On the way, she meets her friend Matt, who tells her that one of the villagers, Vandara, intends to force Kira off her land so she and her friends can use it to build a pen for their chickens and their children.ĭespite the risk of going up against Vandara, who is both cruel and fearless, Kira intends to fight for her right to her parents’ land. After a brief but tense confrontation, Vandara brings her case to the Council of Guardians. At the hearing, Kira is appointed a defender, Jamison, who successfully argues that, although Kira should never have been allowed to live in the first place, “Exceptions can be made” (38). The Council decides that Vandara can have Kira’s land, and that Kira will take on a new role-that of Threader-and live in the Council Edifice, where all her material needs will be provided for.Īt first, Kira’s new life seems almost too good to be true. She is well-fed and clothed her time is no longer governed by the bells that regulate everyone else’s days and she is provided with all the supplies she needs to restore the embroidered scenes on the Singer’s robe-the most valuable piece of clothing in the village, as it is used by the Singer to illustrate his singing of the Ruin Song. The Ruin Song is sung at the annual Day of the Gathering and it chronicles the entire history of the people-the pattern of prosperity and ruin that led to their current circumstances. Kira makes friends with Thomas the Carver, a boy who, like her, is artistically gifted, orphaned, and cared for by the Council. He is tasked with maintaining the intricate carvings on the Singer’s staff. And Kira is provided a mentor-Annabella-an old woman who lives in the woods and teaches Kira how to make dyes. The novel opens with a now teenaged Kira leaving “the Field” where she has sat vigil next to her mother’s body for the four days it takes for her spirit to pass. Walking slowly back toward the remains of her cott, which has been burned to eradicate any traces of the disease that killed her mother, Kira wonders what she will do now that her mother is no longer there to protect her.

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