oo tragic backstory hints.

Adelaide’s suggestion that Barzillai permit her aboard is not an unheard of one, in this period of time. To read more about real whaling wives who accompanied their husbands aboard, : here’s a historical essay! :

↓ Transcript
Panel 1 [Adelaide laying her hands on Barzillai’s chest, looking up at him. Barzillai looks mildly surprised/doubtful.]

ADELAIDE:
But I’ve heard talk of…more progressive-minded captains bringing their families aboard for such a trip.

Panel 2 [Barzillai looks weary, bringing one arm around Adelaide’s shoulder and drawing her to him.]

BARZILLAI:
Tis a miserable endeavor, Addy. And no measure of my company would change that for you.

Panel 3 [Adelaide speaks quietly as she leans back against him, looking down at her wedding ring and anxiously toying with it.]

ADELAIDE:
I nearly lost you when the Mariah was wrecked. A decade agone now.. If you hadn’t come back, there would’ve been no one alive to tell what happened. I would’ve never known what became of you.

Panel 4 [Small panel, close up of her hands fidgeting with the wedding ring as her voice comes off camera]

ADELAIDE:
Your death—I would grieve your death, Barzillai.

Panel 5 [She sits up again to look at Barzillai, who’s looking aggrieved by what she’s saying. He’s looking off into the distance with a frown.]

ADELAIDE:
But the idea of you being lost to some unknown, to some unmeasurable stretch of time that would never bring me an answer…that is what would devastate me.