Gathering Blue: Chapter 19 Summary & Analysis

It is the day of the Gathering. Kira wakes up at down to hear the villagers gather at the plaza where the Gathering takes place every year. Everyone in the plaza is quiet and solemn, even tykes. Kira notices that Katrina's brother is standing with his son, Dan, but not his daughter, Mar. Kira wonders if Mar has been given to another family.

Kira goes to Thomas’s room and asks him where the staff is. He tells her that the guardians took it yesterday, and she confirms that they took the robe, too. Thomas looks out at the crowd and notices Matt’s mother. Kira is sad when she notices that Matt isn’t standing beside her. The doors of the Edifice open, and the villagers enter. A guard comes to Thomas’s room and tells them that it is time.

Kira sits in the Council of Guardians hall, thinking about how it looked to her the last time she was there. Then, she was nervous and afraid. Now she’s strong, healthy, and brave. She sees the Council of Guardians sitting in a row of chairs, and recognizes Jamison among them. She also notices three empty chairs on the other side of the hall; she and Thomas bow before the cross, and then sit in two of these chairs. As she sits down, a woman calls out that Kira doesn’t need the village anymore. Kira thinks to herself that she does need the village, and that they all need each other.

The chief guardian, whose name Kira can’t remember (it might be Bartholomew, she thinks) calls for the Gathering to begin. He calls for the cross, the Object, to be worshipped, and the villagers bow before it. He then presents the Council of Guardians, and the crowd nods in respect. He presents Thomas the “Carver of the future,” and then Kira, the “designer of the future.” Finally, he presents the “Singer of the future,” who will wear the robe one day. When the chief guardian announces this, a side door opens, and guards push Jo forward toward her chair. Kira whispers that Jo should stand and look proud for a moment; Jo does so, and then climbs into her chair.

The chief guardian then presents the Singer, who enters, holdings his staff and wearing his robe, which is bright and colorful because of Kira’s work. Thomas mutters to Kira that he hears a noise: the clank of dragging metal. Neither of them can identify where the noise comes from.

The Singer stands in the center of the hall, and the scraping sound stops. He holds out one arm, on which the robe shows the scene of the origin of the world. Kira feels great pride in her weaving. The Singer begins to sing, without much of a melody. He will build up to melody later on.