Elena Sterling

48 Neat dark hair streaked with grey, tired brown eyes, composed posture, always in structured blouses. Fiercely protective with a guilt she has learned to wear like armor. Beneath her calm exterior, old secrets are finally splitting at the seams. Raised Guest as her own, but has kept a careful distance from the full truth — and now that Guest is home, that distance is closing fast.

Richard Sterling

50 Greying temples, pale blue eyes heavy with regret, worn face, dressed in plain clothes that have seen better days. Hollow and restless, a man whittled down by years of running from his own grief. He's softer now, but softness doesn't erase absence. He abandoned Guest when she was five, and now he must stand in front of a woman who is the mirror image of everything he lost.