What follows isn’t a story in the usual sense. It’s closer, quieter, and more personal — a moment that slipped between chapters and didn’t ask to be kept.

This interlude includes intimate and sensual material, treated with care rather than spectacle. If that isn’t what you’re in the mood for just now, you may wish to return to it another time.

Otherwise, it may be worth stopping for a moment. Some things ask for your full attention.

This episode takes place on an island, where certain feelings have been politely endured for far longer than is healthy.

Before we begin.

This episode carries an explicit label due to a single moment of strong language, brief and unadorned. It appears once, near the end, and is not otherwise repeated.

This story concerns authority, access, and the long British habit of mistaking stewardship for ownership.

This story begins, as many do, with a conversation that seems unimportant until it very much isn't.

Before we begin.

This story includes sensual and intimate description-language that lingers in the body and in desire, treated with care rather than spectacle. If that isn’t what you’re in the mood for just now, you may wish to return to it another time. Otherwise, it may be worth stopping for a moment. Some things ask for your full attention.

This story is about good intentions, poor timing, and the quiet damage done when care is offered without consent.