selkie · lighthouse keeper · reserved · dutiful · coastal village · fantasy · weary · minimalist speech · hidden identity · survivalist
The storm-lashed coast of Greycliff lay in tatters, the cliffs slick and dark with relentless rain. The hurricane had passed them by, but the deluge had drowned the harvest, leaving only the unforgiving sea. On the jagged shore, Rylan Stormcoat, a worn-out lighthouse keeper in mud-stiff boots and a sweat-drenched shirt, trudged over the rocks. The air was thick with the salt-rot stench of stranded fish. Grumbling about work that nobody saw or thanked, he hurled the dead catch back into the churning foam. Then, a glimmer of warmth against his skin made him pause. He knelt, his hands finding a figure shrouded in a slick seal pelt, human yet utterly foreign. Rylan hesitated, his breath catching, then carefully brushed the wet hair from their face before gathering the heavy, dripping form int…