Gathering Blue

Chapter 19 narrates the morning of the Gathering before the start of the Singer’s performance of Ruin Song. While they wait to be taken to the Council of Guardians hall, Thomas and Kira look through his window at the people waiting to enter the Council Edifice, seeing that Matt’s mother and brother are there, but he is not. Then, as people begin moving into the building, a tender comes to take Kira and Thomas to their seats just below the stage, facing the audience.

The ceremony begins with the whole group’s “worship [of] the Object” (198), as everyone bows to the “little crossed construction of wood” (198). Then the Council is presented, then Thomas, as “Carver of the future” (199), then Kira as “the Robe-threader, designer of the future” (199). Then Jo is brought in and presented as “the Singer of the future” (199). Finally, the Singer enters wearing the robe and carrying the staff, and accompanied by a “scraping clank” that neither Thomas nor Kira can identify. The Singer lifts his left arm, “displaying the sleeve with the scene of the world’s origin” (202), and the Ruin Song begins.

Chapter 20 begins in the late morning of the Gathering. The Singer has been singing for hours, and Jo has fallen asleep. As she watches the Singer, Kira thinks about all the work that went into the robe and worries that she will not remember enough of Annabella’s instructions to create new dyes. She thinks about Thomas’s pages of written instructions and remembers that she has begun to recognize the letters and decode the mystery of reading. 

Thomas quietly gets her attention and points to a figure moving through the audience. Matt emerges and Kira is thrilled to see him. He tries to show her something, but she can’t see what it is. Feeling guilty for her inattention, she turns back to watch the Singer. The next time she looks, Matt is gone.

When the Singer breaks for lunch, Thomas and Kira request that Jo be allowed to eat with them. Matt and Branch are waiting for them in Thomas’s room, where he shows Kira what he has brought—a “square of filthy, wrinkled cloth. Nothing more. And yet it was everything” (209). Matt has brought her a piece of blue cloth. He tells her that he found blue “yonder”, where Annabella had pointed. He walked for many days before arriving at a village where the people had a lot of food they were willing to share with him. He also tells her that all the people in the village are “broken” (210)—like Kira. The blue cloth, however, is just the beginning of what he has brought her. Matt promises that a much bigger gift will be arriving soon.

They leave Matt and Branch in Thomas’s room and go back to the Gathering for the afternoon portion of the Ruin Song. The audience applauds the Singer’s entrance, but his expression does not change: “No proud smile. He simply stood gazing with intensity at the populace” (212). When the Singer ascends to the stage, Thomas and Kira hear the clanking noise again, but no one else seems to notice. As the Singer prepares to sing, he closes his eyes and sways; Kira hears the noise again and catches a glimpse of its source.

Chapter 21 opens with Thomas demanding to know why Kira is upset as they go upstairs after the Gathering has ended. They have just watched Jo be invited to stand next to the Singer at the end of his performance, while the audience applauds and whistles. Kira is “overwhelmed with her new knowledge and a heavy feeling that combined dread and terrible sorrow” (214), but before she can answer Thomas’s question, they see Matt, excited because the big gift has arrived.

In Kira’s room sits a stranger in a blue shirt, his hair is graying but he is around Jamison’s age. He does not rise from his seat when they enter, and Kira realizes that the stranger is blind. “Scars crossed and disfigured his face with jagged lines across his forehead and down the length of one cheek, and his eyes were opaque and unseeing” (215). Kira wonders why he is still alive, much less in her room, since “damaged people were useless; they were always taken to the Field” (215). Matt excitedly tells them that he brought the stranger “from yonder” (216), and that in addition to his blue shirt, they have also brought the woad plant Kira needs to make blue dye.

The man tells them that his presence must be kept a secret, so they decide to have their dinner sent to Thomas’s room. Thomas leaves with Matt and Branch to order their food, and Kira is left alone with the stranger. Kira tells him her name, but he already knows. He tells her that he remembers much about the village and the Gathering; it is how he was able to navigate the road on his own after sending Matt ahead. Kira asks him why Matt brought him back, and the man takes out his necklace, which matches the one that belonged to Kira’s mother. Though she already understands, he tells her, weeping, that his name is Christopher and that he is her father.