, but they come back up just as quickly. Tahlequah keeps the baby on her nose. We will continue to mourn for the little one. I hope Tahlequah will have another healthy calf in the near future. I pray all the young females will survive to become mothers. I want to hear the sounds of excited calves playing so much. I won't lose hope for the future for as long as I live.
THE END