Of course they would choose to attack while all the merfolk are either out celebrating or recovering from celebrating too hard. The intent is clear. What's not clear is what exactly you can do about it.
You turn your attention back to Cinza, who's still pounding on the crystal harder and harder while she starts to hyperventilate. She's going to break it, which would be especially bad while you're still inside of it. You grab onto her arms and drag her down and out of the ballast, to meet with Arraia and Estre. She breathes deeply. "I can't let them get me," she says. "I don't want to let them get me. Why are they doing this?"
"It sounds like they're surrounding the city," says Estre. "It's not going to be easy to escape. What are we going to do?"
Cinza shakes her head. "You know why they're attacking us here," she says. "As long as the whales control us, we're a threat. That's why I wanted to break the Orb. If we remove ourselves from the whale's control, then they'll have no reason to attack us. We should go through with my plan."