A person of Neshiyah
Yael Hadar, orchard keeper
Orchard keeper
Yael Hadar
Orchard keeper, about 88 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.
Yael Hadar moved through the orchard like a slow tide, pruning shears hanging from a belt worn shiny at the hip. At eighty-eight, their hands were knotted but steady, and they favored the north rows first, where the light came early and the apples hung dense. Their habit was to pause at the riverbank each midday, sitting on a flat stone, watching the water slide past without comment. The town knew Yael as the one who never raised a voice, though twice in a single week they had swung at younger men over nothing much—once at the mill, once in the square. People said it was the heat. In their last days, Yael slept, and the orchard went quiet, and the fog stayed where it was. They wanted only the trees to bear.
Temperament
Curious when something is in front of them; trusting, within reason; hard to anger; friendly enough; given to sitting by the river.
What people say
Yael Hadar 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 41 Yael Hadar, the orchard keeper, died at 88, of old age. In their last days people said they were asleep.
- day 26 A guard at the end of the west road turned Yael the younger back at the fog line with a reminder that the Council prefers people to stay at their work.
- day 25 Yael the younger and Noam came to blows at the square over nothing much.
- day 20 Yael the younger and Amos the younger came to blows at the mill over nothing much.
Yael Hadar died on day 41.