Hayden Palmer, character in Two Paradises fantasy/fiction realm

from *The Essential Paradise*, series sourcebook

#### **Hayden Olivia ‘Hay’ Palmer** is a Paradisian young woman, featured in stories set in the Two Paradises fiction/fantasy realm, as devised by author Jonnie Comet.

She first appears as a new recruit to the Strategy team of Lord Jonathan Cavaliere in the *Love of Gwendolyn Dahl* story arc, and recurs as a friend of Starla Truro in the *Star of the Garden* arc.

## Personal information

* Full name: Hayden Olivia Palmer
* Nickname: ‘Hay’
* Birthdate: 8 Feb 1981 (Aquarius)
* Birthplace: Mercy Hospital, Hurricane Hole
* Parents: Donald & Olivia Palmer
* Nationality: Paradisian citizen, belonger
* Residence: Hidden Valley, Somerset Township, Eden I.
* Height: 168 cm [5 ft 6 in]
* Weight: 56 kg [124 lb]
* Figure: curvaceous/hourglass; 89B 61W 90H
* Hair: medium-to-light brown
* Eyes: grey
* Complexion: naturally fair; well-tanned
* Ethnic background: English
* Religion: Anglican
* School: North Eden High School, Eden I.; O-levels: 1997
* Occupation: childminder, 1994-1997;teacher of primary, 1999-
* Story arcs: *The Love of Gwendolyn Dahl*; *Star of the Garden*; 1996-2002

## Early life

Hayden was born at Mercy Hospital at Hurricane Hole and grew up at no. 4, Hidden Valley Lane, her parents’ cosy 1-1/2-storey freehold house in the community of Hidden Valley, just east of the River Ledger along the northern oceanic coast of Eden Island. Her father, Donald, is a produce trader and her mother is a bookkeeper for a small industrial business in Lower Somerset. Hayden attended the small Orchards Primary School at Hidden Valley and Oxbridge Elementary in Lower (Old) Somerset.

At age 13, Hayden earns her territorial childminder’s certificate and begins looking after several of her working neighbours’ little ones in the periods after school and during evenings, becoming an invaluable help to them during harvest and planting season.

## Education and profession

As a student at NEHS, Hayden is in a year below Lord Jonathan at North Eden High School (NEHS), taking O-levels in May 1997. She studies art and choral singing and organises a childminders’ reference-and-placement group. She also plays rounders with the first bench, becoming known as a top scorer. She also participates on the swimming and netball teams. During 4th form she serves as homeroom representative and on the Cotillion committee in 4th and 5th.

Passing her O-levels with good marks, Hayden enrols at Morning Island College of Arts and Sciences (MICAS) at Governor’s Harbour, staying in a student suite nearby. She gains her certificate in early education in 1999 and lands a post as one of two full-time teachers at Windy Hill Primary School at Windemere Wold, Rum Island. She quickly becomes well-liked for being innovative, compassionate, and reliable.

In *Going Abroad* (aka *Spectacle*) she informs her friends that her salary during 2000-2001 is £12,120 for a 12-month schedule.

## Interests and pursuits

As an isolated, agriculturally-based hamlet, Hidden Valley, along the northern fringe of Devon Road, offers little in the way of spirited entertainment or recreational opportunities and as a child Hayden, when not minding her younger brothers, was often out of doors, exploring the nearby fields, the moor above Vale Head, and the dense jungle forests of the Kulu hills. At around 11 or 12 she began to indulge a fascination for sunbathing and frolicking without clothes, not an uncommon interest of girls in the territory. She establishes a habit of shedding clothes directly after school, wandering into the woods or tall grass, and adventuring about with the aim of finding how far or how long she might do before having to encounter others before whom she should be more comprehensively dressed.

Hayden is a lifelong practising Anglican. She was confirmed in April 1994, at St Paul’s, Somerset, her family’s parish. Whilst enrolled at MICAS she attends St Mary’s at Governor’s Harbour and after relocating to Victoria Cay becomes a regular communicant at Victoria Chapel, where she participates in the choir.

In the episode *Going Abroad* (aka *Spectacle*), Hayden admits, in the company of Maggie Halder, Colleen Wells and Starla, that she sometimes masturbates merely for the pleasure of it, a practice which, as she and the others all already aware, is a favourite pastime of Starla.

## Appearance

As of age 15, Hayden is of respectable height and of adult proportions, with an hourglass figure and the long, lean legs and strong shoulders of an athlete. Her eyes are big and bright, of a pale-blue or grey colour, with long naturally curly lashes. She is noted for a strikingly pretty smile and straight white teeth. Though of English and northern-European heritage, she tans well and sunbathes topless or fully bare whenever privacy concerns are met.

Her hair is thick, wavy, and naturally medium-brown though lightened considerably by the tropical sun. Kept long (below shoulder blades) through her youth, as a professional teacher of primary she has it cut to just at her shoulders, a compromise between stylish length and short enough to keep out of the way when she is tending to small children; but it seems to have kept its tendency to fly out of place, lending her a youthful, active buoyancy.

Hayden requires eyeglasses for nearsightedness but rarely wears them at work, for fear of losing or damaging them and because so much of her responsibilities involve reading aloud or close contact with small students. She does collect a variety of distinctive eyeglasses, especially tinted sunglasses, not all of them with prescription lenses, with wildly-coloured frames and of various shapes.

She does not ordinarily wear much makeup, having a sun-blessed, clear complexion with a hint of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and eschews ostentatious jewellry, most often preferring a small Paradise-pearl stud at each ear.

### Attire

For her teaching job she is required to keep to casual dress, typically a skirt or shorts in khaki or tan and the school-specific medium-green polo shirt; but outside working hours Hayden is fond of brief attire, including swimsuit pants or (cotton) knickers with more modest tops or else bikini swimsuits. She rarely goes topless in public, owing to some shyness about her figure but also for the sake of comfort both psychologically and physically.

Apparently her favourite colour for clothes is dark blue.

### Character

Hayden is known to be infallibly honest and sincere as well as scrupulously virtuous.

Though constitutionally mature, levelheaded and responsible, Hayden is known for a broad and readily-indulged sense of humour including silly jokes and practical pranks. She retains a childlike exuberance that endears her to her young students and coworkers alike, often dancing, singing aloud, or making funny gestures for others’ amusement.

Though she regularly admits her attraction to certain young men, she is not known to have had any steady dating relationships and is undoubtedly still a virgin at age 20 (*STG* arc).

## Relationships

Hayden is noteworthy for appearing in two completely-separate story arcs of the Two Paradises fantasy/fiction realm, being the only substantive character the two arcs have in common.

### Association with Lord Jonathan

Though she knows of him at North Eden, Hayden does not interact personally with Lord Jonathan till November 1996. In *The Recruit*, included in the *Love of Gwendolyn Dahl* arc, Lord Jonathan and his team, the Silver Knights, are hunting their Strategy opponents at the fringe of the Baronet’s Tract, a preserve adjacent to his family’s estate of Camelot, and discover Hayden, in only knickers, a bandanna about her hair, and a sash about her ample breasts, on one of her forays into undeveloped country. Recognising that she is in danger of being mistaken for a game combatant, the Silver Knights take her into their protection, and after a skirmish with the other team Hayden offers to drive some of the Knights, including Gwendolyn Dahl, in her MITE saloon up into Upper Somerset as part of an operation to flush out their opponents.

In the event, she is invited to join and is accepted into the ranks of the Silver Knights, becoming only the third girl of the team ever, after Cybil Traynor and Gwendolyn. Thereafter she proves herself a worthy addition, a competent shot with a pellet-gun and eager for the challenges of competition in wild terrain and hot, humid conditions of Paradise. Lord Jonathan takes an interest in her only as a team subordinate, but his devotion to training her as a member of the most successful team in northern Eden is mistaken for a particular, potentially romantic interest by both Hayden and his girlfriend, Gwendolyn, leading to some relationship complications.

### Association with Starla Truro

Unable to commute from her parents’ home due to the distance, she shares an apartment above a shop at Northern Town, Victoria Cay, with Maggie Halder, the cousin of her Hidden Valley neighbour, Paradisian media starlet Astrid Halder. At Northern Town she meets Starla Truro, daughter of the regional commissioner of education and at the time the only teenager of secondary-school age at the small community, for whom she becomes a close friend, advisor and confidante.

### Other friendships

Through her association with Lord Jonathan, Hayden becomes acquainted of Gwendolyn Dahl’s and Lady Kimberley’s friends as well.

As a friend she tends to immerse herself in friends’ concerns, positioning herself as a sympathetic listener, helpful advisor and one eager to take action for the benefit of those she loves. At 14 Starla is more like a younger sister to her and Hayden takes a keen interest in her well-being, contributing apt compliments and timely suggestions whilst remaining amused by Starla’s youthful innocence and precocious intellect. When Maggie takes a desperate but probably futile romantic interest in Starla, Hayden is neither encouraging nor critical, listening to both her friends’ feelings and guiding them to take informed decisions on their own.

## Appearances in the stories

Hayden remains a member of the Silver Knights till Lord Jonathan’s departure for Cambridge University, in the August following the close of her 5th form. She continues as a figure in *The Love of Gwendolyn Dahl* as a fan of both Gwendolyn and Lady Kimberley.

Within the *Star of the Garden* arc, Hayden is featured as a cherished friend of the lead character, Starla Truro. She is introduced as a regular character in the opening episode, *Only at Northern Town*.

## \* \* \*

Doc. 6.62.3381 b. 2020.0222. Original content ©Jonnie Comet Productions. All
rights reserved