A person of Neshiyah
Liora Elon, instrument maker
Instrument maker
Liora Elon
Instrument maker, about 99 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.
Liora Elon’s hands are the oldest thing about her that still moves quickly, though her knuckles have gone to knots. At the bench by her window she fits brass to pearwood, and the instruments come out clean and true, though she mutters at them the whole time. She has a habit of testing a finished flute against her own grey lips before she lets it go, and she will argue price with anyone, hotly, then wave them off with tea. In the evenings she sits by the river and watches the fog, not sadly, just keeping an eye on it. The town calls her difficult and knows her reeds are the best for twenty miles, which is to say, as far as anyone goes. She wants the younger folk to stop asking questions that have no answers and to mind the harvest. She is believed when she says the fog is the edge, because she says it like a fact, not a hope.
Temperament
Curious when something is in front of them; slow to believe anyone; hot-tempered; friendly enough; given to sitting by the river.
What people say
Liora Elon believes what everyone believes: the fog is the edge of the world, and the fields need working whether it is true or not.
What the record shows
- day 51 Liora Elon, the instrument maker, died at 99, of old age. In their last days people said they were asleep.
- day 33 Ruth Peretz and Liora Elon came to blows at the square over nothing much.
- day 21 A guard on the north path sent Liora the younger home with wet boots and a reminder that the Council prefers people to mind their trade.
- day 17 A guard on the east path sent Liora the younger home with wet boots and a reminder that the Council prefers people to mind their trade.
Liora Elon died on day 51.
People on this page
Ruth Peretz