Gathering Blue

Gathering Blue Summary | Plot Summary

In a simple village best described as a future-past society, a small group of officials, known as the Council of Guardians, rules over the populace. The Guardians live in the only modern structure in the village, the Edifice, where they administer the laws of their people, while maintaining their history by performing an annual ritual called the Ruin Song. An ornate robe depicting scenes from the song and an intricately carved staff, both of which require extremely skilled care, aids the Singer of the Ruin Song. Gathering Blue is a tale of two teenagers both blessed and cursed with the skills necessary to care for these objects, and their gifts will lead them to discover some unpleasant truths about the Guardians and their society as a whole.

Kira, a teenage girl with a leg deformed from birth, has just bid farewell to her dead mother. Fierce beasts had dragged off her father before Kira was born. Her society scorns the infirm, usually casting them aside and leaving them to die. Unsure of her future, Kira returns to her home and finds her neighbors attempting to take control of her land. After a potentially fatal confrontation with Kira's neighbors, led by an aggressive woman named Vandara, it is agreed that the fate of Kira's home will be decided by the Council of Guardians, the leaders of the village who reside in an impressive building known as the Edifice.

The Edifice is a remnant of an ancient society and is the only conventionally modern building in the village. The council hears Vandara's case against Kira, and a Guardian named Jamison is appointed to represent Kira. Jamison is familiar with Kira's family and is aware she possesses an extraordinary skill in needlecraft. The council decides that Vandara may take Kira's land but that Kira's life will be spared. She will reside in the Edifice and assume the role her mother filled before her death as the keeper of the Singer's robe.

Kira's village relies on an oral history known as the Ruin Song that is sung once a year by the Singer, who wears an elaborate garment depicting scenes from the song. The Singer also carries a staff that helps him or her maintain his or her place in the Song. Both of these objects require much skilled care, and Kira is recruited to take care of the robe.

Kira moves into the Edifice with the help of her young friend, Matt, and she soon meets Thomas, a boy about the same age as Kira, who has also become a ward of the Guardians after his parents were killed. It is Thomas' job to maintain the Singer's staff with his skill in woodworking.

Kira soon begins studying the art of dyeing under an old woman named Annabella at her home deep in the woods. Annabella tutors Kira in the cultivation and use of various plants to make different colored dyes, which she will use to make thread to maintain the robe. When Kira asks if the old woman can make blue thread, a rarity in Kira's village, Annabella says she lacks the necessary plants to make the dye. She mentions others that live far down an old path leading away from her home that have the means to make blue.

Kira and Thomas become friends as they tend to their daily duties, and Matt, along with his dog Branch, becomes like a little brother to them. Jamison mentors Kira as her skills develop under Annabella's tutelage, making sure Kira performs her duties in time to be ready for the Gathering, at which the Singer will officiate the annual ceremony of the Ruin Song.

Kira travels each day by foot through the forest to study with Annabella and learns much about the art of dyeing from the old woman. Meanwhile, Matt continues to visit her frequently at the Edifice, spending as much time as possible away from his dismal home in a poor area known as the Fen.

During one of Kira's trips to Annabella's cot, Kira is certain she hears unseen beasts in the forest stalking her. When she tells Annabella about her harrowing journey, the old woman dismisses the idea that there are beasts in the forest, and Kira soon brings the conversation up with Jamison. Jamison seems visibly upset by Annabella's claims that there are no beasts, stating that such talk is dangerous.

Over time, Thomas becomes convinced that he keeps hearing a crying child somewhere in the Edifice, and he, Kira and Matt investigate one rainy day. Living in a locked room directly below Thomas', they find a very young, frightened girl named Jo. Matt is familiar with the girl, since she is known throughout the Fen for her beautiful singing voice. Kira befriends Jo by speaking through the locked door's keyhole on a subsequent visit, and with the aid of a wooden key Thomas carved as a boy, Kira secretly visits Jo in her room almost daily.

Two days after she spoke out against the existence of beasts in the forest, Annabella is found dead in her home. Kira is shocked by the news and begins to think that Annabella's death may not have been a natural one. Both Kira and Thomas begin to have suspicions that the Guardians are responsible for the deaths of their parents, but they keep their ideas to themselves.

Kira and Thomas finish their work on their respective objects after months of painstaking toil, and they notice that Matt has not been seen for a few days. They travel to Matt's home in the Fen and learn that Matt has gone in search of a gift for Kira.

The time of the Gathering arrives, and the entire village converges on the Edifice to hear the Ruin Song. Kira and Thomas are treated with great respect for their work on the robe and staff, and the Singer begins the lengthy Ruin Song. Seated in the front of the Edifice, Kira notices that Matt has finally returned, and he joins them for lunch during a break in the song.

Back in Kira's room, Matt presents Kira with his small gift, a scrap of blue cloth, which he has obtained by traveling down the path from Annabella's home. He excitedly tells Kira that a larger gift is still on the way.

The Ruin Song resumes, and Kira comes to a sickening realization. As soon as the ceremony is over, she rushes back to her room with Thomas following, preparing to tell him the horrific secret she has learned. When they get to the room, however, they find a strange blind man waiting for them.

Matt gleefully introduces the stranger as his big present, and the man reveals that he is actually Christopher, Kira's presumed-dead father. During a hunt before Kira was born, Christopher was struck from behind, blinded and left for dead by his political rival, Jamison.

Christopher was saved by a society of disabled people who live together in a different village a few days' walk from Kira's village. His sight gone and his memory damaged, he was unable to return to Kira until Matt arrived in search of blue. Christopher tells his story and then invites Kira to return to his village with him to start a new life.

Kira considers his offer overnight and prepares to leave with her father in the morning. She finally remembers the horrible discovery she made during the Ruin Song, that the Singer, while revered by the villagers, is actually a bound prisoner. Kira caught a glimpse of the shackles around the Singer's ankles and realizes that the Singer is a prisoner of the Guardians.

Kira considers the fate of the Singer and her own role as the tender of the robe. She selflessly decides that she will stay in her village and work toward creating a better future for her people by working within the system. She thanks her father and sends him home, but she vows to stay in touch with him through Matt. Kira plans to one day join her father, but not before she has done all that can be done to affect change in her own village.