"I suppose," she says distractedly, trying not to jump at every whitecap as she stares across the water. They do stay down for a long time, but that isn't an entirely reassuring thought. It just saddles her with an additional worry that she'll look a complete fool when Saoirse returns: panicking over nothing.

But she can't see a single seal, normal or not, and she winces at Thomas's entirely sensible question. She'd watched Saoirse for a little while, but it had grown harder to spot her as she'd moved out to sea, and it had seemed faithless to just stand at the water's edge and stare (the sort of doubt that made you lose things, in stories). The last time she saw her was probably twenty minutes ago, and now she feels like a terrible mother for not keeping a closer eye.

"I don't know," she says, trying and mostly failing to not sound wretched. "Out... right about there, I think." She gestures to the last spot where she knows she saw her. "But that was ages ago. She could be anywhere."