Gathering Blue characters

Appears from the start

A young orphaned girl in a harsh, primitive village rebuilt after a long-ago collapse of civilization. She was born with a twisted, deformed leg, and in her village the weak and imperfect are normally left to die as infants, but she was spared. Now her mother has died and she is alone and vulnerable. Kira has a remarkable gift for weaving and threadwork; her fingers seem to move almost of their own accord, producing patterns of startling beauty. Thoughtful, resilient, and observant, she must find a place for herself in a community that has little use or mercy for someone who cannot do heavy labor.

Also known as Matty

First appears in chapter 2

A scrappy, dirty, cheerful young boy from the Fen, the poorest and roughest quarter of the village, who speaks in rough dialect and roams freely with his dog. He attaches himself to Kira as a loyal friend and helper, running errands and keeping her company. Quick, curious, and fearless, he knows the village and the surrounding country better than most and is willing to go where others will not.

First appears in chapter 2

A hard, aggressive village woman marked by a long scar across her face. After the death of Kira's mother, she leads the other women in demanding Kira's small plot of land and arguing that a girl with a useless leg should be cast out or killed rather than fed. Fierce and quick to violence, she embodies the village's ruthless attitude toward the weak.

First appears in chapter 3

A member of the Council of Guardians, the powerful men who govern the village. When Kira is brought to trial after her mother's death, he speaks in her defense and arranges for her to be spared and given valuable work restoring an important ceremonial robe. Calm, authoritative, and seemingly kind, he arranges for her to live in comfort within the Council's great building, and Kira comes to trust him as her protector.

First appears in chapter 7

A quiet, gifted orphan boy of about Kira's age who lives and works within the Council Edifice. Like Kira, he lost his parents young and was taken in because of a rare talent, in his case an extraordinary skill at woodcarving. He works patiently on an ornately carved staff, and he and Kira become friends and confidants as they compare their strangely similar situations.

First appears in chapter 11

An old woman who lives alone at the edge of the village and knows the ancient craft of making colored dyes from plants. She becomes Kira's teacher, patiently showing her how to gather and prepare the materials for every hue. She is knowledgeable, blunt, and unafraid, and she says surprising things about the world beyond the village that unsettle the fears Kira was raised with.

First appears in chapter 15

A very small girl with a beautiful voice, kept in a room within the Council Edifice. Like Kira with her weaving and Thomas with his carving, little Jo has been taken from her family because of a rare gift and is being raised and trained for the guardians' purposes. She is lonely and frightened, and cries for her lost home.

First appears in chapter 20

The man who performs the long ceremonial Ruin Song at the village's great yearly Gathering, wearing the elaborate robe that Kira has been repairing. The song recounts the whole history of the world's fall and rebuilding. When Kira finally sees him closely, she notices troubling signs about the true conditions of his life in the guardians' service.

First appears in chapter 22

A gentle blind man from a distant, far kinder village where the injured and different are cared for rather than cast out. He turns out to be Kira's father, long believed by her to have been killed by beasts before her birth. In truth he was attacked, blinded, and left for dead, and survived to make a new life. He offers Kira the chance of a safer, gentler home.