[He observes the gesture, but he won't press into it. He just notes it.]

That actually checks out pretty readily. If Nerifes is the ocean and the Radiant are inherently connected to it, it'd be pretty bizarre if they and it were somehow the invaders. Maybe if they'd come on a structure made primarily of the water that composed the ocean, or if the ocean was given its spirit by something within their vessel. [That would at least work, but it requires extra speculation.]

Is the empathy then theoretically related to the idea of bridging the gap between the two species?