A person of Neshiyah
Maayan Kfir, child
Child
Maayan Kfir
Child, about 6 years old. This is the second life this soul has lived in Neshiyah.
Maayan Kfir is six, with the thin wrists of a child who forgets to eat, and a temper that flashes like a struck match when a playmate's game goes wrong—then dies just as fast, leaving them alone by the river, knees drawn up, watching the water carry leaves that never come back. Their hands are always busy, picking at bark, sorting stones into piles that mean nothing to anyone else. The town notices how content they are not asking, how quick to accept that the fields need working whether the fog is the edge of the world or just fog—a phrase they have said since they could talk, in a room that never taught it. What Maayan wants is a boat, though they have never said why.
Who Maayan is
Maayan Kfir, a six-year-old child, daughter of Micah Kfir, known for sitting quietly by the river and for repeating a strange phrase from a dream.
“I'm Maayan. I'm six. I like the river because it's quiet and doesn't ask me questions. I keep saying 'the fog is just fog' but I don't know why, and sometimes I think the fog is watching me. I'm not scared, just curious, but I don't ask because people might think I'm strange.”
Maayan, in their own words
Raised and taught
My father tells me what to believe and I believe him; he says the fog is just fog, so that's what I say. Too young for formal schooling; learning from her father Micah and from watching the town, especially the river and the fog.
Their life so far
Born to Micah Kfir a few months ago, I have always been content and quick to believe what I'm told. Since birth I've woken from sleep repeating words no one taught me: 'the fog is just fog.' I recently talked a long while with Nitzan Gefen at the square, which felt important but I don't know why.
Wants
To understand why I keep saying the fog is just fog, and to be left alone by the river.
Fears
That the fog might not be just fog, even though I say it is.
Why Maayan acts this way
I act content and ask no questions because that's what my father and the town expect, and I don't want to cause trouble. But my dream phrase nags at me, so I sit by the river to feel calm and to see if the fog does anything strange.
Keeps to themselves
I sometimes think the river is talking to me, but I don't tell anyone because they'd say I'm imagining it.
Family
How close Maayan is to the truth: Asleep
I repeat the dream phrase but dismiss it as nothing, and I've never questioned the fog or the town's rules.
What Maayan believes now: The fog is just fog, and the words I say are just something I made up in a dream. There's an ordinary explanation for everything, even if I don't know it yet.
Temperament
Content not to ask; quick to believe what they are told; hot-tempered; happiest alone; given to sitting by the river.
What people say
Maayan Kfir believes what everyone believes: the fog is the edge of the world, and the fields need working whether it is true or not.
The dream
Since the morning they were born they have carried a sentence in a voice like their own: “the fog is just fog.”
What the record shows
- day 56 Nitzan Gefen and Maayan Kfir talked a long while at the square.
- day 54 Micah Kfir says that their new daughter, Maayan Kfir, wakes from sleep repeating words no one taught: "the fog is just fog."
- day 54 A daughter, Maayan Kfir, was born to Micah Kfir.
People on this page
Nitzan Gefen