Boat maintenance and tidal shelf operations — first generation, age 52
He is careful with tools and careless with words, which is a dangerous combination in a small settlement — he knows this and it has made him quieter. He communicates through work now: a repaired hull, a re-caulked seam, a boat left ready at the Notch before anyone asked. He is genuinely liked by the children in the uncomplicated way people are liked when they are present and patient, which makes the avoidance with Arla Sund harder for everyone around them to parse.
He worked mechanical systems aboard the Shoulder and was considered steady under pressure, which is why he was among the eight people roused for the fourteen-week navigation period. Whatever steadiness he had cracked during those weeks; he said something to Arla Sund that she has never repeated and he has never apologized for, because he believes an apology would require both of them to revisit what the crossing stripped from them. He has a daughter, Siv, who asks questions he cannot answer and has begun to suspect she has already found some answers herself.
During the fourteen weeks he sent a personal message to someone still aboard the Shoulder; that person never responded, and he does not know whether they are dead or simply done with him.