Silence surrounded him.

But the sea is never silent. He could perceive clicks and rushes as air spaces contracted in his body on the way into the shadowy depths; the sound carried by his bones, felt in his viscera as his lungs shrivelled and his blood was shunted to accommodate the rising pressure.

Down and further down he swam.

He could feel prickling on his skin as pelagic animals grunted and whistled around him; the sea caressing him with the faint echoes of their motion as they brushed past.

The caresses increased and he opened his mouth, ingesting the tiniest creatures now destined to sustain one of the largest.

As he descended, the colours leached from his surroundings. In their stead a vibration rose from deep within him, rumbling through his body with the longing that erupted from his belly.

He was answering a call that he could not hear, seeking a mate that he could not see in the deep.

And nobody could hear him in turn.

He was not attuned to their song.

Such is the fate of the deaf whale.