Every single person in Yhen lived every day while carrying a sliver of Phloria with themselves and they did it with pride. The realization made Orion's eyes add more water to the ocean and through the communion of the song, he knew that he wasn't alone.
Lith, Solus, Rem, and everyone else were honoring those they had loved and lost, shedding tears of grief and joy. Death was unavoidable and unstoppable but so was life.
'Grief didn't stop them.' Orion thought. 'The merfolk kept moving on with their lives because it's the only way to give death meaning. Something that I've learned today and that I can only hope I'll be able to pass on to Jirni.'
The song stopped and Orion became blind again. Without the resonance from the living spiral and Solus' tenth sense, everything had gone dark. He broke the chain, keeping solely Mal's hand while paddling toward the Sea Stone.