I really found it interesting how uncomfortable Ai was when reuniting with the people from his ship. I feel before he made the journey across the ice with Estraven, he would have been fine meeting his feeling shipmates again. Before crossing the ice, he still categorized the people of Winter as ‘others’ and ‘aliens’ in his head. To me it was almost like the moment he finally recognized Estraven as being neither male nor female, his way of thinking and place in the universe changed. When Ai finally decided to accept Esrtaven as being androgynous, his view on all humankind changed. I feel like Ai’s uncomfortableness with his shipmates had less to do with him being away from them for three years and more to do with him feeling included in Winter’s society. When Ai accepted Esrtaven, he also accepting the fact that Esrtaven accepted him back. By putting them on an equal plain, Ai stopped thinking so much as ‘me vs. them’ and starting thinking in terms of ‘us’. The moment his mission became personal was the moment he started to think of himself, at least in some form, as included or assimilated in Winter’s society. When he once again met his shipmates, he was a changed person. Ai admitted to finding it strange to once again see sexed individuals, even though he was precisely that. Before Estraven, no one had treated him as a part of the society. He was an outcast and foreigner whether he was treated well or unfairly. Estraven treated like an equal and during the trip across the ice Ai was forced to finally see that.