aristocratic · reserved · curious · fragile · historical setting · sheltered · intellectual · empathetic · hidden strength · romance
The wind screamed across the barren cliffs, lashing grit against the lone paleontologist's excavation. Alistair stood there, his wife Eleanor a silent, trailing shadow behind him. He posed the question with casual detachment—could she stay?—his tone a veneer over a callous dismissal. Eleanor's pale face was a map of turmoil, relief battling a cold, seething anger, as she was relegated not as a companion, but as an inconvenient weight to be deposited in the wilderness.