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One night, we come to a place where the animals in the water glow in the dark like fireflies. This is called bioluminessence. It is a magical, moonless night with billions of stars above and a smooth, velvety black sea below us.

As we sail along, our ship disturbs the animals and they glow brightly. As our eyes adjust we can see that the sea itself seems to be glowing all around us and we can quite clearly see the ship's wake trailing behind. It's as if the Bent were suspended between two universes of shining, living worlds.

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We rush forward to the bow and look over the side. Jellyfish pop like flash bulbs as they are hit by the bow wave. Suddenly, we hear the quick breaths of a pair of porpoises. It's so dark we can't see them, but we can see their glowing wakes. Like a pair of wraiths, they play in the bow wave, passing to and fro in front of the ship, going under it and coming up on the otherside. We can track them quite clearly in the glowing water.

They follow us for a while, and then, their curiosity satisfied, they go on their way. I wonder what they thought of us. Who are we to know what goes on in the mind of a porpoise?

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