Flash loved to have adventures. He always had. But his favorite thing to do was savor whatever moment he found himself in. Just to be in the place where he was, and appreciate it without the need of distractions. Excursions. Yes, he enjoyed his trip to the bottom of the ocean. Careening through space. Childhood on the farm. But in between those adventures, he found his real life. Sometimes he would awaken in the middle of the night, wondering where he was. He had to think about which room comprised his current reality.
Aah, the castle suite on Olo. That made him smile. He’d reach out for Lem, and then remind himself that she was no longer here. From time to time he’d forget what part of the painting he was in. That wasn’t the case as he finished his breakfast on the balcony overlooking the crimson plain. All of his senses told him exactly where he was, and there was no place he would rather be. Maybe this was a dream. If so, he just wanted to sleep. To stay right here forever. Or as long as possible, at least.
Something was happening down on the plain, and it caught his eye. The whales hovered above the gem encrusted ground. This was not unusual., but the way they positioned themselves was! They lined up, nose to tail in a circle following one another. Around and around the museum they circled. As other whales joined the procession, the carousel enlarged in a colorful display. When all the whales present had joined the queue, one split off, spiraling upward. They all followed in a conga line or parade. Flash had seen similar behavior from the mothership when he saw the whales blow the net of crystals, and again when they swam up in a hologram near the entrance of the cave.
They rose in an ever widening spiral, and after quite a while, they passed by Flash’s own balcony. It seemed to him that they also were celebrating life on Olo, and this part of the promenade was just for him.
They slid past him in the quiet air, so close that he could not take in their entire form, just radiant landscapes from the curving rostrum and ventral pleats, to the eye, then a wall of color which would taper to a horizontal tail. The color would change and the shape would repeat. Flash just stood still, his eyes wide, taking in the spectacle until the last whale passed. He saw the rainbow colored train continue to rise, and fly off over the forest and foothills before vanishing behind the glassy spires in the distance.
Mad stood by the transparent wall of her home in the mountains, where she and Luuu also watched the procession.

All across Olo, people looked up to see the whales.

The fishes that swam amongst the branches of trees swam up and joined the whales for a time before returning to their home trees, and it looked from the ground like the trees were reaching up to hug the whales as they floated by.