Nothing stayed the same, she knew that. Dunes moved. Boats sank. Cottages succumbed to the sea. Coves changed shape, but there was a certain thrill to the clinging. The listening in the dark. Not knowing in what form change would come. Waiting on the precipice as the sea undercut everything you held dear. The glass cabinets were rattling more now, the fragile forms they contained vibrating with a frequency she could almost hear. Deep down in the cove, the force of the waves was getting stronger, as if growing bolder against the coast’s weakness. Sensing its lack of resistance. She could hear shingle being lifted and turned by the waves, worked in a mechanical process, ruthlessly efficient.

Her mother had loved storms as much as her father had hated them. He could see nothing but lost money, damage and fear. When they shouted at each other, he was often at a loss. Uncomprehending eyes. Slamming doors. Nefyn used to go to her mother and rest her head on her knee and eventually her mother would stroke it. In their stillness she could find a way to her. But when her father beat her mother, her flesh darkening under his fists, making her wince as she lowered herself to bathe, it wasn’t so easy. She would hide herself so that Nefyn wouldn’t see, wouldn’t allow her to sleep under her nightdress as she had done as an infant. The bruising visible in the way she walked, in the way she smiled. Pleasing but not pleased. That’s why Nefyn thought she enjoyed the storms. Because her father hated them and because they probably reminded him that some things were stronger than he was.

It had taken an hour to walk the corridor to the exit, the Doctor steadfastly ignoring Adley’s irritation. Encouraging Hamza to rest periodically in order to let the painkiller take a better hold. The wind whipped the door from Adley’s hands when they eventually reached the outside, making him swear profusely. His eagerness to see the back of Hamza palpable. The Doctor instinctively took off his coat and, holding it above Hamza, shielded him as best he could.