They ran away to sea together-- sounds like a story there. Maybe they will tell it someday. Maybe you can get Beare to tell us more about it? I love the way that stories split off from other stories like shoots or grafts from a larger plant.

I read the guest piece about Wolves too. I have not read that one yet, but was reminded how I want all your book people to be my friends. For years that was how I judged my books, would I like to spend the day with the people in any given book. Of course, some people in books are disagreeable, or evil even. But even so-- would I want to meet them? (I used to worry that fictional people would dislike me-- made me act better as a kid.)

And really, you can have plenty of plot without an 'evil' person. Ordinary mistakes and human bad actions are plenty for a plot.