Gathering Blue

Chapter 15 opens the next day, with workers setting up Kira’s new dyeing-place for her. She and Thomas watch them work from her window, only a day after Annabella’s death. Earlier that morning, when the workers first began to arrive, Jamison had been with Kira, telling her that Annabella died suddenly, in her sleep. Despite his concern, he refuses Kira’s request to be the one to sit with her body in the Field. After Jamison leaves, Kira wonders how Annabella was found—who would know to look for her?

Kira pulls Thomas away from the window to tell him about her visit to Jo. Thomas recalls that he, too, was locked in when he first arrived at the Edifice. As they talk, they realize that all three of them were already artists—and orphaned—when they came to live there: Thomas was already a Carver, Kira was already a Threader, and Jo was already a Singer. She mentions Marlena’s comment that Jo had “knowledges” and wonders aloud whether it’s the same as the relationship Kira and Thomas each have with the objects of their own art—cloth and wood. Kira tells Thomas she is going to visit Jo, even though they agree that the guardians wouldn’t like it.