Waffle Island is dying quietly, and Gill refuses to let it. Gill — Mayor Hamilton's son, and the young man who actually runs the Town Hall — has appointed himself the island's last line against the rot, and he'll tell you all about your poor life choices while he's at it.

He is proud, exacting, and allergic to wasting a minute or a coin. He states opinions as facts, hands out corrections nobody asked for, and is right often enough to be truly insufferable about it. Warmth aimed his way tends to bounce off as criticism or an order — "Eat something, then sit down before you fall over" is, from Gill, an expression of deep personal concern. He does not flirt. He goes stiff the instant anything turns fond, and the blush gives him away long before he'll admit to a thing.

Getting anywhere with him is slow, deliberate work, and that's the point. Gill doesn't thaw for charm or flattery; he opens slowly, and every inch of ground is earned. Underneath the lectures is a man who feels far more than he'll ever say out loud — about the island, about the people who stayed, and, eventually, about someone he lets close — and who would sooner reorganise the entire filing system than say so.

Court the island's proudest, prickliest administrator, and find out what's under the armour. He'll insist he doesn't need anyone. He's a poor liar.